Day 22 – Laundry Day at Fort Lee Lodge, and Lunch

Posted on October 11, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

Yes, we must do our laundry while traveling. I suspect most people do except Jack Reacher, who just buys new outfits when it’s time to change clothes, then throws the old stuff away. Before we left I suggested that we take nothing but old underwear, the ones with rips and holes, of which I have a few, and just toss them each day. Diane nixed that idea, at least for her, because you just never know when you might wind up at the doctor’s office in one of those backward gowns.

Me? I brought old underwear.

Even so, we have outer clothes that get soiled and isn’t something we’d throw away until it falls apart because they are always good for working in the yard. Since we are checking out of here tomorrow we need to get things washed today. Matter of fact, the washing machines are running as I write. I might have 15 minutes or so remaining before I must make that long trip down the hall to put them in a dryer. My phone will bark when it’s time.

The upside of doing laundry at the Fort Lee Lodge is that it’s free to use the machines. There are 6 sets on each of the 7 floors, 3 at each end. That’s a lot of washers and dryers, my friend. There’s even a TV in the laundry room. And an A/C unit. A person could just take a book down there and hang out all day if they wanted to.

Diane didn’t want to. She chose to scour the base in search of the thrift store she saw a couple of times during our trips and left me alone to deal with the drying aspect of laundry. She loaded the washers, kissed m on the cheek, and headed for the parking lot. She took all my quarters, too. So, here I am, unsupervised, tasked with ensure that two special blouses do not make it to the interior of a dryer. The penalty is severe for failing this simple rule.

Thankfully I remembered because when I got back to the room she was sitting on the couch and I had the blouses in my hand. She said the thrift store is not open until Wednesday so we’ll have to go in search of a Goodwill in the civilian world this afternoon, to see what folks in Virginia give away. I can see it in the stars. Really, I can.

On my trip to the laundry room I took this photo so you could get a sense of how long the hallway is. It’s easily 200 yards. That means it’s 100 yards either direction for us because we’re almost dead center in the middle. By the elevators, which is really handy. The young lady, Brittany. who gave us this upgrade did us an enormous favor unless the room is haunted. I don’t think it is, but you just never know in a hotel.

This is looking the other direction from our room.

It’s hard to judge the distance in these crappy photos because the lights by the rooms just run together at the far end. Perhaps that’s a good indicator.

The dryers taker 45 minutes to run their cycle and I only have 26 minutes remaining until my phone barks at me again. I feel like I should take a nap, but it’s too early. That’s what I have to keep telling myself. It’s too early.

I’m sure you find all of this very interesting, and can tell that I’m not really full of fun stuff to share. I will, however, share this tender moment that I failed to include on one of the evenings Cedric spent with us.

Diane caught us both sleeping and snuck up on us. It was very peaceful sitting there with him, knowing he was relaxed and in a good place. Reminds me of when he was little and would do the same thing.

With the laundry done Diane said it was time for lunch and that I should get busy. She reminded me that yesterday I said I’d cook today. So I did. We had 8 eggs, half an onion, half a potato, 8 pieces of bacon, and a brand new green pepper. There’s no toaster in the room so I improvised by using a pan to toast English muffins on one side. Diane took care of the bacon while I prepared the eggs and everything else.

Since we only have a two burner stove, it was tricky getting it all done in a manner that nothing got cold. Since eggs were last, Diane stacked everything else in the microwave to keep them warm. When the eggs looked done enough to eat I flung a few pieces of cheddar cheese on top and put a lid on until it melted a little. I’d already turned the burner off but hat was just long enough for the bottom of the eggs to crisp up more than I had intended.

It was still good.

Now I really do think I’m going to take a little nap. Jerrie’s tired and his eyes burn.

Day 21 – Maymont Park – Richmond, Virginia

Posted on October 10, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

Today we left the base and embarked on an adventure to Richmond to visit Maymont Park based on the recommendation of the nice lady with the German accent behind the reception desk at our exceptionally nice abode.

I programmed our destination into my phone’s GPS, plugged it into the car, and away we went on I-95 North. It was a quick trip because Richmond is only about 29 miles from Fort Lee. Since Columbus Day is apparently a holiday for most folks in Virginia there was very little traffic on the freeway. That was true for the side streets in town that we had to traverse at the insistence of Veronica, our GPS expert. It’s actually SIRI, not Veronica. I was just trying to trick you.

Richmond has some very narrow streets that I’m sure haven’t been widened since they were primarily used for horses and buggys. With the only available parking is on the street for most of the housing we saw, like this, the situation doesn’t get any better. There actually are individual houses around, and we saw some, but row houses like those in this photo are all over the place. These are actually separate homes with about a 5-6 foot space between them, but on first look they appear to be joined at the hip. There are others that are obviously newer, made of brick, that I would call town homes because they are physically joined. I didn’t take a photo of any of those because I didn’t want to. That, and my phone/camera was connected to the car for the GPS. That’s why I didn’t want to.

Getting to the park took us directly through the heart of VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University). At least that’s what it seemed like because we were surround by buildings with the VCU logo on them for a mile or so through town. If those were indeed university buildings, I’d hate to have to make it from one class to another across that campus. Maybe they have some sort of underground delivery system for students.

Once we got to the park the first thing we discovered was that the welcome center wasn’t welcoming anyone because it’s not open on Monday. So we followed what looked like a group of Richmond natives down a walk that led waaaay down into a valley on this 100 acre estate.

At the bottom Diane stopped to rest her knees, which hurt all the time, and she was in need of a restroom. Fortunately, Dave was just about to pass us and he was dressed, to me, like someone who might work on the estate. I know his name was Dave because I asked and told me. Before that, however, I asked him if he knew where a restroom might be. He did, of course, because he volunteers his time at the park working in Raptor Valley where the birds live. He said he was heading that way and to follow him. Naturally that led to a conversation about where we were from. When he discovered that we were from out West, he slowed his pace to match ours and gave us a comprehensive history of the Maymont property and its original owners, the Dooley’s. What a guy!

Dave said James Dooley made his millions in a variety of enterprises, including the railroad industry, and built this incredible mansion on a hill in Richmond. When he and his wife died they had no family so left the property to the city of Richmond. Unfortunately, the property didn’t come with money to maintain it. That required a group of wealthy Richmond folks to step up and begin a program for that reason. The result is beautiful Maymont Park that includes the mansion and all of it’s grounds. It’s worth a trip. Oh! and it’s free.

Diane and I wandered around the winding paths and stairways to the tune of between 4-5 miles, depending on whose fitbit you want to believe. Mine came up with 3.97 miles but Diane’s was 5. My fitbit also said that I climbed up and down 15 floors of stairs. That one is absolutely true, I’m pretty sure. We did some ticking up and down hills. Diane’s knees will never be the same after today.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the Wal-Mart* super center a little south of Fort Lee to get some required items, then stopped for a Pizza Hut dinner at the facility on base. When we got to the room I was a little shaky because I hadn’t had anything to eat for approximately 6 hours. As a newly crowned diabetic I could feel the need for food and confirmed it when I checked my BS level. It was 73.

The pizza was good and we demolished the entire thing, each eating half. That’s significant for Diane because she normally can only eat 3 pieces.

Now we’re settled in for the night and I need to stop because Monday Night Football is about to start. Since Cam Newton is out with a concussion for the Carolina Panthers our home town boy, Derek Anderson, will be in at quarterback. They are playing Tampa Bay with Jamis Winston at QB. It would be fun to see Derek beat them.

I will terminate this with some photos from today’s trip.

This is a terrific little stone bridge at the bottom of the trail, just before we met Dave.

Wandering through the Japanese Garden.

At the to, near the mansion, we found a large stone barn that has huge bird houses for dormers.

More out buildings with a really pretty fountain.

A comprehensive view of the estate buildings. This was taken from a wicker chair tied to 3 large weather balloons. It’s secured to the ground with a very long rope, thank God. It was still a little breezy up there, but it provided a terrific view of the James River and the estate. Those descriptive words just magically showed up when I imported the photo.

This is the last shot I took as the handlers were hauling me out of the sky.

Inside is the freakishly weird Swan Bed in Mrs. Dooley’s bedroom. I’m guessing this feature of her choice in bedroom furniture was a large factor in their childless marriage. I mean, really?

The kitchen is huge and finely attired. Looks very functional.

The living room is very ornate. Lots of wood that needs lots of pledge to keep it looking like it does.

Outside Diane walks through the arches where the Dooley’s, and guests would access the home from their carriages without getting wet, in case it was raining.

That’s Diane standing at the top of the steps on the front porch. She thought it was pretty nice, but that it should be screened in. Still, pretty classy.

On the way out, pondering the best route back to our car, Diane stops to consider how long it would take me to mow all that yard. It’s massive.

Lastly, here’s a pretty nice looking tree standing all alone so it could flourish in all directions.

Ta-da.

Day 20 – Part 2 – Beyond the Gate

Posted on October 9, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

About 2:30 this afternoon we decided that it was time to get something to eat and we had pretty much exhausted the on-base eating opportunities so it was time to escape and see what’s out there, outside the gate. We walked out of the hotel into cool air, light breeze, and a beautiful cloudless sky.

We went looking for an exit. Turns out there are quite a few of them, unlike the JBAB base in Washington D.C. That makes it easy to leave but knowing which gate to use for an exit would take some practice to learn where they are in respect to where you want to go. Since we didn’t know where we wanted to go it really didn’t matter which exit we took. So, we took the second one we found. The first one we tried ended at a fence and looked like it hadn’t been used for many years.

The second exit was on Sisisky Blvd, a street with which we are familiar because we’ve crossed it many times on trips to the commissary, the PX, and the gas station. We didn’t actually pick it because we knew it would get us off base. It just turned out that we saw the gate and noticed it was, gee, Sisisky Blvd.

Once out the gate, which is easy to do because no one has to stop on the way out. All the ID checking happens on the way in. There’s a stop light just outside the fenced area on Highway 36. Sisisky Blvd actually becomes Highway 144 on the other side of Highway 36 if you go straight through the light.

Not know which way to go, Diane stayed in the middle lane to go straight through then changed her mind at the last second and forced her way into the left turn lane. That was easy to do because there were any other cars making a left turn.

We drove a little ways while I got Maps up and running on my phone to see what I could find in the way of slow food instead of fast food. You know, a nice place to have a sit down meal on a Sunday afternoon.

When I got Maps up I discovered that all the fairly close places to eat were behind us. We should have turned right. So, the logical thing to do was turn around in the middle of a major highway, right? Well, Diane went to a light to do it. It was all legal and everything. Honest.

Once we got turned around all the normal food places started appearing: McDonalds, Papa John’s Pizza, Waffle House, and places like that. But, like I said, we were more interested in something that more closely resembled a restaurant. With a hostess, and waitresses.

Diane spied a Ruby Tuesday to her left as we buzzed along Highway 36 so I looked it up. Looked like good food so she started looking for a place to turn around. She always finds that place, but the legality of some of the places she uses to turn around are questionable. This one wasn’t. It was perfectly legal. And safe.

Now we’re going the other way on Highway 36, back toward Fort Lee and we’re having a conversation that made me think Ruby Tuesday’s was between the opposing lanes of the semi-freeway we were on. Thus, since Diane had seen it on her left the first time, logic in my head said it would be on the left, again. So that’s where I was looking when she made a right turn into what she thought may be a back way into Ruby’s that was on our right. Very confusing, right? You should have been there.

After driving up Cousins Avenue about half a mile, about where it make a right turn toward I-295, she figured it wasn’t a back way into Ruby Tuesday’s. This U-turn was illegal. Just had to say it. But she made it safely and only had to accelerate just a little more than normal to stay ahead of the car that appear magically behind us.

At the light she turned right and spied the opening into the parking are for Ruby’s just past the local Pizza Hut. We made it.

Upon entry, we were greeted by Samantha, a very bubbly young lady with a very distinctive cowgirl drawl, and she led us to a booth, got us seated, explained all the rules, then brought us tea for Diane, raspberry lemonade for me. A quick look at the menu was all I needed to determine what I was going to eat, and Diane did the same. She ordered a New York steak, baked potato, and salad bar. The have a really good salad bar just inside the door so it was an obvious choice no matter what else we ordered. Diane’s came with the salad bar. I ordered the triple shrimp place. They called it a trio-something, but it was just three kinds of shrimp in three small square bowls. One had two skewers with 3 shrimp each on a bed of linguine, one had 4 large deep-fried fantail shrimp, and the other had about 13 small battered and deep-fried shrimp in some sort of creamy pink sauce all layered on shredded lettuce.

Here’s what we got …

The steak doesn’t look very big, but it was a big knife.

I would have taken a photo of the salad bar but figured everyone’s seen those things. They’re all over the place. Diane sent me first because she said I usually take so long to figure out what I want so, to throw her off a bit, I did a speed run through the line and was in seconds. I was like The Flash going through the line with shredded lettuce, egg bits, pieces of beets, and carrots flying all over the place, and came back with a small plate adorned with a professional looking salad. It was awesome because I was wearing light-colored slacks and a nice shirt and didn’t get anything on me.

Halfway through the salad, Caleb arrived with our main courses. I knew it was Caleb because that’s what Samantha called him. I’m alert that way. Sometimes.

It all looked really, really good so we just dove right in and got to work. All of my shrimp were awesome and Diane said her steak was exactly what she was hoping for. Perfectly cooked, tasted great, and very, very tender. She didn’t even have to use ketchup or anything.

She ate the entire steak, all by herself. She never does that. There’s always a little bit left for me. But not this time. So all I got was a bunch of shrimp and I was looking forward to at least a couple of bits of steak. She offered me a bite about halfway through the meal, but I was determined to finish all those shrimp and the linguine, which I did. When I was done I discovered that it was a good thing Diane ate all her steak because I couldn’t eat another bite of anything. Really.

When we were done we bid Samantha adieu and headed back for the base. Upon entering our room I plopped down on the sofa bed, burped, and may have even farted a little, then texted Cedric to see how his day went. He hadn’t contacted us because he’s been working on qualifications to perform his assigned jobs while on duty and that’s important.

Tomorrow he has duty so we made arrangements to hook up after he gets out of class Tuesday afternoon. I bribed him with food and he was all for that.

Since tomorrow will be another free day for us we may venture off base for a new adventure so I’ll have something to tell you at the end of the day. Need to take some new photos, too. It’s always nice to have photos.

The weather today was cool (65) but bright and sunny. Last night, however, and all day yesterday, the rain hammered us mercilessly. By Oregon standards it wasn’t bad at all, but apparently the ground is pretty saturated from previous rain storms so today there was quite a lot of standing water. It was most evident at the on-base golf course we ventured through on our search for a way off the base. Most of the sand traps were full of water. It would have been fun to play, but I didn’t bring my clubs.

Now it’s late, once again, and I must terminate.

G’nite.

Day 20 – Part 1 – Sunny Days Are Here Again!

Posted on October 9, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

It’s early. We don’t know what the day will bring, but the sun is shining so it can’t be bad. We had a good soaking of rain from the extreme fringe of hurricane Matthew but nothing beyond the capabilities of professional Oregonians to handle. Just a little rain. I say that not meaning to minimize the impact Matthew has had on its journey up the coast of Florida. That was pretty devastating for thousands of folks. Those where we are were fortunate. It could have been far worse.

This is the view from our window, looking almost due south. There’s a bit of a breeze but no rain in the foreseeable future. That means things are looking up for a nice few days in Virginia Beach later this week.

Our friend Nancy, in Georgia, whom I’ve never talked about, had to evacuate her house because it was in the path of Matthew. I don’t know how far she had to go to reach safety, but she is safe. Yesterday she returned home to find that it was OK. Lots of trees down in her area but none hit her house. Just wind-blown tree debris all over the place. We’re happy for that.

Also, cousin Karen from Clyo, GA had to pack up, too. She went to Atlanta but don’t have any updates yet.

The really sad news from yesterday, from a sports perspective, is that the Oregon Ducks were thoroughly dominated by the Washington Huskies 70-21. It was bound to happen eventually. Now I’ll have to shift my fickle allegiance to the winner and root for Washington to make it to the championship game. That will maintain my PAC-12 affiliation but sever my mental ties to the home state team. Second on my list is the Oregon Beavers who won yesterday against California.

Enough about college sports. Lets move on to the NFL. Cam is out with a concussion for tomorrow nights game which means our very own Derek Anderson, who is from Scappoose, will be the QB. We look forward to watching him play. His grandpa lives just around the corner from Diane’s Mom, Jean, in St. Helens. I actually had lunch with him at the St. Helens Senior Center a few weeks ago. Nice guy.

On the high school football scene, St. Helens High beat Parkrose 42-0 at the St. Helens home-coming game on Friday. The boys in appear to have a handle on how the game is played. We go to all the games when we’re home. Same with soccer, as you may have noticed from previous posts.

Everyone who cares will be happy to know that I’ve decided to quit adding sugar and cream to my coffee because my BS levels have been bouncing around a little. Not terribly high, but higher than normal. So, I’m just going cold turkey, back to the way I drank my coffee during my Navy days – black and bitter. Doing this will also lower my caffeine intake because I’ll only drink 2 cups instead of 7.

We haven’t heard from Cedric yet about how his day will go, or if I’ll be allowed to sign him out again. So, we decided that if nothing is heard by noon we’ll head off base to see what’s out there. The sun is shining bright and almost all the clouds have dissipated so exploring should be fun. If we get Cedric, we may be able to take him with us. That remains to be seen. He has duty tomorrow so that will be a free day to explore for us, too.

I’ll end this segment now since I’m not really sharing anything of significance and leave you breathless, waiting for Part 2 this evening.

Stay safe.

Day 19 – Another Day With Cedric

Posted on October 8, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

Diane and I slept very well last night and extended the relaxation period to late morning. Like till 1000. Then the phone rang. I knew right away that it was Cedric because that’s what my caller ID told me. Knowing this, I answered right away to see what was up.

He said, “you can come and get me, if you want.”

“Right now?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“Should I come as I am or should I put clothes on?” I asked.

“Clothes would be good, Grandpa,” he said.

Actually, we were just lounging around in our jammies, waiting to see what the day would bring. It started raining last night and has been raining all day. Sometimes very hard. We had planned to put clothes on if something came up that required us to leave the room. Since it did, we told Cedric we’d be there at noon, and got busy putting on street clothes.

The rules for today were the same as yesterday except he was allowed to stay out until 2100. We got to the barracks and I was walking to the entrance just as Cedric walked out the door. We turned around and went right back in so I could sign him out for the day.

Since it was noon we took the bottomless pit to Popeye’s Chicken that’s actually part of the gas station. Odd, maybe, but that’s the way it is. Kinda like a rest stop on the freeway where there’s a KFC on one end, and Taco Bell on the other end. Here on base it’s just Popeye’s. The other end is just a gas station. That doesn’t really matter, though, because Cedric would have eaten on the gas station side if necessary.

After lunch we made a trip to the commissary with the hope of finding a knee wrap for Diane in the medical section. On the way in I saw an older fellow wearing a USMC baseball hat and did the only natural thing there was to do. He saw it coming when I saluted him and returned it. This kind of caught Cedric off guard because he wasn’t sure whether he should salute or not. No, it was just two old guys honoring each other for service rendered.

We didn’t find anything like what was needed in the commissary so went next door to the PX to search some more. They didn’t have any wraps either, but they had some shoe inserts Diane wanted to try. And I found these young soldiers having fun with costumes.

It’s a new Army.

On the way out of the PX we met the USMC guy coming in so we rendered honors once again. It’s fun being in the military again even if it’s just for fun.

After leaving the PX we stopped by the Women’s Museum at Cedric’s request. I told him I wasn’t sure we could get in because I thought maybe, since it’s a women’s museum that only women were allowed inside. I was wrong, of course. I knew I would be. Cedric wanted a moment of his ideal woman, Athena.

The displays inside were very nicely done and told a very interesting story of women in the Army. I only took one photo inside because it’s not really something I’d find useful in my library and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have found it interesting. This is the one I took …

Then I got Cedric just hanging out waiting for us to catch up on the outside.

The we went back to the our room to enjoy the rain and remainder of the day inside, watching a movie. Cedric has a copy of the Captain America vs. Iron Man movie. Diane had never seen it and she kinda has a crush on Captain America. So do I. He’s hot.

After the movie Diane made us a nice dinner of bake potatoes, salad, and beef brisket. It was excellent. I tried to take a selfie at the table but Cedric ruined it.

After dinner Diane broke out the mini Oreos and Cedric shared a little know story about how his Mom, our little Jennifer, would take Oreos out of the package, eat all the frosting, and put the cookies back. It’s a fond childhood memory of Cedric’s. He was happy that all the minis he got from the package had all the frosting inside.

Sharing this memory prompted him to call his Mom so he could talk to her. He put her on speaker so we could all participate. It was very nice. No other family members were present which was unfortunate, but we had a wonderful talk with Mom.

Cedric shared a karma event with us regarding the young man who agreed to be Cedric’s Liberty Buddy last Wednesday but bailed at the last minute making it necessary for us to visit at the picnic tables by the barracks. Well, today, after we arranged to pick Cedric up at noon, that same sailor wanted Cedric to be his Buddy to go off base to the credit union. Since we were on the way, Cedric declined. Oddly, the sailor was upset apparently telling Cedric he’d remember this. We all decided he probably wouldn’t since he didn’t remember the first event.

Too too, it was time to pack up and head back out into the rain. Cedric has the proper clothing for inclement weather. I love his coat but can’t afford to buy on for myself. Just as we were ready to leave Cedric’s phone rang and it was Jeran. We delayed departure for a bit so they could talk, then Cedric excused himself because we had to get him back to the barracks. He vowed to call Jeran back once he was back in his room.

That was the day. Another good one.

Day 18 – A Day With Cedric

Posted on October 8, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

I’m writing this the day “after” instead of the day “of” so please forgive me if I get things out-of-order, or, God forbid, forget something. I might even spell something wrong. It could happen because I’m going to write in present tense, pretending it’s yesterday

The first order of business was to see about connecting with Cedric in person. So far we’ve only been texting while things get sorted out about whether or not he can leave his barracks with us. Since he’s still new to the Navy, and currently stationed on an Army base, Army rules apply and they require that their newbies obtain a Battle Buddy to move beyond the bounds of their barracks. The Buddy System. Makes sense. Cedric had a Buddy lined up for last Thursday so we could see him but that Buddy backed out. When Jennifer heard about this she told Cedric, “Remember that when he wants help.”

That’s my girl!

That put Thursday out of reach so we arranged to meet him at his barracks this morning so we could hang out with him at the picnic tables on the Navy side of his barracks which is shared with the Air Force.

When we arrived there were about 10 Air Force folks, men and women, performing yard maintenance all across the front of the building, which is very large, sending grass clipping odors our direction in such a manner that Diane found it hard to breath. So, she departed for the safety of the car until they were done. Before leaving I captured them.

Cedric and I, who are not similarly affected by grass odors in such a manner, sat at a wobbly picnic table talking about his new life.

He said he actually liked Boot Camp better because it was a mindless (my word) existence that didn’t require decisions, just obedience. With the shift to Fort Lee he retained the obedience requirement, obtained more freedom, and was tasked with the added aspect of adopting unfamiliar Army regulations into his behavior pattern. I can understand his confusion.

We talked for about an hour during which time I learned a bit about how his daily life goes. He’s only been on the base for a week so really hasn’t had much time to assimilate. His school started on Monday and they already have them playing with knives, an unanticipated treat. And it wasn’t just a butter knife, but a really sharp one.

I learned that FC1 Clark is in charge of the Navy aspect of the barracks today. FC stands for Fire Control meaning his job is mainly on ships at sea dealing with guns and missiles. Being here, in this job, is a way for the Navy to give him a break from sea duty. Cedric calls him their baby sitter, which it is in a way. He approves all the standard requests for liberty so he’s an important person this day in the daily lives of the sailors in the barracks.

By now the lawn mowing had been terminated because lunch was looming on everyone’s radar. Food was becoming more and more important. Even our stomachs were beginning to sense the need for sustenance in order to make it through the afternoon to supper. So, Diane volunteered to make a run to Subway and bring it back for us to eat.

About that time FC1 Clark left the building on his way to lunch. He wasn’t gone long, and Diane was preparing to leave on her mission to obtain a sandwich when he returned. I stood by Diane, wishing her well on her quest as FC1 Clark exited his vehicle.

I timed my return to Cedric so it intersected with Petty Officer Clark’s trajectory so that I could thank him for his service, and to introduce myself. As I expected, he was a very congenial young man who was willing to explain the rules for Liberty Buddies for me. We just talked Navy, something I think he misses.

At this juncture I must profess that not once did I reveal my Navy rank in an attempt to coerce a desired answer to an unasked, but simply inferred request. That was, of course, was there any reason why I couldn’t be Cedric’s Liberty Buddy since we were not going to leave the base.We just wanted to take advantage of an unexpected opportunity to visit with Cedric.

He tipped his head to the side a little, pondering the situation, then he asked, “what’s his last name?”

“Walters,” I told him.

He turned, aiming his voice at the picnic table where Cedric sat and said, “Walters!’

Being attuned to the sound and tone of FC1 Clark’s voice Cedric jumped to attention and quickly assumed a familiar position in front him. I learned later that Cedric was seriously afraid that I’d said something to get him into trouble. Then FC1 Clark said, “go get that liberty request you filled out and bring it to the office.” Then he turned to look at me and said, “bring your Grandpa, too.”

Stunned, Cedric departed on his mission and returned shortly to escort me into the building.

The entrance is set up to mimic boarding and leaving a ship and proper decorum is maintained throughout the process – salute the flag, turn and salute the Petty Office Of the Watch (POOW) request permission to come aboard, permission granted, then proceed into the building. Very proper stuff.

At the office, Cedric stood to the side of the door, then knocked, asking permission to enter. I screwed that one up by just marching ahead of him into the office. Seeing my mistake, I backed out and let him go first. At the desk I signed him out and away we went to Pizza Hut.

Yes, we opted for Pizza Hut instead of Subway. It was a good choice. Lunch was really good. Turns out the Pizza Hut on base is typically populated by Army so we two sailors were pretty much a minority. It was fun to mingle with them and they were all very polite and respectful.

From there Cedric opted to just hang out in our hotel room for the afternoon. The deal about being his Liberty Buddy was that I had to sign him back in prior to 2000. So, we made a pact to be back before 1930. During that time, Cedric did this …

and this

Just hung out and watched a movie, ate popcorn, and visited.

Later we stopped by Subway to get Cedric a sandwich, then we stopped by his school on the way back to sign him in. I call it the Knowledge Distribution Center, or KDC since were in the land of acronyms once again.

That ended the day.

It was a good one.

Day 17 – Fort Lee Lodge & Other Stuff

Posted on October 7, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

Not a lot to write about today because we didn’t do much. Still, I’ll see how far I can stretch this with nothing to say.

We got up earlier than normal, before 9 am, so I took a trip to the main floor for a look at the area where they serve a continental breakfast for folks staying at the Lodge. I think I already mentioned that this place is like a very large Holiday Inn and is, in fact, affiliated with Holiday Inn. If you’ve stayed at one of those you will know that they have a very nice breakfast room. Well, think about that for a second, then expand the room to about 100 x 100 and you’ll get a sense of what this one is like. Seriously, it’s that big. OK, maybe it’s only 100 x 75. Still big.

To the left of the door there is a curving self-serve area with boiled eggs, waffles, french toast, yogurt, milk machines, oatmeal, grits, fruit, toasters, and what looks like an omelet bar that was closed when I got there, that’s about 80 feet long. Around the corner in the seating area, the BIG seating area, is a table with a vast array of coffee pots and things you can put in coffee cups to make it taste better. I was so amazed with this room that I just got a couple of cups of coffee and took them right back up to the room and convinced Diane she needed to put some underwear on and come down with me to look at it.

She did. She was amazed, too. We both ate but I made a bad choice and got french toast and actually put syrup on it. This resulted in an elevated BS level that needed attention with some exercise and water. So, we went outside and walked around the hotel. It took about 15 minutes to do that. I drank a bottle of water on the way. This made my stomach settle down and by BS level was down indicating it was going the right direction. Here’s a bicycle we saw during our walk. It’s been there for a long time. We think it’s probably a loaner bike because we saw more just like it at other bike racks around the base.

Then Diane decided it was time to visit the commissary to get things to last through the storm, just in case it decided to slam us, too. I already had 8 boiled eggs, from the hotel cafeteria, so egg salad was on the menu. Just needed mustard to make it really good.

While at the commissary, we continued our exercise by walking up and down every isle in the place. We went at a moderate pace, just slow enough to keep from sweating.

There were so many bags of food I had to use the luggage cart to get them to our room. Diane put things away while I took the cart back to the lobby. By the time I returned it was pretty much cleaned up and ready for me to make that egg salad.

I used four eggs which gave us enough for four sandwiches. Since we only ate one each, there’s more for tomorrow. Before I ate, however, I checked my BS again. It was down to 90 and I could tell it was time to eat. I may have salivated a little bit while make the egg salad, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t salivate on the eggs. I’m guessing, of course, because it would’ve blended right in and there was no way to tell for sure. So far, Diane hasn’t displayed any symptoms of sickness of any kind so think I’m good here. Until she reads this. Then it’s lights out and means I’ll get to eat the remainder of the egg salad all by myself. Unless Cedric wants some, of course. We should be picking him up for a day of hanging out, visiting, exploring, and napping. Here’s an off topic photo Cedric sent this afternoon of him in his cooking class uniform.

This afternoon, when Diane couldn’t find anything interesting on TV, she lay down on the bed and took a very loud nap. I, on the other hand, stayed in the living room portion and watched a movie – “The Fifth Wave”. On my iPad. We don’t know how to watch movies on our TV. Besides, all the channels are analog, not digital. It’s still a good picture, though, so can’t fault them for that. The majority of folks staying here are Army officers, new and old, who are, I believe, affiliated with the Logistics University adjacent to the Lodge.

When the movie was almost over Cedric texted me and we started going back and forth, carrying on a conversation. We didn’t know at the time that the text link he used also included his Mom. I was very thankful that we kept it clean because she surprised us both when she chimed in and commented that while she was gone taking her Mom’s Mom, Jean, to the doctor, she received 87 texts. Neither of us had any idea we had carried on that much.

Now it’s 2230 here and we’re getting updates from Jennifer about the soccer game going on in St. Helens. Our girls were winning 3-0 against Milwaukee. Our girls are 7-2 going in to this game and are ranked 4th in the state. They are doing extremely well. I’m told the Milwaukee girls aren’t taking the beating very well and have started with dirty tactics.

Here’s a pre-game photo that Jennifer took …

It’s Pink day. Since Lydia’s a goalie she dresses differently than the rest of the team so she didn’t have pink socks. Just pink paint on her face.

Jennie sent the next photo with the comment, “She’s wearing pants.” First time this year. Normally she wears shorts. But, she said it’s raining buckets at home now and I suspect pants would feel pretty good. But I think pants feel pretty good any time of the year.

Time to quit.

Day 16 – Fort Lee, Virginia

Posted on October 6, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

OK, folks. It really happened. We bailed out of Washington, D.C. and headed south to Richmond even though predictions for hurricane Matthew were not in our favor because it was heading north to meet us.

If you’ve been following this you will already know that our visit to Fort Lee was scheduled to be for one night only so we could visit Cedric. Well, bad weather in the Caribbean required us to cancel our intended visit to Myrtle Beach, SC, and interesting liberty rules on Fort Lee, for brand new military men conspired against us for a quick visit with Cedric.

First, the weather.

If you’ve been watching the news you’ll know that Hurricane Matthew is scheduled to crash right in to Myrtle Beach on Friday and create havoc in that area through the weekend. Because of that, all the lanes on all the freeways on the East Coast from Myrtle Beach south are only going west. All lanes. Because of that we would have found it difficult to buck all that traffic. So, Diane called Hilton and cancelled our visit and was able to wipe the slate clean even though cancellations less than a week before scheduled occupancy result in loss of all money paid, or all points used. The lady Diane spoke with ignored that rule and credited our account for everything we used to secure a spot in the Anderson Ocean Club for the coming week because we weren’t at fault.

Got that?

That was bad news, you’d think, because we only booked one night at Fort Lee and had to cancel our accommodations that would keep us indoors until we head for Virginia Beach on the 12th. After last night we were technically homeless. Where in the heck were we going to stay until the 12th?

We got to the Fort Lee Lodge early, around 2 pm, because it’s really not very far from Washington D.C. We were a bit stunned when we saw the place because it’s quite intimidating due to its enormous size. It so enormous that I could only capture bout 1/4 of it in this photo.

The young lady who greeted me at the reception desk was all bright and cheerful and said our room wouldn’t be ready until 4 pm after checking our name to confirm that we actually belonged there. While I had her attention I asked what the possibility would be for us to extend our stay through the weekend because we’d just been kicked out of Myrtle Beach since the hurricane was going to get real busy there in the next few days. Then I played the “homeless” card.

She looked at her computer, conferred with a co-worker and they shared some conspirational activities, pointing at the screen, nodding, and said they could do that. “When to you want to check out?” she asked.

“Ah, Monday?” I offered, not wanting to push my luck, then pushed it anyway by changing it to, “Tuesday?”

When she kept looking at me, as if waiting for something more in the form of a definitive statement, I became concerned that I’d exceeded the limits of her good will. “Sure,” she said. “We are OK until the 24th when we’ll be fully booked.”

