Gmail means no spam

I just passed 5,000 e-mails in my Gmail account and not a single spam e-mail has landed in my inbox! If you aren't using Gmail, I wonder if you can say the same? All of those 5,000 e-mails are neatly archived away, so my inbox is uncluttered, but with just a few keystrokes, I can search for anything within all those e-mails.

Tired of spam? Want a personalized email address like I have, for free? Want to search for anything you've ever been sent and have an inbox over seven gigabytes and growing? Want to have an e-mail account that you can access from anywhere in the world, even if you move or change internet providers? If so, sign up for Gmail here!

I've loved having a free website, free e-mail, free blog, and great Google services and will never be able to look back.

TobyLaura.com

Vancouver to Hong Kong

One of the results of Mt. Redoubt's eruption is that Cathay Pacific hasn't been flying into Anchorage since. The volcano is less than 100 miles from the Anchorage airport and the ash, that is harmful to jet engines, is still affecting the entire area. Anchorage is used by many carriers as a fuel stop between the East Coast of the U.S. and Asia. The cargo version of the 747 that I fly has a very long range, but the amount of cargo we carry sometimes limits the amount of fuel we can then carry as well, thus limiting our range. There is nothing special about Anchorage, per se, it's just positioned well to be within the range of flights coming from both Asia and all over the U.S.

We always fly a great circle route to save on distance between to points on the Earth. A flight leaving Los Angeles bound for Hong Kong passes off the coast of San Francisco, right past Vancouver, just off the coast of Anchorage (well above the ash cloud at this stage, I might add) over southern Russia, over Japan and Taiwan, and then into Hong Kong (via the Elato 4 arrival). Sometimes, when the winds over the great circle route are strong, it pays off to fly farther south of that track, and fly over the fatter part of the Earth, closer to Hawaii. In this case, even though we are flying a farther distance, we get there with less fuel burn because the headwinds wouldn't slow us down as much.

Right now, I'm on a rest period from Vancouver to Hong Kong, at 34,000 feet over the Pacific, as I help operate flight 81. Below is a picture of our route plot, to give you another idea of what a great circle route looks like. If you click on it, it will open up much larger on a new page.

This is where you can see that western Alaska makes for a great pit-stop. It also shows you that a flight from Asia to almost anywhere along the Western seaboard of the U.S. is just about the same length of time. Yes, Hong Kong to L.A. is far, but not much farther than San Fran, as you can see. Going from Hong Kong to L.A. is not too bad, because the winds also blow West to East, helping to push us along. However, going from L.A. to Hong Kong is much trickier. On a flight like that, into the headwinds, we have to watch our fuel very closely. If there is any weather affecting Hong Kong, or the winds are stronger than forecast, a stop in Taipei or Southern Japan is usually what ends up happening.

Because Anchorage is unavailable, we're flying to Hong Kong from Vancouver instead. By looking at the above route plot, you can see it is much longer than from Anchorage, more than 13 and a half hours, instead of 10 or so. That hurts Cathay, because the longer flights mean less cargo can go on each flight due to the fuel requirements. They want Anchorage to open back up soon so that payloads can increase again.

Today, we are flying the newest Boeing 747 in the world -- literally, as it just came off the production line. It even smells new inside! (You know, that new airplane smell?) It is officially a 747-400ERF, or extended range freighter. It is more efficient, has more thrust, can carry more cargo, and has a longer range than a normal 747 freighter. Cathay Pacific has purchased six of these, and they are one of the last 747's that are coming off Boeing's production line. I'm not sure where the last 747 will go or who has purchased it, but it's a sad end to an era, at least until the 747-8 comes out. This ERF is so awesome, that we actually CAN take a full compliment of cargo from Vancouver to Hong Kong, like a normal freighter could from Anchorage, but the company only has six of these, so not every flight can be an ERF flight.

One advantage of flying from Vancouver to Hong Kong instead of from Anchorage, is that because of the longer flight times, we have a four-man crew, instead of the normal three. Dividing the flying between four of us (like we have right now so that I can be typing this) is much better than dividing it by three of us. That means more rest for us, or goofing off blogging like I am. The ERF's have power ports in the seats behind the cockpit, so I'm in heaven.

