Missing The Plane On The Way To The National - Lately, I have been having trouble with airports, and I was reminded by Lyn Krivanek that this is not the FIRST time (!).  So, when someone asked me to write something humorous about going to the National, I thought you might enjoy the tale of the FIRST time we had airport location problems.  There have been two more, since, which, if you like this one, I can relate later.  One, to come later, has to do with my honeymoon...not really "doggy," but funny. On to the story.  I can't remember what year it was, but it was when the National was last in Riverside, CA, and I was still full-time in Baldwinsville, NY, a suburb of Syracuse - AND, it was April Fools' Day, only I didn't know it at the time.  Lyn Krivanek and I used to trek to the shows together, and no different here.  We had made our airlines reservations, (on the same plane, even), and were to take off from Syracuse at some UNGODLY hour in the morning.  Of course, we can't go without dogs, so we had to be there at least two hours EARLY.  Somehow, (both being blonde), we did it - got there early, checked the dogs and luggage and then had ALL THIS TIME to have a nice leisurely breakfast. We go to the airport restaurant, and take seats at the counter, rather than a table, because we thought if the time got close, we could get out faster from the counter.  So, we look at the menu, pick out something nice, and wait for the waitress to take our order.  And wait.  And wait.  And wait .... this girl was NOT interested in us at all.  Finally, she happened to walk by, and one of us asked her if we could have some coffee.  She couldn't do it right then, of course, but finally got there about ten minutes later, poured us our coffee, and WALKED AWAY.  While having our coffee, we decided we needed to get our food order in, so I start WAVING at this waitress, who is waaaayy over on the other side, leaning against the counter, and talking to some friend of hers.  I think she saw me flailing, but ignored it.  We were starting to get nervous, so when another waitress walked by, we asked her if we could place our order, now changed to just a simple (fast) muffin.  Where we were sitting, it wasn't her job, but she did get the other girl....who was now angry with us for interrupting her conversation.  Anyway, to make a long story short, we FINALLY got our muffins, checked the clock and thought we better get to the gate.  It took a while to get someone to TAKE OUR MONEY, but we finally got out of there. OK.  On the way to the gate, we see that there is lots of construction going on in this airport.  But, BOY, is it going to be NICE!  We're walking down the wing, toward our gate (which OF COURSE is the farthest one, sixteen miles out there), and notice the overhead clocks at each gate we passed seem to be giving different TIMES than each other......hmmm....I say, Lyn, what time do you have?!?  Oh, MY GOODNESS (I'm not sure that was my exact word....)  We are five minutes LATE!!!  We start RUNNING down the aisle - purses, carry-ons and all, and get to the gate just in time to see the plane taxiing away from the ramp.  The US Air gal on duty KNOWS me, and we try everything from screaming, to crying, to stomping, to get her to get the plane to come back and get us!!!  She says, Judy, once its gone from the gate, we can't do anything - WHERE WERE YOU?!?!  Don't ask. So, now, the dogs and luggage are on their way to California without us. After scrambling around, we finally got switched to the next flight out, a different airlines, and WE, going thru Chicago instead of Phoenix, and to THE WRONG AIRPORT in California, since there were no more flights to Riverside!  We had to fly in to LAX, rent a car and DRIVE to Riverside, to get the dogs!!!!!  (don't forget, I used to live in California, but do I know how to GET there?!?  Noooooooo....)  Afterwards, it seems to me we heard that the plane the dogs were on was somewhere, and other people we knew, ALSO traveling to the National, were sitting in their seats, watching out the window at the dogs' crates coming out of the airplane belly; they were close enough to see the names on the crates.  They said "aren't those Lyn and Judy's dogs?????  But WHERE are THEY?  They're not on the plane, are they....?"  No, we WEREN'T.  We were still in Chicago.  The dogs got to Riverside four hours before we got to LAX.  We were busy trying to figure out who we could call, to tell the Riverside airport people that we would be a "little" late, but had not really abandoned our dogs! Now, there is a WHOLE LOT more to this trip, but too much to tell, here.  It is just the FIRST experience (that I can remember) with me ending up at the wrong airport.  I don't know if it was because it was April Fool's Day, or because I was with Lyn, another blonde.  I think it was a combination. Back to Judy Stories List HOME