Author Archives: Jerrie Cate

Day 12 – Arizona Bound …

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The reunion is over and we we had an entire day to ourselves to recuperate from the stress of the last year and a half. Actually, the stress was all mine and it about drove Diane nuts.. My stress stressed her out to the point where she was just downright mean to me sometimes and that just made things worse. I just couldn’t make her understand that none of it was my fault. She would only calm down when I threatened to get a lawyer. I even told her I wanted a divorce, numerous times, but it did no good. She just doesn’t believe anything I tell her anymore. I suspect that’s probably because most of what exits my mouth is fiction. So, I’ve earned her distrust.

Even with all my antics over the past 44 years, 5 months, 15 days, 6 hours, and 27 minutes she’s still here. I find that amazing and I’m grateful, every day, that she still loves me. I think she loves me because she tells me she does and I believe pretty much everything she tells me.

As the title for this entry suggests, we’re heading east to Arizona, to prolong this summer just as long as possible. It’s 80 degrees out here near El Centro, California so we don’t expect to encounter any snow until we head north to take another peak at the Grand Canyon on our way home.

Yesterday, to relax, we went to Breakers Beach on NAS North Island, the northern tip of Coronado Island. It’s pretty close to one of the air strips, but it wasn’t noisy. Just about the right kind of noise to not be annoying. Reassuring noise of helicopters, and jets, letting us know we are were safe.

The beach is enormous and lies just north of the famous Hotel Del Coronado. It’s a peaceful place and perfect for relaxing. We set up our chairs on a patio about 1/4 mile from the water’s edge then I walked to the water with my horribly swollen, gout riddled big left toe. I learned that walking barefoot in loose sand with a foot like that is way harder, and more painful, than wearing tight shoes and walking on asphalt. But, I did it. I stood at the surf line and waited for the incoming tide to cover my feet. The water was so excruciatingly cold that once was enough, then I limped back to my chair, and my bride.

We went back to our room, ate supper and didn’t do a thing the rest of the evening.

This morning I cooked a dozen eggs and the larger part of a pound of bacon for breakfast. I did that because there wasn’t any room in the cooler to take them. And, we were hungry. That done, we packed our stuff and headed east around 1100. Stopped for some very expensive gas, got some on my face (don’t ask), went back to the lodge to wash, then away we went.

Day 11 – The Banquet

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One Hundred and Twenty Eight people filled the Pacific Room at Anchors Catering for lunch today. It was a noisy crowd, a happy crowd. All the things they did over the past three days surpassed their wildest expectations. I say all these things, not to take credit for what Diane and I accomplished this week, but simply to echo the sentiments of everyone with whom we spoke. OK, it’s to garner a little credit, too, but mainly to revel in the fact that our mission was accomplished. We did it! It’s over, and we’re relieved. Everyone was able to get on the base, the buses got on the base, everyone loved thr USS Midway, the harbor cruise was a huge hit, and the lunch was totally awesome.

The day began normally with me limping down to the hospitality rooms to see who was there and to visit a little bit. And eat snacks. Diane spent just a little less than $300 on all those snacks, and made a number of runs to the package store and commissary to get them. What a gal. We were reimbursed for that, of course, but I had to have a bit of it myself. Good stuff, and nearly all of it was eaten. Very little waste. Just great.

Getting everyone to the banquet was far less of an issue than I had envisioned because everyone buddied up just like they were supposed to. That was a plus. We all got seats then started filing out to fill our plates at the all you can eat Prime Rib buffet … cost for normal people is $11.95. For us it was $17.50 because we had a private room. Still, to get the kind of food we had at a private dinner would have been $35 a plate, easy. It was a really good choice. In case any of you are ever in San Diego, anyone can eat at Anchors Catering. They’re open for lunch Monday thru Friday.

As everyone filed into the dining room they placed raffle items on the tables creating an incredible array of things from which raffle winners could chose. Everything was really nice.

Diane won three times. We got a set of shot glasses and a commemorative coin from the USS Midway, a really nice Carhart hoody, and a t-shirt with “Don’t Give Up The Ship” on the front in really huge letters. If I tucked it into my jeans you would only see “Don’t Give”. That’s the only thing I picked out … I limped all the way up to the table to do it.

