Just got home from LA

[stickyvicky]

I finally just got to my house, now, about 30 min ago.... Our flight home was horrible.... of course we always come home with more stuff than we leave with.... I left my 10 lb bullet belt at Sunny's, didn't even consider bringing that on the plane with me.... they are real bullets filled with gunpowder, so I'll get it next time we drive out... The airline is so picky on the weight now, even one pound over 50 lbs and they want to charge you a $90 surcharge! Per bag! So I had to keep on rearranging stuff between all the bags till I got them all even and in the end I was still 2 lbs over. So I had no choice but the throw my running shoes in the garbage. Can you believe that? They were old and worn out anyway, but still..... so in all that commotion, I didn't notice that he had given Dave and I seats 3 rows apart, and gave both of us the center seat! I'm ok with it, but Dave is 6'6", that's just ridiculous! His knees are in his face for the entire 5 hours. We asked them to change seats and they said they couldn't help us. The plane was full. Ask our neighbors to move if we wanted. Yeah right, who in their right mind would change a window or an aisle seat for a center? No one.... It made no sense. We checked in at 2:30 for a 4:30 flight.... it was deliberate. It had to be. We were the first ones to check in for our flight. I offered the curbside check in guy $10 to let my bag through with the extra 2 lbs and he was thoroughly insulted. "It doesn't work that way, ma'am!" he said indignantly. So I'm sure he messed up our seats because of that. Off to a great start. Then when we got to the door of the plane they said no carryons, we are too full. So we had to give up our computer bags. My tray table was broken, so I had to share with the guy next to me. When the movie came on, we had no headphones because our headphones were in the carryons which they took away from us. They wanted to charge us for headphones, and Dave all squashed in his little center seat finally flipped his lid. What a horrible flight!

Then finally get to atlanta, through the storms, which were kind of scary, lol... and we had to wait an hour for the shuttle to pick us up to bring us to our hotel where we left our car when we departed. Dave kept saying "See I told you we should have just drove to LA!" It was 1:30 am by the time we were finally in our room and we had to get up at 6 to run around atlanta on appts that we made before we left, plus go pick up shorty at the kennel. We are babysitting shorty for 10 days while our friends are in LA shooting. They left the same time as us. This is shorty, he used to be my dog years ago, he is quite famous, he's appeared in a few naughty america scenes.... lol...

Then we had to go to HRL's and pick up stinkie and loki, plus Las Tres Amigos! (3 chihuahuas). We get to the cabin, because we are close to it, and too tired to go home, and the freakin airconditioning that was supposed to be fixed before we left is still not fixed. We are having a heat wave in atlanta, mid 90's but the humidity is 60%! Thank God Britney postponed her trip to atl, it's unbearable at the cabin with no air..... so we messed around over there for a day, and now I just got home. Gonna jump in the shower before the cam2cam. I just finished throwing all the rotting fruits and veggies and all the dairy products away from the fridge. Oh the joys of traveling! Plus believe it or not, there are spider webs across every single doorway inside the house. We were only gone for about 10 days total! In the country the critters just take over the minute you are gone!

Anyway, soooo glad to be home! Will be nice to sleep in my bed tonight, but tomorrow still have to go back to the cabin to meet the AC man at noon. Oh that's another whole story! One guy tried to sell me a whole new unit for $3800. I was born at night, but not last night!

[Hornydevil]

awwwww hunny i'm sorry to hear that xxxx want a massage hunny? de-stress you......maybe even turn you on lol xxxxxxxxxxxx

[h0rnytoad1]

Wow thats some trip home! Everything that could go wrong, did.

A few tips for travellers ? if you don't mind.

Fedex for your stuff. worth every penny. trust me. you only need to loose your luggage once to kick yourself.
And get someone to come over the house everyday.
For your pets, i saw a commercial on TV for Doggydaycare, there's one way to have your pets cared for. but a friend who can take them in will also be a good alternative.

Fedex
You get to keep all your stuff !
No luggage to carry on (ask for the price of luggage to be refunded and pay fedex with it)
And they arrive when *you* want them to. not when the airline wants em to.
(ugh i can only imagine your furry if they'd lost your luggage)

They will bring them to your door the day *after* you get home if you tell them to ship at destination on that date or after.

