0200 the girls woke me up to go out. Poor Glen, I’m kinda scared to go outside alone so we both went. He does have to go to work so I feel bad but I’m still scared so he gets up. We all go back to bed after.

He’ll be back later to get me and we’ll go back to the base and get my ID card so getting on base will be so much easier. 

In the meantime I’m eating froot loops from the box while watching Lucifer on Netflix!  Finally got off my butt and started to get some things as organized as I can prior to our HHG being delivered. Got a good amount done. 

Glen came to get me and we headed to the base to get my ID card so that getting on base won’t be such a pain in the ass. We sign in and wait an hour to be called in. Once we sit down we get started and they pull up Glen’s profile in the system. Apparently he never removed his ex wife from his profile. So they need a copy of his divorce decree before they can remove her and add me. I thought Glens head was gonna pop off. I remembered that I may have a copy here but I knew the original was in our safe at hoTe at Tallmans. I texted Angela and within 20 minutes had a copy in hand! What an amazing friend! We took it back to the ID department and went to the window to show them. They then said we had to go upstairs to legal to have it authenticated as it’s a photo copy and not original.  No big deal, did that in 10ish minutes. Came back downstairs and waited another hour to be called back in. Go back in and sit down. She puts in all the information to remove his ex wife. She then remembers she forgot to tell us she needs a copy of our marriage license. I’m about to pop a vessel now. She was so nice, but the system doesn’t go forward until you scan in these documents. Glen remembered that he has one at his desk so he goes to his office and back in 20 minutes. Luckily this time she just let me sit back there and chat with her. By this time it’s after 3 and we started this process around 10:30. Neither of us has eaten since around 0600.  If we don’t get this card today, every time we go on base all weekend we have to park and walk to the pass office and get a one day pass. Another form, another line. So getting this done today is a priority.  He comes back with the form and we finish the process. We finally left there around 1530. We’re both starving. But, we have to go take the dogs paperwork to the vet for review.  We have 72 hours from arrival and we aren’t sure if Monday is a holiday for them so have to do it today. We go there and hand over the paperwork.  She tells us she has bad news. Apparently our dogs were supposed to go into the vet office right away after arrival.  So, since they aren’t with us she makes us an appointment for Wednesday at 1300.  We can’t have them out of the house except to pee until then. Fortunately we have not taken them anywhere except our yard anyway.  We finally head back to Chili’s for some food. I don’t care if we were just there last night, it was right by where we were and we are starving! Dinner and done!  Finally home to relax.  Managed to stay awake until 2015!

I woke at 0330 when Harlee let us know she wanted out.  I was gonna have a bite to eat when they came back in but then they were watching me like “it’s breakfast time!” and I don’t want to feed them yet so I put it back. We’ll all eat in the actual morning. I took another melatonin & back to bed but tossed & turned until a little after 0600. Decided to just get up for a bit. Watching some Netflix & waiting impatiently for Glen to wake up. He stayed home today so if I’m sleeping he can be sure the girls go out as they need to and re-bond a bit with them.   

Spent the first half of the day being lazy and taking a much needed nap. We then headed to the base. Still freaky riding on the driver side of the car and the other side of the road.  So much to see. Was fun to have Glen pointing out places to me. Did see a lot a familiar sights; Denny’s, KFC & McDonald’s! All off base!  On base of course there is several familiar American food options.

Getting on base was a chore as we had to park and do into the office for a day pass as I don’t have my ID card yet. However, we did it and headed in. Went to the exchange for a few grocery items and dinner at chili’s.   The shrimp tacos were amazing. I hadn’t really eaten a real meal yet either so that didn’t hurt my review! Lol

The rest of the night was very chill. I managed to stay awake until 2030. Slept decently but the bed here is not very comfortable so I wake a lot to flip. 

The garbage system here is insane!  They pick up almost daily. But only certain things. So plastic wrapping material is one day and goes in special clear plastic bags that of course you have to buy. The burnable trash goes in opaque bags another day.  Cardboard all broke down and tied with string another day. Cans & plastic bottles another. I feel like I need a class on the fucking garbage. I keep having to ask Glen what to do with each item I end up with!

Finally fed us again about 3 hours before landing. Options were Chicken cordon blue with mashed potatoes or meatballs & pasta. I opted for the meatballs because honestly they get better as they sit and chicken most certainly does not.  It was edible. The broccoli with a brown tint was quickly segregated to the discard pile.  Had a roll and oddly some potato salad as well, which was gross so quickly joined the broccoli brothers. A little blueberry cheesecake also. I scraped the blueberry top off and ate the rest. What is Americans infatuation with blueberries already??  

I can feel the plane going to lower altitudes and we are about 30 min from landing. I cannot find words to express my joy but my now constant leaky eyes say it for me. 

We finally arrive at Yokota Air Force base at about 1430.  Of course once you land, they get stairs attached to the plane. You are on a tarmac, there’s no gate with a nice breezeway into the cozy convenience filled airport.   There’s also not a convenience filled airport. The customs folks come aboard and do whatever they do, which all takes time. Then they begin to deplane by rank & I’m wondering when I will fit in!  But happily for me after a couple high ranks were announced they asked for pet owners. I’ve never moved so fast. However, fast to walk across the tarmac into a room to wait for everyone else to deplane…then watch a customs video.  Then finally I was first in line to get my paperwork checked and see my girls. They are in a room where you can’t see them until your paperwork is checked. When I got through  the paperwork check they brought them out. Lucee was singing (whining) & trying to paw out of her crate. Harlee was stoic and looking a tad miserable. I was crying I was so relieved they were alive!  They put the crates on a luggage cart for you but I still had to get my 3 pieces of massive luggage. It’s not like a regular airport and the area is tiny and full of 200 of America’s finest & their offspring…many,many offspring. 

So I push my massive luggage cart through regular size doorways (genius, folks) out to the conveyor belts of luggage and find my bags. Luckily I quickly located my bags then asked an Air Force airman to help me load my bags on my cart. He says “I can get you another cart for the bags”. I told him I couldn’t push both carts by myself & my husband can’t get into the luggage area.  He says “no ma’am, I’ll put them on and help you out with them” I almost burst into tears but sucked it up with just a little leak.  I quickly locate my sunglasses and put them on. I’m one “how are you” away from a real ugly cry. I want to call his mom to tell her what a sweet boy she raised.

Mind you this luggage “area” is about 800 square feet it feels and it’s full of my above mentioned many, many friends all getting luggage and I’m trying to push this cart with a crate like I have a baby dinosaur in it and another that’s making a lot of noise!  I am like an insane person crying and apologizing to both pups & sticking my fingers through the crate to touch them. I keep promising them I’ll get them out as fast as I can. They can’t be let out until your outside the secure area, and you can’t leave the secure area without your luggage. Your spouse can’t walk into the secure area to help you, unlike a civilian airport…frustrating for sure.  Anyhooooo…We finally get loaded and head out. The doors are less than 20 feet away, so we get through then and like an angel, Glen is standing right there and takes the cart of suitcases from the guy. We both thank him profusely.   I hug my handsome wonderful husband and then do actually burst into tears. But no time for that as outside is the only place we can take the girls out of their crate. So we get out after weaving through many many carts of luggage for a bus taking service folks to the bases. (Note: if I would have had to load myself, the dogs and our luggage on that bus and ride for another 2 hours with them in crates I would have laid down on the floor in that postage stamp size airport and cried like a lil bitch). The area is so small and you can’t both push through at once so we’d have to wait for people to go by and then push through more. We finally just stopped and hooked them up to leashes  and glen took  them to the grassy area about 20’ away to pee. My body felt so relieved when they were out of their crates.  Neither had gone in their crates. I then am trying to get the crates and luggage we had to move to get them out, back on the carts and down the ramp out of everyone’s way.  To call this a cluster fuck is a gross understatement.  Suffice it to say, if I were military I would never get a pet. My brother made the right decision there, through many years, even though his kids were mad at him for it.   We finally get to the car and got them water, both drank all I’d give them. Worried about them throwing up, we kept it to a minimum. The whole airport process was all very chaotic and as swift as I could make it because I was so stressed about them needing out.   Once they were taken care of we then played Tetris again trying to fit everything in our car. Had to take Harlees crate apart and then it was all stack and shove!  I held Lucee in her crate on my lap! It was flat packed to the hilt but we didn’t care! We got it all in and headed to our new home. 