Halfway through the raffle one of our shipmates auctioned off a terrific charcoal pencil drawing that was done by another shipmate. The auctioneer was just great. He started it off at $50 and finally sold it for $400. All profits will be donated with the exception of some seed money for the next reunion in 2014. It will be either in Charleston or Norfolk, east coast.

Here’s a picture of the artist, left, and the winning bidder, right.

Once the bidding was done, and the raffle was over, all of the crewmen signed the back of the drawing indicating their years of service on that ship. The winning bidder is a retired Navy Captain who plans to give it to the wife of one of the friends he made while serving aboard the Buckley in the early 60’s. This friend went on from the Buckley and eventually went on to receive his own command at sea. During his tour as the CO, he fell down a ladder and broke his neck, rendering him immobile. Everyone knew the CO, from his fledgling years as a junior officer so this tribute to him is a pretty awesome thing.

After everyone was done eating, for the 3rd, or 4th time for some, we had a meeting to determine where we’d be going in 2014. It will be either Norfolk or Charleston, depending on who decides to step up and coordinate the event. Once that was decided, everyone present humbled Diane and me by giving us a standing ovation for our efforts. That was very nice and made it all worthwhile.

Now it’s behind us and we can help mentor whoever decides to take on the east coast event. Diane was successful in keeping my arms out of the air, but she didn’t have to work too hard at it. We’re done, for at least a while.

Cheers.

Day 10 – San Diego Harbor Cruise

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Today we all took a 2 hour cruise around San Diego Harbor. Our buses were 30 minutes early for a 1300 pickup which was perfect. Knowing how these guys get around, slowly, we told them the bus was leaving at 1300, a mythical time I never thought we’d meet. So, last night we spread the word for everyone to meet out front at 1230 so they would be ready to board when the buses arrived at 1300. Getting there 30 minutes early was a real plus. We love Jose and Arturo.

Diane took me down to the waterfront earlier this morning so I could pick up the 116 tickets we had purchased. I met Amanda at the ticket kiosk near the Star of India sailing ship which is parked on the quay near Broadway.

Diane let me out about 1/2 a mile from the kiosk so I had to limp my way there to get the tickets. “Why did you limp?” you may ask. “Because I’ve developed a terminal case of gout,” I’d reply. “My left big toe is about twice as big as the right one and I’ve had to walk flat footed on my left foot all day long. On a moving vessel.” But, it’s all good. I survived the day, and it was a good one.

Once the buses arrived at the pier everyone debarked and headed for the vessel boarding location for Hornblower Cruises. The Adventure hadn’t yet arrived so we all had to wait about 15 minutes for it to get there and unload their morning passengers.

While that was going on Ken and I handed out the tickets, one at a time. As I neared the end of the line I started to panic a bit because it didn’t appear I had enough tickets. There were a large bunch of people gathering behind our group who were also going on the cruise so they added to my confusion so one of the Georges gathered up a couple of strays stranded within the crowd of strangers and herded to them to me and I gave him the last ticket. I was absolutely perfect and kind of set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.

The Adventure backed out of it’s slip, turned around, and headed across the bay toward NAS North Island where two aircraft carriers are currently “parked”. One of them was the USS Nimitz, the other the USS Ronald Reagan.

The captain of our vessel kept up a running narrative of everything we were looking at, and directed our attention to specific areas of interest, giving us a lot of great detail about what we saw. Of primary interest was the trip past the piers of the 32nd Street Naval Station where many warships are currently parked. He named them all as we headed south into the bay.

This picture is of the Coronado Bay Bridge which links Coronado Island, on the left, to San Diego …

After touring the south portion of the bay we turned north and turned the corner to view the submarine base at Point Loma. The view was totally awesome because once we turned the sun was behind us, shining on everything we looked at. Perfect for photos.

Nice. You can see the USS Midway to the right of the photo. The Adventure’s dock is on the left side of the Midway’s pier and that’s where we’re headed.