Get a friend to come over and check the house, grab the mail/daily paper.
Cobwebs will be an indication if they've done their job or not lol

[WalterB]

"Reasons To Drive." Read Vicky's post. I know it takes longer, but, you plan for it and just take your time. Favorite songs in the player, engine on cruise control, A/C on and pumping, and I'm down the road. Vicky's post is the main reason I don't fly anymore. I don't have as much luggage, but the airlines have NO customer service and they nickle/dime you to death. Some charge you to carry ANY luggage. And, if you got there two hours early, how could they say they were too full for your carry-ons? I would have cancelled right there, but your luggage is all ready on board, and they'll charge you $100 for the priveledge of NOT flying you. Drive, drive, drive.

See? If you drive, you even have the option of running out of gas in the desert. teehee. You can sleep on the ground because you forgot your air pump, you can sleep under the stars because you forgot your tent poles, You can drink water for breakfast because you forgot matches to light your stove, hey this is FUN!!! Julie, I hear you and Vanessa are driving from Edmonton to the Canyon. That'll be a trip.

[hotjulie]

Glad your home, oh the joy of air travel I got kicked off an airplane once oh well shit happens. Yes Walt we will drive there I giggled it and it's around 1600 miles

[Popeye Wong]

Sooooorry to read about your trip back home, Vicky. I hope it goes much better next time. My wife and I had a good trip back home, I must say, but we live so much closer to Los Angeles than you (we live in Las Vegas). We rented a van so I could take my stuff to the convention, so when I finally came back home and sat down in my car, I felt like I was in a low rider, ha. And I understand why your neighbors at the plane wouldn't want to switch places: it wasn't because they didn't want to be at the center seat, it's just that they didn't give up being next to you (see? think about it that way, and it might make you feel better... maybe, he). You should take Hornydevil's offer on the massage!
On a side note, I want to state again how wonderful was to meet you in person, my wife and I were starstruck after you visited our booth, and we can't wait to see you again at Adultcon.
h0rnytoad, I will have to check the Fedex option that you mentioned to Vicky. Being this our first convention, we spent some extra money in things we didn't need to, like renting the van to take my stuff. Since I don't have so much stuff, I think it would be better to ship it next time, thanks for the tip.
Walt, I love to drive, unfortunately, since my night vision has gotten worse and worse, it's harder for me to drive at night every time. Vicky, I remember you mentioning the same problem with your sight a long, long time ago, so I'm sure you know the feeling.
Julie, looking forward to meet you in person at the Grand Canyon. Take care everybody!

Pops.

[stickyvicky]

awwwww hunny i'm sorry to hear that xxxx want a massage hunny? de-stress you......maybe even turn you on lol xxxxxxxxxxxx

Oh yes please a massage from you would definitely turn me on!

[stickyvicky]

We should have stayed in LA... lol.... so get this, still no air at the cabin, we've had a few people out to look at it. Turns out the cabin was struck by lightning and that's why the compressor is fried, plus the floodlights in the front and all the lights in the back half. Crazy, so now we are waiting for a new compressor... we came home yesterday because we couldn't stand the heat over there anymore.... at 9 am the power goes off here at the house... Rokkerr asked me if I forgot to pay the bill, lol.. A massive old tree fell on the power lines tearing everything down, plus blocking the street. We live on a mountain, so one road in, one road out! We were stuck here yesterday! No AC and it was 90 plus 60% humidity.... Since we couldn't do a camshow, or work on the sites, we tried to go into town to go to the gym and charge our phones and computers there.... got to the tree, and had to sit and wait 3 hours.... we were pathetic, we didn't know what to do with ourselves, no phones, no internet, no tv, no lights, after we had sex, we were lost....

[h0rnytoad1]

wow that is some adventure, things can get crazy when we're gone, i hope the rest of the house is safe, i mean being struck by lightening is no small thing. then again, maybe it wasn't really. Prob just a powersurge from an exploding converter or something.

