Since we went to bed around 8:30pm last night, we thought it would be OK to get up at 6:30am this morning. Actually, my bladder thought that would be a good idea. So I did. Besides, I’d been in bed long enough by then.

Diane got up shortly thereafter and started right out talking to me which is unusual because I’m normally not allowed to converse with her for the first couple of hours in the morning. That’s not entirely true … I’m not allowed to talk to her if she just gets up early to use the bathroom with the intention of returning to bed, no matter what time it is. She says if I do, “her head turns on” and she can’t go back to sleep. So I have to work on zipping it, which is difficult for me to do.

The big event of the day was going to the swap meet at Oceanside. We were originally going to the Spring Valley Swap Meet, but thought we would avoid driving long distance and go to the local one.

For those of you not versed in the construction of California, Oceanside is a Marine town located outside Camp Pendleton. The swap meet we went to is held at an old drive in theater that still has four huge screens standing. It’s obvious they are no longer used, but it’s kinda cool. Diane and I used to take the kids to drive ins when we lived in Long Beach many, many, many years ago. I think Jennie was 9 then. Jeff was 12.
Anyway, turns out that Saturday is a slow day for the swap meet and that Sunday is when things are really happening. Most of what was on sale were tools and clothes, and lots of stuff from China. It was fun to walk around and look at all the stuff and we actually bought a few things. This is Diane’s coop de grace:

This is something we’ll get years of use from, I’m sure. She was delighted, as you can see.

From the swap meet Diane chose the route and we immediately found a “Yard Sale” sight that was just around the corner. We stopped and visited with the guys who seemed to be working the sale and wound up buying a couple of beach chairs for $5. They are classics and will work well with our new umbrella, sitting outside our old Winnebago.

From the yard sale, we went back to the I-5 freeway and headed North for about 30 seconds to the main gate at Camp Pendleton. With our brand new base decal the guard waved us right on through, not even looking at our ID cards. The Navy base will not let us in with looking at IDs. What’s with that? I guess it’s because everyone on Camp Pendleton is armed and dangerous so they are too worried about random scary people.

Our first stop was for gas. On base it’s $4.40 a gallon. Nice. That fill up will last us until Las Vegas. After getting gas, we went to the Commissary to look around and to get some milk and butter … and ice cream … and candy bars. We may have gotten something else, but those were the important items. The Marine commissary is much nice than the Navy’s. Nice big wide aisles, well marked, lots and lots of checkers. And, nice people all over. We enjoyed our little stop there very much.

I was on the base numerous years ago, like in the 60s, when my cousin Brad was stationed there. That’s Gene’s brother. And Kathie’s Uncle. Brad was a Marine Corps Major at the time, and was in charge of base security, as I recall. He gave me a tour of the base and I was amazed at how huge it is and how much open space there was. There’s still lots of open space, but there are many more structures now, and more going up. It’s littered with little strip-like malls with all manner of wares. Nothing like the bases I grew up on during my Navy days. It was pretty incredible. I took this picture as we were driving off the base …

Not a very good picture, but maybe it’ll give you an idea of what I’m talking about.

When leaving the base, the I-5 Freeway is right there in front of you … North to Los Angeles, South to San Diego. We noticed as we drove over the freeway, to head south, that pretty much everyone in California was heading that direction so the freeway was like a colorful glacier … pretty to look at but not fun to be on. So, we struggled through a 1/4 mile of it and bailed off to take the back streets back to the condo. Along the way we passed Tamarack Avenue, for about the eleventieth time, and thought of Nancy again, as we did every time we passed it this trip, so I took a picture to show her just how far her little St. Helens street really goes. Here it is …

When we got back to the condo we ate soup. I’m truly sorry that I didn’t take a picture for you. It was very good. We had cheese & crackers with it. Once that was done we sat down and read our books for hours. Then I took a short nap and Brian called me right after I woke up. Perfect timing. Brian, you may, or may not, recall, is one of my old shipmates. We talked for a couple of hours telling each other sea stories about our respective careers, and remembering the time we spent together aboard DD-808 during our WestPac Cruise in 1965. He remembers a lot more than I do. He must be younger. I didn’t ask. Now I’m going to quit.