They both conspired to delay a LaGrange woman’s reunion with her Marine Corps husband, who just finished a five-month deployment in Afghanistan.
First Lt. Brian Darracott was supposed to take a flight home on April 12 from a military base in neighboring Kyrgyzstan, but it was closed because of the civil unrest there.
Darracott, 25, then traveled to Kuwait, but the volcanic ash caused another delay because his plane had been scheduled to make a pit stop in Germany.
“He’s supposed to be home (Wednesday night), but his plans have changed seven times from the original schedule,” said his wife, Sarah Schanche Darracott, 24, an emergency room nurse at West Georgia Medical Center. “I’m not completely holding on to this time frame yet.”
She finally learned Thursday that her husband was in Madrid, Spain, and was headed to the United States. He arrived at his home base at Cherry Point, N.C., before dawn today.
Sarah Darracott took a month off from work to spend time with her husband, including a few days in Miami.
The couple have been married for a little more than a year, and both graduated from LaGrange College.
Beatles tour helps stranded travelers pass time until flight
They hadn’t planned on quite so much sightseeing.
Gary Pike, president of the LaGrange Amateur Radio Club, and his 16-year-old son, Collin, flew to Manchester, England, on April 9 and were supposed to have returned on Monday. But their flights have been repeatedly canceled because of the ash from Iceland’s volcano.
“We were bored stiff and drove to Liverpool,” where they visited the boyhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Pike said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
If he has to stay in England much longer, he may apply for dual citizenship, Pike said jokingly.
“Every day, we get told it’ll be the next day,” he said. “It’s the same ol’, same ol’.”
Pike was hoping to get a flight out today, but “the reality is we’re probably looking at Saturday,” if not next week, he said.
“I’ll be happy to get back,” he said. “We’re running out of things to do while we’re stuck here.”
Pike, who often travels to England, and his son went on a National Trust tour of historic places, and visited the Isle of Man and Portmeirion, Wales.
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