There are many Thanksgiving traditions and when it comes to local news, that means sending a reporter out to the airport to cover the chaos of this, the busiest travel day of the year. Images of traffic backed up for miles, packed concourses, long lines to check luggage and move through security, a close-up shot of the departure boards with weather cancellations... you know the drill.
I have to give the locals credit, they gave it the ole' college try.
After a brief in-studio intro with images of teeming masses of people at the airports back East, they threw it over to one of their reporters out at Meadows Field, the local airport.
There she stood, in a deserted concourse, framed against an empty security checkpoint, a lonely guard slowly pacing back and forth.
You could practically hear the crickets.
"It's quiet now" she said, stating the obvious. "Looks like everyone made their flights."
This is what happens when you have a shiny new airport and only four flights a day.
"But it was a much different story less than an hour ago. Let's roll the tape..."
And sure enough, they showed footage from earlier, the exact same security checkpoint inundated with passengers. Three of them.
Then they interviewed a woman who already looked exasperated.
"It's going to be a very long day" she sighed. "I have to make three connections."
Call it "Six Degrees of Bakersfield" - theoretically you can fly to anywhere in the world from Bakersfield, you'll just have to change planes six times to do it.
Which is why most people drive to get where they need to be. And which is what we'll be doing later this evening, making the three hour slog down to the OC to spend four, count 'em, FOUR glorious days away from this town. It'll mark our longest break from Bako since we moved here.
If that's not worth giving thanks for, I don't know what is.
