Day1 (part 2) / The day without Darkness

so, I was planning on writing a blog Wednesday but we didn't arrive in Seattle until 9:30 and then we had to hunt down a hotel and blah blah blah... Long story short we went to bed at like, 1:00 West Coast time (3:00 Central time).

First of all, Mike and I had a wonderful time with my family driving around Des Moines killing time before our 1:30 flight. It was bittersweet, all 7 of us packed into the van with all our luggage. Needless to say it was pretty tight. =) Mike got his cell phone canceled through sprint and we stopped at Scheels to waste time. Then we went out for pizza, for what seemed like the last time we'd get good pizza. Lovely!

After many tears and hugs, Mike and I went through security and boarded the plane for Dallas. I cried the whole way to the gate, not caring who was looking at me sob. There's only been a few times I remember not caring who saw me upset like that, this was one of them. Anyway, the actual flight to Dallas was good until we hit Oklahoma City. There was a storm in Dallas that shut down the airport so we were almost diverted to another airport to refuel before arriving in Dallas. We were scheduled to land at 3:30, but didn't make it on the ground until 4:45. Talk about frustrating! Mike rushed off the plane and checked our connecting flight to Seattle and saw it was on time. It was leaving at 5:10, but once we reached the gate (just in time to board) an announcement came on that said the plane we were scheduled to ride on to Seattle wasn't in Dallas yet and it'd be 45 mins delay. Mike and I went to find a bite to eat - I personally didn't choose the best airport food. Burnt soft pretzels and greasy hard KFC biscuits didn't exactly hit the spot. =) After we finished eating we sat and waited by our gate, and waited and waited and waited.



















We FINALLY got to board at 7:00. The four hour flight seemed to go one forever, I think it was because it was cold and we were in the back of the plane so it was loud too. I still had a headache the next morning from that constant noise. On the bright side, they gave us 2 cans of pop for the four hour flight. Pretty generous - right? =p

Once we arrived in Seattle, we had to handle all our bags ourselves. I didn't realize what a challenge this was! When we boarded in Des Moines, we had 5 people to hold jackets and my purse and carry/pull luggage... We both had two 50 pound bags, I had 2 carry ons and Mike had a backpack. LOTS of luggage. Luckily, we managed to work it out.
























We picked a hotel seemingly at random and when the bus came to pick us up there was a family already riding. They too were headed for Japan with the Air Force. He (I forgot names...) is a Air Traffic Control Tower Operator and she had just retired from active duty. It was SUCH a blessing to be on the same bus, staying in the same hotel as these people. They have made a career of the Air Force and knew we didn't really have to report at the Air Port at 5:00 am. They scheduled a ride back at 8:00 and we did too. We arrived at the Air port the next morning with nearly no lines, and, well-rested, breezed by the herds of military personnel that were sleeping on the airport floors, benches and chairs. =) Thank the LORD!

The flight from Seattle to Tokyo was fun - we were served hot meals that rivaled the cafeteria food I ate in college and had a selection of dozens of movies to choose from. I'm calling the plane ride the day without darkness. We left Seattle at 10:30 Thursday morning which was a little later than scheduled. They had to reroute our flight because of a volcano eruption in Alaska. =) There was ash in the sky and they wanted to avoid any complications - good call pilot! SO - we flew for 9 hours and 50 mins and arrived at Yokota AFB (Tokyo Japan) at 2:00 Friday afternoon. We traveled a day, but the sun was shining the whole time. Pretty trippy... I'm calling it the day without darkness. We left after the sun rose in Washington state, and as the world rotated we always stayed in the light! I'm having trouble explaining this because my internal clock says it's 4:45 am and not 6:45 like it is here in Japan.

Mike's sponsor took us around base and arranged housing for us today. He also took us grocery shopping, but one of the main reasons I know that is because we now have food in our fridge. I'll have to explain our housing more later - everything is becoming a blur in my Time Intoxication. That's what Mike's sponsor kept calling it, I like that description.

I'll post more pictures tomorrow - until then, Good Morning Iowans!