A Grand Tour of The Entire Midwest, But Mostly Wisconsin (UPDATE 11/12--BONUS Texas TR NOW COMPLETE)

[DH-2-mamaduck]

And don't worry, we start the punishment in your home state.

I found this T-shirt the night after I posted here. Hope you don't mind

 

[Terra Nova guy]

I'm coming along for the ride! Looking forward to seeing the rest.

 

[pkondz]

I found this T-shirt the night after I posted here. Hope you don't mind

 

[FreezinRafiki]

There are some cool places in Wisconsin. Living North of Chicago, we have visited quite a few. I'm curious to read your take on the area, and maybe get a few ideas...

Some?? ALL of Wisconsin is cool. True Story.

Yuck... this trip report smells like moldy cheese and Old Milwaukee.

That's the best part!

As I mentioned earlier, it'll be a while before we get to Wisconsin. The title is more of an inside joke. Hope we don't disappoint!

If you tell it, it will be an outside joke. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I found this T-shirt the night after I posted here. Hope you don't mind

I'm sure Mark will be fine with it, as long as you're OK with this one.
[GALLERY=]

[/GALLERY]

 

[FreezinRafiki]

Sorry I'm late to the party. But I have a good excuse - I was in Disney World.

 

[mickeystoontown]

After a chaotic two and a half months, I'm finally getting back into the Dis groove. Another fantastic trip report is just what I need to read so, naturally, I'm subscribing to your's.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

I found this T-shirt the night after I posted here. Hope you don't mind

I'm coming along for the ride! Looking forward to seeing the rest.

Glad you're here!

Some?? ALL of Wisconsin is cool. True Story.

Wait, there was a cool part? Why didn't you take us there??

That's the best part!

Oh, I get it. The smell is what makes it cool. I'm good with that.

If you tell it, it will be an outside joke. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I'll explain it eventually. It just won't be as funny to everyone else.

I'm sure Mark will be fine with it, as long as you're OK with this one.
[GALLERY=]

I can't laugh too hard at this one, because it would be easy to substitute "Philadelphia Eagles" in there.

Sorry I'm late to the party. But I have a good excuse - I was in Disney World.

Barry! And I'll give you a pass this time. But next time, take me with you.

After a chaotic two and a half months, I'm finally getting back into the Dis groove. Another fantastic trip report is just what I need to read so, naturally, I'm subscribing to your's.

Lisa! You've been through a ton these last couple of months! Are you doing ok? How badly is the flooding affecting you?

Hope you find a fantastic TR to read somewhere around here.

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

[GALLERY=]

[/GALLERY]

LOL..yeah. We'll win the Super Bowl tomorrow...the 5th time's the charm, right?

 

[jwwi]

Joining in from my home state, WI. After reading your past TRs it will be interesting to see what you think of our beautiful state.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

LOL..yeah. We'll win the Super Bowl tomorrow...the 5th time's the charm, right?

Somewhere, the Buffalo Bills are saying the same thing.

Joining in from my home state, WI. After reading your past TRs it will be interesting to see what you think of our beautiful state.

Is that what the "WI" stands for in your user name?

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Chapter 1: False Start (Or, Everything You Hate About Airlines Wrapped Into One Chapter)


When I was a kid, I could never get to sleep on Christmas Eve. I’d try, but there was just too much excitement and anticipation in the air to ever get a decent night’s sleep. I’d toss and turn, and dial up radio stations playing Christmas music on my state-of-the-art Sony Walkman until I’d either drift off for a couple of hours or we’d reach 5:30 a.m. and I could start annoying my parents. They’d tell me to go back to bed a few times until we at least passed 6:00 a.m., which was only a slightly more reasonable hour, and then they’d finally give up on getting any more sleep and send me and my brother down the stairs to check and see if Santa had stopped by during the night. This was always an iffy proposition at best.

Then, my parents would lie in bed and listen to me and my brother heading down the stairs to look for the bounty under the tree:

Thump


Thump


Thump


Thump


Thump


(pause)


ThumpthumpthumpthumpthumpTHUMPTHUMP “Santa was here!”


I mention this because vacation planning gives me the same sense of anticipation that I used to get in the days before Christmas.*

*Full disclosure: I still can’t sleep on Christmas Eve. But now, it’s because I can’t wait for everyone else to open their gifts.


