This is indeed the most likely scenario. The DC10 arrived in SFO from NRT most likely, and was being routed to MSP for a light check or was perhaps enroute to the vendor that does the re-painting via MSP or DTW.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by madison8:
I talked to the pilot for a bit and he said they would pick up the plane that just flew NRT-SEA and fly it back to MSP(w/pax) for regular maintance.
Quite a pleasent unexpected experience!!</font>