I love Las Vegas.

On July 19, 2006, a friend and I were headed west to play poker.  The World Series of Poker had started and there were going to be good games everywhere.  We had been counting down the days.

This was going to be my second time flying anywhere.  First trip west of Kansas City, Missouri.

Our flight was originally scheduled for 6:00pm.  We checked the board when we arrived around 4 and watched as it changed to 7pm due to delay.  Another hour, the agony.

We got through security and camp out by our gate.

The weirdness begins.

It started snowing in the terminal. Large blobs of what I’m pretty sure was insulation, came pouring out of every vent in the terminal.  It was insane.  No one had any clue what was going on and it lasted for like 10 minutes.

The windows in the terminal began flexing violently. Being a curious dumbass, I walked over to the windows and looked onto the runway to see sheets of debris flying around.

All the flights immediately get pushed back 2 hours. I go looking for an open outlet to charge my laptop and continue playing minesweeper.

“Get the fuck out!  Everyone, get to the fucking concourse.” says Mr. Clean’s twin brother, who happens to be a security guard at Lambert Airport.  I was confused at first.  Apparently, everyone else got the idea and took off sprinting out of the terminal. I walked, calmly and slowly.  I assumed there was a tornado nearby and how could I know if I was running away from it or towards it.  The only way Mr. Clean could have handled this situation worse would be to add “We’re all going to die!” to the end of his orders.  Somebody needs to revisit their orientation videos.

No power, no lights, 100 degrees fahrenheit. And everyone in the world is currently clueless and sweating. 480,000+ St. Louis area residents are without power.  Insanity ensues at Busch Stadium.  Apparently, this was a derecho series, which in my infinite meteorological ignorance, I haven’t even ever heard of.

Around 9pm, the first wave of the storm had passed and they started calling flights one at a time, through security to continue on.

LAX.

Denver.

Las Vegas!

Wow.  It was going to actually happen.  We survived ridiculousness and now we can move on.  My friend shows his boarding pass and ID to the TSA agent holding a flashlight in the still darkened concourse, he moves on to the screening area.  I handed her my pass and ID…

Son of a bitch! Some dude with a radio tried to ruin everything.  “What did you just call for?  Vegas? No. Send them all back. No.”, he tells the TSA girl before she handed my card and pass back to me.

We waited another 45 minutes before someone says over a megaphone, “Flight to Las Vegas… your flight has been canceled. Come back tomorrow and get your bags.  Our conveyor belts are down”.  Everyone from our flight goes insane, temporarily.

I have no car (we got dropped off at the airport).

All the hotels nearby are without power.

All the traffic lights in St Louis are flashing or off.

Wee!

It was really a scene from an apocalyptic movie.

We call American Airlines to reschedule our flight as soon as possible, my cell phone dies while on hold.  Another passenger who finished talking to an AA agent on a pay phone  passes that agent currently on the line to us.

The next flight to Vegas isn’t for 2 days. And it’s full.

Wait.

“Sir, your flight tonight hasn’t been cancelled”.

“Yes, yes it has. They announced it over the PA here an hour ago.  It’s canceled”.

“I’m sorry sir, but I’m seeing here that you flight is leaving at 11:15″, the customer service rep. tells us at 11:05.

We run from one end of the airport to the other.  Wade through a sea of a few hundred passengers. Get through security. Run down the terminal.

Our sold out flight to Vegas has approximately 30 passengers.

In-flight movie (Take the Lead) with complementary headset for our troubles.

Perfect.