A Near Miss

...but we're still in Ramstein.

Made the 1255 roll call for the flight to Charleston, but didn't make the initial cut. They were showing 30 seats available and there was a long pause after they called the first 30 names while the selectees were being processed. Turned out that there were 4 no-shows, so they called out 4 more names, two of whom were us,  and so we thought we were on our way. Got processed thru, checked the bags, claimed our boarding passes and boarded the bus to take us out to the airplane. As we approached the A/C I noted that it was a McChord based C-17...so thoughts of just staying with it and continuing on to Washington state after we finished our business in Charleston were dancing thru my head, when we were informed that because of some late-arriving priority cargo they could now take only 7 pax instead of the promised 30. So...23 disappointed people had to reclaim their bags and reverse the process we'd just completed. No more flights for the day either - everything for BWI and Dover was cancelled due to the storm on the east coast. Such is the nature (and the adventure) of Space-A travel.

So...here we sit for one more day. The good news is that we got to keep our room in the General Cannon hotel on base, and if you have to wait it out somewhere this is as good a place as any. The Cannon is Ramstein's Distinguished Visitor hotel...for active duty and retired O-6's and above. We're in a very nice suite, and they serve a great continental breakfast in the wardroom every morning. Plus, we have access to an on-demand shuttle bus that will pretty much take us anywhere on base we care to go, so life really isn't too bad at all.

They're showing 3 flights to the USA tomorrow - all around midday - so we can even sleep in a little before starting out fresh in the morning.