My last trip out of Chicago...

Crew Support stuck to their pattern this month of not calling me the day before or the day after my scheduled days off, so that was wonderful! I did get a call from them late Friday afternoon, to schedule my moving days. Moving again? Yes. I got a transfer to Tucson, Arizona. I'm excited, and at the same time I've been having mixed feelings about it, but the goal was to be out of Chicago before the winter hit. I didn't expect it to happen so soon (hence the mixed feelings), but if I didn't accept the transfer I'd definitely be stuck here through the beginning of next year, and pretty much I think I'd die. =) I don't do snow, unless I can sit inside and watch it sitting next to the fire and drinking hot chocolate. Then I like it! Anyway, Monica from Crew Support called me and said I could have July 30 - August 2 or July 31 - August 3 as my moving days, and I picked the latter. Wow, less than a week till I'd had to move. Before I went to bed that evening, just before midnight, I checked my schedule online, and they had scheduled me a 3 day trip starting the next morning with a 5:15am report time. There wasn't much sleeping that night!

Overall, a fun trip with a great crew! I was on the CRJ 200, our 50 passenger airplane, so I was the only Flight Attendant. I had the same Captain the whole time, but we had three different First Officers throughout the trip! Some highlights from the trip...

Day One
- Not having to wait ten years for the train to come! =) That's always nice, especially on a weekend.
- We spent our first night at the Holiday Inn in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Not a thrilling place to be, but not bad either. Fortunately, both pilots wanted to walk around and see what there was to see. We grabbed a bite to eat at an Irish pub and then in the afternoon went down to see the Sioux Falls, the reason for the name of the town.
- Bryan, our first FO, greatly impressed me with his knowledge of world geography and even PNG!!! He asked if I'd lived in Port Moresby, and if I flew on AirNiugini... I don't think I've ever met anyone not associated with PNG who knew about AirNiugini!
- Finally, a good night's rest! Without the fear of missing a call from Crew Support early in the morning. =)

Day Two
- An 8:00 show time!
- We flew to Denver, where we had two hours. Bryan left us, and I had a nice time chatting with Eric, the Captain, and listening to his theories on how to rid PNG of crime =) (after I told him why my parents are not there now). I also got to call up Kathy, my dad's cousin, who lives in Denver, and caught up with her a little bit. Hopefully one day I'll stay in Denver long enough to see her!
- Dave, our new FO, met up with us at the gate and we flew to Rapid City, South Dakota. What do you do in Rapid City? Mount Rushmore! Eric had arranged to rent a car. His girlfriend met up with us, and the four of us drove to see the carved faces. It was a beautiful day, and we got a great view of it! (Last time I went to Mt. Rushmore, it was foggy and if we were lucky, we could see an eye or a nose for a second when the clouds moved.) After Rushmore we drove to Deadwood, home of Wild Bill Hickok.
- Since Eric and Alix were hanging out, Dave and I got to chat a bit... Before he was a pilot, he was a bass player in a band! They got to hang out and go on tours with bigger groups and travel a lot. Next week, Dave has 7 days off so he's going down to Sydney! Someday... =)
- We got back to the hotel, and I was super tired, but decided that I needed to go down to the gym for at least a little bit. While I was in there, I was talking to a guy and came to find out that he is a former NFL player with the New Orleans Saints... He's retired because of a quad injury sustained in a game against the Chicago Bears. I felt bad that I didn't recognize him, so I didn't ask him his name... Now the curiosity is killing me!

Day Three
- On our plane from Rapid City to Chicago, the beverage cart's brake wasn't working... so I got to do my service the old school way, and took drink orders and then walked them out. Good thing it was a longer flight! After I finished my service, I was talking with the guy in 1C. He was on his way to Budapest, just to go and explore. He said something about going cliff jumping! Definitely a thrill seeker. He had about an hour layover in Chicago, and asked where was a good place to get breakfast. I told him about my favorite spot, Burrito Beach, and he said a breakfast burrito sounded great. We chatted some more and he asked how much time I had between flights... we only had about 20 minutes before we had to get to our next plane and do security checks and stuff. He said he wished I could join him for breakfast - it would have been fun! I would have liked to hear more about his travels, experiences, adventures... Oh well!
- We did a Milwaukee turn, then a Birmingham turn (for that one, Dave left us and we picked up Franklin, an FO who's only been flying a month!). I had the neediest passengers ever on the way to Birmingham, and a full flight. The highlight of that flight, though, was the Indian ladies who offered me some of their Indian food! We really hadn't stopped since 5:30 that morning, and it was already about 2:30pm, so I was glad for something besides a piece of fruit in my tummy! =)

I got home at about 7pm, sooo happy to be home and see my roomies! I was exhausted though, but had to start thinking about how to move to Arizona in the next couple of days. I booked a flight to Long Beach, then we watched a movie and I fell asleep. Today I've been packing and Kindl and I have been hanging out at home. Sad last day in Chicago. I feel like I should go out! Maybe we will later.

Back to the packing...