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So the 24th arrived, I’d started packing at my usual 1am, and manged to have it all wrapped up around 3.

Sheri drove me to the airport, I check in, fall asleep, wake up in Chicago. Walk around, check in, fall asleep, wake up in Denver. This is where the Nat Factor started to kick in.

Since I was headed up on a blind date, first impressions are paramount. So I walk into the Body Shop, and the kind people there agree to put some Mascara on, which is followed by 5 layers of base, and what-ever-comes-next make-up. They didn’t have black nail polish in stock, so sharpie had to do the trick.

Hop in the window seat. From my periphery I notice that there is a tall slender blond sitting next to me. My, what big hands you have my dear, and adams-apple, and BUff. The first time in my life I’m fully made up, and I’m stuck on a 6h flight next to a 6′4″ she-male.

Classic.

The stewardess asks us if we’re together.

(he)she hits on me.

The captain comes on and tells us that the weather in Anchorage is cold, snowy, cloudy, and dark. It is expected to remain this way until… March.

Fricken Classic.

We joke a little, hope that a fat person doesn’t sit next to us. I tell her that I’m going to Alaska for my first time on a blind date, and she is coming back from an operation (I’ll let you guess which kind) and we put on our headphones.

As we start our descent I ask my new friend what she does for a living. Remote fuel buisness, coffee shop, dog sled tours. This is the point that I pipe in ‘this might seem odd, but the girl I’m flying up here to visit worked as a musher on a Glacier’.

…in my best yet example of ‘it’s a small world’ this she-male was indeed Alaska Jen’s boss. He/She giggles, tells me that Jen is wonderful, and won’t divulge much else, so I get me her phone number (hey, wouldn’t you?) so know if everything goes kerplunk, at least now I have a back-up plan…

I meet Jen, and she did work for a man fitting Irene’s description in a town of Bettles (town is being used liberally here, summer population 45, winter pop. 20 mushing dogs).

Fast Forward a few days (see ‘a day in the Anchorgian Life’) and my yapping mouth… and my he-she is getting interviewed on NPR for a section on new beginnings. I’ll link the podcast when it shows up.

When people tell you that they have a great small world story, you can tell them that I have a better one.

I can’t find my camera right now, but when things are clear, like they are now, I look out the window and can see Denali which is 150 miles away airbrushed against the blue of the sky in white, with blue shadings.

It’s pretty bitchen’