Sunday- The Journey Continues...

     It only counts if you spend the night, right? Now,I can say we've stayed in Minnesota. #campoutattheairport After landing in Minnesota-St. Paul airport we found out there were no Delta discount hotels left in the city. They did make available to us some foam mattresses and overnight kits. I slept on the floor of the TGI Fridays under a table.the rest of the crew camped out just over the wall. In case you are wondering the overnight announcement for the airport tram at MSP is ”the tram is now closed. Please use the moving sidewalk.” every five minutes.

Jacob on his mat

My lovely abode for the evening

After a phone call to Delta we now have 5 on the first flight, I'm on the 2nd, and Betsy and Kevin are on the 3rd.  We are still hoping to get all of us at least in the air by the 11:25 flight. Just this morning two seats opened up and I was able to get Jake and Mickie on the early flight from the last flight.
   (some time passed)      As I was waiting at the gate for the 11:25 flight Betsy took Kevin to ride the tram, mail some postcards, and walk around the for a little while before sitting down to wait. I also found out he got on the moving sidewalk on his own, which he had been reluctant to do when the whole group was walking through the airport. As we got ready to board a group came up at the last minute to board. Betsy read one of their shirts and realized it was christian band, Big Daddy Weave. It was the gate attendants first week on the job and she was totally overwhelmed by the subsequent overbooked flights as a result of the bad weather from Saturday. Since there were eight with BDW and they wouldn't split up that opened up a few more seats. I went on the plane and told Betsy to text me if they weren't going to make it. As I was getting settled I overheard the guy behind me talking to his travel companion. As I listened I thought I recognized the voice. After visiting bebenorman.com my suspicions were confirmed. Bebo is a great guy and a DAWG fan. I didn't realize he was from Columbus, GA.
     Betsy and Kevin were the beneficiaries of BDW not getting on the flight but not before getting a picture with them!  So, all three of us got on the 2nd flight and it was looking promising that we would actually make it to church. As it turned out with the last minute changes on the flights we were short one bag. Chip's bag with Betsy's name on it did not arrive with the rest of us. Since we were going to far away for them to drive it to us it would have taken until Tuesday to get the bag. I didn't trust that even that would happen with as little address information as we had for the church.  We decided to go eat a late lunch and retrieve the bag before heading on to Bridger. Unfortunately, that meant we missed church. We went to the Firehouse Brewing Company at the recommendation of the gas station attendant. And guess who we saw? Bebo Norman! When we finally got to the church and got settled in Kevin and Chip led church for us (sorry, no picture available).
     We had several hours of light left so we assessed the situation of the projects that were requested. We decided on the ones we felt we could accomplish. We plan to start checking things off the list tomorrow. I'm looking forward to a great night sleep and a fresh stay tomorrow. Enjoy these scenic shots of the Cheyenne River Valley, our home for the week.

South Dakota, an epic beginning

This next series of blogs will chronicle FBC Augusta's first trip to South Dakota. We are going to work with the Lakota people on the Cheyenne River Reservation. Participants are Joy, Chip, and Chiles Fiske, Mickie Blackburn, Betsy and Kevin Thompson, Jacob Seale, and myself. I hope you enjoy our story.  Pictures will be added upon our return.

     The people mover from the Master's Transport Ministry of Providence BC was a big hit. Or team of 8 got to rest, relax, and chill all the way to Atlanta.

Jacob and Chiles riding to Atlanta in style

The rest of the crew enjoying a Master's Transportation Ministry ride to Atlanta

Little did we know how much we would need that! We got checked in with no issues and I was able to get all of the tickets with me under my card so we did not have to pay any baggage fees. That was the end of the good news for a while. Our flight was delayed so we switched our flight to the earlier flight which was now delayed to a departure earlier than our flight was delayed, but will still allow us to make our connection in Minneapolis to Rapid City,SD. Make sense? Great! Let's continue... After we got confirmed for the second flight its departure time was pushed back twice before we could turn around.

Kevin's first airplane ride (ATL to MSP)

It became clear very quickly that we would not be making it to South Dakota on Day 1 of our trip :(. Multiple delays, 3 gates, and 2 concourses later we were headed for Minneapolis. In the midst of the last gate change I had gone to the Delta help desk to work on our flights for the Sunday. On concourse A the line was about 100 deep! On concourse B it was only about 50 deep. Finally, at concourse C, where the help desk is half way down the concourse, I walked right up to the counter. After a 30 minute minute ordeal I secured three people on the first flight, one on the second, and for on the third flights out Sunday. All the passengers on the later flights are confirmed while also on stand by for the earlier flights. We have options for other flights and itineraries through Salt Lake City or O'Hare. We will explore those at MSP when we land before retiring for the night at a discounted hotel near the airport. Joy has a friend in the airline business that will be checking availability on US Air and United while we are in the air tonight.
     All of our team had been very flexible in all of the changes throughout the day. Joy contacted Byron Buffalo, pastor of the Bridger church, to let him know we would not be their tonight. I got in touch with the travel agent and told her the same. She made contact with the rental car company to let them know of our change in circumstances as well. It's got to get better tomorrow, right?