JJL Meet up in Chicago

JJL Meet up in Chicago, originally uploaded by shersteve.

After delays getting off the ground and headed to Chicago via Southwest, I did arrive and achieve what I went for: The JJL Meet up. Everything else at SOBCon is gravy.

The delays out of Providence were not Southwest's fault. Mother Nature played a major role in that with some nasty storms rolling through the Midwest that kept quite a few planes grounded until the weather cleared. Then when everyone tried to leave at the same time, the Air Traffic Control system hit capacity and we waited for a slot.

The Southwest crew did a remarkable job keeping us informed and aware of what was going on. The pilot then did an excellent job of getting us into Midway in one piece. The approach was one of the shiftiest, slipping and sliding in the wind that I have seen on a plane. It was good to get my two feet on the ground.

The photo montage here shows the approach into Chicago's Loop via the CTA Orange Line. The Sears Tower was so far away and then gradually grew in impressiveness as we got closer.

The Britannica Building is an interesting site today. It must have been glorious in its day. wikipedia has far out surpassed the information and capability of providing updates to the records, I wonder how long they'll last.

Finally, the JJL Meet up: Phil Gerbyshak, Joanna Young, Terry Starbucker, and myself. A wonderful experience to meet them all in person and "take the blog off the blog".

Honk Honk!