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Parker, Co

I think there will be some good stories here. We had a tough time getting home but nothing compared to Ron Barker from Washington!! We had 7 of us going to the airport with departure times of 4:30 and 6:30. I arranged for a van to pick us up at the hotel at 2 PM. the front desk suggested we leave earlier so we changed the taxi time to 1 PM. just as we were getting in to the Taxi( a piece of junk, by the way!) i asked , "everyone have their passports?". Leonardo cannot find his!!! we search his suitcase, backpack, pockets, the room...no passport. he does have his drivers license and he is an American citizen so we think we are okay.....

3/12/2008 11:17:15 AM

Parker, Co

we head to the border. we had an interesting bunch in the van. leonardo born in mexico with a drivers license, i was born in bermuda with a passport, dr linderman, gary miller, pete and the barkers from washington with these new nifty microchip drivers licenses. the border agent took all our id's and proceeded to quiz us all. then he asked us to pull over and GO UPSTAIRS. Leonardo was taken back and quizzed but passed his test quickly. Our DRIVER went back and they DETAINED HER!@!!! so now we had to wait for another driver just to get to the airport. we are now running late. we get to the airport and our flight is delayed so we made it! in buffalo we had 10 minutes to get to that one and we made it. we are feeling lucky! then a woman (diabetic) gets sick on our flight and we have to make an emergency landing in salt lake to get her to the hospital. (she was doing better by this time) finally we take off again and the rest of the trip went fine. i figured my car would be missing when we landed in sacramento but it was there...covered with bird poop! glad to be home. and yes, i would (and will) do it again!!!!!! who has a good tale to tell?

3/12/2008 11:23:04 AM

well alllllrighty then,,,,nice tale cindy !!!

(got my morning laugh in :-)

common folks can someone top that????

3/12/2008 11:57:14 AM

[email protected]

No troubles this year. Had my passport ready. I had copied my wife & son's birth certicates & showed them when requested. I was expecting my son to lose it when they asked what we were binging home (seeds!) but he kept a straight face & we were released in less than 20 seconds. This was a real compromise in the truth & not the sort of example I try to teach him but AG seeds really pose no risk to any crop.

I was missing the RI Love Bus this year but glad my wife didn't have to see it. LOL

3/12/2008 1:13:43 PM

Little-TON - Colorado

Paul S had a real bad time getting back from dropping us off in Canada from the AP, He went out of his way to pickup fellow growers and get them to the BIG Show but wrote this in a recent email:

Biz Friday night after niagara falls was real bad for me 90 minutes at the border then put the car in a ditch when I was trying to get off the thruway all ICE did not get home in till saturday daylight ......

I want to Thank Paul for all his efforts helping growers get to Niagara. The storm got particularly dangerous in the later hours, We were told 24" of snow fell during this weekend.

Thanks Paul for all you do and did for helping us out. I hope you and your vehicle are OK.

Gary
TheWiz

3/12/2008 2:58:33 PM

Belgium Europe

Took me 26 hours to get back in belgium.Seems i brought the storm with me from canada to europe,lol.
Heathrow,London was all chaos. Plane had to circle for an hour waiting for a little pause between the windpeaks to land.After that i had to wait for 7 hours to get plane to brussels.Home safely 7pm on monday our time.
But meeting all you nice people over there was more than worth the pain!

3/12/2008 3:40:33 PM

Santa Rosa California

jos win lol

3/12/2008 3:48:26 PM

(rocky) Bonney Lake Wa.

Well we finally got home last night at 10 pm. I will say I hope not to see an airport for sometime. Our flight out of Buffalo was delayed so far as to make us make us miss our flight in cleveland and
While boarding my wife slipped on some ice just before entering the airplane (in Buffalo)spilling coffee on her and in the plane. We missed our conecting flight so the airlines put us up at the Marriott in Clev. Our flight from Clev. to Atl. was supposed to leave 3 pm but didn't leave until 5pm and we had to do the sprint through the airport there to make our flight out of Atl. to home. We touched down in Seattle at 10pm and from there my wife dropped me off at work (ug!) and they went home. In all we spent approximately 20 + hours in the airport and yes I would do it again as long as it doesnt snow.

3/12/2008 9:33:07 PM

(rocky) Bonney Lake Wa.

this was monday night that we got home

3/12/2008 9:34:34 PM

Massillon, Ohio

oh my gosh reading these are like reading war stories. the people's whose trips involved airplanes definitely had the hardest time!!

i do want to mention that i had NO IDEA WHAT-SO-EVER that brigitte went into a ditch in ohio unil reading it in her diary!!!! she and kelly kept it a secret from me because they knew i wanted to call off the trip. (brilliant plan by the way).

3/12/2008 9:49:10 PM

Parker, Co

and don't forget Ron was in our Taxi for our "ride" to the airport and all its complications!!! so he left the hotel at 1 PM on Sunday and got to Puyallup at 10 PM on Tuesday!! (that is Tuesday that he got home, right?) now that is the Winner of the worst trip home in my book! Ron, see ya next year in Niagara !!! cindi

3/12/2008 10:07:42 PM

Parker, Co

Ron still has the worst trip even if it was Monday night when he got home!!! the taxi made of duct tape was just the beginning! the trunk latch wouldn't work, the seatbelt for leonardo had no buckle, our feet were frozen, the steering wheel was goofy, the gas pedal was "tricky"...and who knows what the story was with the driver!

3/13/2008 12:07:54 AM

Sort of Sunny Sometimes, WA

Have to say, I had smooth sailing all the way through. My flights were on time and landed 15 min. early in Seattle. Missed the traffic and got home almost an hour sooner that I thought I would.
Sorry.

3/13/2008 11:06:44 AM

Little-TON - Colorado

Cindi......lol no wonder border police pulled you all over.....lol Duct Tape? ....lol

3/13/2008 2:40:26 PM