 

In case I didn’t mention it previously, the USS Midway is permanently docked in downtown San Diego. When the ship was active, we on the USS Dennis J. Buckley served time as their plane guard. That’s always a small, maneuverable ship that follows the carrier to pick up any of the pilots who failed to land their planes safely on the flight deck. Not all of them made it. Enough said.

Thought it was only a two hour cruise, it seemed much longer, and everyone was enthralled with the trip and what they saw. It was just great. Diane and I were very happy because it was such a success. The major success was in getting everyone to the buses and back to the lodge without losing one person.

After returning, Diane took a list to the package store to get the requested beer. Seems they were running low in the hospitality rooms.

Day 9 – USS Midway & Point Loma

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Today began early when our huge buses arrived at 0755. Arturo, one of the drivers, called to tell me that he and Jose were at the gate. This prompted a fury of activity to round up all the old guys and get them pointed to the front door of the lodge. Since the buses were too big to enter the lodge driveway, they parked out front on the street after turning around so they were aimed at the gate. This put them in excellent position for us to point the slower movers and give them a little shove toward one of the buses.

By the time they regained their balance they were at the bus and the driver was helping them aboard. Shortly thereafter, their wives arrived, arms flailing, as they chased after their beloved spouses. Photos were discouraged during this revolution because it my have caused issues if any of them had seen them, creating a situation where they may ask questions about what had happened.

It only took about half an hour to get them all loaded. Each bus had 56 seats and we had one empty on one bus, and 4 on the other. Diane and I, getting on last, wound up in the last row, which was just fine because we got to sit by Chris, and her Mom and Step Dad, Vern. Vern was on DD-808 from 1948 to 1954. Pretty amazing fellow. Chris is a remarkable lady, too.

The first stop for this trip was at the Point Loma National Cemetery where we all disembarked and walked through this smaller rendition of Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC.

The purpose for this stop was to read the names of our Buckley shipmates who have crossed the bar (passed on) since our last reunion. Because this group of old sailors is of an advanced age the list was rather long. It was a very solemn time during which we showed our respect for these fallen shipmates. A short distance away, during our evolution, two ceremonies were conducted for one marine and one sailor. The atmosphere was perfect for our purpose.

Then we re-boarded our respective buses and continued on to the Cabrillo National Monument near the old Point Loma lighthouse. Cabrillo overlooks NAS Coronado, the city of San Diego, and the entire San Diego Harbor. It’s a stunning view. The first thing we all noticed was the submarine coming into port. Then we looked toward the city and noticed a guided missile destroyer leaving. We have no idea what the name of the submarine was, but the destroyer leaving port was the USS Preble (DDG-88). I found it very interesting that it was DDG-88, and we were all ex-crewmen of DD-808.

Everything went just great, people were enjoying themselves, and we got most of them rounded up for the next leg of the trip, to the USS Midway. We only left 2 people at Point Loma. It was actually better than I’d originally thought, because I believed we left 5 of them. Luck was with them, however, because a couple of our shipmates drove to the site and ferried the missing couple to the Midway.

Once there, we tromped all over that aircraft carrier. Everyone was having a great time. The guys in the fantail restaurant were a little dismayed when about 100 folks descended on them for sandwiches at the same time, but they weathered it well. Diane and I roamed the ship for a while before grabbing a sandwich so there wasn’t a crowd. But, I think they found out we were the culprits who arranged all of this and didn’t fill our order. It ended well, however, because we each got a sandwich, but only had to pay for one of them. Good customer service.

After lunch we continued wandering around the ship but Diane got worn out and decided to take a nap when we got to the berthing spaces.

I let her sleep for a couple of hours while I continued the tour the woke her up so we could return to the lodge, which we did, about 1630, tired and weary.

Only two more events to go and we can call it done. Tomorrow is the 2-hour harbor cruise at which we’re expecting 116 participants. Arturo and Jose will be back with they monster buses to get us there and back so we know we’re going to be in good hands. It’s good we’re going to be sitting down most of the day because the shrimp I ate yesterday have attacked my left big toe gout. Nice.

