April/May 2001 Online Publication

	return to table of contents	Golden Opportunities I want to thank all the WASFAA members who gave me the opportunity to serve as WASFAA Treasurer and President. It has allowed me to grow personally and professionally. I really recommend that you get involved with WASFAA, as it will benefit you and your institution. Traveling For WASFAA Traveling for WASFAA was another experience that I will never forget. My first state meeting to visit as WASFAA President was to my home state of Idaho. Since the Idaho state meeting was in the north and a full days drive from Pocatello, my staff and I decided to drive one of Idaho State University's Chevy Suburbans. This allows some of us to feel like kings-of-the-road and others to sleep in the back. The drive went well until we began crossing back into Idaho (the best route to northern Idaho from Pocatello is through Montana) over a fairly high pass. Mountain driving doesn't bother me much when I am driving, but when others are driving I tend to get a bit nervous. Well, one of my staff members was driving and as we reached the crest of the pass he decided that it was time to change his watch from Mountain to Pacific Time. This meant as we were heading down the mountain he was fumbling with his watch while navigating the switchbacks at 9000 feet. I had this mental image of us flying off the edge of the mountain screaming, "couldn't you have waited a bit to change your watch?" Well, we made it down the mountain and I was so thankful that IASFAA had a relaxing boat trip during the conference. The week after the Idaho meeting, I headed out for the Washington state meeting. I left the night before the conference and stayed by the Seattle Airport before driving up to Leavenworth. It was around 10:00 p.m. when I rolled into the hotel and there were several people checking in. I received my key and went to get my luggage. As I was strolling down the hallway to my room, I was behind a couple who, when they reached the end of the hallway, stopped and went into the room I had been assigned. I casually walked on to the end of hallway and re-checked my room number. Sure enough, it was the same room. I wasn't sure whether this was some west coast energy savings policy or a Seattle custom! Well, I went to the registration counter and explained this situation ...they immediately called the room and told the couple that they had just given a man a key to their room. I am pretty certain that this is not what the couple wanted to hear as they were preparing for bed! Well, the hotel did give me an upgraded room without any roommates. My trip to Alaska was right after the Washington conference ended. I flew up to Anchorage in the evening and arrived around 10:30 p.m. After a little searching for the hotel, I strolled up to the registration desk around 11:00 p.m. A young man was checking me in and in a monotone voice (as he stared into his monitor) he said, "welcome and enjoy the cold brews." I thought that this may be an Alaskan welcome and somewhere I would be able to enjoy a cold brew. Well, there were no cold brews in my room and I went to sleep with lager beer on my mind. The next morning when I checked out the new, chipper registration person said, "Did you get the beer that they left you?" "No, no I didn't," I regretfully replied. He then went to a room behind the registration area and brought back a six-pack of Alaskan Ale. Rick Weems and Peter Miller had been kind enough to leave me this gift. I was able to take the ale down to the resort where the state meeting was being held and enjoy their hospitality. My trip to the Arizona/Nevada state meeting would have made a good Twilight Zone plot . . . and not because I wore a bear costume at the meeting. It all started when I contacted the travel agency that WASFAA utilizes. The state meeting was being held at Laughlin, NV and I first asked to fly into Las Vegas. I planned to rent a car and drive over to Laughlin. The travel agent then told me that I could fly into Bullhead City, AZ and a shuttle could take me across the river to Laughlin. Of course, I would have to fly on a tiny jet out of Phoenix, but I am used to flying tiny turbo props out of Pocatello. So, I had them book this flight. My first clue that something was not quite right with this flight was when I couldn't find the gate in Phoenix for the flight to Bullhead City. No monitors showed any flight to Bullhead City. Finally, I just started asking America West representatives where to go and I finally made it to the gate. I asked them why Bullhead City wasn't listed and they said that it was listed under Laughlin! Well, this was just the beginning of my odyssey. The flight over to Bullhead City was quick and without problems, but the trip back was a completely