The Volokh Conspiracy
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Two Supreme Court Roundups In Two Cities In One Day
Or, from one swamp to another swamp.
This morning, at 11:00 ET, I spoke at the "Scholars and Scribes" Supreme Court Roundup at the Heritage Foundation. And this evening, at 6:00 CT, I spoke at the Houston Federalist Society's Supreme Court Roundup. It has been some time since I did two events in two cities in the same day. (Back in 2012, I visited six airports in thirty-six hours.) Today's travel was not easy to execute.
The event at Heritage wrapped at 12:15. Approximately one minute later, I was in a waiting Uber, en route to Reagan National Airport. I placed the suitcase next to me to avoid having to waste time going to the trunk. Boarding for my flight began at 12:25, as I was crossing the Fourteenth Street Bridge. I arrived at the curb of Terminal 2 at 12:31. I made it through security and to my gate in about six minutes. I scanned my boarding pass at 12:38, just after they called my name before closing the boarding. I was in my seat by 12:40. I landed in Houston around 3:00, with plenty of time to spare before the evening event.
Why did I engage in this insane turnaround? As it turned out, today there were thunderstorms in both D.C. and Houston. (Summer travel is actually worse than winter travel, as airports can remain operational during snow, but not during lightning.) Looking at the radar, I realized there was a good chance that my original flight, which was slated to leave D.C. at 3 ET and land in Houston at 5 CT, would be delayed. So I called an audible and switched to the earlier flight. I would rather rush to the airport to try to catch the earlier flight. If I had missed it, I would just wait for the later flight.
As things turned out, my prediction was correct. My original flight would be delayed about two hours, and I would have missed most of the FedSoc event in Houston.
This may sound obsessive, but whenever I travel, I track the weather in both my departing and arriving city, and also keep an eye on all flights between those airports that day in case I can switch. I also track the inbound flights (that is, where my flight is coming from), and the weather in that city. And in rare cases, I will track the weather in the inbound's inbound city. I was recently flying from LaGuardia to Dulles, and by tracking three flights ahead, realized my late-night flight would likely get cancelled, so I switched to Amtrak and taxi'd to Penn Station. It is very, very rare that I am on a cancelled flight, in large part because I am proactive about getting off those flights. As Gary Leff from View from the Wing explains, inclement weather is like the Zombie Apocalypse--you have to keep moving.
You can watch the Scholars and Scribes event here:
