Home Again Home Again Jiggety-Jig

We took the flight on Monday from Travis AFB, arrived at Norfolk NAS at midnight and stayed at the base hotel. The hotel, Ely Hall, is an old Bachelor Officer's Quarters and reminded me of my old dormitory at FSU - no elevators, radiator heating, and the hallways smelled of mildew. Fortunately the rooms did not have any unpleasant odor. The hotel was decorated beautifully with lots of Southern Charm; someone spent a fortune on lavish draperies with upholstered cornices and tassel fringe galore. The bathrooms were updated, and the bed was super comfy. The gift shoppe was more like a gallery filled with lovely items to browse through.

We enjoyed a nice meal for lunch Tuesday at the Officer's Club, complete with the bread pudding that sets the standard for all other bread pudding anywhere. We had stayed in Norfolk with the family in 1992 during goldenbear70's ACTDUTRA, and we had that bread pudding every day for dessert. We have been talking about it ever since.

Tuesday afternoon we waited four hours for a flight from Norfolk to Rota, Spain but did not make the flight - there were too many active duty people flying with a higher priority. We met a sweet couple on the flight who joined us for lunch and spent the afternoon waiting with us. They were celebrating their fifty-seventh wedding anniversary! They have been everywhere! It was inspiring to hear of their many Space A trips. A family joined us in the DV Lounge who are on their way to live in Bahrain for a tour of duty - the dad will be Chief of Staff there. He was just relieved as CO of The Enterprise. It is interesting and fun to meet new people and share stories as well as pick up travel tips.

We rented a car and drove to Charleston today only to find out that there was a direct flight from Travis AFB to Charleston today. Waaaaaaaaa!

Although we are disappointed to be postponing our trip to Australia until March, someone recently reminded me that Dorothy was right, "There's no place like home."

Space A - The Anti-Plan

One never knows from day-to-day where one will fly via Space A;
Plan as you might, there may be no flight that takes you on your way;
Stuck in a terminal days on end;
If you're lucky you may find some friends;
At TLF and BX you will spend, spend, spend;
But if per chance your flight does not slip;
There's adventure ahead as you go on your trip.

OK so it is painfully obvious I have TOO much time on my hands. The best laid plans of these Space A travelers can be dissolved with one phrase, "That flight to Charleston has slipped from Tuesday to Wednesday." The AMC is losing credibility with us, so we are taking the bird in the hand - the flight to Norfolk today. We'll spend the night in Norfolk, maybe check out the NEX there, rent a car, and drive home to Charleston.

Anyway, it is raining in California today, and it is 70 degrees on the East Coast, so time to relocate.

We are excited we will be there to see Drew and his friend, John, when they come through Charleston later this week. Maybe I can reclaim my Relief Society teaching assignment that my friend, Marilyn, was kind enough to agree to teach. We can do our taxes too - what fun!

Next week we might head for Europe again to see more of Southern Spain. Gibraltar is not far from Rota. Neither is Lisbon.

Happy Valentine's Day to all our followers - belatedly to those who celebrated yesterday.

goldenbear70's honey - out

Trip Aborted

It has been said, "The Worst Day of Retirement is Better Than the Best Day Working," and we concur.

After finally getting to the bottom of the continual on-again-off-again with flights west here at Travis, we have decided to postpone our trip until after Chase's baptism on 12 March near Philadelphia. The (so far) week-long delay, caused by runway repair, has made us reconsider the wisdom of traveling Space A to the bottom of the world when we have a hard stop coming up. Goldenbear70 also discovered there will likely be a delay on the return that could hold us in Japan for a week or more. Space A travel is not recommended when one has deadlines.

We have truly enjoyed the beautiful California weather, the base facilities here, meeting some interesting people, and seeing family along the way. We have salved our disappointment and frustration by walking, visiting the library (DVD rentals are $0 there!), reading, and relaxing. Postponing our trip to Australia will mean we will miss Aunt Muriel's 94th birthday party, but instead we will arrive in time for Auntie Val's and Cousin Lynn's birthdays, and the weather Down Under should be milder.

