Jerzei Collie's journal

I'll be getting off the plane in Orlando in just under 24 hours from now. I'm finishing up my packing for the trip, then I need to confirm my hotel reservation for the pre-cruise night. I'm having trouble locating my bathing suits since I haven't needed them for a long time.

The company that booked my pre-cruise hotel stay in Orlando called me today. They said the hotel I originally chose will be closing in July. Considering all of the negative reviews the hotel has been getting, I'm not completely surprised.

My reservation was moved to another hotel less than a mile from the original one. The new hotel has many more positive reviews. I just need to call the booking company the day before my stay to make sure the reservation is still active.

I went ahead and registered for Texas Furry Fiesta today and reserved my hotel room. Just 152 days away! I figured getting this out of the way early would work best for me. Hopefully I can afford Anthrocon in July. If not, I still plan to go on my friends' anniversary cruise next October.

Boomer showed the logo of a radio station called WNUB in Vermont, which brands as "Dog River Radio" and has a Golden retriever in the logo. I thought they should have used a Spaniel or a Rottweiler for the logo since their nub tails would go with the WNUB calls.

I won't be able to afford this for a long time, but I was looking up flight costs for a vacation in Japan. I noticed that on some of the flights home from Japan to Colorado, I would arrive hours earlier than my departure because of how the International Date Line works. One flight would depart at 5:30 PM and arrive at 1:00 PM the same day.

I will get a haircut Wednesday so I can look nice for my trip on Thursday. I printed out some of the documents and reservations for the events I'll be attending with the singles group.

My faster internet is now installed. I now get 100 Mbps on my cell phone. My laptop only registers 30-38 Mbps, but that's more than twice the speed I had before.

I upgraded the seats on my flights to and from Pittsburgh. This basically doubled the total cost, but having a wider seat and better food options is worth it.

I got an e-mail from the airline later saying my purchase was being refunded. I was worried the First Class seats weren't available. Thankfully, the refund is for my initial upgrade to Economy Plus.

I bought two new shirts since some of my current shirts are getting worn out. Since I usually gain weight on vacations, I ordered a size larger than I normally wear. I also got a cooling visor cap.

My new APAP machine has been shipped. It's due to arrive by Thursday night.

I got home from Furry Fiesta around 3:10 PM today. The convention itself was very good, though long waits for elevators and not enough parking put a damper on things for me. It took 90 minutes of driving through the parking garage before I could find a space.

I'll break up my trip report into pre-convention, convention and post-convention to make things easier.

WEDNESDAY
I left home around 7:30 AM then got breakfast in Raton, New Mexico just after 10 AM. I had plenty of time to have lunch at Furrbie's diner in Amarillo since I arrived earlier than expected. One of the waitresses said I looked familiar to her. I had visited Furrbie's back in 2018, but the waitress was thinking of someone who visited more recently.

I spent the night in Childress, Texas at the same motel I stayed last year. This time the elevators were working! I forgot to change the top on my APAP tank, so it still had the open spout for my machine's cleaner. I went to the Dollar Tree to get some plastic wrap, tape and pencil erasers to cover the spout. I picked up dinner at Taco Bell on the way back to the motel.

If I stay at this motel next year, I'll make a note that the rooms have both refrigerators and microwaves. (The hotel in Amarillo where I stayed on Monday night also has these.)

THURSDAY
I stopped at Buc-ee's in Fort Worth on the way to the convention hotel. I got two of their Texas cheesesteak burritos to have for lunch and dinner, along with some bottles of water and two rice crispy treats.

The registration line for the con moved MUCH faster than last year. The "line before the actual reg line" only took an hour to get to the front. Unfortunately, a tornado warning forced everyone in line to take shelter for a while. When the coast was clear, it took another 40 minutes to get through the line again and about 10 minutes to get registered.

I leave for Dallas in less than 36 hours! On Tuesday, I need to get a haircut, clean out my car and get its oil changed.

My liquor would get arrested in some states because it's in drag! The liquor store put my Fireball & Kahlua bottles in plastic "fishnet" covers so they wouldn't bump together and break.