Next trip… Into the desert…

Wednesday, a couple of days from now I am off into the Nevada desert to camp with friends…

There will be a dozen of us, more or less, more over the weekend… we will camp at Ft Churchill, next to the Carson River… From there we will explore… the desert… The fort and nearby ranches… The Carson & Colorado Railroad grade… the Pony Express train runs through the camp site…  We will not be at a loss of things to explore…

We are camped in the group campsite to the east of the main area… along the river, several miles east in a camp ground most commonly used by Boy Scouts… We are not Boy Scouts, nor do we aspire to such…

Strangely, there is a decent cell phone connection with data, and I should be able to check email…  I probably can’t steam video or music, but I will be connected…

There is a shared dinner each evening… not well planned but always shared… I am bringing Jambalaya and  green corn chili, Tasha and her Gabe are bringing a leg of lamb and some venison…  We will eat corn dogs at the Lyon County Fair one night… we have all covered…

Randy

I want to hear the Airplane crash...

There was a airplane crash on the runways of SFO today… about 11:30 a.m. a 777 from Asiana airlines landed short of the runway, losing its tail, hitting hard, and after a merciful few minutes the allowing the passengers to evacuate, caught fire…   There were 307 passengers and crew aboard… 2 have died, some are in critical condition in area hospitals, but most walked away generally ok…  It is our west coast version of the miracle on the Hudson… a survivable jet accident… We likely won’t have a Skully as a hero… but will have Skully as a commentator.  The Skully lives nearby across San Francisco Bay.

For me, and family it was disruptive… at the time of the crash the wife and daughter were on a United Jet, on the tarmac of Vancouver Canada about to take off for SFO… they didn’t… the flight was eventually canceled and they are expected home tomorrow.  

We could hear the sirens… it bothered the neighbor’s dogs… mine slept through it.

I am flying to Alaska tomorrow… I heard about the “incident” from the wife, who knew something had happened, but not what had happened… I turned on the local news… they had photos of the plane… I called Alaska Airlines about noon, and with the help of a wonderful customer service rep (Paula) who had seen the alert, but didn’t know the extent of the accident changed my outgoing flight to San Jose… at O-dark-100 in the morning…   Now some 10 hours after the incident the news is all about the delays… 

Being a historian and researcher… and a traveler I did a bit of research on aircraft and accidents and SF bay… 

There have been accidents before (this would be the place for the base drum roll….)  but I don’t think this is the time to worry much about the safety of commercial aviation…  Particularly associated with SFO…

So, we need to remember that there are about 600 landings or takeoffs at SFO everyday…  25 an hour on average… something like 220,000 per year… With all that traffic this is not the first accident… The South San Francisco Patch is reporting that this is the 14^th accident in the history of SFO (or Mill’s Field as it was previously known….)  If you accept all listed as SFO related  (one took place in Yosemite, heading to Arizona in 1938, one in Mendocino in 1943, and two in the Pacific in the mid 1950’s, several are the result of crazy folk taking down the plane, one took place off LA… ) If you take all the losses associated with SFO, the airport has lost 270 passengers in 14 crashes in 75 years of commercial aviation.  

If you only count the nearby flights, there are only 4 seemingly tied directly to the airport…

In 1953 The Resolution, operated by British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines (BCPA) Flight 304/44 crashed while on approach to SFO with a loss of 11.  There is a trail in the hills dedicated to the crash…

In 1964 a Flying Tigers cargo plane crashed into Mt San Bruno with the loss of the crew of 3…

In 1968 a Japan Air went into the bay… with no loss of life…

Finally, there is today’s incident… a Asiana Boeing 777 with 307 passengers, with the loss of two lives…

Even the most paranoid among us should note that this is 5 deaths in the 58 years since I was born… and at least 3 were crew (they probably wore red shirts too... (gratuitous Star Trek reference unrelated to aircraft crashes in San Francisco before the 23^rd century when Kirk and crew will crash a Klingon bird of prey into the bay under the Golden Gate bridge… with hump back whales aboard… ))

Tomorrow I will fly… to Seattle then to Alaska… I am not worried…  but I am avoiding SFO… it will be crazy so I will fly from San Jose… but Wednesday expect to land at SFO on my return… And, I don't plan on carrying any whales in my carry-on luggage...

