CUTLINES:

Micklewright

Johnson

Weissenberger

Palmer

Davis

Schrope

NADEP travelers relate their own odysseys getting home following terrorist attacks

By Bill Bartkus

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, Naval Air Depot North Island employees, who were on travel to Patuxent River, Md., and Jacksonville and Orlando, Fla., were left stranded and unable to fly back to San Diego when air travel across America was suspended for several days.

On their own, the travelers found alternate means of transportation and returned safely to the NADEP. For some it was an odyssey; for others, the return trip was simply a matter of renting a vehicle and driving cross-country to San Diego. Only one of eight travelers was able to fly back from the East Coast, and her return trip was an adventure unto itself just trying to leave Pax River.

The day before the terrorists struck in New York City and Washington, D.C., Cmdr. Alan Micklewright, NADEP NI director of Product Management, and Lt. Cmdr. Doug Lucka, on the staff of Commander, Naval Air Force Pacific, flew a sold S-3 Viking back to Sea Control Squadron 22 in Jacksonville, Fla., with a refueling stop in Oklahoma City. “We landed in Florida around 10 p.m.,” Micklewright said, “and we were to fly back commercially the following day. When we heard about the terrorists’ attacks and all air travel being suspended for at least a day, we decided that our best course of action was to rent a vehicle and drive back to San Diego.” They made the proverbial pit stops along the way and took turns driving and sleeping. “Some 36 hours after we left Florida we were home in San Diego,” Micklewright said. “We didn’t encounter any problems.”

For Debbie Johnson, the trip home was a piece of cake but only after she managed to buy a map. Johnson, Code 7.2.1.1, was in Orlando, Fla., for a customer relations management seminar. She was scheduled to leave for San Diego that Thursday morning at 8 a.m. She had received reassurances from Personnel Support Detachment and the airline that she had no cause to worry. “I would certainly be able to fly on my scheduled flight,” she said. NOT!!!!!

Her flight was cancelled by 4:30 p.m. Wednesday which left her in a quandary. She decided to rent a car and drive back to San Diego. “After exchanging my vehicle for one that I could take out of the state, I went to a book store for a travel map,” Johnson said. This proved to be a lesson in futility.

“The store had one map book on the shelf, and I tried desperately to convince the clerk that I didn’t care if the map book didn’t have any software. I didn’t realize that the book came with software!” She finally convinced the clerk to sell her a ‘defective’ product at a discount and both would win.

She left her hotel at 1 o’clock in the morning in search of the Florida Turnpike, which turned out to be an odyssey in itself. “Not being used to the state’s highway system,” she said, “I had difficulty finding the correct route. Finally, an hour later I was on the right road and heading to San Diego. I later found out that there were three of us heading home: me, myself and I.”

They depended on the radio to keep them company. “We agreed with each opinion offered by politicians and local callers along the way. As the sun rose in San Diego, my family would call me on the cell phone to check on my safety and status,” Johnson said.

“I stopped in a small town in Texas between Houston and San Antonio and spent the night. At 2 a.m. I was on my way to San Diego,” she said.

“Me and myself never said a word so I had to carry the conversation. Also, I was left to drive the entire 2,470 miles back to San Diego. In spite of America’s situation, we enjoyed the scenery and made it safely home after 37 ½ hours of driving,” she said. Johnson learned three valuable lessons: check with the rental car agency to be sure the vehicle can be taken out of the state, always carry a map with you, and know your limitations.

Linda Weissenberger and Reny Endozo, both Code 4.8.8.3, Sylvia Buhay, Code 4.1.1.0.4, and Tony Richie, Code 3.1.4.4, met that Wednesday afternoon and decided together that they needed a way to get back to San Diego. “We decided to meet in Crystal City (in the Washington, D.C. area) because between us we had three rental cars. We turned in the cars, rented a minivan and left around 8 p.m. on Thursday morning,” said Weissenberger.

They drove past the damaged Pentagon and headed for Route 70 West. “Every time we approached a major city, we would get on our cell phones (two of them had phones) and start calling airlines and Amtrak to see if there was any way out of that city. As we neared each city, we evaluated whether or not we would wait for a plane or a train,” she said. When they reached St. Louis, they managed to get a flight out but they were five hours early. “It was in the dead of night, it was too late to stay somewhere to get a good night’s rest, and we weren’t getting a warm feeling that we would actually take off from St. Louis. So, we decided to continue driving as we would be further along in those five hours,” she said.

“We had another flight out in Tulsa (Okla.) but we ended up driving through Tulsa and arrived in Albuquerque (N.M.) around 3 p.m. Friday afternoon.” They turned in their vehicle and got a flight out that was supposed to leave at 7:30 p.m. But because the FAA was holding up connectors in Detroit and St. Louis, their flight didn’t take off until 11:50 p.m. (MT), and they arrived safely in San Diego at midnight (PDT). “By flying back from New Mexico, we estimated that we saved about 12 to 14 hours’ driving time,” Weissenberger said.

Weissenberger said that Richie and Endozo did most of the driving. She and Buhay drove for about four hours each. They stopped for two meals a day and gas.

