Thursday, November 24, 2005
Winter storms made roads icy in the Great Lakes area.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Millions of Americans hit the road or took to the sky Wednesday in the annual dash to someone else's house for Thanksgiving turkey, despite the prospect of traffic jams, snowy highways and crowded airports and train stations.
"It's like a hurricane," said Martha Bittencourt, 54, of Sao Paulo, Brazil, describing the Miami airport as she waited for a flight to visit friends in Tennessee.
People who were accustomed to the Miami airport, however, said it wasn't bad. The holiday rush also started out more smoothly than expected at many airports, including Boston, Denver, Dallas-Fort Worth and Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Despite some high wind in the Northeast and ground delays at New York's LaGuardia Airport, "everything's going relatively smoothly," said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Greg Martin. He said about 55,000 flights were scheduled Wednesday, 20 percent more than on a normal Wednesday.
Worse heading home
Those smooth operations will change when people head home again, said John Wallace, a spokesman at Bradley International Airport near Hartford.
"What we're seeing is a staggered effect on the front end," he said. "And then, on the back end, everybody's got to get back for the beginning of the school week and the work week."
The Air Transport Association predicted 21.7 million people would fly globally on U.S. airlines from Nov. 19 to Nov. 29, slightly more than last year's record number.
AAA said that more than 37 million people would travel at least 50 miles from home during the long holiday weekend, and that about 30.8 of them would travel by car. The association, citing a telephone survey, said the number of Thanksgiving travelers would be up 0.8 percent from last year.
It helped that gasoline prices in many areas had dropped to about what motorists were paying before Hurricane Katrina hit.
Wanzetta Dan said that after staying home for a month to save on gas money, she was glad to see lower prices along Interstate 35 as she began driving from Dallas to her mother's home in Oklahoma.
"That put a smile on my face," Dan said. "It's going to be better, because now the money I was going to be spending on gas, I can spend on gifts."
Great Lakes storm
Snowy and icy weather meant drivers in the Great Lakes area and northern New England had to be especially careful; hundreds of accidents were reported from Minnesota to Indiana to Maine. A winter storm warning in parts of Michigan forecast up to a foot of lake-effect snow and winds of more than 35 mph.
"It doesn't matter if you have a half-inch of snow, people can slide on it, the first snow of the year," said forecaster Bill Simpson in Taunton, Mass.
The snow caused no problems at Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports, which expected nearly 2 million passengers during the holiday weekend.
Fog was the culprit in Idaho, stranding travelers in Boise.
Elsewhere in the West, "it's just beautiful traveling weather," Nancy Daniels said during a break at a truck stop in Sterling, Colo., as she and her family drove to Minnesota for "a big ol' family reunion."
Texas dinner
In Crawford, Texas, President Bush is celebrating Thanksgiving in traditional American style -- turkey dinner with the family. Granted, it's a free-range turkey, and the family includes a former president.
Bush was spending a six-day holiday weekend at his Texas ranch.
Wife, Laura, and twin daughters Barbara and Jenna rode down on Air Force One Tuesday evening, and Jenna's boyfriend Henry Hager was spotted at her side as she exited the airplane. The twins also were celebrating their 24th birthday Friday.
The president and first lady disembarked carrying their Scottish terriers, Barney and Miss Beazley. An aide followed behind with a carrier holding the first cat, India.
Former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, were also on the guest list for today's dinner, along with Laura Bush's mother, Jenna Welch.
Besides the roasted free-range turkey, the menu included fresh-milled cornbread dressing, pan gravy, chipotle maple whipped sweet potatoes, roasted asparagus and red peppers, green beans supreme, fruit ambrosia, fresh yeast rolls and orange cranberry relish. Dessert was two kinds of pie -- Texas pecan and pumpkin.
Most turkeys sold in the United States are raised indoors. Free-range birds are allowed to roam outside.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals still doesn't approve of free-range turkeys, preferring that people instead adopt vegetarian lifestyles.
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