Days 7 & 8 – Naval Station San Diego – Dry Side

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Hi All – yesterday was a blur. It was so blurred that I cannot remember much about what happened other than we picked up a whole Buick load of folding chairs, then went to dinner at the Black Angus in Chula Vista, near where we used to live, a long time ago, then came back to our room where I watched the remainder of the Oregon vs. Washington State game.

Gee … guess writing all that triggered a memory or two …

The chairs, 75 of them, were for the hospitality rooms for the reunion. It’s too many, but didn’t know how it would all work out. So far, everything is fine.

Dinner at Black Angus was very good, but it took a very long time. There were 11 of us and they stuffed us into a back room where the waitresses forget to go very often. Still, the food was good, and we all had a great time visiting. We rode with Chuck and Vonnie, Vonnie drove. They have a Kia Soul which has very quick steering, quicker than Vonnie can react, so it was an exciting ride. We made it back to the room safely, however, so it’s all good. I just love charred parts of a dead cow. Tasty.

The game was fun to watch. It was 23-19, Oregon, at the end of the second quarter when we got back, so it looked like Washington State had an upset in mind, but Oregon roared back in the 2nd half to win 51-26. I verified that by asking SIRI, which Kathie thinks “sucks”, a direct quote. SIRI said “the Ducks pounded the Cougars by a score of 51-26”. That’s another direct quote. She really calls them like she sees them. So, now the Ducks are 5-0. Ah, but the Beavers are 3-0 and looking pretty good. It’s going to be an interesting season.

Today was a whirlwind of activity as people showed up to join our little gathering. Pretty much all the old people who walked through the door re ex Buckley crew members. Well, no all of them. Some of them are girl friends or wives. In all, there are about 130 people floating around the Navy Lodge.

We have two adjoining rooms that we rented for our hospitality rooms and both were packed to overflowing. The noise was absolutely tremendous, a nonstop cacophony of overlapping voices, male and female, covering all the ranges of the auditory spectrum. We may never know how any of those voices communicated a coherent thought to the dozens of listening ears, but they apparently did. I know that’s true because as I looked around the rooms, watching their lips move, and their voices add to the rising and dropping crescendo of happiness, those at whom they were speaking would nod their heads, and move their lips in return. All conversations were one-on-one. I had a few of them with a lot of people I’ve never met before. Our only connection is an old ship that is now nonexistent. Funny how that works.

For lunch we took a few people to the NEX food court. It was an excellent lunch. I’m not going to tell you what we ate, but it was really, really good.

After lunch Diane took a couple of people to the commissary to buy “stuff” for the hospitality rooms and I took a couple of people back to the lodge. When I got there one of the ladies asked me where the nearest bar was. Not knowing, I took them to the package store which took care of the issue. They got their vodka and I made two new friends.

Walking around the hospitality rooms, and the lobby area, talking with all of those people made my throat sore. And it made me tired.

Tomorrow we must arise early and all get on buses for a trip around town. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Day 6 – San Diego

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Today was pretty routine. Some might say it was boring, even. But me? Boring or not, I cherish every day that I wake up on the green side of the grass. Know what I mean?

We got up late. Too late for our continental breakfast, again. We’ve been here two days and missed both time. Tomorrow, being a weekend, it will be open until 10 am, an hour later, so we might be able to make it down before it closes. I’m sure they serve delicious, very hearty fare. The most important part, however, is the coffee. Ummmmmm.

Our beautiful daughter, Jennifer, gets migraine headaches whenever she smells chocolate, of coffee. That is just so unfair. Two of the most important food groups, and she cannot partake of them. Makes me wonder what I ever did so wrong to inflict such a terrible thing on her.

I suffer from migraines, too, but love walking down the coffee aisle in any grocery store. It’s such a wonderful aroma that I fear I’ll embarrass Diane and start drooling or something. I know, she’s used to the drooling, but the smell of coffee makes it way worse. That’s about all I ever consume for breakfast … coffee. I eat bananas, too, and douse my coffee with hazlenut creamer, so it’s not just coffee. But it’s mostly coffee.