When she said the 24th, I got all giddy and immediately said, “Wednesday! I want to check out Wednesday.” There. A definitive statement.

She still sent me away asking that we return at 4 to check in, so I left. I was happy, smiling, and was excited to share this news with Diane who stayed in the vehicle. She always stays in the vehicle when we check in to a hotel.

During our absence from The Lodge we found the BX, the Commissary, and the Gas Station. Those are places to be familiar with when visiting any military base.

At the BX we discovered the same Philly Cheesesteak sandwich joint we liked on JBAB and decided to give it another try. It was even better. Things were looking brighter all the time.

After eating our sandwiches we drove back to the hotel and parked in the lot where we sat and waited for the clock to slowly tick around toward 4 pm. Finally, at 3:58 we cautiously re-entered the hotel to get the key to our room so we could unload the car.

We made it to the front of the line and a young lady finished with her customer and beckoned me to her station. As I headed toward her the young lady who had helped me two hours earlier said, “No! I’ve got this one!” which kinda surprised me. So, I moved to the left, out of the way, so the Army Captain behind me could move on to the lady who have waved me over.

At the counter, the young lady, whose name I shamefully forgot to get, asked for my Military ID and a credit card. Anticipating this, I had them both in my hand and presented them to her. She got us logged in then stood there looking at her display while conferring with another co-worker who nodded when she referred to something on her screen. The nod was apparently approval for her unspoken query because she hit a key on her keyboard, turned to me and said, “There. I have a room for you on the 7th floor and I upgraded your room. For no charge.” That surprised me because it’s an Army hotel so why would there be upgrades available?

Not having anything clever to say, because I was totally not expecting this, I said, “works for me.”

She smiled and gave me all the stuff people at reservations desks have you sign. I did so, then she handed me the keys for room 7105. It’s a 7 story building so we were on the top floor. Diane’s favorite place to be. No one could dance on our ceilings during the night!

We took the keys and headed for the elevators. They have four of them just off the lobby. We had to dance around some young fellows who were scrubbing the marble floor in the short hall to the elevators. There were six of them. One on a scrubbing buffer, one with a mop, one with a mop bucket, one with a little grout scrubber, and two on either end working folks who were there, I think, to keep any of them from leaving. Kidding, of course. They were all working and very friendly and moved things so we could get to one of the elevator doors without stepping in puddles of soapy water.

An elevator. What a treat. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised because this hotel has 1,138 rooms. That’s true. I asked. I said the place is enormous already but it bears repeating. Just look up 2301 Mahone Ave, Fort Lee, VA on Google Maps then switch it to the satellite view. You’ll see for yourself.

While on the way up in the elevator both of us were wondering just what kind of upgrade we had received, and what kind of room we would have received had we not received the upgrade. It was with bated breath that Diane put her key in the little lock, watched it turn green, looked at me, then cautiously opened the door.

When the door finally opened all the way we were absolutely amazed to discover that our complimentary upgrade was from a regular room, with which we would have been totally happy, to a suite with an actual bedroom and a kitchen area with a large refrigerator, a dishwasher, and an actual garbage disposal in the sink that works. And, it’s got a Keurig coffee maker sitting right there on the counter with a lot of little Keurig cups in a nifty sliding drawer beneath it. How cool is that? It’s just beautiful. We want to live here now, but I don’t think they will let us. I haven’t asked yet.

Anyway, we’re gonna live in style until next Wednesday. Then we have to discover if Virginia Beach is accessible so we can take up residence in an undoubtedly inferior room at some ocean side resort. Whether or not it’s still there after Matthew does it’s work is still up in the air because no one really knows which direction he will turn once he churns up the coast and out to sea when it hits the Carolinas.

OK. That’s it for the room. Now let’s talk about Cedric, the reason we’re here. I texted him, and his Mom, when we saw the sign for Fort Lee.

Then again when we hit the gate.

He finally responded about 5 to say he wouldn’t be able to go on liberty to see us this evening because his Battle Buddy bailed on him. Battle Buddy is an “Army Thing” Cedric said which means no one goes on liberty alone. He was really bummed but got over it when he learned that we were going to be here through the weekend. He can’t see us tomorrow, either, because he has duty. So, we has Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to catch up. It’s going to be OK.

Now it’s time for bed. Diane said.

Day 15 – JBAB Anacostia

Posted on October 5, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

I didn’t do anything today except help Diane with the laundry. By help I mean I just did whatever she told me to do, of course. After that, she went to the exchange all by herself. I stayed in the room and watched a movie and two episodes of Quantico. I just love our Xfinity because we can watch recorded shows on our DVR from anywhere in the world.

A may have had a nap, too.

Later …

Day 14 – Washington D.C. Chinatown

Posted on October 3, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

When we got up this morning we didn’t have a plan about where to go. Diane said I was to have made a decision about that last night, and I kinda did, but didn’t tell her. I thought it would be interesting to visit Chinatown. I didn’t have a reason why other than it was on the green METRO line meaning we could get there without changing trains. That was apparently a good enough reason, so off we went to the Anacostia Station.

The train was pretty much empty on the trip, and not many got on at other stations so it was a pretty uneventful trip to the Gallery Place station. The exits for this stop are under a gallery (oddly) of many, many, stores, shops, bowling alley, bars, and a HUGE Regal Theater that has 14 screens. It’s actually right next to the Verizon Center which is home to the NBA Washington Wizards. I’m sure that’s true, but if any of you know differently, please chime in. I’ll do my best to pay attention. It’s also in Chinatown.

The first order of the day, after leaving the METRO stop, was to find a bathroom. So, we went into a handy door that appeared to lead into the Gallery’s innards where we were sure we’d find a bathroom. We went up and down escalators (more up than down) until we finally encountered an access point into the Regal Cinema.