Monday we expect will find us back in Charleston, and everyone knows "nothin' could be finah."

goldenbear70's honey
1632 PST - Travis AFB, California
Happy Valentine's Day to All!!

Grounded!

We are still at Travis AFB. Three or four of the "Hickalulu" flights have been canceled this week, and the prospective passengers keep flooding in here. We overlooked one critical bit in our planning (or lack thereof) - that February school vacations are affecting the volume of our competition for flights. Active duty families have priority over us. The weather is lovely, except one day when I thought the wind would blow me into the next county as we were walking the mile to the Air Force Regional Medical Center on base to try out their cafeteria for lunch. There was a point when the cross-winds were so intense, I could not feel my left nostril.

There is not much more I can buy from the Base Exchange without purchasing another piece of luggage, and goldenbear70 says that is out of the question! We have already been here long enough to do laundry, but there is no charge for the machines, which are on every floor of this lodge. We are getting in lots of walking (1/3 mile to the dining hall; 1/2 to the terminal; 3/4 mile to the BX, etc.). We found the $1 DVD rentals in the lobby last night too, so as cousin Lynn said in her recent e-mail, "Life in the waiting line is not too bad."

We watched "Social Network" last night, and I kept searching for the English subtitles. Between their fast-talking, computerese, and switching time periods, I could barely tell what was happening. The other movie we rented, "RED," was very entertaining.

Today might be the day, but it is doubtful, because there must be at least 50 passengers for the two seats on the one flight tonight. There is a flight to Elmendorf, AK tomorrow that will connect with Yokoda, Japan, so maybe that will be the one that gets us on our way. If not, there are two more flights scheduled for Sunday to HI.

Meanwhile, at least we are escaping the cold temperatures in Charleston.

goldenbear's honey, signing off - no new photos

Waiting at Travis AFB

We arrived at Travis AFB mid-morning on a beautiful, sunny day - the kind of day that makes us wonder why we ever moved from this beautiful state with its nearly perfect climate. Lodging was only a few blocks' walk from the terminal, and the accommodations here are superb, as they were at McGuire. Goldenbear70 spent some time lining up our next flight possibility, which turned out to be Wednesday, 2/9. Roger contacted us to say they would like to get together. They were kind enough to drive up from Clayton Monday evening to take us for a delicious dinner at BJ's Brewery. Regretably, I forgot to get a photo of the four of us.

While our trip has been on hold, we have taken a couple of brisk walks, checked out the Base Exchange, caught up on some reading, and goldenbear70 took Roger's advice to see the collection of aircraft at the Aviation Museum across the road from our lodging (see http://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/?start_tab=one_set72157625865601077 for his photos).

It looks like we might get a flight to Hickam tomorrow, but then again, we might not. There are two flights posted; each has ten seats available. We know ten people, including us, who are waiting for those seats - the same ones who flew here with us from NJ. There may be other hopeful passengers lurking about, and we do not know our relative priority to theirs - all depends when they signed up. The plot thickens, as the saying goes.

If we have to stay here longer, maybe we will get to see some of our Napa friends. There is always a silver lining if you look for it. Don't forget to check out the Aviation Museum photos.

goldenbear70's honey

From Palm Trees to Snow in Just Over 3 Hours

The photo above is the All American [Air Force] Inn at McGuire AFB, New Jersey. We went south and east to go north, so we could go west--makes sense, right? We went to San Juan, PR last night with a great crew of a McGuire NJ-based C-17. Col Johnny Roscoe, Group Commander, and his crew gave us a great ride to and from San Juan, both last night and this morning. We were the only passengers on board, and we had the entire C-17 to ourselves. Business class has nothing on this!

