Made it Home
Southwest actually tried very hard and this time succeeded in getting us home. We arrived at the airport quite early, and asked to be put on the standby list for the plane going out at 5:05. This was 4:50 when we did this. 5:00 they called us and said we were on the flight, which was wonderful and saved a lot of angst and grief.
Southwest was having systemwide problems because Houston had bad weather, making it tough for planes to get in and out of there, and most of the northeast was having ice storms. Most of their Manchester flights originate from Houston, except for a few from Tampa. Tampa's weather was good, so I had phoned many hours prior to ask whether we could be put on the 5:05 and was told to forget it, as it was full.
Apparently, all of the Manchester people going to BWI were so totally messed up in the ice that hoards of them cancelled their flights. Almost ALL flights to BWI were very delayed, and the gate people were scrambling to get us out as best they could. They packed about 25 standbys on our flight, which was fabulous since we all got home. My 6:40 flight actually left Manchester at 8:30, arriving at BWI at 9:40, which would have meant that Wes didn't get to bed until perhaps 11pm which would have made him very cranky indeed.
So, kudos to Southwest for a job well done. Kudos to Wes for being chauffeur. Kudos to Grunny for finally letting us visit. And all was well in the house of insanity.