We knew they had restrooms because all theaters have restrooms but, as luck would have it, only customers could use them. So, we bought tickets so Diane could use the bathroom. The tickets we bought were for “Storks” so we thought we may as well stick around and watch it. It as 11:41 am when we got to the ticket taker and she said we had plenty of time because there were 20 minutes of previews before the movie started. It was all good.

We sat in the theater, all by ourselves, and could hear the previews, but there was no picture. So, I went back to the ticket taker and reported this incident. Finally, someone got it going just in time for the movie to start. We really enjoyed the movie and highly recommend it. We used the restrooms both before and after the movie. Then we walked outside and Diane once again asked me what we were going to do.

I struggled for an answer, but didn’t have one, even though I had a map in my hands with all kinds of places we could visit. Finally, we decided to visit the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery which is directly across 7th Street NW from the Verizon Center. Really handy. While crossing 7th Street I noticed some food trucks parked on the museum side of the street and thought it was a really feeble attempt to match the parking lot full of similar trucks you can find all over Portland.

I had to go back and take a picture of the last one in line because it was a new one for me …

Doughnuts and fried chicken. Who knew?

The museum was filled with incredible paintings some of which are incredibly old. Most of the first ones we viewed were formal portraits of famous folks from history. The only one that really got our attention was this one because of frame …

It’s actually General Ulysses S. Grant. You know, the guy that’s buried in Grant’s tomb?

After walking around for a couple of hours we started getting a little light-headed and, as luck would have it, we stumbled across a snack shop on the inner patio of the museum. Diane just wanted fizzy water and I chose an orange Fanta soda. Total cost was $7.22, the most expensive drinks we’ve had since the last Blazer game we attended. Apparently, if you’re a ‘member’, things are considerably cheaper. Had we only know. Probably doesn’t cost much more than a few thousand bucks to be a member. I’m guess because I didn’t ask.

I loved my soda and nursed it slowly while sitting in this very quiet area. An interesting feature in there are three horizontal water falls. Sounds dumb, I know, but that’s what they are. They are actually three areas of the floor that are slightly depressed, slightly more on one side than the other. Water is forced up on the high side and it flows slowly across the stones to the low side. Very unique. I wanted to run through them, but Diane felt that would be a bad idea. So, I didn’t. In the photo the water is flowing from left to right.

Then I took a photo of Diane, like I always do when I have a chance, and liked it so much I’m going to share it with you.

In addition to some terrific art, the building itself is actually one itself. It’s 3 stories tall and each floor is different. I only took a photo of the Great Hall which is pretty magnificent.

There there was this view from one of the windows that I couldn’t resist. Have I ever mentioned how happy I no longer have to get film developed?

We were in the museum for 3-4 hours and by the time we decided to call it a day we were pretty hungry. Both of us decided that Mexican food would be really good which was handy because Rosa Mexicano was just across the street from the museum, and the METRO stop we needed for our return trip was just across the street from Rosa’s. How convenient.

We entered the restaurant between the lunch and dinner rush hours so the place was essentially ours for a little while. It’s a beautiful establishment and it smelled really good inside. Both of us chose to have guacamole made at the table and that was a treat. Except for the cilantro. I don’t care for cilantro. But that was OK because everything was delicious anyway. And, it looked really good …

I had my standard beef enchiladas and Diane had her standard cheese enchiladas. The rice and beans were served in bowls so we could take what we wanted. Clever. We each had three enchiladas. I ate all of mine and Diane left only about one bite. She did good.

By the time we were finished eating the place had started to fill up which pointed out a glaring error with our timing … people were getting off work meaning that we were going to be riding back on the subway during rush hour. And that’s exactly what we did. Making it more difficult, the METRO masterminds, I learned, send 6-car trains during rush hour but use 8-car trains on weekends. Makes perfect sense, don’t you think? Well, here we are making lots of new friends on our ride home …

We stood the entire trip. It wasn’t bad because there really wasn’t much of a chance we could have fallen down. Everyone on the train was very friendly. I don’t think it was out of necessity. I think that’s just the way they are all the time. Really nice folks.

Finally we got to the car and I was, once again, very relieved to discover that it had been towed. It was still right where we parked it.

I’ve been wanting to report what I discovered across the bottom of Washington DC license places but keep forgetting. Until now. On the way home, at a stop light, I took this photo …

Don’t you love it? I mentioned it at Arlington yesterday to one of the tour folks and was told that’s their motto. Since it’s on their license plates, I suspect that true.

On a side note, with Hurricane Matthew heading for the East Coast, we’re having second thoughts about our trip to Myrtle Beach, SC. Tomorrow we’ll call the resort and see what they have to say. Diane’s checking the weather frequently and her last report was that by Wednesday, the day we’re supposed to be there, it probably won’t be a hurricane. Just a ton of water falling out of the sky. We’ll see how that goes.

Many of you know that our friend Jewel is dog, cat and house sitting for us during this trip. Last week she performed an old person’s trick by falling down and breaking her right arm. In her defense, she tripped over the goofy little fence I helped her install around some new plantings by the front porch. I’ve tripped on that thing, too. Today she had her splint removed and had it replace with a pretty pink cast.

As you can see by her comment, she’s doing much better now. We’re thankful for that. Thanks for hanging in there, Jewel. During her trial with a splint, and pain, Jennifer pitched in to help. Daniel also added his expertise to give Ziva a bath after she decided to, again, adorn herself with eu du deer poop. Regarding that, I have mixed emotions because she’s either rolling in it, or eating it. I don’t like either of those choices, but think I like her eating it best. That way there’s really nothing to clean up. Yea!

Gotta quit now because Dancing With The Stars is on now. It’s Cirque du Soleil night.