Last Day!!

Monday the 19th of September, the day we were supposed to have checked out of Fort Wainwright, everything I had to do that day took half an hour or more longer than it should have, most of the time to circumstances beyond my control. 

 Owing NorthHaven less than we ever thought would be possible, I was off to the unit.  By the time I finished the unit paperwork, my commander and first sergeant were both in a meeting, so I couldn't get the signature I needed.  I came back after lunch and got it from Chief.

When I got to the Welcome Center to clear housing, I somehow could not find my wallet.  I searched inside and outside my van but could not find it.  In a panic, I drove back to the unit, looking in the admin office and my commander's office.  It was nowhere.  So I went back to the van.  My wallet practically fell on top of me when I opened the door. 

My feelings were a mixture of frustration and relief, but I had a 2:00 appointment for our pet Euromastyx, a 2:30 appointment to drop off the van at Fairbanks Auto Carriers, and Rebekah and Ben finished school at 3:00.  In a frenzy, I dropped Jenny off with Mario about fifteen minutes late for his appointment, left the van with the Auto Carriers and took off in the RV to get the kids, picking Jenny up on the way back to the transportation company to sign the paperwork.

By this time it was 3:30 and I needed to be at my Final Out by 4:30 when they close.  I drove us back on post as quickly as the speed limit permitted me, getting back to the Welcome Center at 4:00.  I processed the paperwork at housing as quickly as possible and flew upstairs less than fifteen minutes later, only to discover that finance closes at 4:00!!

Dashitall!!  I was too late!!

We made the best of a difficult situation, taking the kids to Fun-Time Park where Ben and I played football and everyone else spun on the twirly-thing.  We walked over to College Town Pizzaria, the same place where my mother ate pizza with Rebekah, Benjamin and I for our first meal in Fairbanks.

Ben and Daniel share a bed in the Snethen-Seven motor-home.  The new blinds were designed and made by Jenny with her sewing machine.

Finally, having checked out of the hotel that morning, we were tempted to spend the extra money and get a couple rooms and go back to their swimming pool, but ended up joining the RV'ers who stay in the Wal-Mart parking lot, walking over to Barnes & Noble to help distill the extra energy our kids had harbored by the end of the day.  At B&N, Daniel met a couple of college friends who he played Banangrams with for a while.  Jenny and I became frustrated with the poor internet connection and we walked back to the RV where we spent the rest of the night making our new home more habitable.