dilbertsdaddy

I think everybody remembers where they were on 9/11.

I flew SLC-ANC on 9/10 and remember that day clearly, watching the coastline on the right side of the airplane as we approached the airport. It was truly one of the most breathtaking flights I had ever been on. Perfect weather, FC on a 767. I don't remember anything about that evening as it was uneventful....probably a bad hotel meal, e-mails, and ironing my clothes for the week. I was at the Courtyard ANC airport.

In the morning I woke up to get ready to go to work and turned on the TV just after the first plane hit. Knowing that my wife was on a flight that morning I quickly called her, she said they were taxing out to the runway in ATL, had turned around, and had just arrived back at the gate. None of the passengers had been told anything yet. I told her "Your trip is cancelled. leave the airport right away, do not say anything to anyone at the gate, just leave, take Marta to Buckhead and take a cab home. Do not wait in the airport. Get out of there - NOW." For the first time, she actually listened to me. She knew something bad had happened.

I was lucky enough to get online and cancel some stock buys I had scheduled for purchase for the open Tuesday morning. I thought the market might crash and a little extra cash might come in handy. I was not sure what else to do......sell everything? Hold tight?

I called my client and of course we agreed we would not complete our work for the week. He did meet me at "Gwennies" for some pancakes just so we could eyeball each other for the first time. We both had other things on our mind.

After that, no e-mail, phones, anything. Everything was locked up. I did have TV at the hotel and watched everything unfold. I got up in morning, took the bus downtown, ate, walked around, and came back and watched some more. This went on for two days.

The second afternoon, my phone actually rang - I was not expecting it since it had been dead. It was my boss wondering if I was OK. Stories of people renting U Hauls to get home since all the rental cars were taken. Some dude in Vegas actually bought a car to get home. I had no other options in ANC but to wait. Who knows how long that would be.

I took the very first flight that left ANC when things started moving again - the redeye on Thursday night. You may recall DL was able to reset a good 1-2 days before anyone else. I had a very strange individual next to me on that flight, and it sounds silly now, but I wondered exactly who this was and what they might do. For the first time, I did not feel safe being on an airplane. It was very strange. Not a wink of sleep on the redeye.

I got home Friday night and was supposed to travel again Saturday morning for my high school reunion. I blew it off. I was not ready for the airport again yet.

This was the day we all knew the way we traveled, among other things, was changing forever.

RIP.