story10457.xml
Title
story10457.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2004-02-27
911DA Story: Story
We are a group of fourteen friends, we all went to high school together in Chicago, in the 50's. Every two years we get together in the early fall, to reconnect and enjoy each other's company. In 2001, we planned a special trip to celebrate our 60th birthdays. After two years of discussion and planning we settled on Newport, RI as the place for our "mini-reunion". With the exception of four of us, most of our group live in and around the Chicago area. I live in Las Vegas, so flew into Chicago, and left with the group for Providence, RI. In PRoovidence we rented two big vans, and drove to Newport. We had rented three condos..a good time was had by all..until Tuesday 9/11/01, the morning we were scheduled to check out and fly back to the midwest. As a rule, we rarely turn on the TV during these get togethers..there is just too much to say and do. But for some reason I did turn on the Today show that morning, in one of the bedroooms. I then fogot about the TV, and left the room to help get ready for our checkout time of 10 am. After checking out, we had planned a day of shopping, and a long farewell lunch before returning to Providense for our 6 pm flight.
Someone came into the kitchen were we were cleaning up and said: "Turn on the TV, a plane has just crashed into the World Trade Center". We watched in disbelieving horror, as another plance hit the huge tower. All had the same feeling that a bad movie needed to be turned off. WE quickly realized we were not going anywhere by plane that day. But we checked out by 10 am, and all fourteen descended on a small TV in the Condo Clubhouse. We took turns calling our families, to let them know where we where, and that we were ok, and watched the terror unfold. We held a meeting where it became apparent that approximately one half of us wanted to stay put, and the rest...well I personally felt that we should get in the vans and start driving inland. So seven of us left by 3 pm and drove north through Rhode Island and then upper New York State, before turning west toward Chicago. At that time we were not at all sure of what we might come across, we expected bridge closings et. Indeed, all roads leading to NYC were shut down. It was of course a beautiful sunny afternoon. As we drove through small RI towns, we saw many flags already at half-staff. Blood mobiles were set up in church parking lots, and town squares. Signs aking us to : "Pray for Peace" were evident in the small picture book towns we drove through. All this within just a few hours since the first strike on the WTC. We stopped for the night at a town on the New York boarder, Port Jarvis. The motel just off the highway, was jammed with travelers, it was a mess, phones were not working, or the lines were jammed, credit card machines and ATM's were not in operation. We were surprised at the ferocity of the attitudes of the people we met there; most wanted to simply "nuke the baastards".
We checked into two rooms, and watched the TV in disbelief as the horror was replayed over and over.
We left early Wednesday morning, and again headed toward Chicago. At every restraunt, and rest stop we heard stories of the general flight from the east coast, and New York City in particular. One woman at a Pennsylvania rest stop, showed me the new Jeep Cheroke, she bought the day before in NYC, as there were no cars left to rent. Those of us in the rented van repeated over and over;"thank God we rented these vans". The rest of our group left Newport on Wednesday, they included members from Tennessee, and Indiana, who were dropped off at bus stations along the way. The rental car company was terrific, they did not charge us for the extra miles we drove the vans. It was a long worrysome trip, we listened to NPR, read newspapers, and longed to be home. We considered how lucky we were, as New York City had been mentioned early on as one of or "choices" for the location of this reunion. I was the last of the group to get home. I was on one of the first flights out of Midway airport on Saturday, and arrived home in Las Vegas that night.
God Bless America,
Margaret Panke Solomon
Someone came into the kitchen were we were cleaning up and said: "Turn on the TV, a plane has just crashed into the World Trade Center". We watched in disbelieving horror, as another plance hit the huge tower. All had the same feeling that a bad movie needed to be turned off. WE quickly realized we were not going anywhere by plane that day. But we checked out by 10 am, and all fourteen descended on a small TV in the Condo Clubhouse. We took turns calling our families, to let them know where we where, and that we were ok, and watched the terror unfold. We held a meeting where it became apparent that approximately one half of us wanted to stay put, and the rest...well I personally felt that we should get in the vans and start driving inland. So seven of us left by 3 pm and drove north through Rhode Island and then upper New York State, before turning west toward Chicago. At that time we were not at all sure of what we might come across, we expected bridge closings et. Indeed, all roads leading to NYC were shut down. It was of course a beautiful sunny afternoon. As we drove through small RI towns, we saw many flags already at half-staff. Blood mobiles were set up in church parking lots, and town squares. Signs aking us to : "Pray for Peace" were evident in the small picture book towns we drove through. All this within just a few hours since the first strike on the WTC. We stopped for the night at a town on the New York boarder, Port Jarvis. The motel just off the highway, was jammed with travelers, it was a mess, phones were not working, or the lines were jammed, credit card machines and ATM's were not in operation. We were surprised at the ferocity of the attitudes of the people we met there; most wanted to simply "nuke the baastards".
We checked into two rooms, and watched the TV in disbelief as the horror was replayed over and over.
We left early Wednesday morning, and again headed toward Chicago. At every restraunt, and rest stop we heard stories of the general flight from the east coast, and New York City in particular. One woman at a Pennsylvania rest stop, showed me the new Jeep Cheroke, she bought the day before in NYC, as there were no cars left to rent. Those of us in the rented van repeated over and over;"thank God we rented these vans". The rest of our group left Newport on Wednesday, they included members from Tennessee, and Indiana, who were dropped off at bus stations along the way. The rental car company was terrific, they did not charge us for the extra miles we drove the vans. It was a long worrysome trip, we listened to NPR, read newspapers, and longed to be home. We considered how lucky we were, as New York City had been mentioned early on as one of or "choices" for the location of this reunion. I was the last of the group to get home. I was on one of the first flights out of Midway airport on Saturday, and arrived home in Las Vegas that night.
God Bless America,
Margaret Panke Solomon
Collection
Citation
“story10457.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 9, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/5036.