Travel trials and tribulations

Tomorrow is the annual barbecue hosted by our volunteer fire department which has been commonly referred to as a backyard or neighborhood block party.

"Our goal has always been to make friends more than to make money and hopefully add a few volunteers to the department," Assistant Chief John Babcock reminds us. "And we are very proud of the fact that we have not had to raise our prices in the 17 years of doing this."

The music will be supplied this year by a new face - Mobile DJ, Party in Motion - and there will be fun and games for the entire family.

"We were unable to get out door to door as much this year due to the extreme fire danger over the past month so we hope our neighbors will be kind to us anyway," Babcock added.

Let's show our support for the department by making this the biggest year yet. As a note, in the last column I incorrectly named DynoMicDuo as providing the entertainment. There was a scheduling conflict that prevented them from appearing this year.

In addition to having a chance to personally thank the firefighters and their families for all they do for us during the year as well as meet new friends at the neighborhood block party, our representatives from the Ruhenstroth Water Planning Ad Hoc Committee will be on hand to answer any questions you may have. There will be copies of the survey they have prepared that was mailed out recently in case you have not received it.

Another way to get a copy of the survey is to print it off the Web site at www.geocities.com/ruhenstrothwater. You can also read the minutes of the two previous meetings on the site. At the barbecue they will also have maps from the county showing who has had to redrill their well deeper as well as information on water testing. There will also be a map showing the parcels in Ruhenstroth that have water rights which the owners may not even be aware of.

"The issue of water rights is a 'sleeping dog' issue we want to pursue at our next meeting," committee member Rick Oliver explained. "The water rights may be one alternative of dealing with recharge of the aquifer but some major obstacles would have to be overcome first. With individual ownership currently spread among some 175 lots and roadways, it is unusable unless the ownership is consolidated into one block and then changed to a new point of diversion and place or manner of use. It is a very unique situation given the ownership issues, hydrology and legal means to accomplish what may be geophysically possible, and we want to explore this issue before we jump head first into planning and building an expensive county water system."

All the press about flight and luggage delays is more than true. Our return flight on July 8 from Raleigh, N.C., was our most challenging ever during our 30-plus years of flying. I tried to print out boarding passes from a neighbor's home but technology was not cooperating. The computers at the ticket counter were having a bad attitude too. We were able to check our bags at curbside but the attendant was unable to print our boarding passes. We tried the kiosks but were told we needed to talk to a ticket agent because our reservation tickets had been "exchanged." The ticket agent had to call United directly to try to get our seats straightened out and now we are down to less than 20 minutes to get through security and to the gate. Thank heavens we weren't in one of the largest airports. As we scanned our boarding passes, the agent stopped our daughter because there was no seat assigned on her pass. The airlines had no explanation for the mix-up so my husband and I gave up our seat so Shannon could get back for school. The gate personnel offered first-class seats and a round-trip tickets for two people who would give up seats for us. One gentlemen who took advantage of the offer had the same problem of exchanged tickets. When I sat down on the plane and looked at my boarding pass, I was seated in the same seat he had just given up for me - we were assigned to the same seat. We purchased tickets for all our summer travel in February and confirmed the reservations just two weeks prior to our travel dates. In addition to the seating problems, our luggage didn't arrive until late the next day and the following day. We waited for over an hour in the baggage claim area waiting for our bags before being directed to the lost baggage office. Happy travels.

See you at the barbecue from 4 p.m. to midnight.

-- To reach Gail Davis, e-mail RuhenstrothRamblings@yahoo.com or call 265-1947.