The bulk of the group was routed through Minneapolis-St Paul on a mid-afternoon flight. Mike and Debby were sent to Atlanta on an earlier flight that didn’t have enough seats for the rest of the group. So, we schemed to make the best of the strange situation. We had high hopes of getting to San Francisco before the rest of the group, picking up the 2 rental vehicles, and then picking up the others upon their arrival to avoid the rest of the group having to cool their heels while we went through the rental car process.
It was a wonderful plan until the Hartford to Atlanta flight there were on sat on the runway for over a half an hour before taking off. The plane arrived 40 minutes late to Atlanta, and after getting a nice dose of aerobic exercise running to the departure gate for the flight to San Francisco, they were told that their seats were given to standby passengers and that they would have to wait until 6pm for the next flight. Ironically, the plane didn’t push back for another 20 minutes because of late arriving luggage. We watched our luggage get loaded onto the plane that we couldn’t board. But for a threat of bodily harm, I would have loved to have included a photo of Debby as she watched our luggage being loaded in the belly of the plane.
The latest plan is for all of us to arrive to SFO within 15 minutes of each other. The good news is that 6 of our bags will beat us there by 3 hours…
Due to our much later arrival into San Francisco, and given the time change, we WILL NOT be driving to Chico today. We have reserved rooms at the Hampton Inn at the San Francisco Airport where we’ll spend the night. After breakfast on Sunday morning, we’ll then trek to Chico.
As many are aware, the Park Fire is on the edge of Chico. We are staying on the other side of the city, and the winds have been spreading the fire away from our house and to the northeast. Irrespective, it has burned over 200,000 acres, destroyed hundreds of structures, and is traumatizing many of the people who are just recovering from the 2020 Camp Fire in the same area. Please keep them in your prayers.
We are monitoring the fires in the area and the safety of the Team is foremost to both our leaders and the Tiny Pine Foundation (the organization with whom we work). Our team has been asked to be prepared to pivot from doing construction work to assisting in relief efforts for those who have lost their homes and those who have had to evacuate their homes due to the Park Fire. Please keep the people impacted by the current fires in your prayers.
