Most of us never bothered going to bed. By the time everything was sorted out it was very late and we worried about getting up late. Three of us packed into a car and went from Bowie to Silver Spring. We left the car there, got the fourth member of the group, and took an airport shuttle to Dulles. It was Scott's first time out of the country, so customs and being VERY early for a plane were new to him at the time.
We got on the plane a few minutes late, but mostly things were on time. Things were on time, that is, until we sat on the plane for nearly 2 hours. You see, the pilot of the plane came into the area on a flight to Regan National. Yeah. For those that know the area, that's a HUGE mistake. I really don't know what United was thinking, but oh well. We finally got into the air and were on our way, though!
We got as far as Ohio. Rah. The flight felt a bit odd to me. The pilot got on the intercom and confirmed that we were flying circles over Ohio (and later Indiana) because bad weather had come in over O'Hare. We ended up being sent to St. Louis (several hundred miles to the south) We sat there on the tarmac in the airplane and waited for the weather to clear. We couldn't get to the terminal because there were so many other airplanes waiting on the bad weather. We had power and working bathrooms and that was it. They finally let people off onto a courtesy bus, though they were all told that there were not any rental cars left. One guy was going to catch a connecting flight to St. Louis anyway, so he just hopped off there. (His bags in the cargo hold had to make the trip though)
We were finally let up to the terminal, but were told we had only 20 minutes because they were finally letting people come into Chicago. Now, by this time we had missed the flight to Japan long ago. Most of the places in the terminal were sold out of food. I seem to recall managing to get something, but I think I'm confusing trips. When we got to Chicago, United refused to admit any fault in it even though their pilot was so late. Jerks. The eventually gave us a few meal tickets. We stayed with some friends who lived in downtown Chicago.