My trip - 36th CE Reunion 9-23-05

[Walt's Daughter]

Here I go, off to the Wild Blue Yonder... Do I hear a strain of a song?

 

Well I am so excited tonight. Am in the middle of packing my bags for my trip to Lebanon, PA and the 36th Combat Engineers reunion. You wouldn't believe the things I have to pack that are related to WWII and the engineers. One whole suitcase (which I am not letting out of my site!!!) will be filled and taken as onboard luggage. My clothes and everything else will go through baggage claim. Who cares. That can be replaced.

 

So you guys take care of yourselves and have fun while I'm gone, but not too much fun. I AM taking a laptop along, so hopefully I will have an internet connection at the hotel. If not, the laptop will still come in handy because I can show the guys all the CD's I am bringing along.

 

I hope three days are enough. I know they won't be... I have a complete history of the 36th that the men are anxious to see. They are going to add to it and that will be priceless.

 

Jiggs and I are going to TRY to meet on Friday if we possibly can. That would be fun. I hope to meet more of you as the days, weeks and months progress.

 

Just found out by my good friend Al Kincer of the 48th, that they want to have next years reunion here in Michigan. Yippee. I sure hope so. Then I can finally meet the great guys of the 48th Combat Engineers. Oh make my day!

 

Well must skeedaddle my dears. Have a great weekend.

[Walt's Daughter]

Found out when I went back to my room tonight, that they have wireless here at the hotel. Yippee! And I have an excellent connection too.

 

So thought I would check in tonight and say hi. I am having a ball. What a great group of guys. Many great wives here to who are filling me in on a lot. I swear that a couple of these women would have been my very good friends, had I lived at the time of the war. I feel like one of their sisters.

 

Anyway, I will report more tomorrow. I have one story to tell you about my flight, or should I say the flight that might have NOT occured. Oh brother. It's getting late and I've been up since 5:25 AM. Nite t'all!

[Cadetat6]

Hi Marion,

HAVE A GOOD TIME

 

This Is One Groovy Friendship Note

http://www.funnybunch.com/view.php?go=1/li...htm&mid=7422404

 

 

papa

[Walt's Daughter]

It was a number one in my book. Thanks for your good wishes, they worked! I've never met a better bunch of guys. What a wealth of info and I know I established a lot of good friendships. So glad I took the time to dedicate to this. It has definitely enriched my life.

 

Oh the Groovy Friendship card was funny, thanks for thinking of me, but man, I didn't realize you could shake your booty like that!

[Walt's Daughter]

This is how my trip began. I can assure you it wasn't FUNNY at the time, but now it's a real HOOT!

 

The night before my flight, I meticulously went through every item, especially my WWII collection, to make sure that they wasn't anything packed away that might trigger off the security sensors at the airports. You know how tough this is now.

 

I grabbed a borrowed a laptop computer from a friend, along with my purse and two pieces of wheeled luggage and arrived at the airport for my connector flight to Detroit. Everything was fine, I arrived on time and proceeded through security. All the usual, take off your shoes, take the laptop out of it's case, etc.

 

I make it through okay (or so I thought), when they say that they have to run the laptop case back through. Okay. Go ahead. Well then I see a couple of them conferring. Hmmm, what the heck is this all about? It still doesn't faze me, I've got plenty of time...

 

Well now another security guard comes towards me with something in his hand. He looks at me rather peculiarly, opens his hand and whips open a collapsible knife. He says, "Why did you feel the need to bring this on the plane young lady?" What? What?

 

I am beside myself by now and blurt out, "IT'S NOT MINE!!" Oh my God, what in the hell is that? I am stunned. I repeat, "It's not mine. I borrowed this laptop from a friend last night (right now I'm questioning the word FRIEND) and didn't know anything about it. Oh my sinking heart.

 

Well they ask for my ID and go over to a terminal and start typing things in. Good grief Charlie Brown, I'm a terrorist!

:pdt40:

 

Oh man, what are they going to do with me? Oh man, am I going to miss my flight. Oh man, I've had this planned for almost a year. Oh man, I can't believe this. Oh Rick I am going to KILL YOU!

 

After a couple of minutes (ya, it felt like eternity) two of the guards come back over and the one says, "You have two options!" Yes and they are? "You can either march yourself and this knife back to your car and lock it away, or you can have us confiscate it. Well, I tell him, I don't want to miss my flight, so I guess you will have to confiscate it. Actually they were pretty darn nice about all this. He looked over the knife and said he really couldn't tell, but he didn't think it was very valuable. You know, no inscriptions, etc., but he said he had no way to really tell.

 

But, I did get on my phone and called my buddy. So at 8:00 AM, he gets a phone call from me telling him that I am with security at the airport. I ask him, "Did you forget something in your case? Huh? Well, security, I gasp, has your knife and is going to confiscate it. I think he about dropped the phone. Let them confiscate it Marion he says. He then starts apologizing and tells me that he went through the case last night. Well buddy, you forgot one very important item.

 

By now the security guards are smiling and then wish me a nice trip... Oh ya! Bad day to forget to put on my deodorant...