For 27 years I roamed the passageways of naval ships, and various shore facilities, clutching a crusty coffee cup in my hand, filling it every time I passed a coffee pot. I only drank it black, and I drank it right up until taps, or lights out at 10pm. Sometimes later than that. It never bothered me. The more bitter, the better. It wasn’t about the taste back then, it was just a need to carry around a coffee cup and an empty coffee cup isn’t normal. That cup never got washed, either. That was a rule because it supposedly ruined the flavor. I never believed that, of course, because, as I said previously, it wasn’t about the flavor. It’s a wonder I didn’t catch something really, really bad. Maybe I did and it just hasn’t manifested, yet. Maybe I’ll wake up and have it tomorrow because it lays dormant for 25 years before it strikes.

What ruined me and Diane for coffee was the first pleasure cruise we ever took. Cruise ship coffee is really strong, and tasty. We loved it so much that we promptly tossed out the Folgers when we got home, bought a coffee grinder, and enrolled in the Gavalia coffee of the week program. For a nominal fee they send us boxes filled with little bags of whole bean coffee from various parts of the world. All of them are good. I’d be perfectly happy with just one kind, all the time, since I now use creamer, all the time, but the variety is great for Diane. All she uses is sugar. I mistakenly took a sip of hers once and about gagged, then acquired a taste for it. I drank it that way for years. Then I went to Starbucks. It was the thing to do every Thursday morning toward the end of my civilian career. Instead of plain old coffee at an exorbitant price, I decided to have a Venti White Chocolate Mocha, no whip at an even MORE exorbitant price. I was hooked. Simply sugared coffee left me wanting. I needed more. I needed something that I could roll around in my mouth and feel the creamy substance absorb into my tongue, and the inner walls of my cheeks. Just like the VWCMNW.

After sampling a lot of different creamer flavors, I settled on hazelnut. I’m so stuck on that stuff that I just can’t drink coffee without it any more. We travel with it, even. It’s an addiction, I think. Not a terribly bad on, but an addiction, just the same.

I’m sorry … I didn’t mean to turn this into a confessionalistic episode, but there you have it. It’s done and there’s no turning back. Maybe I should add a picture. Haven’t taken many, and don’t have an recent ones, so I’ll just give you one of Breezie having a cat nap and call this good.

 

Day 5 – Navy Lodge Naval Station San Diego

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Greetings from sunny Southern California. With the exception of a very sore throat, from snoring non-stop for the past four days, and a wrinkled back for Diane, because she drove almost 400 miles yesterday, we’re just fine. We’re here, and didn’t let even one of of those knuckleheads on the freeway bend our car. I should say, “Diane didn’t let one of those freeway knuckleheads … etc …” She’s awesome!

Today we drove downtown to Santa Fe Station, where all the trains stop, to visit Five Star Tours so we could pay the enormous fee they wanted to provided some large buses to cart our shipmates around San Diego next week. Our new favorite GPS application, WAZE, took us right to the correct address, but it was difficult to find. The office is located inside the station, in a small room with a sign outside alerting everyone that it was the Women’s Waiting Room. Tricky.

Once inside a very nice lady, with a number of festive tattoos, was more than happy to take our money and confirm the arrangements. Now all I have to do is get the driver’s names so they can drive their buses onto the base.

After that, we returned to our room with thoughts of lunch, but it wasn’t quite lunch time, yet. So, I got on the internet to find the nearest VA facility in an effort to see if they might be able to come up with a spare CPAP power supply for me. I talked with Lucinda, at the Pulmonary Checkin office, then Mary, one of the therapists. Mary said to bring my unit and she’s fix me up. But, we had to get there before 3:30.

We made it to the VA Medical Center in La Jolla by 2:30, and I was out the door in about 15 minutes. It was pretty amazing. That facility is absolutely enormous! And, very customer oriented. I could not be happier. Now, I have a spare power supply so should never be without. What was even more amazing is that Diane found a place to park within 100 feet of the front door in their 80,000 vehicle parking lot. It’s enormous, too.

