unknownfate

Ok. Beginning at the beginning, I left Barrow Tuesday at 10am-ish.

Flew to Anchorage. Sat next to a sweet old man, knocking back mini bottles of Jack with his coffee. Him, not me. Bought new earphones at the ANC airport. They’s nice.

Then, flew to Seattle. Going over the Anchorage mountains (I have a picture somewhere) it was turbulent. So much so that I had a hand clamped over my mouth to be sure I didn’t throw up. Which never happens to me. I’ve got an iron stomach! Or used to. Nah, I’m blaming it on the bouncy plane.

Got to Seattle. Even though the cats were checked all the way to Cinncinnati, I got nervous and sought out a staff member to double check. She assured me that I would get them in Cinncinnati and then disappeared. There didn’t seem to be anybody working in the whole Seattle airport except for one poor guy at the Runway Grill trying to explain that they were out of fries, they only had hashbrowns and me trying not to growl at him because I didn’t want fries, I wanted ice. ICE! For my wa-ter bo-ttle! Which I shook it at him. Poor guy.

Time to board, and a woman I recognized as a previous savior in one of my Christmas misadventures told me that I should’ve picked up the cats because they were still waiting in baggage and weren’t being transferred to the new airline. I squacked and showed my baggage tickets that clearly said Cinncinnati and I pointed at the information desk where the deceitful specter had lied to me, and the dear, angelic lady fixed it. Fixed it all up. I coulda kissed her.

On to Cinncinnati! Not much to report there. I was a little dazed from sleep deprivation by then, but I made the stewardesses check to be sure the cats were on. They were. I love you Seattle/Delta lady. MWAH!

On to Denver. Itty bitty plane. Teensy tiny. I felt like Godzilla lumbering to my seat. Feeling kinda queasy from no sleep, but managed to snag a dr pepper before boarding, so that helped. By then, I was also sick of sitting. My back and butt were sore. But once we got to Denver we couldn’t get out because nobody there could figure out how to work the walkway thing. Seriously. We sat there for half an hour waiting on people whose mechanical prowess we trust our lives to to figure out how to work a fucking ladder. I work with children so I’ve trained myself to do the vast majority of my swearing internally and the inside of my head was a blue streak. Especially when my connecting flight’s boarding time came and went.

Finally, something clicked and OH!! The stairs go by the DOOR!! And we got to deplane and I had to jog a mile or so to get to the next terminal (none of my connecting flights ever occur in the same terminal. Their only connection is me.) Luckily I have no control over the souls of others because everyone between Gate N3 and C15 was soundly (mentally) damned as they meandered happily in my way, tripping me with their roll-behind carry-ons and stopping directly in front of me to fix their ponytails.

But I made it. Got on an even smaller plane to go to Roanoke. By then, I was fairly certain my tailbone was broken. There was no other reason it would hurt so bad to sit in a chair. Every time I moved, it stabbed. Owies. But I got there Wednesday afternoon.

And then, no rental cars. At all five stations. Not a one, which explained why none of the reservations I made online ever confirmed. So I sat right down and thankfully there was free Wi-Fi there so I could go to Priceline (Honey!) and find a new car rental, which I did. The cats arrived, adding another Hallelejuh to the mix. I got a cab to the new rental, rented a Ford Focus from a guy who looked a lot like close kin of David Tennant and was on my way again! Bwaha!

But then I missed an exit and had to double back. And then I got shaky from not eating and stopped for food, but when I stopped for gas a few miles later, I had no wallet. So I went BACK to the food store and THEY didn’t have it, so I was all in a panic and the cats had now been in a carrier for well over 24 hours and I was freaking out for their sake, as well as for my own, starved, exhausted, where the hell am I, what road am I even on?? Self.

So I declared my nerves shot and went home without gas. Luckily, the wallet was under the passenger seat. How that happened, I have no idea, but I’m grateful just the same. Losing that would’ve been the last straw, I think.

But, I made it to the mountain with both cats and my wallet and my pretty new ipod was waiting for me when I got here. So pretty! And it has a geeky engraving. And I don't think my tailbone is broken after all. Airplane bathrooms aren't designed to let you check for bruising, but there doesn't seem to be any. So tomorrow I have to return the rental car and then I can kick back for a little bit before classes start.

I made it! Woo!

It was awesome out today.

I went for a walk through the field. It was so warm and green out in the open. There was purple clover and orange butterflies all over the place. When I got close to the woods, I thought I could hear water, but it was wind in the trees. Stepping into the woods comes with a whoosh of cool breeze. In there, it was cool and green.

I was on the lookout for snakes, but my usual method of making as much noise as possible in the underbrush is still working. I did however flush three deer. It's fawn season so I scouted around to see if there were any little Bambis hiding in the tall grass. If there were, they were hidden pretty well because I couldn't find any. Alas. I did see one from the car the other day and it was so cute. All legs and ears and a confused expression.

I took some pictures which I'll post later.