The other advantage is that we get to see some of Vancouver. It's a beautiful city and I hope to spend more time there when I have a longer overnight. It sits at the base of a mountain range and when its not raining there are some glorious views. It's fun to fly into Anchorage, but I'm glad for the volcano eruption because it gives me the chance to fly into and see something else for a change.

I feel pretty blessed to have this job. It was four a.m. this morning and I was doing the walk-around in the dark cool air that Vancouver provided. Out of the darkness stood this huge beast of a machine, all lit up from the lights on the ramp. The newest 747 in the world looked amazingly clean without a single scratch or grease mark. The tires still had the rubber spikes that stick out from the manufacturing and I could have eaten off the wheel wells they were so clean. I wasn't particularly excited about being away from my wife or having to be up at such an early hour, but all in all, I have little to complain about and get excited every time I do a walk around inspection. I think: "I going to fly this huge thing across the Pacific." It was a great trip today.

TobyLaura.com

Cord Camera = Terrible

I won't be shopping at Cord Camera ever again. They are a popular photo store in Ohio who has lost my business. With the emergence of places like Shutterfly, Target, and even Walmart, Cord is slipping farther and farther into irrelevance.

My favorite place is Shutterfly (follow the link above) because you can upload photos to their website, and then anyone you give access to can order prints. Yeah, but shipping costs? Laura ordered two 5x7 prints from Shutterfly with tax and shipping, and it was still cheaper than ONE 5x7 print from Walmart. Shutterfly also offers glossy prints, something that Walmart won't do with 1-hour service. My second favorite place is Target, simply because they offer glossy prints in 1-hour. Because of their higher price and matte finish, Walmart comes last.

Behind Walmart, though, is Cord, with high prices paired with no increase in quality. But that isn't even why I now dislike Cord. Laura bought me a camera bag for my birthday back in February. She didn't realize that the bag wouldn't hold the camera that I own. We had the receipt, so no biggie, right? Wrong. Where Cord falls flat on their face, is that they have a ridiculous return policy. With a receipt, one only has 14 days to return a product for a refund. After that, with a receipt, one has 30 days to get an in-store credit for an exchange. After 30 days, you own it. Sheer idiocy!

So let me get this straight: If I buy a birthday gift 10 days prior to a birthday party, the recipient has 4 days to return the item for money? Holy cow, that is obtuse.  With our camera bag that we purchased, we were beyond both the 14 day return time and 30 day "exchange our item for any item in the store" time. When I return something, the last thing I really want is more crap from the store, I just want my money back.

I guess my burning anger showed on my face because the clerk was nice enough to extend the 30 day exchange policy for us, so we could walk through the store trying to find $50 dollars worth of crap to take with us. We got three picture frames with the intention of returning them at a different store, heh heh. When we tried that return, we still didn't get our money back because we bought them with a store credit -- only returnable for another store credit. Blast! Now we have a $50 dollar credit we don't want or need.

However, the final Pièce de résistance is that Cord is an irrelevant retail store. I don't remember the last time I purchased anything photographic in a retail store. They are high priced with terrible service and even worse return policies. With places like Amazon, Adorama, and BHPhoto, who are extremely reputable internet retailers out of New York, that have a wider selection of items, with free shipping, no sales tax, and hundreds of dollars cheaper, there is no excuse to buy anything photographic from a loser retail shop like Cord. I would think that as excellent online retailers make Cord more irrelevant, that Cord would be working harder to keep their customers with smart policies, but I guess not.

I occasionally make a mistake and buy something there, but I won't be making that mistake again. With a ridiculous return policy aimed at keeping your money, I hope you'll save yourself heartache, sales tax, and hundreds of dollars as well, by shopping at these online retailers.

TobyLaura.com

Good for Rick Perry

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry joined state Rep. Brandon Creighton and sponsors of House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 50 in support of states’ rights under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

“I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state,” Gov. Perry said. “That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union.”

Perry continued: "Millions of Texans are tired of Washington, DC trying to come down here to tell us how to run Texas."