We hopped back on I-5 South, vetoing the idea of searching for a place to eat in La Jolla and suffer the horrors of rush hour traffic, and returned to our little safe haven at Main & 28th Street. We went to the Navy Exchange food court and had a terrific meal from Panda Express. Both of us had Chinese food on our minds when we headed for the VA, so had to quench that need. It was extremely good. Then we went shopping and returned to our room by 6pm or so. I just made that last bit up because I don’t have a clue as to when we got back to the room.

I spent a couple of hours setting up the new printer I bought to replace the one sitting next to my computer at home because it’s hosed. I don’t like hosed printers.

Now it’s 1/4 of an hour until 10pm and it’s getting sleepy in here. I was allowed to watch the premier of “Last Resort” and I loved it. That’s about the most TV I’ve watched in a couple of weeks. Seems like I’m always doing something else. Guess there’s something wrong with my world since I don’t watch TV like I used to.

I’ve got photos to share, but don’t have them available on my laptop to add here. I’ll work on that tomorrow … if I have time.

Day 4 – Naval Base San Diego, California

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It’s 1047 and we’re about eleventy-two miles into our final leg.

We both slept better last night, mainly because I remained more vertical than horizontal which help me not snore so much. Diane likes that part.

We both woke up before 0730 this morning, and slowly worked up to beginning this last day on the road. The to our room shut behind us at 0910, and we had everything loaded and rolling out of the parking lot by 0915. Then there was the requisite stop at the base gas station for a refill. We stopped there yesterday but non of the pumps were working, so we went to the exchange and commissary instead. This time they worked just fine and I was able to coax a tank of $4.09 a gallon gas into our tank. I think it took a little over 19 gallons. From there we went back to the Starbucks, which is part of the Exchange complex, for our morning brew. Diane’s is caramel machiatto, mine is white chocolate mocha. The biggest they have. While I was getting our drinks, Diane bought me a T-shirt. She wasn’t pleased with the ones I brought because they all have neckties printed on them.

On the way out the main gate I took pictures of the airplanes on display to share with you.

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Apprehension builds as we travel south, knowing we must enter Los Angeles early this afternoon. The only upside is it’s mid day, not during rush hour. Still, we know it’s going to be a slow, arduous, dangerous transit from the Grapevine through the city. It will be exciting, but we will make it okay.

I’ve been playing with my phone to see how siri works. Pretty soon she’ll have me trained so ask questions in the proper manner so whe won’t have to quiz me. It’s a pretty handy feature. My iPad even has it. How cool is that. And, just a bit ago, Diane had me use her phone to call her Mom, Jean, to see how things are going today. That’s a morning regular, once we get on the road … call Mom … just for fun, I tried to invoke siri on Diane’s phone, but she’s only got an iPhone 4, not a 4S like mine, so she doesn’t have siri. She does, however, have Voice Control, that pops up when you hold down the conrtrol button long enough, and I just told it to “dial Jean”. After a short pause she asked me which one, as there are a few Jean’s in the contacts list. I clarified, and she dialed Mom right up. Jean, by the way, is still doing okay, for which we’re thankful.

It’s 1309 – do you know where your children are?

We just crested the summit of Tejon Pass at the top of the Grapevine leading into LA. It’s 4144 feet high. I know that for sure because there was a sign. It was the same sign we’ve seen on the dozen or so times we’ve climbed that hill. Apparently it hasn’t sunk any.

About an hour ago, we took a small detour, allowing siri to lead us into Bakersfield for lunch at the closest iHop restaurant it could find. It was a really good choice,, getting away from the freeway for food. Cheaper, too, although it cost us a little extra time. We both had their Two x Two x Two … that’s 2 eggs, 2 pieces of bacon, and two pancakes. Diane got her eggs and bacon cooked twice, just the way she likes it, and mine were both over easy. I put my eggs between my pancackes so the yolks wouldn’t run all over my plate. Tasty.

The road at the top of the Grapevine is terrible … lumpy bumpy holey. Caused, no doubt, by the billions of trucks that drive transit the area every 2-3 days. We’ve seen at least a million and a half. There is construction going on with signs it will be finished in 2015. So, it’s improving, and appears to be finished on the southern side, both directions. Four lanes of new asphalt allowing everyone, except us, to go 100 mph, or more.