In both cases, the anticipation is half of the fun. The night before a vacation, I’m tossing and turning in excitement, as I can’t wait to leave work behind and start exploring. Julie is also tossing and turning, but she’s wondering what we’re going to forget to take with us.


Just a few days after the school year ended, another adventure was ready to begin. We had our usual departure plan: our flight was scheduled to depart Baltimore at 2:30 p.m., arriving in Minneapolis at 4:50 p.m. local time. We would leave our place in Delaware around 10:30 a.m., pick up my father in Dover around 11:00, and then drive to the airport and arrive in plenty of time to go through security while my father drove our van back to Delaware and saved us $100 in parking fees.


We were leaving on a Tuesday, because that was the date that had offered the cheapest flights. Once we landed in Minneapolis, we were going to head straight downtown to Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins. They just so happened to be playing our team, the Philadelphia Phillies, that evening.


In our past travels, we’ve been cursed when it comes to baseball games. Whenever I’m in a different city, I’ll typically check the local team’s baseball schedule to see if there are any games going on, and without fail, the home team will always be out of town. This time, I purposely checked the Twins schedule before booking our flights, saw they were playing the Phillies, and made sure our dates coincided with the games. Take that, baseball curse!


Everything went without a hitch. We packed up the van, hit the road, picked up my father, and hit the road again. In order to avoid paying airport prices for crappy fast food for lunch, we stopped at a McDonald’s just before the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and paid regular prices for crappy fast food, eating in the car. I had been hearing horror stories about the TSA lines at airports, but we sailed through security and were at the gate in plenty of time for the flight. We all had our Phillies gear on and were excited to get the trip started.


Then we checked the “Departures” board. Already, our flight time was shown later than originally scheduled. Not encouraging.


There was no plane at our gate. This also was not encouraging, but also not uncommon. A check of the weather forecast showed the possibility of thunderstorms in the area all afternoon.


All of us, especially Drew, were excited to get on board and fly in an airplane.

Time marched on. Still no plane at our gate. And then things took a turn for the worse. The sky began to get darker. And darker. And darker.


Soon, the view looked like this:

That’s a different gate, by the way. We still had no airplane. And obviously, we wouldn’t be getting one for a while. 1:30 became 2:30. 2:30 became 3:00. 3:00 became 3:15. Still waiting.


Ever try and keep a 2-year-old boy peaceful and happy in an airport? Wait, let me re-phrase that: ever try and keep a 2-year-old boy peaceful and happy anywhere? It’s impossible. Especially when it’s nap time. If you remember from last year’s vacation, I had to schlep this kid around everywhere in a backpack because he wouldn’t be able to go on his own. One year later, we have no hope of confining him in a simple backpack. He disproves the laws of thermodynamics, because he is a perpetual motion machine. He Does. Not. Stop. Moving. Ever.


Also, I’m too old for this.


Eventually, we found the best way to keep him entertained in the airport was to just let him run on the moving sidewalks. Over and over and over and over. He’d run down one, turn around, and then run the opposite direction.

Eventually, the skies cleared and we began to see flights taking off and landing again. Our gate was still empty.


We began to get worried. If the flight was delayed long enough, we wouldn’t be able to get to the baseball game. This distressed David greatly. Out of all the kids, he is the true baseball fanatic. I can’t name even three things he enjoys more than going to baseball games. The idea of visiting different stadiums in different cities is music to his ears. Imagine how much he’d enjoy it if the Phillies were any good!


We waited. We ran laps on the moving sidewalk. Still no airplane. There was a little stir of activity at the gate desk, but it was only the attendant getting on the intercom to announce that our flight was delayed, as our plane was supposed to be coming from Norfolk, Virginia and there were storms between us and them preventing the plane from taking off. Great.


Finally, after some bouncing, cajoling, fussing and bear-hugging, I managed to get Drew to sleep.

It didn’t last long, but we got maybe 30 minutes of rest out of it.


The waiting game continued. At about 4:00 p.m., Julie and I made the call—there was no way we were going to make the baseball game. We had bought the tickets on Stubhub, so I pulled up the site on my iPad and re-listed the tickets for sale. Fortunately, someone actually did buy them from us—we sold at a loss, of course, but at least we got a little something back for them. Poor Dave was devastated to miss the game and was in tears. I felt awful for him. But the situation was completely out of our control.


