The alias could not be opened (connect to USB drive on Airport)

I lose my connection to the USB drive that I have connected to my Airport Extreme. And when I try to reconnect by going through Finder, I get the dialog:
*The alias "<server>" could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found.*
There are then options to *Delete Alias*, *Fix Alias*, or OK
I notice that under /Volumes, a new directory gets created with the server name showing up. There isn't anything in it. I even delete the directory, and then do the steps again and the directory shows up again. If I don't delete it and then try to connect, I then get a second directory added with a "-01" appended to the second directory.
And when I try to *Fix Alias*, I'm given the option to specify a file, but that isn't what I need to do. I also can't delete the alias because I get a permission denied since it tries to delete the name of the Airport Extreme. Ugh.
So, the real problem is that I lose connection, but ignoring that, how do I fix this alias issue so I can reconnect to the server on the Airport Extreme.
NOTE: I've tried recycling both the Mac and the Apple Extreme, but that does nothing.