The Heavy Smoke

Thursday July 30th, 2009

Today is my return flight back to Fairbanks, Alaska. The flight from Dullus airport is on 2:17PM. Because Yujuan is afraid of driving on the highway, I decide to use the 5A metrobus, just like the way I got back to DC one week ago. There is one bus at 11:09AM leaving the Rossyln metro station.

After eating some spring rolls Yujuan prepared for the breakfast, we drived to the bus station at around 10:30AM. The traffic was good and it only took us around 10 minutes to arrive at the Rossyln metro station.

Several people already waited there with a lot of luggages. It was pretty hot. So most people were standing in the shadow instead of sitting in the Sun light. After saying goodbye to Yujuan and Lisa, I joined the group waiting for the bus.

11:09AM passed, however, no bus showed up. People started being anxious. Eventually, one 5A bus came. It was an east bound bus. The driver told us there was a big accident on the I-66 and caused a huge traffic jam. After a while, another 5A bus arrived. It was east bound again. People started to losing patience and were afraid of missing their flights. One family left the bus station with a taxi. Another two young people, a man and a woman, left with a same taxi moments later.
Although I had enough margin, I started to worry about the bus as well. The next bus is due 11:49AM.

I called Yujuan and told her to drive the car to the bus stop in case the bus didn't show up. I told her to drive back home if she would not see me at bus stop when she arrived.
Around 12:00PM, the west-bound bus showed up. People started to food into the bus. The boarding took another 7 minutes because most people used cash and had to insert the bills into the money reader slowly. The bus was already half occupied even before we boarded. I was in the first several people who got on and was lucky to get a seat. The phone rang and it was Yujuan. She was just outside the bus and waving to me. Since I had enough margin, I let her drive back directly.

After all passengers got on the bus, the driver started driving to the airport. It took another 50 minutes to reach Dullus airport. I quickly got off the bus and rushed to the front deck to check in. There was no line and I spent only minute to get the boarding pass. The security line was short too. Therefore, I was at the gate around 1:15PM.

The flight was on time and I moved into my seat. One old lady was already sitting on the aisle seat. My seat was in the middle. After a while, one lady came and brought a dog case with her. There was no enough room underneath the window seat to put her dog, so the lady moved to the seat at the back and gave the seat to me.

The old lady at the aisle seat was pretty happy because both of us had pretty space now. We talked a lot during the flight. She told me she was going to attend a wedding of a relative at Minneapolis, which would take place on Saturday. She told me she was working for South Bell just next to Dullus airport for 30 years and now she lives near Ranoke.

The flight arrived at Minneapolis on time and I said goodbye to the old lady and wished her good luck. The flight to Fairbanks took off on time too. Because I got the seat next to the emergency door, I got onto the airplane quite early. The couple sat next to me were quite funny. I read the C++ book for a moment and then started sleeping.

During the flight, the captain indicated one large smoke, which looks like clouds, to us due to wild fire. I saw another one later. I didn't expect the smoke would give us some trouble at that time. Time quickly approached 8:00PM and then bad news arrived.

The captain told us that there was heavy smoke at Fairbanks and visibility was half mile at the airport. Because the Fairbanks was under developement, it was required to have at least three-mile visibility. So, the airplane had to be diverted to Anchorage airport.

It was very cloudy at Anchorage. But the landing was quite smooth. At first, the passengers were ready to get off the airplane. Yet the captain kept everyone on the airplane to wait for the final plane. At first, the captain told us that the airplane would head to Fairbanks soon and everyone applaued. Yet 20 minutes later, he told us that the original plan was not working because the condition at Fairbanks was not improving. Northwest airline cancelled the plan to fly to Fairbanks the same night and offered to fly to Fairbanks on second day moring at 11:00AM. However, the airline didn't provide any accomodations and food because they considered the cancellation was due to weather. Now, all passengers had to figure out the hotel and food on their own. (to be continued)