When Aspen Airport was so fogged in that our San Francisco-Aspen plane was unable to land, we were diverted to the Denver International Airport, about a four or five hour drive from Aspen. Arriving at 10:30 PM we stood in United Airlines "Customer Service Line" for almost two hours before being able to rebook another flight at 8:00 am, but discovering at the same time that there were no hotel rooms remaining in the Western United States for Friday, August 5th, 2016. However, if we could find a way to get to Poughkeepsie, NY, we were assured of a good night's rest.
United Airlines gifted us with totally useless $60 food vouchers, which, even if there were any restaurants open, would have only been able to serve microwaved omelets or deep-fried peaches.. So, at 12:30 am, having booked a flight to Aspen, and knowing that we had only to "hang out" at the airport for seven more hours or so, I took my leave of the refrigerated carpeted area where we had chosen to lie down, move away from the recorded voices urging us to report any suspicious activity, and began to see just what happens at an airport between the last flight of the night and the first flight of the day. Here it is:
12:30 am. Glass is squeegeed.
1:00 am. Chrome by the moving sidewalks is buffed.
1:30 UPS brings in stuff.
2:00 am. Carpets are cleaned.
2:30 am. Moving sidewalks get the Royal Treatment. The worker doesn't move.
3:00 am. Bathrooms are cleaned and vacuumed.
3:30 am. The USA Today arrives at bookstores and newsstands.
4:00 am. The last carpets in the departure lounges are cleaned, and the cans are all emptied.
4;30 am. The tile and marble floors are polished.
4:45 a.m. Dusting continues.
4:50 am. The shoe shine man begins reading.
4:55 am. The finishing touches on the recently refurbished and remanufactured Egg McMuffins are applied.
At 5:00 am the first Egg McMuffins were distributed, someone showed up to have his shoes shined, Caribou Coffee received the first of our $10 vouchers, and the buffers, squeegeers, the polishers, the bathroom cleaners, the trash emptiers, the deliverymen, and all the other faceless minorities (almost all Hispanics) disappeared so that both flights and Big Macs could resume under the veil of cleanliness and efficiency. As for us, we climbed aboard a tiny plane for a bumpy ride through clouds over the Rockies, and landed 25 minutes later, safe and exhausted.