The First Leg

Well, after a very LONG drive, I am now at the beginning of my major trip - Palmer, Alaska. Yeah, it doesn't seem like a huge step, but leaving my kitten behind was remarkably difficult. Normally I can leave her for a few days' stint, but this time I know that it will be far longer. After heading out though, I had a fairly uneventful trip down to Palmer, aside from the fact that it was five very long hours stuck with only a few cds.
However, I think I've had plenty of excitement in the last few days trying to get the tickets together in order to fly out. There was some confusion as to what day I was to fly out, which has not entirely been fixed just yet. Also, there is the question of when I'm coming back. Because this flight is one I won through the university, I wanted to see if I could manage to finagle things just a bit - something I feel I deserve considering I had to fight tooth and nail for well over a year now in order to get this plane ticket and, had I had the ability to, would have had the flight booked months ago but was unable to get a hold of the correct people in order to do so. And finagle did I - no longer am I coming straight back from Santa Fe! Now I am getting a brief week-long reprieve in my home state of Oregon on the way back. And more exciting, my father is meeting me there. And more exciting than all of that is the fact that this huge bill is being covered by the school. Thank goodness for not having to pay over $1000 for travel! HUZZAH! (Sorry, went to the Ren. Faire in Anchorage with my sister today...)
Well, now for some sleep and a bit of time of stress hoping that I can still fly out of here tomorrow night like I'm supposed to! CROSS YOUR FINGERS FOR ME!