The Long Journey Home

Hi Friends!

After our final week and saying our final "Goodbyes", we hit the road headed to Montana early Sunday morning. We drove from Texas to Wyoming in one day. UGH! It actually wasn't that bad Loretta and I switched every 3 hours which actually made it seem to go by faster. Loretta even pretended to be asleep and let me sing some of my favorite musical songs on the way. Thanks Loretta! When we got to Cheyenne, Wyoming late Sunday night we went to check in at the Roadway Inn.

Never. Again.

This place was, to be honest, a little sketch. When we got to our room, we noticed there was a "Do not disturb" sign on the door and the lights were on. We opened the door and found that the room was trashed. The bed was turned back, stuff was everywhere and I'm pretty sure I saw a used condemn on the floor. We decided that we did NOT want to stay there so we cancelled our payment with them and went to the Stage Coach Inn which was cheaper and so much nicer. We opened the door and both had a fit of giggles. Maybe it was the long drive, or the 80's wood panneling with deer and ducks on it, OR the "Hamptin Inn" bath towels hahahah!!!! It was actually a cute little place. The shower was pink! Haha!

The next day we finished up our drive to Missoula. Yep Texas to Montana in TWO days. We're nuts in the head! We shared a room with our friends Krystal and Eli and caught up with some of our long lost TAD friends. The next day was check in. Needless to say check in was a little stressful for us both and I'm already not looking forward to the next one at the end of Fall Tour. Although, it was nice to catch up with friends and exchange summer stories. A bunch of us even hiked up to the "M" and the view was beautiful. Montana is officially my favorite state to drive through. Mountains are EVERWHERE and I LOVE the mountains. Missoula is actually in a valley so we were literally surrounded by Gods work. I loved it.

After our second day of check in which was Loretta's Birthday some of her friends came and picked us up for her Birthday dinner. Later that night there was a bonfire in Loretta's honor which consisted of hotdogs, smores, and some of Loretta's dearest friends. I was glad I was invited. :) Afterwards we went to this place called Sheris for a late night snack (it was around 2am) with Loretta's boyfriend and their friend David. After that David and I went for a walk around the lake, just killing time, before I had to be at the airport in about an hour. David and I had some good heart to heart conversations and he gave me a lot of good advice which I have already applied.

I had to get on 3 flights to get home and right as I was getting on my last flight they made an announcement that they overbooked the flight and were asking for volunteers to stay and leave the next day. Well duh no one's going to want to do that! They loaded the plane with our luggage, I was sitting in my seat and started to notice that nothing was happening. They made another announcement on the plane saying that they overbooked the flight AND that because of the "weather" (it was sunny in VA and in Chicago) that the load was too heavy so they were asking for volunteers or they would begin selecting people to get off the plane. They mentioned that they would pick from the lowest ticket and go up. I thought, "Well I'm fine, I've already been on two flights today so my ticket is well over $500". They called off 3 old married couples probably because they were retired and they assumed they had nothing else to do. Guess who was picked next? Yep. F my life. They picked me and this other girl probably because we were single tickets and that would be easy to rebook. Ticket price had nothing to do with it! SOOO I go to customer service and they say the earliest they can get me out would be sometime in the afternoon the following day. I never loose my cool but this time I did. I was homesick and had been up for over 24 hours and my luggage was STILL on the plane headed home....WITHOUT ME! I was so upset and I tried to be a good little Christian girl, and after a few tears and angry words they got me on a plane for later that day. Never flying out of Chicago or with United ever again.

Now I'm finally home surrounded by my loved ones and dog. As cheesy as this is to say, "There's no place like home."

-Jen

All The King Arthur TAD'S