I had quite an eventful trip the last weekend of July. The plan was to drive our van to California to leave it there then to fly to New Mexico and drive the truck back. That was the plan. And it did happen, but not without a few kinks. I also happened to have a birthday during this trip, so there's a bit to post on, here it goes:
Well, I left Friday the 25th of July after a difficult good-bye with Ben. (It was the first time we were going to be apart more than 1 night and further away than just an hour drive.) I was about 4 1/2 hours into the drive after having just stopped to refuel in Carlin, Nevada when the van decided to lose power and the engine cut out on me. I coasted to the side of the road and walked back a little ways to get reception on my phone. I called my Mom who got a hold of my Dad to let him know what was going on and to have him call me so we could trouble shoot what was wrong. I also called Ben to let him know what had happened. After trying to figure it out for a bit with no luck we knew that my Dad was going to have to come get me and check it out.
A trucker had stopped while I was on the phone with my Dad so after I hung up I walked back to the Van and he helped to trouble shoot, but to no avail. So he kindly offered to give me a ride to Reno, NV. I know what everyone is thinking right now, "Are you crazy?" but I could just tell he was a genuinely good guy and it turned out his 15yr old brother was ridding with him so everything was okay. So I rode with them to Reno and had a nice chat along the way.
This is Alfredo checking his truck when we stopped for gas.
Alfredo was a very nice guy. Here he is posing for the picture:
He owns his own truck. The name of his company is Krazy Frog Transport.
This is me posing in front of the truck looking wonderful in my
"traveling, nobody but family should ever see me in this" outfit.
This is me posing in front of the truck looking wonderful in my
"traveling, nobody but family should ever see me in this" outfit.
I had a nice time with my parents in California. On Saturday there was a stake activity so I got to see some people from my home stake. That evening we went to Chuck-E-Cheese for an early celebration of my Birthday.
( Turns out I make a goofy sad face. Who knew? ;) )
This is my Dad, Neil, by the way.
Aren't you jealous?
We ate this after going square dancing. Yes you read correctly, square dancing. My parents have been apart of a folk dancing group that does German Dancing for roughly about 15 years. They practice on Monday nights, but every summer they take a brake. So when they saw a flier (back in June), at a senior dance, for this square dancing on Monday nights they decided to do it for their summer break.
Tuesday the 29th I flew to New Mexico, but not without a few kinks. It just wouldn't be traveling without a kink or two. So, my Mom and I left to go to the airport in Sacramento, about two hours away, Tuesday morning. We thought we'd make it just fine then we hit construction, a bunch of times, and traffic. We thought we'd make it just in time and then started hoping that we would be there just at the 30 min till mark and that my bags would still make it on the plane with me. Well, I got there 25 min till my flight took off. I got to the counter got my bags checked late and my boarding pass. There was only one guy at the counter and he was slow so this process took a while. He was nice though and called the gate as I took off for security to let them know I'm on my way. 10 min till I'm sweet talking my way through a short line, thank goodness, at security and rushing to my gate 5 min later. I got to the gate and the attendant asked me if I was Catherine Park. I said yes and she said "Wow! You really hoofed it up here!" I agreed. I actually beat another guy on the plane and had to wait to get seated because the line was still backed out into the jet way. Yea Buddy! I made it! My bags on the other hand did not.
When I got to Albuquerque my bags didn't come off the belt so I knew they were coming on the next flight. The lost luggage person told me they would be in after 7:45 and gave me the number to call to make sure they were there. Mom (Park) made a great steak dinner and an awesome lemon cake in honor of my birthday. Delicious! (Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures.) Later that night, I called baggage and they said that the bags were there so we went back up to get them. When I started looking through the bags that were out front of the baggage office, I only found one so went to talk to the agent. She said that she had realized after hanging up that only one bag was there and that the other had gotten transferred to LA. So after the flight that was bringing my bag from LA got in at 11 they were going to send it with a carrier to the house. Jared, my wonderful brother in law, said he would stay up to get it so that I could get some sleep to leave early the next morning. When I got up it wasn't there.