It’ 1330 and LA is 50 miles away. We’re almost to the final downhill side because trucks are pulling into the brake check area. Every time we come this direction I tell Diane the story of my trip down this hill in my 1964 el Camino in 1966. I was just cruising along, keeping up with traffic, when I crested the hill. Going around the first corner I look ahead to see brake lights about 1/4 mile ahead, so touched the brakes and not a lot happened. So I pushed harder, and felt a bit of slowing, but not enough. I started down shifting my 4-speed to help slow down, but the vehicles ahead were gaining on me with frightening speed. Finally, I just shifted to neutral and locked up all the wheels, pushing on the brake as hard as I could. I put flat spots on all four of those tires before the car came to a stop about 5 feet from the car in front of me. It was a miracle that the car slid straight for about 300 feet, never leaving my lane. The end result was that it appeared I did exactly what I had planned to do all along … scare the crap out of everyone around me without causing any damage. Pretty amazing.

******* M U C H ***** L A T E R *******

We made it to the Navy Lodge in San Diego shortly before 5pm, and, Diane drove the entire way. I offered to help, numerous times, but she always declined stating she was just fine. Now it’s a quarter to 10pm, we’ve eaten supper, and are learning how to hunt down killers from a TV program. It’s one we watch a lot, but for the life of me I cannot remember the name. Not really surprising. I just asked Diane and learned it’s “Criminal Minds”. Duh! That’s just added proof that I can’t get along in this world without Diane.

Day 3 – Naval Air Station Lemoore, California

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Our stop at Beale AFB was very pleasant. Diane got to watch Dancing With The Stars, and I got to watch most of the Seattle vs. Green Bay football game. The latter was interesting because of the final play of the game that decided the winner. It was really Green Bay, but the officials awarded the game to Seattle for some odd reason. I’m guessing at least one official will be begging for work soon.

We got all packed up and headed for the main gate around 0930. On the way we stopped by Burger King for a breakfast sandwich. Diane had one cup of coffee in the room, but i didn’t because I was waiting for something better … that didn’t happen until we got to Sacramento. I was trying to get SIRI, on my phone, to tell me where the nearest Starbucks was but she kept aiming me at locations 15 miles behind us. I called her names but that didn’t do any good. Thins were better once we got our coffee, from a Safeway Starbucks.

Before getting that far I called Kathie R. to see if she might have a moment to meet us as we motored through Sacramento – she works in an office about 20 feet from the I-5 freeway so it wouldn’t have been a lot of trouble. But, nooo, she begged off saying she was getting a haircut somewhere 50 miles from where we were. So, instead, we had a nice conversation until her barber took the phone away from her. Perhaps we’ll get to see her on the way home … unless she decides to get another one of her hairs cut.

Things went well on the freeway as we headed south, then traffic came to a complete stop about 3 miles from Merced. A ramp ahead was closed for construction of some sort, and the two lanes of 65 mph traffic was being forced to zipper down to one lane. As soon as we did that, the speed went back to 65 like magic, and all the cars and trucks disappeared.

Before getting to the point, however, Diane had me retrieve the remainder of her foot long Subway sandwich and the little carrots so we could snack. After eating 3 inches of the sandwich she reluctantly gave it to me to finish. It was actually pretty good.

Now we’re only about 65 miles from Lemoore. Arrival time is a little shy of 4pm.

Travelling through the San Fernando Valley is pretty boring. I realize that it’s a major food producing area, but you’d think they could spruce it up a little … like paint the median grass green, or just set it on fire and make it black. Brown, all the time, makes me sleepy. Thankfully, it doesn’t affect Diane that way, or I’d be forced to drive. So far today I’ve escaped the hot seat.

Construction, construction, construction … they’re laying down so much cement and blacktop that it’s a wonder California doesn’t just snap off at the Nevada border and fall into the ocean. Maybe if someone took a shovel and made a dotted line along that line there would be no need for an earthquake … nah, that just wouldn’t be right.

