The Florida that Wasn't

Thanks Iowa! Well I know it is not your fault, or anyone elses for that matter, but it is always easy to place blame on Iowa. So I was planning on being in Orlando, Florida right now, haning out with a great friend of mine and her family. but plans changed, the weather shifted, and we ended up canceling the trip. To begin with, the planning for this trip was full of phone calls and unsure people. It went from 12 people wanting to go this fall and two vans, to six people and one van. Then from six people it went to four people and the loss to a van, then to three people in a one little Tender Foot. After about a billion phone calls in two days, we tried desperately to figure out how everything was going to work out. Then came the winter storm that hit Iowa and Illinois HARD! It started Tuesday night and continued well into the night on Wednesday. I have never checked the weather so many times or called transpertation departments as much as I did Monday through Wednesday. Iowa had gotten a foot of snow and the highways were completely covered with the white powdery stuff. On top of the snow, the wind was racing across the state, decreasing visibility to what you could see at an arms distance infront of your face. The decision was made Wednesday not to push it and to stay safe by not going to Florida.
I really wish we would had been able to go. I miss Rachel and it is always fun getting to hang out with friends' family and friends. I also feel bad for Ben. His surprise was extinguished (sorry Ben, my sources told me that she pretty much knew anyways) and he wasn't able to meet Rachel's family. I have learned how important this is for him, which made it even harder for me to tell him that I didn't think it was safe for us to go. On top of that, his boss graciously had given him an entire week off from driving bus and also had found a replacement for him. Now what was he going to do. I also feel sorry for Dan. His personality has really opened at TCX and I know this time would have been good for him. Also, he graduates in May and I don't know if he will have the oppurtunity to go to Rachel's in the future.
Rachel, I am so sorry about not being able to make it down there. I really felt bad that we kept flopping back and forth and back and forth on what was happening. I know the emotions were just flying up and down like a roller coaster. You had to prepare yourself and family for a huge group, then a smaller group, and even smaller group, no group, the small group, no group, the small group... I just feel horrible that none of the plans worked. I just wish that there would have been some way for us to get down there.