It turned out that the delivery service didn't drop it off because they wanted to call to verify first but didn't call because it was so late. (They are quite the efficient group.) It would have been nice if the baggage claim would have known their policy because then I could have told them it was okay to just leave it outside the door. Anyways, after a few hours of baggage trying to get a hold of the carrier they finally called me and I had them take it back to the airport, because I didn't want to wait their estimated 4hrs to deliver it. So on my way out I picked it up and was finally headed for home.
This is my Mom, Thelma. Isn't she cute!
The waiter gave us four plates. I guess he knew, as I did,
that Ben should be there also.
that Ben should be there also.
But alas he wasn't.
( Turns out I make a goofy sad face. Who knew? ;) )We played a few different games. I miss the old Chuck-E-Cheese that Redding used to have; that place was massive compared to this one and had more games. The hoops game was the most fun, but we didn't get a picture because the camera died right before we took it. We played this car racing video game that was a lot of fun!
We all took turns racing each other.
I beat both of them. :)
This is my Dad, Neil, by the way.Chuck-E-Cheese Spoils:
Aren't you jealous?This is my birthday pie (raspberry) that we had on Monday my Birthday.
We ate this after going square dancing. Yes you read correctly, square dancing. My parents have been apart of a folk dancing group that does German Dancing for roughly about 15 years. They practice on Monday nights, but every summer they take a brake. So when they saw a flier (back in June), at a senior dance, for this square dancing on Monday nights they decided to do it for their summer break.
Tuesday the 29th I flew to New Mexico, but not without a few kinks. It just wouldn't be traveling without a kink or two. So, my Mom and I left to go to the airport in Sacramento, about two hours away, Tuesday morning. We thought we'd make it just fine then we hit construction, a bunch of times, and traffic. We thought we'd make it just in time and then started hoping that we would be there just at the 30 min till mark and that my bags would still make it on the plane with me. Well, I got there 25 min till my flight took off. I got to the counter got my bags checked late and my boarding pass. There was only one guy at the counter and he was slow so this process took a while. He was nice though and called the gate as I took off for security to let them know I'm on my way. 10 min till I'm sweet talking my way through a short line, thank goodness, at security and rushing to my gate 5 min later. I got to the gate and the attendant asked me if I was Catherine Park. I said yes and she said "Wow! You really hoofed it up here!" I agreed. I actually beat another guy on the plane and had to wait to get seated because the line was still backed out into the jet way. Yea Buddy! I made it! My bags on the other hand did not.
When I got to Albuquerque my bags didn't come off the belt so I knew they were coming on the next flight. The lost luggage person told me they would be in after 7:45 and gave me the number to call to make sure they were there. Mom (Park) made a great steak dinner and an awesome lemon cake in honor of my birthday. Delicious! (Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures.) Later that night, I called baggage and they said that the bags were there so we went back up to get them. When I started looking through the bags that were out front of the baggage office, I only found one so went to talk to the agent. She said that she had realized after hanging up that only one bag was there and that the other had gotten transferred to LA. So after the flight that was bringing my bag from LA got in at 11 they were going to send it with a carrier to the house. Jared, my wonderful brother in law, said he would stay up to get it so that I could get some sleep to leave early the next morning. When I got up it wasn't there.
It turned out that the delivery service didn't drop it off because they wanted to call to verify first but didn't call because it was so late. (They are quite the efficient group.) It would have been nice if the baggage claim would have known their policy because then I could have told them it was okay to just leave it outside the door. Anyways, after a few hours of baggage trying to get a hold of the carrier they finally called me and I had them take it back to the airport, because I didn't want to wait their estimated 4hrs to deliver it. So on my way out I picked it up and was finally headed for home.
The only problem I ran into on my way home to
3 comments:
Boy oh boy was I glad when she made it home.
Gee wilakers did I miss her :)
Hey,
This is your cousin Clair and I'm just letting you know that we found our way to your blog. It's good to hear how everyone is doing and I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one that has problems while traveling. My Blog is Clarisajo.blogspot.com and my husbands is bryanwilliams.blogspot.com
Good to see you and it's awesome that you have so many pictures.
Sorry, Bryanwilliamsblog.blogspot.com
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