Friday, February 29, 2008

Broncho Billy Park

Broncho Billy was an early cowboy movie star. There was a major film studio on Ainslie Street between Clark and Broadway then.



Friday, February 8, 2008

Midway Airport, 1:30am, February 5th


At least I got to sleep in my own bed. Midway was blanketed in fog, visibility 1/16th mile, so the airport was closed the morning of February 4th. My 1pm nonstop (arriving 2:30) from Sarasota was canceled, and Sarasota-Midway was booked for 2 days so I took a cab to Tampa, rebooked via a 6pm out of Atlanta to arrive at 7:30. The Captain vowed to wait for the fog to lift and he did, calling Midway every 30 minutes. Visibility had to get to 1 mile, or a 1/2 mile. It was like running a marathon, after a while the 30 minute wait between calls seemed like 5 minutes. I found it easy to just relax and wait.
When the pilot announced that we were going the reaction was oddly subdued. I was excited, though. After a smooth flight we landed just after 1am. On the A concourse, just by the food court, some 50 cots were set up, more than half occupied, most people asleep, a few sitting up. I glanced at the flight status board. Nearly all of the flights between 6am and 9am had been canceled, presumably for lack of aircraft.