Journey to the Island

Hi Grandkids!  Are you ready for the next adventure?  Well, when I last wrote, I had just found out we were moving to Alaska.  So, after everything was packed, including our suitcases, we all got in Grandma's car and headed to my Uncle Earl's house in West Virginia to visit before we started on one of the longest trips of our lives.  Earl was my Grandma Elsie's son, and he had 3 daughters, Sandra, Norma, & Doris, my cousins.  It had been several years since we'd seen them and I had a lot of fun with them putting makeup on me and stylng my hair.  Of course Doris was married and had a baby girl named Vickie that I loved to hold.  While we were there, my Mom, Dad, younger sister and my brother all wanted to go see the little house where we had lived and the people that had lived around us in Ameagle; I chose to stay at my Uncle Earl's house for those few days.  My cousin Sandra was in High School, and my Aunt and and my cousin Norma worked at a restaurant and they didn't want to leave me at the house alone.  So I had to get up early when they did and my Aunt would take me to my cousin Doris and her husband Wayne's house and I'd stay there until they got out of work.  I had a lot of fun with the baby and my cousin, and Wayne would go to work.  We stayed in town for about a week, then we had my Uncle Earl drive us to the bus station in Charleston where they lived, and we all got our tickets and boarded a huge bus and began our trip across the United States.

 We had left Oceanna, Virginia, traveled to Charleston, West Virginia, boarded the bus, and the next state we went through was Ohio.  I had been to Ohio many times while we lived in West Virginia.  It was a state of low rolling hills and lots of open farm land.  At one point in my Grandma's life, she had lived in Ohio, and later on there was talk about property they all owned there that they planned to sell and split the money.  But my Grandma had 9 brothers and sisters and I don't believe she ever got any money from that venture. 

After Ohio, we went through a little bit of Indiana, then Illinois, Wisconsin, on to Minnesota, North Dakota, through Montana, which was miles and miles of barren land, with few houses and no cities as far as I can remember.  Then Idaho, and finally we were in Seattle, Washington.  In every city we'd stop and get off the bus and get a sandwich and use the rest rooms and get back on the bus, or change buses if required, and travel on.  There were no sleeping facilities on the bus of course, so I would just lean my head against the window and sleep as best I could.  When we finally got to Seattle, our ankles were swollen and we were tired, cold and miserable.  I've often wondered why we went by bus and not a train.  But at the time I didn't know any better, and had no voice in what the family would do or not do. 

So!  We were finally on the last leg of our journey.  We went to a nice hotel in Seattle, and all of us had our first hot meal in over a week.  We took baths and tumbled into bed.  The next day we did some shopping in town and my Mom bought me a cute green skirt with a poodle on it and a matching top, and new shoes.  I don't remember what she bought my brother and sister, but I am sure she bought us all some nice things.  My Dad had received an incentive bonus for shipping over for more years in the military, and it was nice for them to have some extra money for a change.

That night we stayed in Seattle again, and very early the next morning we all got up, got dressed and took a taxi to the airport.  We boarded a huge airplane and before long we were lifting off and heading up into the sunrise.  It was beautiful and I had the seat by the window.  They brought us breakfast and, of course, I can still remember what we had because it was so fancy.  We had blueberry blintzes, with whipped cream on top (that's just a fancy name for thin pancakes), sausages, orange juice, and coffee.  I was 12, so my parents would let me have an occasional cup.  Even at that age I drank my coffee with just cream.  No sugar for me!  I took a nap which my Mom envied, because she was afraid to move, and sat in her seat clutching the arm-rests.  She was amazed that I wasn't afraid.  I thought it was great fun! 

Then, after many hours, we landed on Kodiak Island, which is part of the Aleutian Chain.  We got off the plane and I could hear what sounded like a bunch of monkeys, (which I learned later on were birds) all chattering away in the trees.  There was only a little house with 2 doors, one in, the other out of the so-called airport!  I was devastated!  I hated it with a passion and hadn't even gone out the out door!

Someone met us outside the little airport and took us to the Navy temporary housing, which was a 2-story building that smelled of bug spray, and you would see the occasional roach crawling around.  We were assigned rooms, and I for one went to bed!  I slept for 12 hours, got up and ate, and went back to bed and slept another 12 hours.  It was summer, and the sun was up until about 9:00 P.M. and rose again at 3:00 A.M.  so I was not sure just what day it was when I finally got up to stay up.

We were there for about a week, and my Mom and Dad went out to the town of Kodiak to find us a house, as there was no housing available on the base for 1st class military.  You had to be an officer to live on the base.  I remember that my brother and I would go with Dad to the house they decided to rent and helped him paint.  I asked for robin egg blue for my room.  It wasn't very big, but I had my own room.  There was no lawn, only mud.  We lived in the last row, the last house, on top of a very steep hill.  We lived just below 3 mountains they called the 3 Sisters.  There would be many trips up that mountain in the time we live there.  But that's another story. 

We finally moved in, had our furniture delivered, and began our stay on Kodiak.
I missed my house in Oceanna, and was so glad to finally get my own bed, my own things and I rummaged around in the garage in all the cardboard boxes and found all the furniture scarves, rugs, and nick-nacks that were mine.  I got busy fixing the room up, but I was depressed and mad at the same time.  I didn't think I'd ever miss such a forlorn place, but when you live somewhere for 3 years, it's hard to leave.  That was the longest we had ever lived in one place since we left my home town of Ameagle.  Yes, the world had expanded for me, but there was much living to do before we moved on. 

And I think this is a good time to end this little saga.  I'll tell you next time of our adventures, loves and loses next time.  So until then, I wish you well and happy reading.  I love you all so much and am so glad to be able to recall some of the best times of my life to share with you.