Walt Palmer, Code 6.F, could probably write a book about his return experience. He was in Pax River for a conference. Shortly after the terrorist attacks, the base was secured and he wasn’t sure about his best options to return to the West Coast. On Sept. 13, he returned to Washington, D.C., “to be close to multiple modes of transportation. I spent most of the day on the phone trying to arrange transportation back. Reagan National Airport was closed indefinitely (it reopened on Oct. 4 on a limited basis) and Washington’s Dulles International wasn’t going to start operating again until Sept. 15, but this was rather shaky,” he said. “The earliest Amtrak travel I could book wasn’t until Sept. 21 (10 days after the attack), so I opted to catch the bus and head west.”

On Sept. 14, he took a cab to Springfield, Va., for the bus ride home. “I got to the Springfield Bus Station and discovered that it wasn’t any larger than my office,” Palmer quipped. “I bought a one-way ticket from a 19-year-old agent who knew nothing or cared less about U.S. government fares. The ticket cost $167 and the bus line didn’t take reservations. If the bus comes (his was more than one hour late), and if there is a seat available, you leave. Otherwise, you sit and wait for the next bus.”

It took the bus seven hours to leave Virginia. “We stopped at every wide spot in the road to pick up or drop off passengers,” Palmer said. The bus made its first major stop in Charlotte, N.C. “The station reminded me of the cantina scene in “Star Wars”. My trip confirmed my suspicions that bus stations are located in the most isolated areas of towns.” His trip included two bus changes and 11 drivers. “The driver who took over in Charlotte had to be wakened up at his hotel room because he overslept, and he got lost trying to find the highway out of town.”

Some 35 stops and 60 hours later, Palmer arrived in San Diego. “I was thankful to be home, and tired of trying to sleep sitting up. And I’m not in any hurry to ever ride the bus again,” he said.

Palmer has some advice for would-be bus travelers. Take a book because magazines, newspapers and books aren’t sold in bus stations. Take a pillow or cushion to help ease the discomfort of sitting for long periods of time. Watch the driver during stops because when it’s time to leave following a rest or food break, the driver boards the bus, closes the door and drives off. He doesn’t count empty seats or honk the horn. “He just drives away,” Palmer said.

Pretend to be sleeping in your seat and have a jacket or pillow on the seat next to you when people board or reboard the bus. “This way, you’ll have two seats to yourself if you’re lucky,” he said. Don’t use a palm pilot on the bus. “Most of the other passengers don’t know what it is, and their curiosity becomes a bit unnerving.”

Finally, when the bus stops in Vicksburg, Miss., and someone gets on the bus with a basket of ham and cheese sandwiches and sweet buns to sell, “go ahead and spend the $3. It may be the best meal you’ve had in the last 24 hours.”

Margarita Davis, Code 6.8.1, was the only NADEP traveler who flew back to the West Coast. “Since all aviation was suspended, a number of us working for NAVAIR on the West Coast were left stranded in Pax River where we were attending a conference,” she said. “We were all having problems making arrangements to leave, and NAVAIR stepped in and tried to organize military flights out of the area. The command succeeded, and after delays and changes, the West Coast team learned that we would leave on Sunday, five days after the tragedy.”

Davis had a rental car, and the company insisted that she return the car to the same place where she rented it, which was in Crystal City. “This created a problem for me because the plane was departing from Pax River,” she said. “I gave the car keys to the NAVAIR Safety officer who agreed to return the car for me.” She flew back aboard a C-130 and wore her earplugs for the eight-hour ride. The aircraft landed in China Lake, Calif., where her husband met her and drove her home some four days after she was to have left Washington, D.C. From China Lake, the plane went on to Point Mugu, Calif., carrying the other passengers who were left stranded in Pax River.

James Schrope, Code 4.8.8.3, was in Orlando, Fla., at Lockheed Martin for two weeks of training. The terrorist attack occurred the second Tuesday that he was there. “I was due to come back Thursday night, and I was to be in a wedding party Friday night. All flights from Orlando were cancelled on Thursday, and I actually reserved a flight on Friday morning,” he said. “So I knew that I could make my friend’s wedding.” Another NOT!!!!!

“Unfortunately, a hurricane was heading towards Orlando and expected to hit the city on Friday and all flights were cancelled, Schrope said. “At this point I realized that I wasn’t going to made the wedding. I turned on the TV and discovered that all connecting flights in Dallas were being held up. People were staying there for one or two nights, and I didn’t want to do that.”

He thought that this would be a good time to see the South, so he took the rental car he had and plotted a three-day trip across country. “The first night I stayed in Vicksburg, Miss. The second night I stayed just outside El Paso, Texas, and on the third day I drove home and pulled in about 7 p.m. on Sunday night.” He said that he drove for about 38 hours.

His rental car had unlimited miles; hence, he could drive it anywhere. “When I returned it to the company on Sunday night, the agent gave me a ‘high five’ and said, ‘OK. All the way from Florida.’”

Schrope mentioned that he was glad he plotted his trip using maps he located on the computer. “I tried unsuccessfully to buy a U.S. route map along my way. All the maps I saw were for the local area, which didn’t do me any good,” he said.