Heat wave in Chicago; Lightning in Lincoln

The last few days of my trip have been pretty rough. The heat wave of the summer set into the east, and with the humidity levels, a temperature of 95 degrees Fahrenheit felt like 105 degrees (apparently that is called a heat index).

We really felt that on Friday! I had a delay in the Chicago that only lasted about an hour on our lovely CRJ 200 aircraft, which has a tendency to be hotter than hell until we take off and the air flow starts properly moving. I had passengers complaining about possibly passing out and being claustrophobic. I really wanted to say, "Yes, I completely understand, ma'am. I'm on this plane too, in fact I have been for the past four flights. TRY EXPERIENCING THIS ALL DAY! I FEEL LIKE CRAWLING OUT OF MY SKIN!" But no, I said politely, "I'm so sorry for these horrible conditions. This type of aircraft tends to have restricted airflow on idle, but we are taxiing to the gate as quickly as we can."

I've been praying for a day where I finally feel cooler. And here we are, day four, I have plans to pick up my brother and his wife when I get home and drive down to my parents' house. It's never good to make plans in this job; you'll just end up disappointed. I wake up in Lincoln to booming thunder (no wonder, I kept waking up) and flashes of lightning at 4 am. On the bright side, I had to be to my van at 5:30 am, so here I am at the airport, three hours of sleep, waiting for this lightning to finally clear, so we can board our flight and leave. The ramps close when there is lightning within five miles, and the conditions aren't improving anytime soon.

I have two hours leeway between my landing time and commuting flight, so I'm praying it won't be longer than that.