We got up at 4 am and left at 4:30. We left the generator in the Teton with the AC on all night so we slept a little bit better.
Rob had to check in at 5 am for his 6 am flight. He went down stairs while I went through security and got us some coffee and scones. Then we went to the gate.
The flight is over sold and there are 14 standbys. Some of the stand by passengers have paid tickets and some are non-revs like me. Guess who gets priority!
Needless to say, Rob flew away without me as I could not get on the flight.
The next flight was at 8:15. All the stand-by passengers who didn't make it on the 6:00 flight rolled over to the next one. Bella and I just sat in the gate area and waited.
7:45 rolled around and they started getting ready for the 8:15 flight. It was actually looking pretty good. They had accommodated several standbys and I was third in line to receive a seat. All of a sudden, at the very last minute, 4 people ran up who had reserved seats and got on board. Thus ended the possibility of us getting on.
The next flight was at 10:25, also over sold with 11 people on the standby list.
Bella and I went and found the pet area. It is an outdoor place with concrete with several drains, and then an artificial turf area with water fountains and a hose. We wandered around in there for a little while until Bella finally peed. She did not like the place. I think I was as relieved as she was after she went. We had already been in the airport for 4 hours with another 2 hours to wait and then a 2 hour flight.
We went back to the new gate and waited.
Rob had landed in Seattle by now. I we had decided that he would not get on the first connection to Kalispell but rather wait until the next one which if I was able to get on the SEA flight at 10:25 I would be be able to make with him. If I was not able to get on my flight then he would go ahead and go to Kalispell, I would go to Portland (all the SEA flights were reporting full) and then catch a flight to Kalispell later in the evening from there.
Meanwhile, back in LAX, time for the 10:25 flight and it is not looking good. The have all the names of the standby pax on the board, so you can see where your place is and you can see when they assign seats to the people in front of you. There were a couple of people who had been waiting like me, only when I talked to them they told me they had received seat assignments although they were not showing up on the board. That made me third in line. There was a big long line of people waiting to board. I was preparing my self to call Rob tell him I was going to go to Portland when the gate agent waved me up and handed me a boarding pass with a seat assignment. Phew! what a relief. By now though, after settling 6 hours in the airport, I was very tired and getting a splitting head ache.
The flight was fine and Bella was a bit restless, but settled down and was really happy to see Rob when we got to the gate for Kalispell. We got on that flight with no problem, and quickly, only enough time to use the bathroom. Bella seemed to sense that this was the last flight, because she was all frisky and silly.
The flight was quick and Yippee! we were back in Kalispell. Bella and I went immediately outside to the grass. She was so happy. Not only did she pee, but she rolled around and scooted in the grass. I took her vest off and she really relished in the grass.
Rob joined us and we went to this very cool Saloon in Kalispell. It's called Moose's Saloon and they serve Moose Drool Beer (along with a gazillion other beers and cheap) One of his fellow pilots had told him about it and said we have to go there. We had been avoiding it because it is a pizza, beer and peanuts joint with sawdust on the floor. We were hoping to be able to watch the Raider/ Seahawks game.
It was a very cool place. I had a Guinness to start with and a ton of peanuts. Rob had a Hat Trick and it was better than my Guinness so I switched to it. We were both sat at the bar and around the corner from Rob was this really nice man who told us all about the history of the bar, the history of the area and how he ice fishes in the winter and all kinds of fun historical stories.
We had a pizza, which was really yummy and then left. Our game wasn't even supposed to start for another hour, and neither of us could drink anymore beer.
We came home and unfortunately we were not able to get the game on TV. It is on the NFL station and the park cable does not get it.
It is supposed to rain tonight so we packed up some stuff from outside. We brought my bike inside since we are moving tomorrow, and put the Bar-B-Q away.
We watched a little TV and then went to bed. We were both very tired from the long stressful day.
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