Trying to find a way out of Dallas

My first flight left the ground in Ontario, California at 1:05 in the morning. Two and a half hours later I landed at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where I was supposed to catch my connection to St. Louis less than 90 minutes later. At first, the delay looked like it would only be 30 minutes. There was a maintenance issue with the scheduled plane, but the airline quickly located a substitute. I boarded. I settled in. I put my phone on airplane mode and I tucked it away. The plane even pulled away from the gate. But then it returned. Another maintenance problem led to the flight cancellation and suddenly that 90 minutes turned into six hours. It turns out the flood of travelers trying to get to their Memorial Day weekend destinations coupled with the actual flood of rain pouring down on Texas had thrown a wrench into more than one SJIer’s travel schedule. The circumstances had even grounded one in Houston for another 24 hours. It was a shaky start to the week, but as Leon Carter would say (with booming emphasis), our class could use that sort of adversity. --  Katie Richcreek