Look...now with photos!

Today was supposed to be an easy trip. One turn. Easy. It's VFR. Easy. Bleh.

I had an 11:15 report time. My daughter wasn't feeling the best so we kept her out of daycare. My wife went to work early in order to get off early. How early? She woke up at 4AM. Yeah.

My wife met me at the terminal at 11:05AM. We made the swap and then I headed inside. Signed in and off for snack for the trip.

My initial gate was number 56. Then it changed to gate 59. Then it changed to gate 61...all in less than 15 minutes. Reason? Plane swaps.

The initial plane was at gate 56. We would have been on time. But then the plane at gate 59 broke and they were already late. They gave the crew at gate 59 our plane at gate 56. They then gave us the plane at gate 59 with a delay. I guess they realized it would be a while and instead assigned us the plane coming in to gate 61.

We were due out at 12:00PM. The inbound was due in at 11:49AM. Yeah so much for easy.

Finally onboard at 12:10PM. Problem...the cap for the potable water connection is missing....water is dripping out. Mechanic called.

Finally blocked out at 12:39PM with 11 passengers on board. We had an hour sit at the outstation scheduled. Most of that was gone.

My leg. Lots of turbulence in the area. So bad we descended from FL370 to FL290 to find smooth air. Thankfully we were tankering an extra 3500 pounds of fuel and were able to fly that much lower. Every now and then the dispatcher runs the numbers to see if it's cheaper to tanker fuel (take more than needed) than it would be to buy it at the outstation. For most airlines fuel is always cheaper in the Hub.

The outstation is in close proximity to a few mountains...I call them mountains...maybe they are just hills. Made for nice scenery.

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Decent landing. Blocked in 26 minutes late.

Twenty minutes later (it seemed like much longer) and we were being pushed back for the return flight with just 30 people on board. We actually blocked out 16 minutes early.

Turbulence again at FL280 for the return. Descended to FL260. Thankfully the dispatcher planned for us to fly low so fuel wasn't an issue.

Busy at the hub. Assigned 22R initially. On about a 2 mile final tower asked if we could take 22L so a 747 could depart on 22R. Fine with us....except for the 737 taking the runway on 22L.

Cleared to land. Descending through 500 feet the 737 just started rolling. The 737 rotated just as we crossed the threshold. Close.

Landed 24 minutes early. Then it happened. Congestion on the ramp. Yadda ,yadda, yadda, blocked in 8 minutes late. Since we left early I went over block. All in I went 24 minutes over block time...not too bad on overtime.

Tomorrow I go back for another turn...hope it's easier.