Here's the video:



TobyLaura.com

Easter Weekend

Three son-in-laws (who married three sisters, and Chad pictured here) were out helping their father-in-law this past Easter weekend clean up brush and fallen limbs around his 8 acre property. The day couldn't have been more beautiful for that kind of work: dry, clear, and cool. Over the years, lots of small bushes and trees grow up to be nuisance plants that clutter the landscape, and branches fall from trees all the time, leaving lots to clean up.

My father-in-law Dennis has a lot of trees on his property, and thus, every few years, it takes a good cleaning out. There is still more to do, even after our work, as parts of his property have never been cleared from when they first bought the place. It has, and had, years of brush and growth that will take many weekends to finally clean up.

Dennis rented a wood chipper, and we spent most all day feeding its hungry blades, that reduced hours of efforts into a small pile of wood chips. I was amazed at how many limbs it took to make a small pile of sawdust.

Late in the day, one of the branches I was "killing" struck back at me, in its final throws of being ground up, in a last ditch effort to wound its tormentor. It reached out and gave me a good scratch on the left arm, a move that sent me to the E.R. wondering if I needed stitches. In the end, the doctor deemed it wasn't deep enough to warrant stitches, and glued it back together. I then got a tetanus shot that has made my left arm sore, even now. It was funny, because I haven't been back to my local church in a long time due to work, and lots of people saw me yesterday. They slapped me on the shoulder to say hello, and that was enough, with my shot, to about bring me to the floor. Oh well -- next time I get scratched, I'll already have had my tetanus booster shot.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter weekend . . .

TobyLaura.com

Enjoy the heat

This is a suscinct article written by Matt Patterson that puts the global warming hysteria into some historical perspective. Agree with him?

Make no mistake -- the earth has warmed. Unfortunately for the climate-change catastrophists, warming periods have occurred throughout recorded history, long before the Industrial Revolution and SUVs began spitting man-made carbon into the atmosphere. And as might be expected, these warm periods have invariably proven a blessing for humanity. Consider:

Around the 3rd century B.C., the planet emerged from a long cold spell. The warm period which followed lasted about 700 years, and since it coincided with the rise of Pax Romana, it is known as the Roman Warming.

In the 5th century A.D., the earth's climate became cooler. Cold and drought pushed the tribes of northern Europe south against the Roman frontier. Rome was sacked, and the Dark Ages commenced. And it was a dark age, both metaphorically and literally -- the sun's light dimmed and gave little warmth; harvest seasons grew shorter and yielded less. Life expectancy and literacy plummeted. The plague appeared and decimated whole populations.

Then, inexplicably, about 900 A.D. things began to warm. This warming trend would last almost 400 years, a well documented era known as the Medieval Warm Period. Once again, as temperatures rose harvests and populations grew. Vineyards made their way into Northern Europe, including Britain. Art and science flourished in what we now know as the Renaissance.

Then around 1300 A.D. things cooled drastically. This cold spell would last almost 500 years, a severe climate event known as the Little Ice Age. Millions died in famine as glaciers advanced all over the world. The plague returned. In Greenland, the Norse colony that had been established during the Medieval Warming froze and starved. Arctic pack ice descended south, pushing Inuit peoples to the shores of Scotland. People ice skated on the Thames; they walked from Staten Island to Manhattan over a frozen New York Harbor. The year 1816 was remembered as the year without a summer, with some portions of the Northern Hemisphere seeing snowfall in June.

But around 1850 the planet began to warm up yet again. Glaciers retreated. Temperatures rose. This is the warming period which we are still enjoying today. And once again, the warmth brought bounty: The last 150 years have seen an explosion in life expectancy, population, and scientific progress like never before.

Of course, even before the appearance of humans, the earth alternated throughout its history between extremes of heat and cold: 700 million years ago the planet was covered entirely in ice; 55 million years ago, a swampy greenhouse.

Why? What drives these ancient cycles? There are a lot of theories. The waxing and waning of solar output; cosmic rays and their role in cloud formation; the earth moving through plumes of galactic dust as it travels up and down through the arm of the Milky Way; plate tectonics redirecting the ocean currents; vulcanism. Perhaps it is a combination of all of these things. Perhaps it is something as yet undiscovered. One thing for sure that it's not: SUVs.

