Get Me There
How can you help? Two ways. Whatever clout you have with the universe—be it prayer, incantations, or just lots of positive mojo, please send it my way on the dates listed below. The other way—give something, yourself. It doesn't have to double. Pick an amount. A dollar. Ten dollars. Ten cents. And donate that amount to your favorite charity each time I get where I'm going. It might help. And it can't hurt.
| Date | Where I want to land | Status | Total |
| January 7th | Wichita, Kansas | Freezing rain was no match for the power of you awesome folks. | $2 |
| January 28th | Columbus, Ohio | Flight cancelled, but visit rescheduled (see below). I'm calling it a push. | $2 |
| February 16th | Chicago, Illinois | An uneventful trip, except for a slight glitch caused by Air Force One, and a speedy return, several hours ahead of the snow. Score one for the home team. | $4 |
| February 22nd | Detroit, Michigan | Light snow proved to be no problem. Even the snow predicted for the day of my return ended up as nothing more than a gentle rain. | $8 |
| March 2nd | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | The snowstorm of the year pounded Philly, but I was on the fringe and managed to fly out of Allentown on schedule. My crafty plan to go through Atlanta rather than Chicago almost backfired, since the storm came up from the south. | $16 |
| March 10th | Indianapolis, Indiana | Smooth sailing. The severe thunderstorm that was supposed to show up 1/2 hour before I landed decided to go elsewhere. | $32 |
| March 15th | Raleigh, North Carolina | A delay in my first flight wasn't enough to make me miss my connection. Better yet, after a great trip, I caught an early flight home and arrived at 7:30 PM rather than 11:30 PM. | $64 |
| March 25th | Charlotte, North Carolina | I had a direct flight. This always worries me because there's so much more chance for irony when things go wrong. Happily, they didn't go wrong until my return. | $128 |
| March 29th | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | An easy trip in both directions. | $256 |
| April 7th | Columbus, Ohio | No problem. That makes it nine for nine. | $512 |
Updates
More awesome donors of karma, cash, and moral support. Some Gory Details
Though my second flight was cancelled, the visit was rescheduled. So I'm keeping the hope alive that I'll make all 9 trips.
My return from Charlotte was a direct flight at 7:55 PM. I was at the airport at 4:30, since I went there right from the school. The flight was delayed. Then it was delayed until even later. Finally, I had them put me on the 8:00 to Philly, which got me on the 10:50 to Allentown, landing at 11:30. It turned out to be a good decision. The Charlotte flight finally got in at 12:40 AM.
Back to HOME
David Macinnis Gill, author of SOUL ENCHILADA, has generously volunteered to match my Second Harvest donation.
Carrie Jones, Kelly Fineman, Cynthia Lord, Jody Feldman, Allentown Morning Call columnist Bill White, who does the world's coolest fund raiser for the food bank and helped bring in enough donations for 114,000 meals last year.
Though my first trip went fine, despite ice storms, the return (which is not part of the charity deal) was not as smooth. It took me 23 hours to get home. The trip included 4 landings, three diverted flights, and a two-hour bus ride. But I made it. And none of the landings involved the Hudson River. So I can't complain.