May 13, Day 4, From Fargo to Winnipeg: God’s Traveling Mercies Abound

When Patrise and I travel, we often pray for “traveling mercies,” asking God to keep us safe as we move abroad. However, today’s journey from Fargo to Winnipeg was a testament to the fact that traveling mercies often in forms other than our physical safety; we just have to be open to seeing when they occur. Let us recount this day’s experiences, and you will see what we mean.

Traveling from Fargo to Winnipeg was not a direct flight opportunity. Instead, we had to fly from Fargo back to Minneapolis, and then from Minneapolis to Winnipeg. However, before heading to the airport, we began the day with an errand and then breakfast at a local establishment. The errand? We found a nearby FedEx shipping site to pack and ship our souvenirs back home. Given the strict weight limits under which we are traveling, we really could not afford to pack the souvenirs in our current luggage. Most likely they would have pushed us over the limit – especially my luggage – and result in a hefty fine. Cheaper to ship them from Fargo, which is what we did.

From there, we took the breakfast place recommendation of the shipping employee who assisted us and headed to Randy’s University Diner. (There is also a Randy’s Diner Too, but we went for the original.) Yes, it is a typical diner, and yes it was local, but yes, it was very good food. Here are some pics of us being there and pics of the diner’s interior and exterior. After, Randy’s we went to Hector International Airport for our flight to Minneapolis. We turned in our rental car, checked in our luggage, got through security, then made our way to the gate, to await our flight.

(Randy's Diner interior view, Doug & Patrise at breakfast, Randy's Diner exterior view.)

We boarded the flight and then learn that our flight would be delayed; the ground crew was unable to close a luggage compartment door on the outside of the plane. They had to wait for an off-site repairman to get to the airport to fix it. Meanwhile, everyone is being subjected to a screaming 3-yr-old child who refuses to sit in his seat. No matter what his father says to try to induce him to do so, the child is screaming at the top of his lungs. Eventually, his father gives up and hands the child to his mother across the aisle, so he can sit in her lap. We’re still waiting for the side door to be fixed. It does get fixed, the child has to go back to his seat next to his father – not without vigorous protest – the plane pushes back from the gate. Then we wait. The pilot alerts us to the fact that in Minneapolis, there is a temporary ground stop for some reason, and we are not being allowed to takeoff until it is cleared.

Mind you: we know that if we land on time (2:13pm), we only have an hour (3:15pm) before the plane for Winnipeg takes off. We will have to go from the A3 gate to the C8 gate and the Minneapolis airport – not a short distance from one to the other mind you. Shortly, the ground stop is lifted, and we take off, some 20-25 minutes late. Naturally, the pilot apologies, and says she will try to make up some time in the air. The 3-yr-old has ceased its loud tantrum. Thank you, Jesus!

We land hard in Minneapolis, and as the plane is taxiing to its gate (A3), we are looking at the physical distance from A3 to our C8 gate. Needless to say, we are having some trepidation about what it will take to make the distance from one gate to the other. We remind ourselves that it’s in God’s hands and if we miss the flight, it is not the end of the world. We manage to be the first two passengers to emerge off the plane and as we are looking around for the directions to our next gate, Patrise sees a Delta agent holding a phone which has our names on it. We approach him and his says, follow me, I am going to drive you over to your plane. WHAT??!!! OMG, how wonderful is that. Thank you God, thank you Kurt (the driver). At this point, we had less than 25 minutes before the plane was to leave: and remember, the plane door closes 15 minutes before the flight pushes back from the gate. In essence, we really only had ten minutes, but Kurt eased all of our worries. He could not guarantee that the luggage would make it from one flight to the other, but he was confident that this would be the case. He drives us over to the new plane on the tarmack, and leads us up some outside steps to enter the plane.

Kurt, the hero driver!

As soon as we get to our seats, Patrise goes to use the plane’s bathroom. I sit there for about two minutes and then I realize, I LEFT MY CPAP MACHINE ON THE LAST PLANE!@#$%!!??@@$$!! How could I have been so careless? I realize sitting there is not going to help my cause. As hopeless as it may seem, I get up and approach the airline attendant. I explain the situation and ask her if it is possible to call the gate agent where we landed to see if the CPAP can be retrieved. She does not know, but she asks the pilot. God bless him, rather than brushing it off, he immediately jumps up and says “I will walk you to the gate agent here, to have them call back to the other gate.”

We walk up to the ramp, explain the situation. The gate agent (C8) calls over to the gate at A3. YES! They have the CPAP at the gate, but they cannot leave and bring it over. The pilot then says, I’ll go get it. YOU WILL?!! Really?!! Sure, I will run over and get it. He was a young man, and I guess he was in good shape. He took off and I was directed to go back to my seat. By this time, Patrise has returned to her seat, and I explain to her what has happened. She looks at me with a large degree of incredulity. She declares this has become a recent pattern with me: lost a phone on our 2022 RV trip; lost my passport on our 2023 New Zealand-Australia trip; and now leaving my CPAP machine on this 2025 North Dakota-Canada trip. Left, but not lost, at least. Maybe that’s some kind of progress?

We wait anxiously, but the young pilot eventually returns with my machine, a big smile on his face. We express thanks again and again and again. This was Delta at its finest. This was God’s traveling mercies at their greatest. Kurt (the driver) and Kaden (the pilot) are two heroes in my story today.

Kaden, the hero pilot!

Our plane takes off. We have a different 3-yr-old screaming at the top of her lungs that she doesn’t want to sit in her seat. (Where do they get these kids, and why does it seem they always have parents who want to bargain with them or cajole them into good behavior?) This one screams at a much louder decibel level and for so much longer than the kid on the first flight. It’s wonder she even had a voice left. At any rate, she goes on until we are about ten minutes into the flight. She eventually quiets down and remains quiet for the remainder of the flight because she finally cried/screamed herself into exhaustion and fell asleep. God’s traveling mercy.

We land in Winnipeg, make our way through Immigration and Customs with no issues. Our driver, Ben, meets us as we exit into the main terminal area. We load up in the car and are carried leisurely to our hotel. Ben is a lifelong Winnipeg resident and points out interesting features and shares facts and figures about the city’s history, demographics, population, industry and such.

We arrive at the Fairmont with no more drama. We get checked in. Patrise asks for a recommendation to a nice French restaurant. We head to our room, Tony taking our luggage. We get set up in this very nice, two-room suite. Then, she proposes we head out to eat; the restaurant, the Peasant Cookery, is a pleasant 8-minute walk away. We made our way there, observing the buildings and people along the way. We are seated, after some light bantering, James takes our order. We have a wonderful dinner, then walk back to the hotel for the remainder of the evening.

Here are some pictures of The Peasant Cookery, our food, and a few scenes of Winnipeg I was able to get to and from the hotel.

God’s traveling mercies come in all sorts of forms, not the least of which is our physical safety. Often, though, there are so many other small ways, in which God’s grace shows up.