Why, then, do otherwise sensible people believe that we are both causing the current warming and that the warmth is a bad thing? To me it seems some grotesque combination of narcissism and self-loathing, a mentality that says at once "I am so important that my behavior is causing this" and "I am so inherently tainted that it must be bad."

For these self-hating humans who want us to cut our carbs (carbons, not carbohydrates), I say relax and enjoy the warmth while it lasts.

Because it won't. No matter what we do, the ice and the cold and the dark will come again. That should be our worry.

TobyLaura.com

A Chamberlain moment?

This is a photo of the U.S. President bowing down before King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.



Neville Chamberlain was known as the Symbol of Appeasement and I feel that this moment by B. Hussein Obama was another appeasing moment.

*Update* It looks like Rush is onto the same idea.

TobyLaura.com

Funny Stickers

Here are a couple funny bumper stickers I came across.





I'm all for a great society, but unfortunately, I disagree with Obama's vision on how to pay for it all. I don't feel socialism is the answer; nor do I feel that the U.S. taxpayers will want to afford a socialist agenda. Free healthcare, college tuition, and affordable energy are fine ideas, but at what cost? Canada and Europe have forms of socialism, but they pay a high cost out of each of their paychecks. Can we afford that here? Sure. Do we want to? I don't think we do.

The wealthy already pay all the taxes. The next time you hear a politician or journalist talk about "sticking it" to the wealthiest 1%, try this fact on for size:



The "wealthy," like a cop and a nurse, already pay most all of the income taxes in this country, so it will take huge tax increases to pay for the future plans that Obama has. Only we, the taxpayer, can decide if that high cost is worth it. Are 70% tax rates what this country was founded on? Are huge tax rates what built the U.S. economy into the world-dominating giant that it is today? No. Capitalism and low tax rates are what made the U.S. the world leader in almost everything. However, the U.S. doesn't come close to ranking near the top in education, yet we spend more than any other country on each child's education, proving that simply throwing government (taxpayer) money at something doesn't make it work. Are we about to do the same thing to the rest of our economy with Obama? We'll see what he ends up getting away with.

TobyLaura.com

Time Together

Before I left Columbus for another week-long trip, Laura and I were able to go for a spring walk out at a park near our house. The weather was just fine as could be and the trees were just starting to bud new leaves.

As I have to spend more time away from home, I really relish these chances to be with Laura and just spend simple time with her. A walk in the woods doesn't seem like much until one must spend a lot of time away from home. As a pilot, I've come to really enjoy any time I can get with her.

The vacation we planned last week got all messed up, so we weren't able to spend much time together. I'm hoping that future schedule changes may allow me to spend more time at home, but for now, these quiet walks in the park will have to do. Is there someone you need to spend more time with today? If so, make the time to do it.

TobyLaura.com

Time in Texas

It was a long road to get to Texas, as I detail here, but once I was back in my home state, it felt great to finally be there. Since I was so delayed in getting down there, due to the volcano in Alaska, I only had a few days to see everyone. I got in early Sunday morning into Dallas/Ft. Worth (12:30 a.m.), and Laura was scheduled to leave on Tuesday, while I would try to go home Thursday morning.

That Sunday night, my sister Katie and her husband Scott treated my parents and Laura and me to a great dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. With fillet steak, sauteed spinach with garlic (Hong Kong style!), crab cakes, and cheesecake dessert, it was nothing short of a heavenly experience. Since the meal was so expensive, it was needless to say that Laura and I would not be eating like this for a long time, so we savored every bite.

After dinner, my parents along with Laura and I, drove the two hours back to Tyler to spend a few days there. On Monday, we got to see my mom's new office where she works, and plenty of amazing Azaleas. Tyler is famous for its Azaleas in the spring, and there is an entire district where yards are shown off to the public. That night for dinner, we ate at El Chico, a local favorite of my family. I don't get to enjoy good Tex-Mex in Ohio, so I eat it any chance I can while I'm back home.

