I understand your response and I appreciate the reply and knowledge. I guess it isn't speculation, though, if aircraft were landing at PIE at 10:15 P.M. EST (Our scheduled arrival time)...which they were. I don't think of it as piggybacking delays because they had a mechanical delay which caused us not to be able to land in PIE which caused all the subsequent issues.
I forgot to mention that when we landed in SFB the flight attendant asked me whether we were "weather advised" in CID...to which I replied no.
So I guess that is my whole frustration with the situation. Not to mention, why board and fly down to PIE if they knew weather was an issue there?
To answer your question about driving, the airport, transportation and everything were closed at the time of our arrival and did not open until late morning. SFB is a very small airport.
I understand weather related delays or cancellations are not the responsibility of the airline but we were not weather advised and the whole situation (from taking off, aborting landing, etc, etc) was so mishandled.
Point taken as far as compensation for prepaid lodging, etc. Perhaps, a voucher or something might be offered.