Heading Out

We left the village yesterday and, much like the trip up here, it has already been filled with the unexpected.  We were scheduled for the 3:30 flights out, but were afraid all of our luggage wouldn't fit so we took some down at noon to get on the return flight of the mail run.  The pilot warned us a weather front was moving in quickly and that one of us should get on his flight and the rest of us should get on the return flight of Port Graham's mail run because they didn't figure there would be any more flights.  We hurried through our check out list, said our goodbyes to some of the best people we'll ever know (and I'm not just saying that because they took care of the final details of check out for us - I say it because it's true), and headed out a little earlier than expected.

Mom and I took off to the airport at 3:00 this morning to be sure we would be there when the ticket counter opened at 4:00 so we could get Little Miss Sunshine and two of Mike's firearms checked without any problems for mom's 6:00 flight (after the mess with Canada last summer we decided restricted weapons was more hassle than it was worth).  I remember last summer saying it was easier to get firearms on a plane than through Canada.  After this morning I now know it is also easier than getting a kitty on a plane.  No one batted an eye at an assault rifle, but the kitty took an hour - and an additional $200 - to get straightened out.  By now she and my mom should both be in the air on their way to Minneapolis and should be happy and home by around 10:00 tonight.  We'll wrap things up in Anchorage this morning and get on the road.  After paying $150 to $200 a night for very not nice hotel rooms we've decided we'll be camping this time around.  We'll be cooking on the roadside, sleeping in the trailer, and hopefully not doing our business in the bushes along the way.  I'm thinking this all the ingredients for a very good adventure and lots of stories.  We'll be blogging as best we can along the way, but that will all depend on easy access to wifi in the wilderness. 

Note:  Today we'll be facing lakes of death and even scarier cliffs of death so anyone who wishes to join me in some conversations with Jesus is more than welcome.