The next day, we all headed back to Dallas/Ft. Worth, because Laura needed to head home. This vacation ended up being quite the blurry whirlwind, as it was rush-rush-rush. Sweet Pea headed back to Ohio that night on her American Airlines flight, and I stayed with Scott and Katie and watched movies in their new home theater. That was awesome and now I need to figure out how to pay to have one for myself!

The next morning, on Wednesday, I borrowed my sister's car and headed the 45 minute drive down to Arlington, to see my grandparents. I took them to breakfast at their usual breakfast place, and then we headed over to Ft. Worth, to see where my grandpa used to work at his old business he used to own. Air-Rite air conditioning was started by my grandpa in 1955 and serviced many homes in the Ft. Worth area, just as A/C was getting started. He has since sold the business and is long retired (he'll be 91 in May) but the business is still there, pleasing customers and keeping them cool in the hot Texas summers. We drove the old route to the address, the same route he used to take years ago. So much has changed, he said, but there are still many things that are the same.

We passed the college that he graduated from, and drove past the now vacant lot that used to hold the house he grew up in. We drove past Paris Coffee shop, a place as famous and with as much heritage as Ft. Worth itself. Even people like G.W. Bush have dined there, and its food is a good as you can get in the city. Papaw ate there off and on for years as his Air-Rite business was just a block down the road.


We got to see where my great grandparents lived and a lake that is named after my great grandfather, Pappy Elkins, my grandmothers father. Pappy Elkins lake is in a park that is near where he used to live. He was there often, and when he passed away, the city of Dalworthington Gardens named the lake after him.

We capped off our afternoon with the mandatory visit to my favorite Tex-Mex place, Cafe Pulido's. Nothing beats it! Every time I'm in Texas, I have to get at least a lunch there at Pulido's. After that, I headed back to my sister's house, near DFW airport, so I could catch a ride back to Ohio the next morning.

I was lucky to catch the 8:45 flight from DFW to Charlotte, as an earlier flight had cancelled and all the seats were now oversold. I was traveling standby (of course -- par for the course on this so-called vacation) and it looked doubtful that I would get a seat. As chance would have it, many people who were on the cancelled flight didn't show up and God was good enough to give me one of the last seats on the flight! Once arriving in Charlotte, the next flight to Columbus was 3 hours away because I had missed the last flight by 15 minutes. Bummer -- but there is free wifi there, and rocking chairs line the main terminal. If you've ever been to Charlotte, that long row of rocking chairs is a signature part of that airport.

As the time approached for my flight, the gate agent let me know that this flight was also oversold. However, the chances of getting a seat on this flight were worse that in Dallas because there were lots of employees ahead of me. Passengers don't always show up, but employees already waiting at the gate are definitely not going to miss the flight!

The agent was kind enough to let me know that there was a flight to Dayton that was boarding right then, and it had plenty of seats available for me. My only other option was to wait for the flight that would get into Columbus at 11:30 p.m. and I didn't want to wait that long. Dayton was only an hour's drive from Columbus and I could be home by five o'clock, so I made a mad dash for that gate and got their just in time.

I ran up to the flight and they closed the door. I tried to get ahold of Laura, to see if she could drive over to Dayton after work and pick me up. If she couldn't, I was just going to rent a car and drive home. After the mess that this vacation had become, I didn't care anymore about rental cars and flights, I just wanted to do whatever I could to get home.

Luckily, when I arrived in Dayton, Laura had left a message on my phone saying she was just a half hour away. We stopped in at Dayton's Texas Roadhouse for some steak and as a way to cap off a crazy vacation that almost wasn't.

It was good to see my family, even if the time was too short, but next time, I want to make sure I have plenty of time to visit the old stomping grounds. Have you had a crazy vacation experience? Share your experience with me.

TobyLaura.com

“O,” The vacation that wasn't.

Laura and I had planned a vacation to get away for a while and for me to see my family in Texas, from June 24th to the 31st. The tale I can weave of how that vacation went (or is going, as I type this aboard an Alaska Airlines 737 first class cabin at 37,000 feet) is, quite possibly, the worst vacation I've ever had. First class? Sipping Cabernet wine? Great food and legroom? “How is that bad,” you may ask? This three hour leg from Seattle to Dallas/Ft. Worth, has capped off six terrible days for me, in my attempt to rejoin Laura on our vacation, as it was in progress. Let me explain.

