Rain Delay

I wake to the sound of rain pummeling the window after roughly seven hours of sleep. I glimpse through the parted curtains of my dimly illuminated room at the trees whipping angrily under soggy, wind blown skies. Checking the time, I realize I have a few hours remaining before we will be alerted for our flight from the East Coast to Germany. I change into my running clothes, but I won’t venture out today. Luckily there’s a treadmill downstairs, which I normally abhor even in the rainy Pacific Northwest, but running in a nor’easter is not my kind of fun.

Afterwards, I don’t bother repacking for our pending alert. I know there’s no chance we’ll fly today. According to the Weather Channel, winds are gusting above 40 knots, well above my aircraft’s max allowable crosswind. About an hour or so after our expected alert, the command post informs us that we can expect to be alerted later tonight, if the weather improves. With a window of free time, we head out to dinner for Philly cheese steaks, then to the base commissary to buy in-flight meals in the chance we may actually fly tonight.

With a new forecast of winds persisting throughout the night, we are finally weather cancelled. There’s not much to do with our newfound freedom. Game five of the Series was pushed back yet another day due to the storm as well, and nobody really feels like heading out anywhere in this weather. We kill some time drinking beer and watching bad TV, but we soon all go to our own pursuits, stuck in this netherworld between home and families on one hand, and flying our mission on the other.

Perhaps tomorrow will bring clearer skies and fairer winds.