By this point I am so so exhausted. Didn’t sleep much on the plane. I figured it out and in 48 hours I think I slept around 4ish hours. Seriously stressed about them and so tired and emotional. I cried quietly several times just sitting there in my seat like a ninny.  Luckily my seat mate was not chatty at all. 

The drive from Yakota Air Force base to Yokosuka where we live is a couple hours. The busy, narrow roads and driving on the other side was so discombobulating!  I’m so glad Glen was driving. Using google maps really helps. Was just nice to be in the car with him again.  It’s almost surreal that he’s right there in front of me again.   We finally get home, fed the dogs, eat also and poor Glen has to lug my 3 huge suitcases up the stairs into the house and then uptstairs to our room.  I locate and give him the Mocha Death beer I brought him and get some pj’s out!   Then, I took a much desired and frankly, necessary, bath. I was falling asleep watching tv once I sat still so went to bed at 2030.

Our house is in a neighborhood of very close, tall, skinny houses. It is cute but somewhat dated.  It is perfectly fine for us though. Lots of room & storage. In total it’s around 1600 square feet.  There are stairs up from the “garage” to the front door. The “garage” is really a big concrete closet. No door.  You have to back in off the street like you are threading a needle. No thanks. There are also stairs in the house of course. Apparently someone in the universe thinks I need some exercise…fucker.  The indoor stairs are wood and very steep and Harlee is having a rough time with them. She hit them like she would go at our carpeted ones at home and fell right off.  Poor baby, she looked so confused. Gave me a “I know I’m old mom but jeez I can still take stairs!” look.  Then she came up slow like she was ice skating without the benefit of skates. After I got her up them it was kinda funny. The look on her face. She’s pretty sure footed so it had to be a shock for her!   So one first thing we are gonna do is get something to make that easier for her.  Now when we go up or down we either close the doors to the living room so they have to stay upstairs or we walk really slow on them so she will too. 

When I was in the tub downstairs Glen texted me that both of them were sacked out. Long exhausting day for them too. When I headed downstairs to the tub (which has an auto fill option! Like a set it & forget it crock pot!) I had to close the doors to the living room so they wouldn’t follow me. Glen called me the pied piper. They are still following me everywhere.  They were very happy to see Glen but not like we’d thought and I feel it was overshadowed by their need to urinate and get out of captivity! Lol. After they were both able to go potty they were so happy to see him. 

Around 0100 we headed to the airport, leaving Mom to sleep more.  We got a luggage cart and loaded the crates of dogs on it and headed in. Took 2.75 hours. They check the dogs in but then let you take them and bring them back at 0500, which made me extremely happy. We checked my 3 bags, paid $500 for extra bag & dogs travel, and headed back to the hotel. 

Watched some tv and rested until 0415 when we headed back. The kids took Mom to her airline to check in while I waited in the car with the girls.  Less stress as possible for them.  We then headed back in to turn them over. I had not anticipated how emotional that would be. I felt like such an asshole. They trust me and this is what I do. I can’t even imagine how scared they were as they watched me walk away.  I teared up for a minute and then sucked it up and headed out to say goodbye for the last time to my Baby and Sky, then return my rental van. By now I have less than an hour until they start boarding. I’m so nervous about it I turn in the van without fueling it, which ended up costing me around $60 friggin bucks. I feel like I’m Hemorrhaging money today.  