The challenge for this century will be to refine our use of energy, find ways to collect and store the energy that surrounds us. Sun, wind, water, movement.

Someone should invent a recharging suit. Theres already a self winding watches and crankpowered camplights/radios.

Everytime we move its energy that could be collected.

Hybrid cars that use electrical motors in the wheels, collect the breaking power to recharge, same can be used when going down a hill.

[WalterB]

Yep, you need to put in a windmill. They're out here by the thousands, West Texas and Southeast New Mexico. Then there's another on I-10 at the Ariz/Cal border, thousands of the dang things.

[John_fromNY]

Glad that you got home safe sweetie. By the way, a cute Mexican doggie!!

[stickyvicky]

Mexican? Cover your ears shorty! I won't tell him you said that! lol.... he's a boston terrior! But the 3 chihuahua's (las tres amigos) are driving him nuts! And they are mexican!

[h0rnytoad1]

3 female chiwawas?

Dang, even that mutt is getting more nookie than me! lol its a dog's life i tell ya!

then again, thats 3 times diner and movie. Not to mention when he comes home late at night,

my right nut to have THAT problem! (the smaller of the 2 lol)

[stickyvicky]

No the chihuahua's are all male, they belong to HRL, her and Ian are gone on vacation, perfect timing, they left the day we got home, they had stinkie and loki for 8 days, now I have 10 days of insanity.... they have 3 we have 2, but they say it's even because loki counts as 2, I say no way, because stinkie should only count as half...
,
Anyway, loki disappeared on us tonight, a flock of wild turkeys came by the house, and loki led the scary 6pack of 3 chihuahua's, one boston terrier and one shitzu on a rampage around the house, they all stopped at the railing, but loki sailed on over it and was gone for 3 hours. I was really scared because it's pitch black, no streetlights here at all, it's hot and humid, and the deer are particularly aggressive this time of year, they have already attacked her more than once.... I had visions of her stomped to death, lying there bleeding while I'm out walking the streets with a flashlight calling her.... We went out in the jeep twice looking for her, just when i was the most depressed, I saw a neighbor with a flashlight.... he had found her under his crawlspace, he heard noises under the house, heard me out calling, and put two and two together. He found her digging through the fiberglass insulation. Thank god! This is only the 10th time something like that has happened. This really should have been in loki's thread lol...

[h0rnytoad1]

Glad you found your dogs, its a scary thing to loose a pet,
the worst things go through your mind don't it...
but give him a good treat, im sure he was a scared too.

I was really scared because it's pitch black, no streetlights here at all, it's hot and humid

imagine if you get shaken every witch way imaginable, then you throw up.
Now ya know how a feels in there

[stickyvicky]

No loki is too stupid to be scared. I'm pissed and relieved all at the same time....

[AussieSteve]

Vicky,

After reading about all the dramas with your return from LA to Atlanta, I think I better not fly around the USA after I get into LA for Adultcon. Is a hire car the way to go to get to the Grand Canyon? Any feedback is very welcome because it's my first ever trip to the States.

[stickyvicky]

We need to think this out to make it work, lol.... Rokkerr and I were planning on driving to LA from Atlanta again. We'll probably stay a month. It's about 2500 miles and takes a good four days each way. So we figured why not stop at the grand canyon on the way there? We really need to co ordinate all this - it's crowded so weekdays would be best, but I'm not sure if the members who plan on coming can make it on a mon/tues..... it's a one day drive from the canyon to los angeles, about 500 miles or 7 - 8 hours.... adultcon is Oct 2-3-4.

I really think the Grand Canyon hike is a great idea but we will only do it if we get enough confirmed members. We have done events in the past like rollerblading/biking on the beach in LA, skiing in gatlinburg, TN, and the aids walk in here in Atlanta. I have to say I was disappointed in the turnout. If we can get 7 - 10 confirmed members, it's a go, less than that, forget about it, and we'll party with all of you in LA at Adultcon.

Walt is co ordinating all of it, so check with him for the details. Even if we all just meet up and hang out in LA it will be great fun, I promise!

[st1fler]

I'll be in vegas from 24 or 25-27th of september