Today Debbie helped land the plane in New Jersey! She went up into the cockpit about a half hour before landing, and sat behind the co-pilot for the rest of the flight. Her assigned duty was to watch for any other planes in the area through the (very) large windows on her right, and to inform the pilot and co-pilot if she saw any other traffic. She had a headset and mike on, and had a blast! She must have done well, because we landed without incident.

We were greeted by about a foot of snow on the ground in NJ--quite a difference from the 80 degree temperature in San Juan.

Tomorrow we're off to Travis AFB, California on a KC-10. Now it's "westward, west is calling..." on our way to Aussie-land!

All pictures of our trip can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21984041@N08/sets/72157625865601077/

More tomorrow,

Goldenbear70

We Don't Know Where We Are Going Until We Get Here

The van driver who offered to take our picture (above) after we landed did not really get the idea we were going for. We did not want a photo of us so much as one of us with the plane we flew on, which he sort of missed. I had to first close my left and then my right eye as we were staring straight at the late afternoon sun.

The flight was great! I read a bit on the computer - helps to have the back-lit screen when they turn down the overhead lights. I had downloaded the book I wanted to read, and I was able to plug in the laptop to keep it charged. There were only four other passengers on the flight, and I took a nap for almost two hours, stretching out on three seats and snuggling in with pillows and blankets - actually CLEAN pillows and blankets, unlike those on commercial flights. Our box lunches were the usual: po-boy sandwich, chips, candy bar, nutrition fruit bar,water and soda - not a bad deal for $4.

Goldenbear70 was invited to go to the cockpit and "fly the plane" (in the same way he helped build the New York State Thruway on his pedal tractor when he was three years old). He observed in-flight refueling, which he said was thrilling.

Here we are in San Juan, Puerto Rico where it is mostly rainy, so we did not bother to go to the beach, but it was raining when we left Charleston too, and it is a lot warmer here. I felt 100% better as soon as I changed out of my wool sweater and into a cool top. The planes are pretty cold during the flight (not much insulation and flying at 35K feet), so we have to bundle up.

We did take a good walk to check out The Ritz Carlton, where Alan stayed when he came here solo in December and there were no rooms here at the Courtyard - hmmmm? or so he said. It is a beautiful hotel, as you would expect. TAt their jewelry store, I selected a pair of Roberto Coin 18K gold earrings for Alan to give me for Valentine's Day, Mothers' Day, our 40th wedding anniversary and/or my 60th birthday later this year - so much gift-giving opportunity for him this year!

Walking back from dinner we heard loud whistling - sort of like a Bob-White. We asked the Courtyard lobby staff, and they said it is the tree frogs - who knew frogs whistle?

Be sure to check our Flickr account for photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21984041@N08/

That's it for Saturday.
Goldenbear70 & his Honey

We're Off to See the Wizard - the Wonderful Wizard of Oz

We are embarking on perhaps the most circuitous route imaginable to Western Australia. Last night we called Charleston AFB and then drove over to get a flight to Dover, DE with the intent to connect on to Travis today. When we arrived at the terminal, we learned the flight had been re-routed to another destination. It is times like this that we are happy to live only five miles from the Flight Line.

Goldenbear70 spent hours on the phone and computer finding us a new itinerary. We got to watch our last Netflix film and sleep in our own bed one more time with the relaxed feeling that our bags were packed and already in the boot of the car. Today we are checked in for a flight to San Juan, PR. We plan to stay there tonight at the Courtyard (thank you for the discount, Carson), which is just outside the Base. The plan is to take a flight to McGuire tomorrow, stay another night, and continue on to Travis AFB in California on Monday.

From there, who knows? Elmendorf? Hickam? Yokoda? Singapore? We never know if we are even going to take off when we get on the plane with the engine running. Friends who we met on our last flight had to be disembarked emergency-style after an emergency abort to takeoff, so you see, we cannot predict what will happen. - the goal is to arrive in Perth, Western Australia in time to visit with our wonderful family and celebrate Aunt Muriel's 94th birthday with her on 4 March.

Goldenbear 70's Honey, signing off - Stay tuned!