Captain Scott Matthews is California Wing's answer to Kevin Smith. His seminal works, the 1999 California Wing Encampment video and his more recent encampment commercials (click here and here) have been featured here on CadetStuff previously. This year, Scott has been tapped by National Headquarters to travel to each National Cadet Special Activity this summer and document the events for future advertising and promotional use. CadetStuff equipped Scott with a CadetStuff t-shirt (literally the 2nd t-shirt off the presses!) and asked him to send us updates as he journeys across the country. Each week, his travelogue will be serialized here in as many parts as is required.

07/01/01 - Enroute to Cadet Officer School, Maxwell AFB

I arrive at the airport to find a huge line waiting at curb check-in for Southwest airlines, which is not good because the flight leaves in 40 minutes.

Finally the baggage is checked in, all except my laptop and the camera as I don’t feel comfortable with the electronics going in a soft case.

15 minutes till boarding time when, lo and behold, the power goes out at the airport! This of course turns off the metal detectors, meaning no one can go through to get on the planes. People start freaking out, and soon a police officer shows up to tell us that there is another security checkpoint at a different end of the airport. Everybody charges over there to get through (I arrive at the gate wearing my belt around my neck).

I wait in the new line of the latecomers to get boarding tickets and go directly onto the plane. I say the last goodbyes to my wife and down the ramp I go. Only to find the flight attendant telling people that there is no room for carry-ons, and that I will have to check in the camera. Ugh.

No choice, so I tell them it holds very expensive equipment, and because I do so in a not threatening manner (unlike the furious other people who don’t want to check anything in), they're nice about it. The flight attendant walks the camera equipment down and hands it to the baggage loader personally. Whew.

After an hour layover in Las Vegas, I get to Birmingham, AL. Guess what doesn’t get there? You got it: my luggage.

The camera equipment did make it, however, since it was manually loaded on the plane. Seems the power outage stopped the luggage from going on the conveyors and making it to the plane in time for departure.

So I fill out my missing luggage form and head off to COS to arrive just in time to film some volleyball, then I go to sleep.

Scott