We all lay great plans, and as it often happens, those well laid plans get blown up. We weren't fooling around on this trip, so we purchased tickets on American Airlines, round trip from Columbus to DFW, so we wouldn't have to mess with traveling affordably on standby. I was to finish up a trip from Hong Kong, pass through Anchorage, and end up in JFK on the afternoon of the 23rd, with plenty of time to get home in time for our afternoon departure to my homeland. We were thinking ahead, and purchased our outbound leg in the afternoon, so I would be sure to not miss this trip.

My Cathay work trip was going very smoothly, and all my flights were on my body clock's daytime, so even as we flew through the night, I felt great, as it was my body's time to be awake. I had a good landing into Anchorage (ANC) and on the arrival, we could see Mt. Redoubt smoking away. It had been under alert for eruption for over a month, and all three of us asked aloud when we thought it might finally blow its top. Dumb volcano – all it does is huff and puff, but doesn't give us any action.

I spent a day in ANC and then got up early the next morning, looking forward to getting home that afternoon, in anticipation of the vacation. I had a faxed note slipped under my door, and as I read it, my blood ran cold as the fear of delays ran through my mind. Mt. Redoubt had blown, and started erupting, spewing a grey ash cloud 65,000 feet into the air. As a result, the aircraft we were to fly to JFK in a few hours had diverted to Kansai, Japan, and would not be coming to ANC. Dumb volcano!

Volcanic ash is really tiny particles of hardened molten rock. Rubbing it with your bare hands will cut you like glass will, as its crystalline structure has very sharp edges. Having the equivalent of small rocks floating in the air spells disaster for modern jet engines. A Korean 747 had severe damage in all four of it's engines when it inadvertently flew through an ash cloud and a British Airways 747 lost all four of its engines as it flew through an ash cloud over Indonesia. The BA crew got them started again, but only after falling from around 35,000 feet and the engines crept back to life and clung to a little bit of thrust well below 10,000 feet. So needless to say that airlines steer well clear of volcanic eruptions.

Most all the flights in and out of ANC that day were cancelled, and Cathay sent all their freighters through Vancouver, instead of Anchorage (where I was), leaving 30 odd crew members stranded that day. I thought, oh well, I'll be out of here tomorrow and I'll just meet Laura in Texas. So, Laura flew by herself down to Texas, and I hoped to get a flight on Cathay via DFW, or at worst, finish my trip to JFK and then come down the next day.

I have to interrupt myself at this point. As I'm typing this, I just received my chicken marsala dinner and am instantly impressed with Alaska Airlines. On the tray, along with the salt and pepper, silverware, and dressing, was a small card. The card was a picture of a sunset with “Alaska Airlines” printed on it. And then there was this: “I will praise God's name in song and glorify His name with thanksgiving. Psalm 69:30” It was like a readable prayer for anyone who wasn't sure of what to say prior to a meal, but wanted to say something. More important than that, was what that says of Alaska Airlines. In this world of pop culture and post modernism where truth no longer exists, it is refreshing to see a mainstream company taking a religious, moral stand. No doubt; no doubt at all, that the airline has taken heat for this card, as we Americans push God farther and farther from our national conscience. However, I'm proud that Alaska Airlines put that card there and it reminded me that I am not alone in this world with my faith.

Well, that dumb volcano Redoubt continued to spew its awful bilge into the air, day after day. Each day, the Red Alert warnings for aviation remained, and Cathay planes (my ride home) continued to divert away from Anchorage.

Laura has been in Texas for several days, staying in the metroplex with my sister and her husband, and I remain on a day to day basis in the hotel, thousands of miles away. Our flight schedules have G days and O days. G days are “guaranteed” days off, and as we'll see in a minute, they really don't guarantee anything. O days are days that if the company gets ahold of me, I have to work. They put O days on the end of trips, so that they can always and easily get ahold of me for more flying. I had three O days after my scheduled trip was to be finished, and now I was languishing in an Anchorage hotel, held captive by these O days. The company didn't want to send me, or any of us home, in case the volcano finished toying with us and flights could resume. Seismologists say that this eruption cycle could last years, however.

