For the first time in a VERY long time, my travel day was more intense than Lori’s. There are so many more states in the eastern half of the country than in the western half. Since Lori lives on the west coast and I live in the Midwest, she usually has to leave home earlier and travel farther than I do. So, it’s only fair that once in a while the travel burden is heavier on me.
My alarm went off at 4:15 am EST and 30 minutes later sent the following text to Lori (for whom it was only 1:45 am): “The adventure begins! I'm in an Uber on the way to the airport.” Lori would not need to be at the airport for another eight hours. This year marks the 28th consecutive Girls Weekend, and I was so excited that it was underway!
I have been obsessing for weeks about packing for this trip. I was determined to do a full week in Alaska and take only a tote and a carry-on. I planned my wardrobe very carefully, focusing on layers. We knew the temps would be in the mid- to high 30s in the morning and warm up only to somewhere in the high 40s during the day. Plus, we knew there would be lots and lots of rain, and that we would be spending quite a bit of time outside. So . . . I started my packing list at least five weeks before the departure date. I succeeded in boarding the plane with only a (very heavy) carry-on and a tote. We’ll have to wait until later in the week to determine the success of my actual item choices.
 |
| BIG stuffed moose in the Anchorage airport |
By the time I touched down in Anchorage, Lori had already been there for an hour, having been able to take a direct flight from Portland. Lori says it’s a beautiful airport with a gigantic taxidermied moose on full display. I’m sure she’s right, but upon leaving the plane, I headed straight for the bathroom and then for baggage claim to find Lori. Somehow, I missed the moose.
After our joyful hug fest, we set off to find the rental car. For the past four years, I have been acquiring rental cars exclusively from Turo rather than from traditional car rental companies. If you’re not familiar with Turo, think Airbnb for cars. Private owners renting their cars out for use. There are a few extra hoops to jump through, like taking a billion photos of the car through the Turo app before driving, but it is worth it. I save at least 15-30% or more on the total cost. For this trip, as a surprise for Lori, I rented a 2022 Mercedes-Benz SUV. It turned out to be a surprise for both of us since it took at least five minutes to figure out how to put the dang thing in gear, another five to understand that the button on the side of the seat did not, in fact, manipulate the seat, it was actually a mechanism in the door that made the seats move back and forth. We still don’t know what the button on the side of the seat does. The challenges continued once we were on the road. The stem coming out of the right side of the steering wheel that most often controls the wipers and windshield washer fluid was actually where the gear shift was located. It turned out the wipers were located on the LEFT steering wheel turn signal stem. It started misting on the drive, and I kept inadvertently putting the car in neutral WHILE ROLLING ON THE HIGHWAY rather than wiping moisture off the windows.
We did eventually safely arrive at the Fred Meyer in Anchorage to stock up for groceries. Lori had been warned that food was expensive in Alaska, and the warning was appropriate. The grocery bill was $240. The only meat we bought was one 4lb package of chicken breasts. Everything else was pretty much beverages, dairy products, bread, and fruit – we learned many trips ago not to over-purchase on groceries on these trips. Back in the car (and hopefully more adroit at manipulating the controls), we got on the road to Homer. Google maps told us the drive was 4 hours and 6 minutes. That was not even close to correct. It actually took 51/2 hours to get there. At just over 3 hours in, we decided to make a stop at a convenience store to grab a snack and go to the bathroom.
A couple of things happened as we approached a small town: a) the speed limit suddenly dipped to 45, and b) we saw a store on the left side of the road that came suddenly into view. The result of this was that I braked pretty quickly and whipped into the parking lot…followed quite closely by a state trooper who flipped on his lights. I have not been pulled over for speeding in maybe…20 years? This is not so much because I don’t occasionally speed, but rather that there seem to be no more cops on the streets of Indy who are concerned with such things. Anyway, my string of luck seemed to be over…but not really. Trooper Keith (who looked very much as if he was cutting high school and dressing up as a cop for Hallowe’en) introduced himself, informed me I had been going 58mph in a 45mph zone, asked for my license and registration, then took both back to his car to make sure all was well with my driving record. He returned relatively quickly and reported he was just giving us a warning, then proceeded to tell us that the salmon were still running and where we could go to see them. We also learned he had moved out to Alaska from northern California where he had a different career and decided to become a state trooper. Since he looked be about 17, his previous career must have been as a lemonade stand entrepreneur. All in all, it was a lovely encounter, and we chatted a while before he went on his way.
Before going into the store, I wanted to straighten the car in the parking spot, which was somewhat askew due to the emergent nature of needing to stop quickly. The car revved up but would not move a single inch either backward or forward. Somehow, during the encounter with the law, I had managed to turn on the apparently very effective parking brake. This was quite clever of me since I had no idea where the parking brake was. I finally found it, and soon we were in and out of the convenience store and back on the road.
Darkness had truly fallen by the time we reached our Airbnb at about 9:45pm. We unloaded everything from the car and settled in for a good chat. A couple of hours later, aside from a couple of short naps on my first flight, I had been up for almost 24 hours, so we headed to bed. What a full travel day – let Girls Weekend begin!!
No comments:
Post a Comment