Planes, trains, and automobiles...

I've traveled a significant amount for work, but nothing beats the trip from hell to Phoenix for the 2015 Commodity Classic. 

We did great until we tried to get home. That's when things got crazy.

Planes

We knew a winter storm was going to be an issue, but apparently DFW didn't get memo. We got a message on Saturday afternoon that our flight out of Phoenix at 7:20 a.m. on Sunday morning was cancelled. No worries. Cancellations happen, especially with the weather issues that others had been having. This wasn't a news flash.

We called the airline to see what our options were and got the message that there was a heavy call volume and that they appreciated our patience. We were patient for five hours. That's right. Five. Hours. Five. When we finally got through to a customer service agent she was over it. 

She tried to offer us a 6:10 a.m. flight out of Phoenix.

"Wait, how can the 6:10 a.m. be still on time, but the 7:20 a.m. be cancelled?"

"Weather issues," she answered. "They have weather in Dallas."

"Yeah, we know that, but the 6:10 is going to the same place, so how is it still operating?"

"I don't know, but it is showing an on-time departure."

We knew better. "What do you have available?"

"With four of you all I can do is 6:10, so I can cancel it and refund you $450 per ticket."

That refund was more than half of the ticket price. That was a deal, so we took it and decided to see what else we could come up with. We were on the phone about an hour with the agent trying to get the refund processed and while that was happening I was looking for alternative airline options. The best we could do was Wednesday.

"We can't wait that long. How about the train?"

Trains

We decided that we could do that train. It departed from Flagstaff on Monday morning at 5:41 a.m. and arrived in Dodge City at 12:12 a.m. on Tuesday morning. This would work. It would be a long trip, but it would work.

All four of us could ride the train for $440 and I had secured a hotel for $39 per night. This was actually saving us some money! 

This part of the trip needs an entire blog, so check back tomorrow. 

Automobiles

We made arrangements to pick up a rental for Sunday to make the drive north to Flagstaff and we were even going to go drive up to the Grand Canyon because we're that close we have to see it.

The drive north was great until we got up the mountain. That's when we started to see some snow. A lot of snow. However, it wasn't sticking to anything - so we felt like it was still OK. The closer we got to Flagstaff the more snow fell.

When we arrived in Flagstaff our crew of four had to make a Wal-Mart run. I had to buy sweatpants and a warmer shirt because I'm the genius that forgot my coat in the car...in Dodge City. We also bought some train snacks and a few other necessities before we headed over to grab lunch before checking into the hotel.

One of our group decided to stay back at the hotel and three of us decided to take the rental and head up to the Grand Canyon. It was about a 90 minute drive, and it was really kind of pretty. We pulled into the Grand Canyon National Park entrance in what had turned into a full blown snowstorm.

"There is no visibility," the gal at the gate said, "we're just letting people know that." 

It's the Grand Canyon. We have to be able to see something!

We were wrong.

This was it.

We took our ticket and made our way up to the lookout point. She wasn't lying. There was nodda. But, we laughed about it. Got snowed on, took a few pics and headed back to Flagstaff for the night. We were right there at one of the seven wonders of the world and we didn't even see it's majestic beauty. Hilarious. 

We arrived back at the hotel and the rental had to go back to the airport. Two of us went to take the car, and the other two hit the sheets. It was going to be an early morning. I laid down at 9:30 and got a call from Amtrak. The train was delayed due to a derailment in California. Wonderful.

Not only that, but the taxi service in Flagstaff was very backed up and our duo at the airport was sitting. Waiting. I texted a couple cab company numbers to them and they did finally get picked up while I was on the phone with Amtrak customer service trying to decipher when our train would be taking off.

She told me it wouldn't be sooner than 8 a.m. So we made our plans to get down to the station at 7:30 a.m., and leave it up to fate to get us out of the Southwest.

The entire trip resembled a John Hughes film.