The baseball curse lives.


The day dragged on, and by 5:00 p.m. I had called our hotel and the rental car company to inform them of the flight delay and that if we were going to arrive, it was going to be very late in the evening. I had to get instructions from the rental company on where to go for after-hours pickup. All of this contingency planning was starting to stress us out. Meanwhile, flights were arriving and departing for cities all over the country with no issues whatsoever.


Around 6:00 p.m., the hammer finally dropped. The gate attendant announced that our flight was cancelled. Immediately, the masses converged on the gate desk as everyone lined up to re-book their flights. After about 20 minutes standing in line, we got another announcement. I don’t know what technical and public relations terms they used, but it essentially went like this:


“Hey, remember when we said your flight was cancelled? Made you look! No, seriously, our bad. You’re not cancelled. Relax and have a seat.”


Fine. Let’s do that. At some point in the evening, we walked down the hall and paid outrageous airport prices for crappy pizza for dinner.


At 7:30, I got in line for the gate desk. I waited behind several people and when I got to the clerk, I asked what my options were in case of the worst-case scenario, a cancellation. I immediately got chided by the clerk. “Oh, no, I don’t want to use that word,” he said. “We’re still on and we’re doing everything possible to get you all out of her this evening.”


“Right,” I said. “I get that, but just in case the worst happens, what are my options here?”


“Well, I can try and put you on a flight that leaves later this evening. There’s one that leaves at 12:30 a.m.”


Right. With 4 kids, including a toddler. How about a nice, hot steaming cup of No?


I thanked the clerk for his lack of helpful information and went back to sit at the gate.


NOT EVEN TWO MINUTES LATER: “Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to inform you that your flight has been cancelled.” Thanks again for stringing me along, Mr. Desk Clerk!


And the hordes descend upon the gate again. No way I’m getting back to the desk anytime soon in order to re-book the flight. So, I called Southwest’s reservation line directly. It took about 10-15 minutes to get through.


Every single flight to Minneapolis was booked solid the next day. There were no seats available whatsoever until Thursday. The nice agent did have 6 seats available on a flight taking off at 6 a.m. from Reagan Airport in Washington, D.C. Would I like to book those?


Wait, Reagan Airport? Reagan is on the Virginia side of the Potomac River and would require me to drive through the city to get there. It’s about 2 hours to D.C. from my parents’ house in Dover. Not to mention a 6 a.m. flight would require us to go practically without sleep in order to get to the airport, go through security, etc.


I asked about any availability from Philadelphia, which is only 45 minutes from my house and much more convenient. Absolutely, the agent said. The difference in fares is only $400 per seat, so I could book a flight from Philadelphia for an extra $2,000.


I bit back several profanity-laced tirades and calmly asked why my original tickets couldn’t be honored.


“Because your original ticket is from Baltimore,” the agent explained. “We only honor cancellation fares from ‘airport pairs’, and the paired airport with Baltimore is Reagan.”


I work for the state government. And as far as I’m concerned, any of you that work for the airline industry have forever lost your right to complain about bureaucracy ever again.


I took the 6 a.m. flight out of Reagan. On the plus side, I judged that this would enable us to “catch up” with our planned itinerary as soon as possible.


With the flight re-booked, I then called our hotels for Tuesday and Wednesday nights and was able to cancel them with no fees or charges, which was a relief. The rental car company took some work, because they would only hold the reservation for 24 hours before marking me as a “no-show”. I explained the situation and finally convinced an agent to hold our minivan for us—this was a huge relief as a quick search of rental websites showed no availability for minivans.


Then I called my father to come back with our minivan to pick us up at the airport, as we had to go back home. He started the drive from Dover. The last task was to pick up our luggage. No problem. Another gate agent helpfully announced over the intercom: “If your flight was cancelled, your baggage is being brought to the baggage claim on the lower level of the terminal.”


Great. We headed straight to the baggage claim, and got there somewhere around 9:00 p.m. Drew was on his last legs.

My father arrived around 10:30 p.m. We still didn’t have our luggage.


