20 hours on a C-17

So, we made the flight from Kadena to McChord, but it left late – around 2am. Nothing like hanging out in a PAX terminal for 10 hours. Roughly slept most of the 10 hour flight from Kadena to Hickam, Hawaii. Went through a couple storms so we had to wake up, get off the floor and back into our seats twice;which sucks. After landing we stayed on the airplane as they were doing a quick turnover. All the medivac folks got off, which was impressive. Then they loaded up other passengers. After 2 hours we were ready to go, and found out the plane needed some maintenance – a door outside wouldn’t close. Only 2 1/2 hours sitting there (actually napping) and it was fixed! Off we went. The flight from Hickam to McChord was 5 1/2 hours; I was still quite sleepy, but Zoe didn’t want to nap. The crew had even dimmed the lights since they were all sleeping on the floor too. But, not us. We were camped out watching “Barnyard” with no audio since it’s just that loud on a C-17. Now we’re at McChord and there is a flight to Andrews roll calling in less than an hour. It’s the only east-coast bound flight for the next 3 days, so though I’m thoroughly exhausted I need to try to get on it. If we make it, this will be some kind of space-A record…. 3 flights and 48 hours…Korea to the East Coast…with no stopping. Zoe is enjoying herself. She sleeps great on the plane and has fun running up and down in the open space. She especially enjoyed me saying that it smelled like pine trees – Christmas trees – here in Washington. The fragrance hit us as soon as we stepped off the plane.

One comment

  1. Do you have any photo's of the rocket ship playground at the MAC terminal at Hickam AFB? I purchased the playground at an auction and have been trying to put it together with 2 pictures I have found. Can you please send them to littlebigman@hawaii.rr.com. Thank you.

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