Team Sparrow's Epic Adventure

Around here, it seems that the teenage word of choice is "Epic". Everything is "epic". We keep trying to explain to B what the real meaning of "epic" is and that everything can't be "epic". But, when it comes to our vacation, it really was epic.

As I was trying to choose a name for this post there were several that I thought would be perfect. Here are the names I didn't choose and why they would have been good names for this post.

“Third times a charm” because, after trying three times to get a flight to CA, we finally got one, or because after having the first two planes we were scheduled to fly on break down and our flights getting postponed to the following day, the third/last plane from our trip actually flew the first time.

“Won’t my mommy be so proud of me” because anyone who knows me, knows that I’m a planner. On this trip, we were often forced to restrict our planning to only those things happening in the next 2 to 4 hours because we really didn’t know what we’d be doing or where we’d be after that, and I handled it just fine.

“Lessons Learned” There were so many… that I won’t even try to list them all or this would become an Epic Epic Blog post but some of them are included in the story below.

So, here is how our story began…

Sunday evening, July 10^th, I put the kids to bed in their clothes and I laid down to try and get a few hours of sleep. At 12:01 am Monday morning, R’s leave started and so he signed us up for Space Available travel at three Air Force bases between our house and D.C. We loaded up the car, grabbed the kids out of bed and drove through the night to Andrews Air Force base in Maryland. Our hope was that we would be able to fly out on the flight they had leaving that morning. No such luck. 5 people got on the flight and there were about 20 people in the terminal waiting. We weren’t too concerned as we kind of assumed we wouldn’t get out on our first try. There would be another flight on Wednesday. We headed to my brother’s house to spend a couple of days with him, his wife, and their dog.

We took advantage of a free day on Tuesday to visit the National Air and Space Museum Anex located at Dulles Airport. We say lots of cool planes and interesting flying contraptions.

My personal favorites, the wooden plane because it looked so cool,

and the flying cars.

And here is C as a flower.

Wednesday we were back at Andrews, once again trying to get on a flight to Travis AFB in California. Once again, we were not successful. Two people got seats on the plane. It was at this point that we learned one of many important Space A lessons we would learn on this trip. Med-evac flights, although predictable, are probably not a good idea as they usually have very few seats and since they are predictable, they are popular with travelers.

We made some phone calls and found out that McGuire AFB in New Jersey, had a flight to Travis AFB on Thursday. We weren’t sure if we should try and get on that flight or not. We were hoping to be in CA no later than Wednesday since we knew we would need to start trying to come home the following Tuesday. While we took some time to think on it, we made a stop at the Emergency Room at Andrews as R had developed a horrible cough due to allergy complications. What we thought would be a short trip turned into 4 hours of the kids and I hanging out in the lobby while R got x-rays, etc. The kids were troopers though. B played his D.S. and the girls and I read books, and played hand clapping games.

After the hospital, it was back in the car to drive home. McGuire is just 2 hours from home so we decided we’d go home, sleep in our beds, do a little research and try to figure out what we should do. As we drove, R decided that since we had to drive past McGuire (just a 20 minute detour off of our route) we should stop and go talk to someone to try and figure out what our chances were of getting on the flight the next day. We were only at the terminal for 5 minutes when R came running out with a huge grin on his face. “Hurry…unload the bags, I need to park the car at long term parking and get back. In 30 minutes there is a roll call for a flight with 8 seats going to Travis tonight and since it isn’t on the recording, there is a good chance we can get on it because no one really knows about it.”

A quick explanation….Space A works like this. You put your name on a list at all of the airports you might want to fly out of. The list is ranked by category (this is based on your reason for flying…almost everyone is category III…on leave and flying with their family). Each category is then ranked by the date you signed up. Each AFB then publishes a list (you call their phone number or check a website) of their flights flying that day or the next day along with the time you have to report for roll call. Prior to roll call, you check in and tell them that you would like to get on the flight. At roll call, they check their lists and then call out which groups have made it on the flight and they collect your luggage. Since the flight we were trying to get on came up at the last minute, it was never on the McGuire recording or listed on the website so the only people that would even know about the flight were those people in the terminal who would hear the announcement for the roll call.

We made the roll call!!!! Our family of 5 and another family of three who had just arrived on a flight from Germany (which is why they were in the terminal) were selected. At about 6:30 pm that night, we passed through security and were waiting for the bus that would drive us out to the plane. Now, we had learned from watching the process at Andrews, that until you are through security, you still might not get on the plane. For some reason with the med-evac flights at Andrews, they called people, took their luggage, and then 45 minutes later called them back up to give them their luggage back and tell them that they were no longer going to be able to fly on the plane. We actually didn’t ever see that happen anywhere else but because we had seen it happen at Andrews, we didn’t get our hopes up until we were waiting to board the bus. If only we knew….just 5 minutes after calling R’s family to tell him that we were on our way, we were informed that our plane was broken and that there would be a 4 hour delay. But then a few hours later we were told that the delay would be even longer. And then at about 1 am, we were told that the flight was going to have to be postponed until the following afternoon (Thursday). In the meantime, our kids were sleeping in the airport.

