a long weekend,,,(and not in the good sense either)

my weekend started kind of normal.
friday morning i had to run in to work for a few hours and finish up some things i hadn't finished. after that got finished i ran a quick load of laundry, suited up and headed for fairchild AFB. apon arival there, i realized i had forgot my toiletry bag, and had to go to the BX to get some standby's.

the call to Air Ops... "No Ma'am, the plane hasnt gotten off deck yet." was definately NOT what i wanted to hear. stop for dinner at the BK on base, then Ted calls from Missoula. "Allie, we're on the roll as we speak, see you in about an hour." i looked at my watch, 18:15. plane is running about an hour and a half late at this point.

19:35- "Ma'am, the P-3 is on deck" from the base ops airman, who was quite good looking, and so polite and went way out of his way to make sure my long wait was as pleasant as could be. i grabbed my suitcase and headed out the door. with a brief smile and thank you, to that airman(was actually an air force tech sergeant) i headed out the door to the plane.

flight went as planned to terminus in oak harbor.

the duty office berthing master list-*******, Allison M LCDR- Coachmen Inn. 3rd weekend in a row for the out in town deal. well the positive side was that "Jolly" Roger was at the coachmen too. Jolly is the Nav/Com officer on my air crew. a great guy to hang out with. time on the watch at this point, 22:25. duty driver gets the 3 of us to our destinations, and i get to my room. this is when i realize that NOTHING on whidbey island is open past 9:30pm. note to self. bring car next time.

04:30 saturday-"can i get the duty driver to come get me. i have a 5am preflight" keep in mind i had about 5 hours of sleep. i get to the hanger and get to brief. then an hour later its out to the plane, and we are setting it up to turn it on and warning lights galore and the lineman is signalling fire! pop the APU bottle, "evacuate the aircraft!!! Port observer! TACCO Report!"

08:07-on the ground, looking at the airplane, i shake my head. ok clear to get our gear off the plane. call maintenance, do we have a backup for this bird? no? ugh. thanks chief." drag the gear back in, quick debrief, and get ready for the family day.
catch a nap at my desk. and at 10am have to get out there and be civilized for the families. looking like i just woke up, the skipper asked if i was alright. yessir, lack of sleep is always good for the body, i had replied sarcasticly. after joking with the skipper for a few minutes, i had decided to return to my office. the downside is that my office is away from the hanger, in the ordnance shop.

13:00- Command picnic. food, fun, and 2 kegs of beer. oh and did i mention TONS of lil ones. and a massive full sheet cake. maybe a sheet and a half. yes huge. after grabbing a cup and some of that beer (bud light is not my favorite.) i head to the grill to get me some tasty vittles.
got suckered into a game of horse shoes(28 years old and only the 3rd ever game of horseshoes ever). more beer, another hot dog... 1500 on the watch.game of volleyball. (i ripped my new shorts*cries*) was part of several pictures with many many people. i finally met Jolly's wife. nice lady, very classy. i always thought if Roger was about 20 years younger and single he's be quite a catch. matter of fact he has a son that is my age. so yanno. LOL

1700- heading back to the hotel room. i relaxed on the bed watching tv when my cell phone rings "hey Squeaks!(my squadron nickname... do NOT ask!) we're gonna head to Mike's house and have some drinks, wanna come along?" tired, and comfy, i reluctantly accepted the invite and said yeah. i'm at the coachmen, i'll meet you at the lobby in 15.

needless to say i didnt get much leep saturday night. i didnt get back to the room untill about 1am. back at the hangar at 6, and being a spare set of hands on a no fly day, i get volunteered for a plane wash. (what fun!!) the plane wash was fun actually. over around 1030am, and then i was just holding a chair down all day sunday till the airlift.

1500- board the airlift. engines now turning, 592 rolling. at the end of the runway. "we're waiting for maintenance to release us safe for flight." then we turned around and returned to the flight line. joy. sitting on the deck we get told the colorado group was taking our plane 'cause theirs went down. wonderful.we have a spare, 320. so me and the eastern airlift head over there. and begin prepping the plane. about 20 minutes into this evolution i realize that no one is coming over

the VP-1 chief runs out and says that the airplane we just got off was waiting for us. *rolls eyes* (thanks chief) he tells us not to worry about unprepping it. so we run back to 592. with us there are 23 ppl on this plane. very uncomfy. ok 592 off the deck. arriving in COS (colorado springs) at 10pm. drop off 15 people and back in the air. to missoula at 12am. drop Ted off, back in the air and to spokane at 1am. i get off the plane. i finally got home at 3am. and was NOT going to work today. so needless to say ihad LONG weekend.