When my last O day was over and I began breaking into G days, I was about to read the riot act to someone in crew control, when I found out from another pilot that G days can be turned into O days at the will of the company when “roster disruption” occurs. That's vague enough that just about any scenario will fit to keep us at work! I was originally supposed to be home by Monday night and by Thursday afternoon, with Laura having already begun our vacation on her own, some captain in ANC finally yelled loud enough to convince the company to allow us all to leave, get home on our own, and the company would reimburse us for our flights.

I still remember getting that fax message under my door: You are free to find your own way home as the crew in the Anchorage hotel have been on duty long enough. I thought: “Yeah, I'll be in Texas tonight!” That elation quickly grew to exasperation, as more and more internet searches showed more and more flights either oversold or cancelled. In fact, I really don't know what I was thinking – why would I expect to catch a flight out of ANC when Mt. Redoubt was still blowing its top? Dumb volcano. No wonder the company said we could find our own way home, instead of them finding it for us.

If you don't use Kayak.com, you ought to at least give it a chance, as it searches great deals all over the internet for flights, cars, vacations and the like. Flights were selling out so fast out of ANC, that as I would click to check a price for a certain flight, the link would tell me that the deal had expired and when I would go back to Kayak's search page, the prices had jumped up by $200 dollars! Wow, I needed a ticket and needed one fast. Katie or Laura suggested that I try flying out of a different city, to get away from the ash clouds and the mess that ANC had become. Great idea, until I found out that Juneau was a two day drive and Vancouver was a three day drive away! Holy cow, without major interstate highways and with rough terrain, driving somewhere was almost out of the picture. Almost.

Enter Fairbanks (FAI). It was only a six hour drive away and it's flights hadn't cancelled. The rental car fee to go one way that far North into the Alaskan interior was very steep, but I wanted to get home. So, I bought a ticket from Fairbanks – Seattle – Dallas/Ft. Worth and rented a car to get to Fairbanks. If I was going to get that flight, that left at 1:30 AM out of FAI, I had to leave ANC in a hurry. I showered, shaved, packed and left for the Avis rental car. This was Thursday afternoon, and I had a Friday morning departure to Seattle to catch.

The drive to Fairbanks was amazing. I had an auspicious start, however, as the first rental car I picked up had a maintenance issue, but the second car seemed to work just fine. I passed through a few small towns, but other than that, there weren't many places to refuel or use the bathroom. As a matter of fact, I didn't throw away my 32oz cup from McDonald's, incase I needed a makeshift bathroom later on down the road. Alaskan highway 3 basically took me all the way from Anchorage to Fairbanks. It's a nicely paved two lane road and it's the only road between these two cities. I passed a store called Mike*Mart, with the sign font made to match Wal*Mart's sign. I passed a huge igloo hotel that had long been boarded up and closed. And most breathtakingly, I passed by Denali national park. If you ever need a summer vacation spot but hate the summer heat, Denali is for you with its beautiful mountains and wildlife. There was a whole town I drove through that was completely vacant because it is only open from May to September. It has shops and coffee places, and the streets are lined with paver sidewalks and nice street lamps. It was eerie to pass through this seasonal town that looked like a ghost town, but fully modern. Denali is also home to Mt. McKinnley, the highest point in North America, at over 20,000 feet.

The road was smooth and the speed limit was 65. I, ahem, did a wee bit over that, as I would only see a car every few minutes or so. It was the first time I had ever been in a place where both AM and FM dials never found a station. The search function of the radio just sent the dial going round and round and round, never stopping, never hearing anything. I did finally find a few country stations that played songs with lyrics like, “I wanted to start a fire with some old flames, but all those gals now had different last names,” or, “I'm gonna marry for money.” Great stuff.