We decided to collect our luggage, drive home, sleep in our beds, shower, and come back the next afternoon. After 1 hour and still no luggage, we were trying to figure out why it was taking so long to get our luggage off of the plane. A few minutes later we found out. Our luggage was missing. They’d checked every vehicle twice, checked every plane, checked with the flight that had gone out to Boston earlier that evening and no luggage. This left only one option. Our luggage must be on the plane bound for Germany. They’d already alerted the AFB in Germany and when the flight landed at 5 am our time, they would search for it. Luckily there was a plane coming straight back that could bring our luggage back and it should arrive by 3 pm, in time for us to still make our flight to Travis, assuming our plane was fixed and was going to fly. In the meantime, we decided we’d just drive home and sleep, shower, and come back on Thursday. But, it is hard to think clearly at 2:30 am so it was not until we opened the van door and P said, “where is my car seat” that we realized that driving home was not an option. The car seat was also on the way to Germany. The good news is that we had sleeping bags and pillows from staying at my brother’s house so we folded the back seat of the van into the floor, made a bed for the kids and R and I “slept” in the front seats for a few hours. I wish I had a picture of the kids sleeping, but I was afraid that digging my camera out of the back pack the next morning would wake them up.

With nothing to do all day, we played card games, and rode the Base shuttle to the BX to look around and have lunch. Then were back at the terminal by 2:00. Sure enough, our luggage arrived at about 3:00. We were happy to see it again and have it in our possession. Now, we were faced with a little dilemma. No one could tell us if our flight was fixed yet and there was an earlier flight going to Travis that had a roll call of 3:30. (Our roll call was 4:10). We were still guaranteed our seats on the later flight but not guaranteed that it would fly. If we wanted to try and get on the earlier flight we would have to give up our seats for the 4:10 roll call. If we didn’t get selected at the 3:30 roll call, we would then have to hope that we were in the top 8 on the list or we wouldn’t make it on the 4:10 flight either. Due to a couple of little miracles, we ended up with guaranteed seats for the 3:30 roll call. We were once again on our way to Travis. This time, we called no one. We waited until we landed at Travis and then called R’s parents and told them to come and pick us up. Needless to say, they were a little shocked to get that call at 9:30 their time.

The flight itself was the best airplane flight I have ever been on. We got to fly on a C-17. It’s a big cargo plane with 53 jump seats down the sides (26 on one side and 27 on the other.) (You can see some great pictures of the exterior and interior at wikipedia.) In some cases the middle would be filled with pallets of cargo but in this case, it was completely empty except for the pallet with everyone’s luggage. Once the plane reached cruising altitude and the pilot turned off the fasten seatbelt sign, they passed out pillows and blankets (and most people also traveled with blankets) and everyone spread out on the floor. Kids ran around and played, people slept, you could wander and look out the two windows, what ever. Our kids slept for about 4 hours of the 5 hour flight. It was a great flight and we were happy to be in CA.

While we were in CA we swam and swam and swam…every day except for Sunday.

This is B trying to get P to jump in the water. R’s sister and I were cracking up as we listened to B try and talk P into jumping. At one point he said, “It is only scary the first time you jump in.” That’s how you get someone to do something???? by confirming that it really is scary???? Good old B.

We ate pizza at Round Table (R’s favorite pizza place).

The kids got to have a seat in Uncle M’s CHP car and try on the handcuffs.

R, B, and C shot weapons.

We had a picnic at the park.

We went to church with cousins.

We visited Muir Woods National Monument to see the giant redwoods.

Trying out the "tree slide" we found.

Can you find R in this picture?

We had family pictures taken.

And we celebrated P’s birthday with grandparents and cousins.

On Tuesday morning, we were back at Travis AFB to begin our trip home, or at least that is what we were trying to do. The 8:40 am roll call went perfectly and we were selected to fly on the C-5 that would be going to Charleston, S.C. (You can see what it looks like at wikipedia.) There, we hoped we could catch one of the two flights that would be flying that evening up to Dover AFB in Delaware. At about 10:30 we were on the plane, so far so good. At about 11:00 am we were told that when they were putting the huge stairs up so we could get into the plane, they had dented the plane so the mechanics had to come look at it before we could leave. Okay… in the meantime they let us climb down the really long steep ladder inside of the plane that goes from the passenger seats on the 2^nd deck to the cargo bay below, and look around. The plane is huge. It is the size of a 747 and carries 73 passengers on a floor above the cargo hold. It looks like a normal plane in the passenger area except that there are only 4 windows and the seats face backward. About 30 minutes later we were informed that they would be taking us back to the terminal to collect our bags, the flight wasn’t going to be able to fly until tomorrow. The good news in all of this was that our plane was one of the two planes that would by flying on to Dover from Charleston, so when (and if) it flew on Wednesday, they could now manifest us all the way to Dover so we would be guaranteed a seat the whole way.