Send Lawyers guns and money, the shit has hit the fan…

Not really, but an airplane crashed and the manure hit the rotary oscillator…  big time

 

Early today, about 11:34 (according to the fire department) an airplane crashed at SFO, some 7 miles from where I sit… It was a 777… Asiana Airlines… a flight from Seoul Korea.  Of the 300 some passengers sadly two have died, 60 or 70 are injured significantly… but the rest seem to have gotten off safely.  Thoughts are with them and their families…

 

That being said, the fall out for me and family started in the aftermath…While the plane was trying to land, my wife and daughter were aboard a either an Air Canada or a United flight from Vancouver Canada to SFO… sitting on the tarmac (the “or” is significant… it was sold to the ladies as an Air Canada flight, but aboard a United plane… via code share… this meant that neither airline would take responsibility...)

 

They sat aboard the plane, then returned to the gate… and about noon Tina called… and I turned on the news and the manure flew… (and not via an airplane… airplanes were not flying, or at least landing at SFO)  From Vancouver, the information available to the ladies was “an airplane had a problem…” from local news in San Francisco the photos told a story… large plane, on the grass, no landing gear… plane broken and burned… people may or may not have gotten off… evacuation slides deployed… details were sketchy… but this is not good…

 

Photos suggest one or two runways at SFO may be blocked for some time… I am scheduled to fly out of SFO tomorrow for Alaska… I am concerned… I call Alaska Airlines and change my flight to leave from San Jose… Paula from Alaska Airlines was wonderful… (note, not United Airlines, not code share…)

 

The ladies think they are flying home today… time goes on… and it is clear that there might be an issue but new information on their flights is sparse… lacking…

 

I keep checking the United Air web site… finally at 3:06, in with the lack of other information I email United the following via their web site…

 

Dear United Airlines

As I write this, at 3:06 pm your website is reporting that your flight 378 has left at Vancouver at 12:44, and is due to arrive at SFO at 3:01 (instead of scheduled 3:05)…  As far as I can tell it hasn’t

Since reports from family members scheduled to be on that flight suggest that (at 2:41) it has not taken off, and in fact it has returned to the gate and off loaded, and there are yet no plans for it to fly today…

 I suspect the flight status published on your web site might be wrong…

I understand the delays are not your fault… an Asiana flight crashed on landing before 12:00 this am… There has been a tragic loss of life, and some injuries… but by now, with SFO closed for 3 hours, maybe you have things figured out…

That was 11:30 or so, 3+ hours ago, and maybe you should have updated the flight status on your website (which I believe is tied to the entire system… hint, if it isn’t it could and should be… this is called high tech, and is pretty common technology in this day and place…)

 

United never answer the email… but several minutes later update the web site to say the flight is canceled… 

 

In Canada, the ladies are having a problem… the fight may have been canceled… they are ticketed on Air Canada but flying on United Airlines… and neither is making any effort to address how to get their passengers home… both suggest the other should be responsible… eventually they suggest that they can get the ladies home on Wednesday… and any hotel accommodations are on the ladies…  

 

They have been cleared through customs to get on the plane, so have to clear Canadian Customs to get off… layers of bureaucracy which make flying sooooo much fun…

 

I find flights on Monday on Southwest out of Seattle… for a tolerable cost…  they will find their way to Seattle via the shuttle or by renting a car… or maybe a train… its not far… and they have two days to make it there…

 

Now at 5:18 our local San Francisco TV station is doing a interview with people stuck at SFO angry with United… suggesting United “corporate” is not dealing with the issue well… who would have thought…

 

Now there is an issue… I am flying at 0-dark-30 tomorrow for Alaska… Thanks to early action I am flying from San Jose rather than SFO… the ladies don’t arrive home until Monday afternoon… We have dogs and cats and such… and the kennels are all closed… extra daughters are coming to the rescue…

 

Lessons…

1) Don’t fly on a code share… if there is an issue no one will take responsibility

2) Don’t fly United Airlines… they will never take responsibility or provide give accurate information and their customer service sucks… I will pay extra not to fly United.

3) United Breaks Guitars... just saying...

