Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Travels With Howard

A Day on The Road with Dean: "Life on the road has its ups and downs, and that phrase can be taken literally on most days. There are times that the Governor and I could be on as many as three or four flights a day, spending more time in the air than on the ground. But then there are days like Tuesday in Philadelphia where we spent all day on the ground.

The day was going smoothly enough, and plans were set for us to leave Philly at 3:05 on our way to Columbia, SC for an afternoon rally until we got the bad news from the office: our flight was delayed about an hour due to weather conditions.

We went to the airport hoping for the best, but the best turned out to be another few added delays which pushed our flight back to 5:30 p.m. Our rally in South Carolina was supposed to start at 6!

As the delays mounted and we realized we couldn't get to Columbia, we started to turn our attention to going straight to New Orleans, our next destination. That too, was a problem. Flights up and down the eastern seaboard were being cancelled and delayed. It seemed as though everyone who lived on the east coast was at the airport. The Gov. and I spent a total of five hours sitting at B13 waiting for our flight to New Orleans to take off. You know you're at an airport too long when airline workers at the check-in counter are calling you by your first name.

Undaunted, we carried on. We read the papers, the Governor made phone calls, we chatted with folks at the gate. A nice guy bought the Gov. a smoothie. The flight at the gate next to us -- the flight to Burlington, VT. -- was also cancelled, so we had some admirers who recognized the Gov. instantly. I even met a pilot who taught me all about how planes stay in the air without colliding with one another."-from the post on the new DNC website by Fred Baldassaro.

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