THE BATTLE TO GET HOME



The great escape or my sad return from America, i prefer the latter, was due to begin on Wednesday last at 11.15am from Pullman Airport.  The 76 seat plane would leave Seattle pick me up and return to Seattle via Lewiston for a connection to Minneapolis and onto London.

So off i set driven by my Alaskan born driver,  6" of snow and a blizzard is no worry for Jaq,  and we arrive an hour before take off. Paperwork checked, the counter staff advise that the plane has been delayed by a mechanical fault and not only is it running 30mins late in all probability it will not be able to land due to weather conditions.

The advice being given to all passengers is to travel 30 miles to Lewiston and board the plane. The reason for this is that Lewiston is some 2000`+ lower elevation than Pullman and at the time has no snow.

So this lady (fiancee) has Eskimo nerves of steel and estimates the trip will take 45mins so off we go and in no  

time we are approx. 2000` above Lewiston (right of picture above), the snow has now almost stopped and we descend down highway 195 into the city and onto the Lewiston airport with an hour before the plane is due to 

take off. In the picture above looking back up the 2000` we have descended you can see the snow high up has given way to a clear landscape. So in the queue to check in  it soon becomes apparent something is not right and an enquiry soon reveals the plane has been cancelled due to a mechanical breakdown. After queuing for an hour flights are re-arranged for 6.30 pm to Seattle, New York and onwards to London.

So back at 6pm and the plane is running late as runways are being cleared and planes de-iced at many airports causing not cancellations but minor delays. Sitting waiting i studied my new itinerary and noticed the time between flights at Seattle was diminishing rapidly and knowing the Seattle airport layout i knew i wouldn`t have time to get from one side of the airport to my New York flight. Back at the desk the agent agreed and i decided a flight the following day from a different airport would be better. Now i had Spokane-Seattle- London by British Airways on the Thursday.

So back to Jaq`s and in the picture above can be seen the conditions after climbing the 2000` out of Lewiston. Having to spend another night with Jaq was hard but someones got to do it and we were brave.

The following day we set off on the 80mile drive to Spokane and in the  picture above taken from the passenger seat can be seen, well almost, the road leading to the main highway. The posts at the side of the road are the only

guide to the road`s route with no tree line or hedgerows to give a clue. Getting on the main highway in the picture above was a lot better as snow ploughs were very much evident and we passed several on the journey.

All the way it was evident that life just carries on as normal with traffic moving quite fast even the trucks.In the picture below you can see what is a common site here, an articulated lorry(semi) with an additional trailer added.

The pictures above and below show a body scanner that i had to go through on my inward journey to the States.



Snow is cleared on the aircraft stands at Spokane

Planes de-iced before take off

De-iced the plane taxi`s out with the snow plough still clearing the runway.

One of 9 ploughs keeping flights going at Spokane.

 Safely in Seattle and here is my BA flight that has delivered me safely back in the UK.