Our kids were more than happy to go back to Grandma and Grandpas and spend the rest of the afternoon and evening swimming with their cousins.

Later that evening, after putting the kids to bed, R called the hotline at Travis just to check the recording. Our flight was not listed as flying on Wednesday and when he actually spoke with someone at the counter, they had no record of our flight either. Mom would be proud to know that I still did not panic. We decided to drive out to Travis and speak to someone in person just to figure things out. We got out there and found out that all was well and it looked like our plane would be heading out Wednesday morning.

So, back to the airport on Wednesday and a second goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa. (This picture is actually from the first morning when we said goodbye.)

We had fun chatting with the friends we had made on Tuesday, who were also on our flight, and then finally around 11 am we were in the air and on our way to S.C. After about 1 ½ hours on the ground in S.C. we were back in the air headed to Dover and we made it without incident. It was 11:30 pm when we arrived at Dover AFB. Since our car was 3 hours away at McGuire, the rental car company didn’t open until 8am, and the lodging at Dover was full, we decided to spend the night in the terminal. I should have taken pictures of our sleeping arrangements. It was so warm outside, B slept on a bench just outside the doors and next to the window where we were sitting inside the terminal. We stacked the two large suitcases next to a chair to give C somewhat of a bed. The back of P’s car seat, when it isn’t up against something, reclines way back so she pretty much had a bed laying in her car seat, and R and I took turns taking a 2 hour nap in our chairs.

When we were at Travis Wednesday morning, we had learned that a flight was scheduled to fly from Dover to McGuire on Thursday morning with the roll call at 9:30 but at the time it was listed as having 0 available seats. Since Dover and McGuire are just 3 hours from each other not a lot of people would probably be trying to get on the flight, so if they opened up seats, we would probably get on. Finally, at about 1am on Thursday, while we were “sleeping” in the terminal, we were able to find someone who could give us the good news and the bad news. The good news… the plane flying to McGuire was a C-5 so there were potentially 73 seats. The bad news… the plane flying to McGuire was a C-5 and they are old and often breaking down (even when someone doesn’t back into them with the stairs.) I didn’t say anything at the time but I was thinking. “If this plane flies the first time, it will be the first time this whole vacation that we go through roll call, go out to our plane and it actually flies and we don’t have to come back and try again the next day because the plane is broken.”

Roll call came, we got on, along with 2 other gentlemen who had been on our flight from Travis to Charleston, and Charleston to Dover. Their cars were also at McGuire. In fact, if the flight didn’t happen, we had worked out tentative plans to split a one-way rental so that we could all get our cars.

It was sure nice to be back at McGuire and we felt truly blessed. Prior to this trip, we had fasted and prayed as a family that we would be able to make it to California to see our family. We also prayed that we would not make it out there if there was not going to be a flight for us to come home, because we could not afford to purchase 5 last minute plane tickets. At one point, back at the beginning of our trip while driving from Andrews towards home and trying to figure out if we were going to try to fly from McGuire to Travis, I started to break down. My first thoughts were, “we’ve been forgotten. All of our fasting and prayers and trying hard to listen to and follow promptings have been for nothing.” But, that thought was quickly replaced with a feeling of peace and the thought…”no we haven’t been forgotten.” We had also prayed that we would have a wonderful family vacation. We wanted to get to spend time with our kids and, although it was not what we imagined, by the time we got on a plane out to Travis we had spent 4 full days with our kids and really had a great time, as crazy as it sounds. There was literally nothing to do but hang out together and I loved playing the hand games, playing “go fish”, reading together, and just hanging out. Our kids were troopers and handled everything without any fits.

As further testimony that our prayers had been answered, we were able to make it all of the way back to McGuire, where our car was parked. When we were making plans for leaving Travis and getting back to the East Coast, we felt that getting back to Andrews, or Dover, would make for a successful trip because we could just rent a car for the day and retrieve our car from McGuire and then go home. And that is what we were prepared for. So, when the flight to McGuire became an actuality we felt truly blessed. On that day, back before we made it to Travis, and we were driving from Andrews towards home and I was feeling emotional and forgotten we both kept feeling like we really should try and get on the flight that was going on Thursday from McGuire to Travis. I remember saying, “Maybe we didn’t get out at Andrews because we’re supposed to fly out of McGuire because that is where we are going to be able to fly back to.” As we were making our return trip, and even after arriving home, I kept a watch on the flights leaving Travis and their destinations. From all that I could tell, there was never a flight with any kind of potential, that ended up at Andrews. We were blessed with exactly what we had hoped for, prayed for, and fasted for, to be able to return home on a Space A flight and then truly blessed with a flight that went right to our car.

One the first or second day of our trip, R started referring to us as “Team Sparrow”. I loved it and it is a good description of how we worked together through our little adventures. Our family makes an awesome team.