It wasn’t for a lack of trying. They were utilizing 3 carousels for the several flights that had been cancelled. Bags were stacked all over the room, and we searched several times but couldn’t find any bags from flights bound for Minneapolis. The room was in chaos. My father put Drew in his stroller and just started giving him rides all over the baggage claim to try and keep him calm since he was exhausted but refusing to sleep.


We asked several Southwest employees if they’d seen bags from the Minneapolis flight, and kept getting responses that they may not have been unloaded yet, etc. People would disappear to check on bags and then never come back. We all just wanted to go home.


After almost three hours of searching for our bags, Julie finally got a hold of an employee who told her a different story: “Oh, I think those bags are already on their way to Minneapolis.”


I’m sorry…WHAT??


“Did you put in a request to have your bags pulled from the plane? If you didn’t put in a request to have them pulled, our policy is to send them on.”

Gee, that might have been helpful information, say…three hours ago. It’s our fault, really. When they said bags from the cancelled flights would be brought to the baggage claim, we went to the baggage claim. What were we thinking?


Southwest’s motto is “Bags Fly Free”. I had no idea that was meant to be taken literally. You’re not going anywhere, but your bags could fly all over the country!


And how come they could get to Minneapolis but we couldn’t?


Defeated, we headed out for our van around midnight. We rode all the way back to Dover and crashed onto the beds at my parents’ house. No pajamas, no toiletries…and we didn’t care. We just crashed. Right off the bat, we’d lost two days of our summer vacation.


Coming Up Next: Will we ever actually get to Minnesota? And we’ll check in on the trials and travails of The Alternate Universe Oblivious Family, to see what fun we would have had if we’d actually been able to depart on time.

 

[wasnotafan]

Somewhere, the Buffalo Bills are saying the same thing.

Not a thumb

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Not a thumb

Hey, I already admitted I'm an Eagles fan. I know I have no room to talk.

 

[wasnotafan]

Chapter 1: False Start (Or, Everything You Hate About Airlines Wrapped Into One Chapter)

Ouch!

 

[Curiouser&curiouser!]

Oh my word!!! I am having anxiety attacks about flying with my children just READING about your day. I am hoping that things get better quickly!

 

[cj9200]

I mention this because vacation planning gives me the same sense of anticipation that I used to get in the days before Christmas.*

*Full disclosure: I still can’t sleep on Christmas Eve. But now, it’s because I can’t wait for everyone else to open their gifts.

Same for me. Adrenaline is pumping before I go anywhere. I learned long ago to embrace it.

Take that, baseball curse!

DO NOT TAUNT THE BASEBALL GODS!

The baseball curse lives.

See, I told you. Feel real bad for Dave.

 

[pkondz]

(Or, Everything You Hate About Airlines Wrapped Into One Chapter)

I'm semi-familiar with the story from FB, but...... holy crap, dude.

When I was a kid, I could never get to sleep on Christmas Eve.

Funny. I never really had that problem.
I think part of the reason was because when I was old enough to start getting excited about it, we started doing the traditional French Canadian thing. Which is, go to church... at midnight. Done by 1am or so... then a massive meal. Bedtime was, oh... around 3 or 4. am.

And yet... I do have a memory of waiting by the tree... wondering if my sister would ever wake up.
(This was before all the late, late, late night shenanigans.)

and dial up radio stations playing Christmas music on my state-of-the-art Sony Walkman

So young.

We had one radio. It was bigger than I was and was in the Living Room.

Thump


Thump


Thump


Thump


Thump


(pause)


ThumpthumpthumpthumpthumpTHUMPTHUMP “Santa was here!”

That was very nicely done!

*Full disclosure: I still can’t sleep on Christmas Eve. But now, it’s because I can’t wait for everyone else to open their gifts.

I don't have that problem.
Last several years, Christmas is at our house and I'm usually super busy Christmas Eve.... and exhausted by the time I hit the hay.

The night before a vacation, I’m tossing and turning in excitement, as I can’t wait to leave work behind and start exploring. Julie is also tossing and turning, but she’s wondering what we’re going to forget to take with us.

Did I ever tell the story of what happened on my first Disney trip, night before?
If not... I think I'll save it for my TR.


Teaser.

my father drove our van back to Delaware and saved us $100 in parking fees.

Whoa! Dude... $100???? What a rip off!

We were leaving on a Tuesday, because that was the date that had offered the cheapest flights.

Statistically, most thunderstorms occur on Tuesdays.
I just made that up. Because, math.

