Tonight we went out for dinner there was a man (not in uniform) approach Mike (who was in uniform) and started asking questions about Fort Carson. He was with his pregnant wife, daughter and loaded car. They just arrived in town and he needed to report in at the welcome center. When you get orders to get stationed the army tells you where you are going to be stationed and a date to report by. Thats about all they do. They dont book your hotel, give you directions and make sure you know what your doing thats all a mystery.
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| Our stuff getting packed in South Dakota |
After we talked to this couple and showed them around (to make things a little easier on them) it got Mike and I talking about our experiences. Mike has been in the army coming up on 3 years now and we talked about when we first got to Alaska. We have never been there ( I didnt even know people lived by the North Pole) And we certainly didnt know anyone there to show us around or crash with.
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| Mike and I on our flight to Alaska! Hello adventure! |
We didnt even have our car and belongings they were on a boat getting shipped to us (was about a month before we got them)When we arrived it was late, we didnt have a hotel booked because we were told the hotel on post could have an opening on the day of our arrival, and we couldnt stay off post because we didnt have a car.
We were at the airport in Alaska and I called my grandma to let her know we were safe. The airport is out of town so when I was looking out the window of the airport I told my grandma "OMG!! What did I get myself into!? I dont even see a town!!" I was excited about something completely new but was new to the army which was new enough then we are put in a completely foreign world to us little Iowans.
When we left the lower 48 it was about 120 degrees with the humidity. (this was in August) and when we walked out of the airport to get in the taxi it was probably 60 with NO humidity! IT WAS COLD! Our tank tops and shorts didnt really cut it.
So we made it to Alaska Now what? We didnt have a hotel, or a home, and definately didnt know anyone. So we found ourselves in the army lounge at the airport. We lucked out because a soldier who also was just moving there didnt know that since he was single he could stay at the barracks, he offered us his hotel room. They were booked for months so for the fact that had just became available we were very happy.
The hotel was right accross from the commisary (military grocery store) and Mike didnt work far from where we were, so everything worked out. We had a kitchen in our hotel room so I told Mike lets run to the store spend about 20 bucks and get plenty of food. Welllllllll that would of worked in the lower 48 but the prices were very high so we didnt get much with 20 bucks thats for sure.
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| Milk $5.98 |
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| hot dogs $6.25 |
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| Bacon 9.65 |
I remember the excitement and being completely scared also. One thing that Mike and I have learned with several other experiences with the military was to rely on eachother. We couldnt have a family member come to us and give us a ride, or ask a family member where a certain store was,or a family member to watch Dylan while we ran errands it was all us.
One of the things we say ALOT is "We will get through this, we always do"
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