Feel Like Complaining

When we landed in Anchorage it was 10:30 pm. Everyone took off in different directions. A few of them had brought some frozen crab and had to pick it up. At this point, I couldn't give a flip about their crab. Barb and I went to find her checked bag, which never showed. One of the hosts called me and left a message saying to get our boarding passes for the next day and meet them at the baggage claim. We were just there, they weren't there. We were all so tired and chasing this bag around did not help. I finally called back and asked where they were. We had got our stuff at Penair and they were at Alaska. I lost it. When we found them I yelled at them for leaving us. Damn it, why was it so hard to travel as a group and get things done faster. It was like wrangling kittens, they were running around all willy nilly. They looked at me like I had slipped a cog. They all kept insisting that Barb's bag was here somewhere, like we hadn't been to every place we were sent to. Fin...

Desperate People, Desperate Times All of us were up early again , loaded our crap in the back of the van again , and headed to the airport. There we sat for hours waiting for some kind of word. Didn't look good, more cancellations and the airport was filling up. It's only one large room, separated by a chain door to the ticket counter. The natives were getting restless as well as the crazy white people from Washington state. We were told it could be two or three days before we could leave. For others, it had been weeks, depending on where they were going. People were out of clothes, I was out of bp medicine and I sure could have used some by then. The airport said it would update us at 2:00, then 2:30, then 3:00, then 4:00. That's what was so hard, the severe highs and lows of the whole situation. After breakfast at the airport we were so bored we actually went to Safeway to walk around. Seriously people there is nothing to do there. 'The Others' had already b...

Before he left us the previous night, Keith said he would pick us up at 8:00 am to go to the boat. He told us that maybe we could go out but it all depened on whether Discovery needed more footage or not. If they did, we would go. If not we would stay docked. We checked out because that was our day to leave and were waiting in the lobby with our luggage waiting for Keith. He didn't show up so Steve, the other MC host took us to the boat about 8:30, it was still dark out. I mean pitch black dark. It was pouring so hard, so miserable. We had our coats on and our little paper bags with our hats and tshirts from the night before. The crew would sign them for us we were told.  Roger and I in the rainy darkness The way the boats are tied up are one boat is at the dock and others are stacked next to them. Monte greeted us and we had to walk a long grated walkway and through the belly of one large boat to reach Keith's. Basically you are crawling across the railings which is t...

Even that title doesn't sum it up. Because that was just the beginning of The Horribly Sucky Trip to Dutch. Excitement filled the air as we arrived at the airport in plenty of time. Finally our travel mates showed up, both named William. We liked them immediately and before we even boarded the plane we were calling them 'The Bills'. They were sitting right behind us on the plane and we were joking around; then we heard the news. There was a problem with the fuel gauge and they needed to transfer fuel from one tank to the other, which they could only do with us off the plane. They said it would only take 15-20 minutes and we would all make our connecting flights. I never saw people move so damn slow in my life. We were told to leave our carry-ons as it would be quicker. Fifteen minutes turned into nearly an hour and after we finally arrived in Seattle and literally ran to our gate to our connecting flight to Anchorage, it was too late. Screwed. We could have taken the ne...

Early this spring I wrote about a woman who was killed on a favorite walking trail by the river. She was walking her dog and lived right across the street but was getting ready to move because she didn't feel safe. Right before she died she described her attacker as a 'black man with a bad eye'. As I said then, it was a pretty specific description and hopefully it wouldn't take long to find him. After her death other reports of attacks came in but they didn't get their break until recently. A woman was attacked recently but her screams were heard by a nearby worker. He called 911 and then started chasing him. The man jumped in the river but was pulled out by the police. He has now confessed to that attack as well as murdering the woman this spring. He gave a very detailed description of the days' events and is now being held on a one million dollar bond. Witnesses had seen a man with his description running from the trail into an apartment building on the da...

For those of you that may remember or have been following my 365 Days Of Passing It On , I have finished my project. For someone that doesn't stick with anything very long, out of boredom; I'm very happy and proud that I accomplished this. Some days were challenging or repetitive and other days I felt like I wasn't doing enough, but overall I'm glad I did it. I estimate I gave the family about $1050.00 over this past year. Wow, that really adds up! I hope it helped with some expenses or even something for the other kids. I wrote a letter to the family as my last act of kindness and it's posted over there if you want to take a look. *Remember I'm leaving on the 9th and won't be able to publish comments until early on the 12th.*

Have you ever wanted something so bad and then when you get it, it scares the crap out of you? That's what I'm feeling now, scared of my upcoming trip . My Mom likens it to being pregnant. When all you think about is having a baby and then when you find out you are pregnant you go "Oh My God, what have I done?" I feel like I've just stepped on a carnival ride and the bar has come down and there's no way offa dat ride! Some of the things I'm thinking about: What if I get so sick from either the prop plane or the boat that I can't eat crab or have any fun. What if I act like a star struck goofball and make a fool of myself? What if I whack myself in the face with a hook; it happens! What if I get a Vertigo attack and end up sitting in the hotel room for 2 days. What if the other guys going with us are real jerks? (Although I am the winner of the contest , employees of either Henry's or MillerCoors have their own incentive travel winners...