Once we landed in Minneapolis, we were going to head straight downtown to Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins. They just so happened to be playing our team, the Philadelphia Phillies, that evening.

Nice.... or... would have been.

This time, I purposely checked the Twins schedule before booking our flights, saw they were playing the Phillies, and made sure our dates coincided with the games. Take that, baseball curse!

Ha! You've got that curse thing on the ropes!

In order to avoid paying airport prices for crappy fast food for lunch, we stopped at a McDonald’s just before the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and paid regular prices for crappy fast food, eating in the car.

I am bitterly disappointed to learn that you did not in fact consume PB&J sammies.



Bitterly.

I had been hearing horror stories about the TSA lines at airports, but we sailed through security and were at the gate in plenty of time for the flight. We all had our Phillies gear on and were excited to get the trip started.

Oh, yeah. This traveling thing ain't so hard.

All of us, especially Drew, were excited to get on board and fly in an airplane.

Oh? So he knew what was going on?

Soon, the view looked like this:

Uh... Hate to tell you this, but I can't see what you're trying to show us.
Looks like maybe a plane.
But I can't tell, 'cause someone sneezed on the lens.

Ever try and keep a 2-year-old boy peaceful and happy in an airport?

Nope! We stuck with girls.
They're horrible later in life.

Wait, let me re-phrase that: ever try and keep a 2-year-old boy peaceful and happy anywhere? It’s impossible.

Nope! See above.

If you remember from last year’s vacation, I had to schlep this kid around everywhere in a backpack because he wouldn’t be able to go on his own

He disproves the laws of thermodynamics, because he is a perpetual motion machine. He Does. Not. Stop. Moving. Ever.

Hook him up to a treadmill and store some energy in batteries!
Save money!

Eventually, we found the best way to keep him entertained in the airport was to just let him run on the moving sidewalks. Over and over and over and over. He’d run down one, turn around, and then run the opposite direction.

That picture's great!

Eventually, the skies cleared and we began to see flights taking off and landing again.

Yay!!!


Yay?


Nay?

Our gate was still empty.

As were your hopes and dreams.

If the flight was delayed long enough, we wouldn’t be able to get to the baseball game. This distressed David greatly. Out of all the kids, he is the true baseball fanatic.

Awww... I feel badly for him.

Imagine how much he’d enjoy it if the Phillies were any good!

Finally, after some bouncing, cajoling, fussing and bear-hugging, I managed to get Drew to sleep.

Isn't that the best? Loved when my rats fell asleep on me.

We had bought the tickets on Stubhub, so I pulled up the site on my iPad and re-listed the tickets for sale. Fortunately, someone actually did buy them from us—we sold at a loss, of course, but at least we got a little something back for them.

Well, silver lining I guess.

Poor Dave was devastated to miss the game and was in tears. I felt awful for him.

Man, that really sucks. I really do feel bad for him.
I'd send him a Winnipeg Goldeyes cap... but he a. wouldn't know who they are and b. wouldn't care if he did.

The baseball curse lives.

Remember when I said you had it on the ropes?

You're Foreman. The curse is Ali.

Meanwhile, flights were arriving and departing for cities all over the country with no issues whatsoever.

Figures.

“Hey, remember when we said your flight was cancelled? Made you look! No, seriously, our bad. You’re not cancelled. Relax and have a seat.”

Oh thank goodness!!


(And you believed them....

Fine. Let’s do that. At some point in the evening, we walked down the hall and paid outrageous airport prices for crappy pizza for dinner.

At first I was "What? The airline didn't give you vouchers?" but then I remembered that they're not liable for weather delays, only mechanical.

“Well, I can try and put you on a flight that leaves later this evening. There’s one that leaves at 12:30 a.m.”


Right. With 4 kids, including a toddler. How about a nice, hot steaming cup of No?

Oy. No kidding.

NOT EVEN TWO MINUTES LATER: “Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to inform you that your flight has been cancelled.” Thanks again for stringing me along, Mr. Desk Clerk!

Pretty sneaky of him! He's got a career in politics ahead of him!

No way I’m getting back to the desk anytime soon in order to re-book the flight. So, I called Southwest’s reservation line directly.

Smart. Don't think I would've thought of that.

