East-coast bound!
- Our ride to the east coast tomorrow – a C5. An F14 can fit inside! (Courtesy USAF)
All signs are looking good for a ride to the east coast tomorrow! 17 seats have been released so I hope there aren’t too many competing passengers or at least that we’re aged enough to get seats for the boys and I. Dave is taking off just a couple hours after us for DC. If it all goes well, this will be an amazing answer to prayer for a flight east. It was really not looking good and then today this flight popped up for tomorrow. Whew! Gail and Bill have graciously offered to drop everything and come collect us from the tarmac and let us stay with them for a couple days, then we’ll head down to DC to see Dave and hopefully tour around a bit. Then back up to NY together for the wedding, and then somehow get back home. Hoping to get stranded in CA on the way back so I can see a bunch of family and friends. Wish us luck!
UPDATE: Well, the crew must be happy that a repair necessitated another day in paradise, so we got bumped to tomorrow. If that flight doesn’t plan out, there are now thankfully some other options. At the moment, I don’t know if I’m taking an o-dark-thirty flight through St Louis and Langley to Andrews (MD), taking the C5 to NY, going through Miramar (CA) then Whidbey (WA) to Norfolk, or lastly taking a flight through LA to Chicago to Oceana (VA Beach). So I am planning for contingencies in four airfields: taxis (are they 24 hr? can they get on base or do I have to call Security Forces to get them sponsored on?), is there lodging? a shuttle to lodging? is there room at the inn anyway? if not, can I pitch my tent? or take taxi off base to a nearby hotel? I have rental car phone #s, a 24 hr diner (in NY there isn’t much near the airfield and the loadmaster literally takes me from the plane to the main gate!). A free flight is a whole lot of work when traveling and planning on behalf of my two boys. Poor Ben has been a real pill today – he’s got a cold and he’s just been loud loud loud, demanding, climbing, like so nuts that we are beginning to wonder if he has a problem other than being a bit precocious with his terrible twos – which I don’t really believe in but may begin to with him. Ahhh…having the second half of my beer and reading a manuscript which I had to somehow find room for in my luggage. I have over a ream of paper in athe boys’ carry-on bag for me to read through whenever opportunity presents. I packed for the smallest possible plane we’d take – a C37 (the General’s jet, and one that carries members of Congress and other VIPs). You get 50lbs total per person – carry on included. Please say a few prayers that this all comes together and that I haven’t pulled out all my hair by the time we get to the wedding over 10 days from now. Dave took off this evening for Washington DC. I was really sad saying goodbye to him. Nice to get a chance to miss him every now and then. I had to explain that to Sam – he asked as teary mommy drove away “Mom, what is wrong with you? … Why do you miss Daddy so much? … Why do you love him so much?”
Oh the adventures of Alli…You’re so great at blogging them. It will be a great flight(s) just make sure you are taking care of your needs. We too are on a flight, to Guam this time. Ronnie will be there this weekend and we are excited! We’ll maybe just me since the kids don’t have a concept of time yet. Here I am up at 3:30am wanting to hop on a plane already and it’s only Tuesday. There are flights pretty much everyday to Andersen AFB. I just want to make sure we make it in time. I’ll just be prepared…a tent sounds good for Guam, nice weather. You still on for Thanksgiving in Japan? Thats when we’ll be going. Bon Voyage and Love and Prayers for a safe happy trip with your lil angel boys. See you when you get back. Aloha Oe’.
We are actually in NJ! Like a groundhog, even I never know where I’ll pop up 🙂 Grateful for a good, but long (12 hr) flight. Redirected to McGuire after circling Stewart for 2 hrs. Poor Gail – she rousted quickly to come get us 2 hrs away after calling air ops and finding out we were due in an hour early, then waited two hours while we circled, then never even got to see us! She is such a trooper – when I called from McGuire, she was already on her way home and laughing about it all. Gail – thank you so so so much! When I texted my dad at the crack of dawn, his cellphone made a signal he’d not heard before and wasn’t even sure it was his cell. Thankfully, he looked at it and found a pop-up text message asking for a pick-up from a base near him. Only thing is, not having ever been “texted” I guess, he had no clue how to answer, but he rescued the us 3 waifs and he and Grammie have graciously provided room and board earlier than they anticipated. We feasted on meatloaf, mashed potatoes and veggies followed by pie and ice cream!
Boys did great, but didn’t sleep much. I am wiped. Off to bed at 8:17 pm local. Mom – please fill in the funny stories I shared but can’t remember now – you are so good at that!
What a saga! Ben with a cold, Sam with a cough guaranteed to wake Ben up from his “way-too-short” sleep. Neither boy slept concurrently leaving Alli “on point” for 12 hours in the air — yes, you heard right, 12 hours. She fed the kids from her cache of nibbles while savoring the anticipation of landing in Newburgh, NY and being met by her stalwart and kind in-laws who must have left Long Island around 1 AM for the two hour drive.
Picture 2 exhausted rascals and one wiped-out entertainment center (Alli) heading in to two hours of circling above the airport thanks to fog! Of course, no one knows how many hours they’ll circle, so every minute is laden with expectation.
What I want to know is: what was Gail doing all this time? Hanging around a base from 5-7 AM, maybe a few games of Hearts? What EXACTLY did you say/think when you knew the kids suddenly were switched to landing in NJ? Maybe I don’t wanna know!
btw, as the hours dragged on, Ben amused himself some of the time by grabbing Alli’s headlamp which was dangling nice’n handy from her neck. She tried to doze as he played around and squirmed. I picture him amusing everyone by randomly selecting his targets for the headlamp.
I can’t wait for Alli’s personal tale to be blogged, because I was laughing all thru OSH as it all gushed thru my cellphone from Alli who was downright exhausted. Do tell more, Alli!!