After having woken up on Thursday morning about seven AM, I got into Fairbanks about one AM, my body's time. I was tired, but my flight left in a few hours, and soon I'd be joining Sweet Pea in Texas. My phone showed I had a voice message, and it was from Alaska Airlines. Uh oh. “We are calling to inform you that your itinerary has changed and you'll now be departing Sunday at one AM, not Friday at one AM, due to the ash cloud from Mt. Redoubt blowing up toward Fairbanks.” BOLLOCKS! Our plan to avoid the ash was crumbling fast. I was too cheap to buy a hotel room, because I had faith that I'd get an earlier flight and this would all become a distant memory. It was 15 degrees F, so it was too cold to sleep in the rental car, so I got three hours sleep in the terminal building, on a comfy wood bench. I would have slept better, but the announcement to “only smoke in designated smoking areas and to keep a close watch on my baggage, as all bags are subject to search,” seemed to wake me regularly. I got up about six AM, as the terminal started to fill with people, hopeful to catch flights to Anchorage (all of which cancelled due to ash, heh heh).

My next chance out of the state of Alaska was the next 1:30 AM departure to Seattle, this time on Saturday morning. I was confirmed on a Sunday morning flight back to ANC, but I wanted this flight to Seattle, as it would get me into DFW by 1:30 PM, the same day, just 12 hours later. So, I would try standby on the Saturday flight and keep the Sunday flight in reserve. I kept my rental for 24 hours, so that gave me until four PM to check out Fairbanks. By about noon, I had seen pretty much all there was to see: Home Depot (every isle), Lowes (every isle as well), read in a Barnes and Noble, driven around town, and had a terrible meal at Denny's. (By the way, for all you folks scoring at home, the Fairbanks Denny's is the most northern Denny's in the world!) At four, I turned in my rental, leaving me stuck at the airport, come hell or high water.

That night and into the wee hours of the morning, the tension grew in regards to whether or not the flight would leave, and, being standby, would I get a seat. To see if I would have a chance at a seat, the gate agent asked me if I was a gold or platinum member. I told her that I wasn't even a vinyl or plastic member! As departure time loomed, the terminal became packed with people. Who were all these nuts up at one in the morning and why didn't any of them decide to miss their flight? I knew I was in trouble when the gate agent started asking for volunteers to give up their seats due to an oversold situation. I knew that if they were wanting volunteers to give up their seats due to lack of seats, my standby status was down the tubes. I headed back down to the ticket counter to see what other options were available for me. They had a six AM departure to Anchorage, which by now, was just a few hours away, but I was doubtful it would even go. Even if I did make that flight, they had me going to Seattle, and arriving there at one PM, to then go to DFW the NEXT morning! By this point, I had only received three hours of sleep in two days, and the prospect of having to buy a hotel room in Seattle and delay my arrival by even more time put me near my limit of “kindness while upset.”

There was an afternoon flight to DFW, just a few hours after I was scheduled to arrive in Seattle, but the coach section was full, so they couldn't put me on it. I'd have to wait another day to get to see my family. Bummer. I guess my fatigue and plight wore down the agent, because she talked to her supervisor, and they decided to book me in first class from Seattle to DFW, which did have an open seat. That way, I could get home sooner, not have to buy a hotel, and enjoy the delights that first class offers. Yea Jesus -- that's what happened. I was able to get the flight back to Anchorage, one of the first to operate back to ANC, and then moved on to Seattle and DFW. I had little faith that the flight to ANC would go, but the ash cloud was visible enough to avoid, and Alaska Airlines was willing to run flights in and out of ANC to get their unhappy customers on their way.

So after all of that, six days late and with three hours of sleep in three days, the first class from Seattle to DFW was nice. It wasn't a silver lining, but maybe a rubber one, or maybe even a vinyl one. Laura leaves Texas on Tuesday, and I look forward to seeing her at midnight, Sunday morning. That will give us almost three days to see each other. The plan is for her to go back to Ohio on Tuesday, so she can go to work, and I'll stay in Texas an extra day to give me a chance to catch up with my family. However, as I have learned from all this: the plans I make probably don't count for too much.

“O” days messed me up and a volcano messed me over. “O” the vacation that almost wasn't.

TobyLaura.com