I manage to get through security and to my gate with about 20 min to wait, which is good with me. This is where things go horribly awry.  They don’t begin loading on time and keep broadcasting “15 more minutes“, etc for at least an hour. Then they say we’re loading! Horray right?!   Nope! Another cruel joke. It’s announced that our plane has a faulty part they were unable to swap out so they are going to change planes for our trip. However, the one we are getting is in the air full and full of passengers.  They have to get there, land, unload and service the plane before we can then load. It will be another 2 hours.  I go ask a man about my dogs. He says we can’t see them now but if it goes beyond a couple hours they will let us.  I promptly burst into tears and literally sit down and pull out my sock from yesterday to mop them up.  I then went into the restroom and got myself together.  Decided to have a bite to eat. I eat one of the three pancakes, Im so upset and worried about the girls I cant eat, And anyone that knows me knows it take s a lot to knock me off the feed bag! I then mosey to the new gate assignment. At the 2 hour mark I go ask again about my dogs. I’m told we are going to begin loading in 15 minutes. They explain that the dogs are in our area waiting to board also and for us to see them they have to go all the way back to the gates and us back outside security etc.  one lady then says to me “your pets are fine”. I wanted to slap her damn face. I calmly but firmly explained that sure they are fine right NOW but in addition to all this waiting they have another 11 FUCKING HOURS in their crates!  I then told them that it was fine with me if we have to go back through security, if it’s any longer I need to tend to my dogs. Fortunately we did begin loading but of course that’s a cluster fuck of a process. They check you through and you then walk down to the tarmac and get on a bus that drives you out to the plane. I’m beyond over this by now, I’ve had maybe an hour or two sleep in the last 24 hours. I’m so emotional I can barely hold in my tears just thinking about my girls. All through the ride my eyes have been leaky just worrying about them. At the time I am writing this I have a tad less than 3 hours left in my flight and maybe 4 hours total sleep in the last 48 hours. They have fed us 1 shitty breakfast meal and juice or water.  I had French toast sticks. Ate a couple but not very tasty. Also gave us a blueberry yogurt and muffin. I hate blueberry.  My snacks are in my backpack in the overhead because it was too big to go under my seat. To big of a pain to try to get to now so it’s whatever. Not much appetite anyway. 

To say it’s less than accommodating and comfortable is a huge understatement.  My ass hurts from sitting and I have gotten up and stood a few times just for a break. I’ve watched 3 movies (don’t ask me what ones, I’ve already forgotten) and read a little. I’m too keyed up about the dogs to really sleep and I’m excited to see my husband. I’ll probably get to our house an collapse from exhaustion shortly after our arrival there. 

I brought deodorant, toothbrush & paste, hair brush and a little makeup I figured I’d tend to before we land. Yeah, not doing that.  I’m confident my husband won’t care at all that I look and smell like a trash panda. I am
lucky to walk off this fucking plane under my own power at this point.

———***TIME TRAVEL***————

My trip preparation started on Monday morning. I had to go to our house and collect Harlees large crate and a few boxes of items that were left.  Then home to store it all in Moms garage. I then washed both dogs (having to physically life 70# Harlee into the tub) dog blankets and the last of my clothing. The next physical challenge was to make it all fit into my three very large suitcases. In the end it cost me $125 for my extra one.  Of course the minute I had to do the Tetris type loading on our rental van, the downpour started. After some delicate stacking, I got us loaded and we headed out. The visibility sucked with the torrential downpour.  We headed to Seattle to meet Thomas for dinner before I left the country and Mom left to Georgia for the holidays. We get to the restaurant and Scott is there with them! I promptly burst into tears and still can cry thinking about it. Such a wonderful surprise.  He came to see me off and help me and his Granny get all our stuff to the airport on time. I could not have gotten myself, the girls, my luggage and Mom to the airport without he and Sky’s help.   We had dinner and went to the hotel. I didn’t sleep as I figured I’d sleep on the plane. Took a bath around 11, then went to the lobby to sit in a comfy chair and read. Spent many many minutes standing in the torrential downpour begging my dogs to go to the bathroom.   They both finally went, but very reluctantly.  The city noise and cars driving by were unwelcome distractions for both of them. 

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton