OK, so we were talking about my struggle to get two state-of-the-art classroom tables for Twin Hills School. We paused my most interesting narrative with the box of tables having arrived in Anchorage. Since there was apparently no way other than a snowmachine/sled combination to get said box directly to Twin Hills, I made it my business to find an air carrier that would bring it to Togiak, right across the bay.

Now, I had seen some big cargo planes land in Togiak, but I had no clue who owned them. My husband didn’t know either, but he suggested the name of a friend who would. I called this friend, and he told me that the company was known as Desert Air. Why didn’t I think of that? I called Desert Air, and Jamie answered. I told him the size and location of my package and he assured me that he would send someone to pick it up and they would bring it out to Togiak on their next run, time and date TBA. I timidly asked if they could drop it off in Twin Hills. He said technically they could, but while it would cost a cool $800 for the freight to Togiak, it would be closer to $5000 for them to stop in Twin Hills. Evidently, an extra landing-and-take-off of a plane like his is very expensive. I prudently decided to stick with Plan A, and have the box sent to Togiak.

I was still not unreasonably concerned that Freight Company C’s channels of communication would be slow to work, and that my box might at any moment board a plane for Dillingham, where it would be stuck until I could get it back to Anchorage for another try. Jamie assured me that someone would go pick up the box from Company C. Which they did. As soon as I got the news that the box was safely in the hands of Desert Air, I relaxed for a bit, and spent some more time wondering why in the world they chose the name that they did. I never did ask.

Thus began another period of waiting. Jamie explained to me that they could not make a freight run to Togiak until they had a forklift operator available over there, and the guy was out of town. They would let me know when he came back. So, I turned my attention to planning how I would get the box from Togiak to Twin Hills.

I called a friend who had a snowmachine and sled and had been known to carry people and things back and forth if reasonably compensated. I shall call him the Snowmachiner. He agreed that he would go get the box when it arrived, and I started the process of arranging payment. (Yes, between Desert air and the Snowmachiner, I had to do not one but two more purchase orders. I was actually starting to understand the process.)

The box cooled its heels in Anchorage for several weeks until the Forklift Operator came home. Soon, however, I got the exciting call that the box would soon be on a plane and heading to Togiak. I was at school when I got the call, so I told the kids, and they were so excited that they became immediately unable to concentrate on their lessons. I then called the Snowmachiner again, with the estimated time of arrival, and he said that he would meet the plane.

This micro-plan changed when the flight was delayed. The Snowmachiner said he was going out surveying and would not be able to meet the new scheduled arrival, but that he would go over and pick up the box when he got back. I called Desert Air again. Jamie said that the flight was already on the way to Togiak, and that they would store the box (note my stubborn use of the singular noun) in the Forklift Operator’s hangar until the Snowmachiner could get over there. We would just need to call the Forklift Operator when the Snowmachiner left Twin Hills, so that the Forklift Operator could make sure the hangar was unlocked at the right time.

This picture was taken from my front steps in Twin Hills. Togiak is at the foot of the mountains you see on the horizon. In winter (that includes March), it’s a straight run across the Twin Hills River and a small portion of Togiak Bay.

So, as you can see, my tables were almost home. What could possibly go wrong at this point?