I asked about any availability from Philadelphia, which is only 45 minutes from my house and much more convenient. Absolutely, the agent said. The difference in fares is only $400 per seat, so I could book a flight from Philadelphia for an extra $2,000.

Insane!

I work for the state government. And as far as I’m concerned, any of you that work for the airline industry have forever lost your right to complain about bureaucracy ever again.

I work in the airline industry... not for it.
Maybe it'll make you happy to hear that I occasionally get to threaten airlines? Does that help?

Didn't think so.

With the flight re-booked, I then called our hotels for Tuesday and Wednesday nights and was able to cancel them with no fees or charges, which was a relief.

Phew.

The rental car company took some work, because they would only hold the reservation for 24 hours before marking me as a “no-show”. I explained the situation and finally convinced an agent to hold our minivan for us—this was a huge relief as a quick search of rental websites showed no availability for minivans.

Wow. That was a close one. That would've been a tough one to fix. If you could do it at all.

Drew was on his last legs.

Poor li'l gaffer.

My father arrived around 10:30 p.m. We still didn’t have our luggage.

An hour and a half? But.... they weren't even put on a plane yet, since there's no plane... right?

My father put Drew in his stroller and just started giving him rides all over the baggage claim to try and keep him calm since he was exhausted but refusing to sleep.

Nice of him. Gives you guys a bit of a break too.

People would disappear to check on bags and then never come back.

Now that's just crappy service. Not impressed.

We all just wanted to go home.

I don't blame you one bit.

an employee who told her a different story: “Oh, I think those bags are already on their way to Minneapolis.”


I’m sorry…WHAT??

???????
I assume they put them on an earlier flight? But... why?

“Did you put in a request to have your bags pulled from the plane? If you didn’t put in a request to have them pulled, our policy is to send them on.”

Did you punch him/her?

I know she's unhappy, but.....
Sorry... that just makes me laugh.

Gee, that might have been helpful information, say…three hours ago. It’s our fault, really. When they said bags from the cancelled flights would be brought to the baggage claim, we went to the baggage claim. What were we thinking?

Stupid of you, really.

Southwest’s motto is “Bags Fly Free”. I had no idea that was meant to be taken literally. You’re not going anywhere, but your bags could fly all over the country!

Sweet! I'm going to get a bag big enough to fit into.

And how come they could get to Minneapolis but we couldn’t?

Like I said. Must've been shoved on an earlier flight. Was there one?

We rode all the way back to Dover and crashed onto the beds at my parents’ house. No pajamas, no toiletries…and we didn’t care. We just crashed.

And totally understandable. What a day.

Right off the bat, we’d lost two days of our summer vacation.

When vacation time is at such a high premium... man that really sucks.

Coming Up Next: Will we ever actually get to Minnesota?

No!
(Trying to build the suspense for you there a bit.)

And we’ll check in on the trials and travails of The Alternate Universe Oblivious Family, to see what fun we would have had if we’d actually been able to depart on time.

Interesting. Looking forward to more.

 

[QueenJen]

What a horrible start to your vacay! There's only 2 of us and I would have had a meltdown (I know-that wouldn't solve anything) - I can't imagine having to keep 4 kids calm as well. So sorry for your rough start - although it does make for a more lively tr.

I live in CA and weather isn't really a factor for flying in/out. Seems to always be sunny here. We usually only pay attention if we have to have a layover-absolutely no to Chicago in the winter/spring and I try to avoid Dallas in the summer.

Planning vacations is as exciting for me now as anticipating Christmas when I was a kid. I have to say-planning for retirement is also ranking up there!

Jen

 

[Dugette]

Wow. Just wow. I am going to think twice now about complaining about my petty flying annoyances like reclined seats and such (but then I'll still complain about them, of course - just after pausing to think of this first). I cannot imagine starting a vacation off in such a disappointing and difficult way! And, also, I had no idea our state was such a popular destination that it booked up all your flight alternatives. Gosh, I hope you eventually make it here and are awake enough to enjoy it.

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

Wow! What a start, or not start. Pretty crappy of SW not to bring another plane in for the next day vs. "Sorry, we are all booked for the day. Its not our fault." Good news is I found your bags at MSP riding the carousel... you may want to get a new tooth brush.

Hopefully you made it today and off on your adventures and landed already. Its a bit gloomy out however.