4) Be flexible… Sometimes this is difficult… but be flexible…

5) Be proactive… if there is a problem there are a limited number of alternatives and the first one to call for help will find it…

6) Friends are wonderful… treasure them…

 

Travel well my friend…

Reflecting on the changes with 55 days to go…

May 21^st on my blog, I wrote “Back to work tomorrow, but I am not looking forward to it… in fact I am dreading it…not for the work, but for the politics… something needs to change… but I am not sure what or how…”  At the moment I wrote it I had not considered retirement as an option…

My next post, three days later was titled “I may have retired today….”  Between the two, I guess I identified the change needed… and how… and did it… 

Now I am dealing with the ramifications of the decision… mostly good… 

There is paperwork… at work there is confusion… about roles going forward… about my current role… I feel like an observer rather than an employee… I have become the old curmudgeon…  I am enjoying the role… I get to observe, and comment in ways which would not have been possible on May 24^th… For then I was employed, but today I am becoming retired… so I get to comment, and be snarky as needed, and occasionally “F” off while at work… 

Unfortunately, I care too much to “F” off much… and things at the district (the “them” organization) are weird with a labor action pending and all that that brings to the party… So, I go to work… putter about end up working more than expected, but am not getting as much done as I would like…

Now 54 days to go… I took the ladies to the airport at O-dark-30 or so… they are off to Vancouver to meet a ship for a cruise to Alaska… dispatches suggest that earlier today they were sitting in a Starbucks neat the steam clock having coffee…  Meanwhile, here at home I am caring for the menagerie… two dogs, 4 indoor cats, 3 outdoor cats and some pigeons… I am writing… mostly a project for Colorado… I am working in the yard… but its hot, hotter than expected so less is getting done… except watering… I water and water and plants still look stressed…  

And I am considering resetting the toilet that the dog knocked loose…  Abby is a big girl and likes to chew things and so, when we leave she is confined to the bathroom… where she is eating the door frame and has knocked the toilet loose from the floor…  All equating to a project for me…

Meanwhile I am working on the Colorado project, trying to get traction on the writing I am responsible for … occasionally going outside and working on the yard… moving the hose… watering…  cutting stuff back… filling trash cans… dumping trash cans in the green waste bins… then I get hot and retreat to the house and the computer and writing…  I think I am practicing for retirement...

 

June Tomatoes….

We got our first tomatoes today… 3 red cherry, one orange cherry tomatoes… sliced with salt, pepper and basil from the garden, a little olive oil, some balsamic vinegar… a couple of bites each… but… June tomatoes…  My tomatoes went in late this year and I don’t deserve June tomatoes…

Garrison Keeler in his Lake Woebegone stories speaks of tomatoes in the garden, of the shame of the tomato dole… Speaking to ones failure to cultivate and care for tomatoes…  While this year I am not a leader, I have June tomatoes and so, am not on the tomato dole… 

It is hot… Work was 80 some… I reached over 90 on the way home… It promises to get hotter this weekend… They are predicting 120+ temperatures in Death Valley… high 120’s… some are suggesting they might reach the magical 134, the official hottest day on record.  If I didn’t have responsibilities, I might take a quick trip to the Valley of Death to see how hot hot can be… Sadly, not this time… but there is the possibility of a long hot summer, with decreasing responsibilities… and if hot is promised, maybe a trip to hot…

The tomatoes like the heat (if I keep then watered…)

The ladies are off early tomorrow… very early… ungodly early… a 4:30 am alarm… flying to Vancouver Canada to meet their ship… for a trip to Alaska via the inside passage.  I will be staying home… caring for the dogs and giving the diabetic cat her insulin shots…  going to work… (56 days left!) avoiding the park’s picket lines… and writing… I have a project due…  

At work (56 days… but who is counting) things are weird… I am not as productive as I would like… there are distractions… the park employees are likely to go on strike on July 4^th and 5^th… I work for the city, in the center of one of their parks… I am sympathetic to their strike…  The Park has canceled July 4^th, or at least the common national celebration… It is not clear what the house is supposed to be doing… I expect to go to work, stop and speak to the picketers… likely deliver donuts… then go to work to deal with the unknown situation…  I will lock the place down about 3:00, and go home to the dogs and barbeque something… 

It is also weird at work for a different reason… I am leaving… others know this… there is an expectation that I am not really working… just holding court for the near future… people don’t expect me to be there, to try... I would be easy to meet their expectations… I am trying not to.

I could be sitting with a cold beer under the grape arbor… for it is hot…