Vacation to Kansas

This is my last day of work before I leave for vacation, and never has a day gone by so slow! It is now 4:02, and I have decided to leave at 4:30, just in time to catch the bus home. Once I arrive at my car, I will then get in it and head back to Portland, and a party for a co-worker who is leaving us at the end of the month. Very sad for us, good for him. I also need to arrange a ride to the airport. Should have gotten that taken care of sooner. Just realized today that I didn’t have a ride. May need to schedule a taxi.

Tomorrow morning I will register for my boarding pass at exactly 10:10, which is 24 hours before I leave. I’ve set the alarm on my Blackberry. What did we do before we had all these little helpful devices? Then I will have a dentist appointment at 11:00, pick up my prescription in the pharmacy afterwards and head out to get a little shopping done. I have to get a presents for my grandchildren, buy travel sized (or at least something smaller than the super economy sized) shampoo and conditioner. Oh yeah, and I have to go purchase a new camera, because mine broke over the weekend. Ugggh!

In the afternoon I will do the last bit of laundry, plant some tomatoes, and have a good bye conversation with the cat and the chickens, my girls. Then I will do my packing, watch Idol, and get some sleep.

When I would fly to Hawaii, it was a five hour flight and all there was to see was water. It was like the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, “Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.” or something like that. I was on a plane so I obviously had access to a drink, of many kinds. But, because the flight was 5 hours long and I didn’t want to use the on-flight facilities, I kept my fluid intake to the bear minimum for the 24 hours before my flight landed on the island.

My flight to Kansas is much shorter, but will still be planning my fluid intake to avoid the on-flight facilities. Unlike the flight to Hawaii, there should be plenty to see outside my window, so I don’t have to stay up all night so I can sleep through the flight. Yeah!!

I will fly into the Kansas City airport. This will be my second time. The last time I was 13, and it was my first time to travel by plane. Because my parents didn’t what to have to change planes, they chose a flight that took to Des Moines, Iowa without a plane change, but it stopped at every airport between there and Houston. Kansas City happened to be one, and be the time we make it there, I was really hungry and starting to feel a bit sick. The attendant, for stewardess as we called them then, suggested I get off and grab something from the vending machine and come right back. We had plenty of time for that. So I did.

I found the vending machines just where she said they would be, quickly made my selections, and hot footed it back to the gate. The gate was closed and my blue Branaff was taxing away. I had a melt down. There was shriking and crying and all kinds of goings on. Finally the gate attendant settled me down and pointed to a blue Branaff at the next gate and said, “That’s your plane.” I said, “Oh” I felt like a complete idiot, which I was, and to make matter worse I couldn’t just hope on my plane and avoid all the stares. No, I had to wait for two other plane to clear the terminal before I could reboard my flight. It was the longest 5 minutes of my life. I’m hoping to comport myself better this time around.

Getting there from here

The daughter, Kristin, has informed me that they will likely be heading to Ft Riley, Kansas at the end of the year. Understandably I’ve been lobbying for Ft Lewis, here in Washington, but Ft Riley should be a better commute to visit. When I asked why they chose Kansas, she said because it was central to all the grandparents and didn’t overly favor one over another. Well, at least they will be closer.

I don’t know about you but 5 hours confined in a plane over nothing but ocean is wearing on my nerves. Not to mention the whole trying to avoid going to the restroom on a plane thing. Which is one of life’s truly torturous, and mentally scaring experiences, second only to wedging your backend into those tiny seats between two people you don’t know and have no desire to get to know. Basically commercial flight is just one big pain that the pharmaceutical companies have invented a cure or treatment for yet.

So the other day I did a Goggle search on Ft Riley and found that it is in the big middle of nowhere. Actually, it might be about 3 miles beyond nowhere. We’re talking 200 miles from Kansas City, and 100 miles from Topeka, no airport!! Still I figured I could fly into Kansas City and do a puddle hopper, or rent a car. So I do a quick check on air fare and schedules. I’m floored! It’s more expensive! I have my choice; I can do a 7 hour layover in Denver, or a 5 hour layover in Denver. I’d be on layover longer than it takes to fly to Hawaii!! Oddly enough, the layovers on the return flights were only an hour. Can anyone explain that?!

So, I thought I’d check Amtrak, 3 days there and 3 days back. Apparently you can’t get to Kansas from here in any reasonable timeframe.

My sister suggested that I contact the Army and see about a high altitude drop. I’m not sure how that would work on the return trip. I remember in the movie The Green Berets they hooked a guy up to a big balloon, had a plane flew over, grabbed the line, and swung him up at high speed. I could probably do the drop, but that kind of return just isn’t going to work for me.

Oddly enough I don’t mind military transport. Granted it’s a completely no-frills kind of ride, you don’t even have conventional seats. The seats are really just butt hammocks hug along the sides. It’s cold, really, really loud, and the windows are too high and small for a view. The trick is to get on bundled up in layers, bring something you can drape over your head and get yourself comfy in the hammock and go to sleep. You wouldn’t think sleeping would be possible with the loud engines, but it’s like having a big fan going at a really high speed, A LOT of white noise. You sleep like a baby. You can also read and if something is funny, you can laugh out loud and no one will mind, because they can’t hear you. You’ll just look like on of those strange people that talk to themselves.