different story. I arrived at the Bullhead City airport well before my 9:30 flight and was immediately told that my flight was canceled, as they did not have a crew for the plane. A flight crew is important and I wondered what could have happened to this two-person crew. They told me to wait a bit, and they would try to get the Lake Havasu flight to come over and pick us up. After about twenty minutes passed, they called us up to the counter to tell us that they had taxis waiting to take us to Kingman, AZ. We could catch the 10:20 Kingman flight to Phoenix if we hurried. I would have to re-schedule my flights, but I could make it home if I made this flight. We jumped into a taxi and headed to Kingman. I had two men in my taxi who basically complained all the way, the one whose profession was bulldozing kept telling us that his equipment could level many of the local mountains. The other man was a trucker who indicated that if he couldn't get a flight to just drop him off at a local truck stop. Well, I had calmed down my partners in this little trip by telling them that the flight out of Kingman would get us all to our homes. This would have worked, if there had been a plane in Kingman. I was the first of our crew to walk into the Kingman Airport. A lady was standing in the middle of the reception area waiting to greet us. I looked beyond her to the tarmac searching for a plane. Of course, my first question was "where is the plane?" She gave a big sigh and stated that they did not have a plane and wished someone would have called her at home before they sent us up to Kingman. I asked her if they had a crew, since there was a plane in Bullhead City and we could match them up. Well, the flight crew did arrive about 10 minutes later and we asked if we could head back to Bullhead City with the crew. Surprise, surprise the plane at Bullhead City was gone! The Kingman people were now showing up looking for a plane and we were getting a little crowd wondering how we were going to get out of western Arizona. The airline offered to reimburse one of us if we would rent a van and drive passengers to Las Vegas. With faith in this airline lost somewhere between Bullhead City and Kingman, nobody accepted their offer. Finally, the airline decided that they could pay for larger vans to taxi all of us to Lake Havasu City for their next flight to Phoenix. Lake Havasu City is almost two hours from Kingman and we all would have to re-schedule our flights upon arrival. Our now expanded group of eight people piled into the minivans and headed for Lake Havasu City. Our last question for the Kingman airport manager was, "Do they have a plane at Lake Havasu?" My first travel buddies were very quiet on this trip. They must have been resigned to whatever fate brought them. I talked with a lady who had interviewed with an Indian tribe in one of the Arizona canyons. Flight problems to Kingman had her going into the canyon on mule back instead of by helicopter! As we neared the Lake Havasu City airport we couldn't quite see the tarmac to tell if there was a plane waiting. Again, I was the first person in the airport and I met two people standing out in front of the counter waiting to greet us. Not a good sign! No plane was available. The new solution to our problem was to provide three large vans to transport the Bullhead City, Kingman, and Lake Havasu people to Phoenix. This is no short drive and it would be a challenge for any of us to get home once we arrived in Phoenix. At least we knew Phoenix would have planes! We jumped into a van and headed out to Phoenix after getting snacks and the tank filled. Only our trucker passenger gave up and was left at the Lake Havasu airport. The van driver did hustle us off to Phoenix, but a few miles from Phoenix he decided to do a quick stop at a rest area. It was okay with me as I had a later flight to Salt Lake City. Others had a much tighter connection which meant we would have to hurry. Hurry, we did! What the driver didn't know was that the interstate had just been shut down and we would be directed off right in the middle of downtown Phoenix. We then had to creep from stoplight to stoplight. You could feel the stress in the van as people kept checking their watches. We finally arrived at the airport and people flew out of the van like a covey of quail. Each was hoping that their flight had been delayed. I caught my flight to Salt Lake City and once there had to run to make my Pocatello connection. I arrived home to a quiet house with no family members visible. In searching the house I found my oldest son in his room. I asked, " Where are Mary and Thomas?" and he then told me "Mom had to take Thomas to the hospital emergency room." To be continued....
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