10,000 Lakes, Minnows and Hard Liquor

Husband is flying to Minneapolis and plane can't land because too much snow so gets re-routed to Duluth.

Minnesota-Canada-February-Snow. Couldn't'a seen that coming.

Wait in Duluth for hours because airport doesn't have the capacity to de-plane volume of people currently on aircraft.

Ultimately, one of the airline staff coughs up a mini van (probably his carpool day) and starts ferrying people to gate, 13 at a time.

No idea when flight will be back in the air.

Husband looks all over smartphone for rental car which is having surge pricing, and finally finds one that is reasonable and has economy two-door available.

Airport staff says. If you walk out of the gate to get the car you will not be allowed to return to this gate. We are not letting people back through security so please make sure you are confident in your decision to drive the rest of the way instead of waiting for the plane to be ready and flying with us.

Husband walks through doors.

First credit card declined.

Rental says. If your credit card gets declined again, you will not be able to rent a car today. Our policy is that if a client has two declinations (?) they can not rent in the US for 24 hours.

Second attempt passes.

Husband gets in car and starts to drive from Duluth to Minneapolis despite the snow and reduced visibility.

Car is slow.

Changes lanes.

Car still slow.

Calls Rental Company. Oh yes, they say, you are the third or fourth person today to call us with this problem. Apparently the sensors on some of our cars are not working today. They think every snowflake is a quickly approaching vehicle and they automatically slow down.

Rental says. You have two options:
1. You can pull over and wait for a tow truck who will tow you all the way to Minneapolis and should be there in 90 minutes.
2. You can keep driving. I'm sure it will be fine.

Husband (who is normally the lovechild of Super Dave Osborne and Evil Knievel) chooses this moment to exercise caution and pulls over to a truck stop.

He is looking for Red Bull, pretzel rods, maybe some roasted but not salted cashews.

He looks to the back of the store, and sees there are no pretzels but there are bins of minnows, swimming around waiting to be used as bait.

He reaches into the freezer and almost touches a lump of frozen larvae, also bait, selling for $20.

Snacks may not happen today but at least there are drinks.

Not so fast.

Where is the Red Bull? The Fresca? The Mountain Dew?

All have been replaced by rows of 40 proof alcool. Perfect for a side of the road pit stop.

Lessons Learned

1. Car rental company and airline should spend more time watching Weather Channel so they know what to expect in February.
2. Air travel between two snowbound locations in the dead of winter might have you wishing you brought your ice fishing gear.
3. As long as you get from point M to point M safely,  the journey can be part of the fun especially if you come across live fish in aisle 3.

What Happened In The End
Husband waited for tow truck for close to an hour, contemplated splitting a pizza with the clerk behind the counter and ultimately climbed back into rental car and (carefully) drove the rest of the way to Minneapolis where he spent a lovely and uneventful 24 hours before flying safely home.

Also on Worry List
Drinking, driving and ice fishing seem like a lethal combination. Hope everyone involved is using wisely and treading carefully.