jerry031

Thank you all for the birthday wishes, and thank you Josephene and Catiedid for the very entertaining war you had on my page. I'm blessed to have friends with enough free time that they can make me feel that much love...

Oh, and I promised you all a story, didn't I? Well, here goes. It's a story of love and loss, of old friends and new ones, ends and beginnings. I had hoped to include pictures, but I'm on a friends computer, and he apparently doesn't have a photo editing program that re-sizes (at least not that I could find). Sooooo, I'll be posting pictures soon, promise. Onto the story...

As most of you know that has spent any amount of time at my page, I spent a year in Korea. I don't recommend that to anybody, unless the alternative is going to Iraq, in which case Korea is a picnic. How the fuck do you spell "picnic"? It looks wrong the way I spelled it here. Does anybody else smell butterscotch? Anyway...I got home from Korea on the 16th of December, spent Christmas and New Year's with family (although not quite all of them, one very important person was missing, and that will be rectified next Christmas), and got on the road to California on the 4th of January. I left early in the afternoon, and almost got out of Illinois before calling it a day and finding a hotel. As I'm checking in, I'm chatting about the weather with, as it turns out, the most ignorant woman in Illinois. She asks where I'm headed, and I tell her that I'm going to California for now, but that ultimitely I'm headed to Alaska. She says to me, "Alaska!? You don't want to go there." Dumbfounded, I ask, "Why?" "Haven't you been reading the news?" she asks. "What news?" "119,000 dead..." says she. "What?!??!" I ask. "I just read it here," she says as she picks up the sports section. "Holy sh...., you mean Asia, not Alaska." I say referring to the horrifically tragic tsunami that had just happened. "Oh yeah," she says, "Asia." Almost enough to keep me from staying in that hotel that evening. There's something unsettling about having somebody that unintelligent working the desk at a hotel. Anyway...

I get up the next morning and there's a sheet of ice all over my Jeep. No big deal; I start her up, scrape off the ice, and away I go. That day I get across Iowa and into Omaha, Nebraska, where I run into a huge snowstorm and decide to call it a night. Got up the next morning to a clear, cold sunrise. I got myself some breakfast, got in my Jeep and headed west once again. Across Nebraska and Wyoming I go and stop just before the Utah border for the night. No issues there either. Head out the next day across Utah and Nevada (where I killed three stupid little brown birds that were too damn dumb to get out of the way of a vehicle going 80 on a freeway) and into California. I'm planning to make Beale Air Force Base (near Sacramento) by six, and if I didn't have the Sierra-Nevadas to contend with, I would have. I ran into a huge snowstorm coming down the mountains out of Reno and it took me about 6 hours to go 200 miles. Not bad you say, except that I ended up doing 30 for about an hour in blowing snow. Fun. I finally made it to my friend Chris's house and spent four days there. It was great seeing him and his wife again. And I got to meet their beautiful daughter Emma. she is definitely a doll-baby. Four days later I'm on the road again.

I leave California on the 12th and make it to Washington state that evening. The next day I'm into Canada and well on my way. That night I leave a carbonated energy drink in my Jeep as I slumber away. Of course I remembered when I woke up, and I soon found out what that stuff looks like frozen and blasted all over the inside of a Jeep. Which is to say, not good. So, after spending about an hour making my vehicle habitable again, I got on the road. That day was uneventful, as was that night. The following day, more of the same. I saw some elk, but that was about all the excitement I had to that point. I stopped at a little town called Watson Lake and bedded down for the night. The next day the whole trip went south...

I had planned on stopping at Whitehorse for the night, but considering I got there at about noon, I decided to press to Haines Junction. Well, I got there in about two hours and decided that Destruction Bay would be just as good a place to stop, so I made a phone call and off I went. For about 10 minutes. Then, I hit a patch of ice, fishtailed my ride, broadsided a plowed up snow berm, and rolled my Jeep. One and a half times, coming to rest on the roof. When I finally came to a rest, I got my bearings, turned off the ignition, and unbuckled my seatbelt. Then I promptly fell to the ceiling. When I finall got out (I had to dig through all the crap that had fallen to the ceiling on the passenger side), I just stood there for about a minute until a Canadian park ranger drove past. He was kind enough to take me to the ranger station, call the police, and take me to a restaurant to wait for the Mounties. So, I got to the restaurant and made all the appropriate phone calls: Mom, sister, girlfriend, insurance company. Then I waited for about three hours until I got bored out of my mind, then I got a room, called the police dispatch to let them know what room I was in, and I waited. When she finally arrived we went back to my Jeep so I could grab a few more things and she could see where I came to rest, then she told me to come in the next morning to fill out a police report.

I got up the next morning and talked to the adjuster. She seaid the company wanted the vehicle to be towed to Whitehorse where there were more facilities available to handle this sort of thing, and that there was a company that would rent me a vihicle one-way to get me where I needed to go. Then I went to fill out the police report, came back to the hotel, and waited for the wrecker guy to recover my Jeep. He showed at about 11:30, we got to my vehicle at about 12:30, and he had it on his truck by 1:30. And off we went to Whitehorse. We got there and I called the rental agency for a ride. I got my rental, came back to the salvage yard, talked to the local adjuster and the salvage company manager, moved all the stuff from my Jeep to the rental (2003 GMC Jimmy), found a hotel, and went to bed. The next day I was off to Tok, Alaska, and the day after that I was in Anchorage. I promptly got a PO box, checked into a hotel, and got something to eat. The next day I got up, turned in the rental car, went to the Subaru dealership, and bought a WRX. I love my new car, but I wish I didn't have to buy it. And here's why...

I signed in on base on Friday, and started looking for a house to buy that same day. Five days later I made an offer, it was accepted, and soon I'll be a home owner. I close on or about the 30th of March, Which is good, because although it's a long way out, I'll need the time to get the settlement for my Jeep so I can cover closing costs. I'm pretty excited about the whole thing, but something about a $1450 mortgage payment is a bit unnerving. I'll be sure and post pictures when I get all moved in and settled.

I believe this rant has gone on long enough, and I thank you for reading it. I also thank you again for the birthday wishes. I hope this tides you all over for the next few weeks when I can get on a computer again and update. I'll see you all later.