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It’s now 1845 (6:45pm for you non-military minded folks) and we just got bck from the commissary on NAS Lemoore where we purchased a couple nutritious Stouffer lasagne meals. Diane has them simmering in the underpowered microwave as I type. Don’t get me wrong … the room is nice. Nicer than last night.

We arrived about 1500 (3pm), an hour earlier than I previously said we’d get here. That’s because Diane saw an open field and decided to check out the all wheel drive on her Buick. Turned out the field skirted the runway at Lemoore and, for some obscure reason, the fence was down and no one was around. So, instead of having to drive all the way around the base, like we did at Beale, we just drove across it. The AWD works great, BTW.

That’s a lie, of course. There’s no way security would have let us fly across the end of the runway like that. We drove around like we were supposed to. I just had the timing an hour off earlier.

Now we’re going to eat so I’m quitting.

Day 2 – Beale AFB, California

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We slept extraordinarily well last night, even though I failed (I failed) to pack the cord for my CPAP machine which caused concern for both of us. Me, because snoring gives me a sore throat, and Diane because she was fearful she’d have to keep kick-starting me all night long. Neither happened, so maybe it’s OK for me to start breathing fresh air at night once again.

It was interesting that our motel room was 111. Eleven is a number that shows up in our lives repeatedly, so we see it as a good omen.

At the motel, we ate a bit of breakfast, filled our coffee cups in the lobby, and took off. We crested the Siskyou Summit at 9:44 am, and crossed the border into California at 9:48. It’s now 9:54 and we’re coasting in to the border control station at Hornbrook so we can tell the guards that we are not trying to sneak non-California fruits into their state. That’s important to them.

Whew! We made it past the crossing guard station … she was a hottie in shorts.

At the moment, we’re grinding along behind an RV who, in turn, is grinding along behind a semi-truck because the lanes are restricted. They’re working on 2 miles of the downhill side and we’re going uphill. Dang.

During this pause, some of the quaint little place names we’ve passed ate flitting through my little head. One, in particular, reminds me of an old trucker song we used to hear all the time. It’s Wolf Creek Pass which is a little north of Grants Pass. Another favorite is Jump Off Joe Creek, near the bitty town of Wolf Creek, is a name that causes me to envision all kinds of goings on to cause a group of concerned people to christen the place with such a descriptor. Do you think his name was really Joe? Do you think he really jumped, or was he pushed? Or, was this a place where Sam was actually on Joe and the snap of a nearby twig startled them, causing Sam to nervously jump and Joe compounded the visual effect by pushing Sam up and away. Bill, an innocent bystander, the twig breaker, having followed Joe and Sam to this secluded location because of concerns he had for the sanctity of heterosexual activity, witnessed the event and, since not a lot happened in that area of the woods, rushed willy-nilly to the nearest saloon to report that he had just seen Sam Jump Off Joe down by the Creek. Kinda makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

It’s now 10:12 am and we’re cruising by exit 753 which is next to Mt. Shasta. The mountain is virtually naked … just a few spots of snow and ice are scattered sparsely around it’s tippy top.

I’m still think about Sam and Joe, and wonder if they were forced to flee Wolf Creek for warmer climes near San Francisco where they struck on the idea of starting a commune where they could spread the joy they found with each other to those seeking satisfaction in a similar manner. My search of the internet hasn’t revealed any concrete evidence to support this theory, but I think I’ve seen vague references about an obscure little rod and gun club that was opened in 1898 near the corner of Haight & Ashbury.

This, of course, is unfounded discourse,
making me wonder why
someone of my gender would
seek solace in another guy.

OK. That was a lame attempt at a bit of poetry and a disclaimer that what I’m sharing is pure figments. Still, there’s evidence throughout history that this kind of activity has been going on for pretty much ever. I’ve always thought it was one of God’s way to keep the population in check. One might wonder what the world would be like today if everyone had remained staunchly heterosexual throughout history. Just think about all that extra begetting that would have been going on. I suspect there’s a formula somewhere that could compute the difference in population density between the two different lifestyles.

Any guesses?

It’s 10:55 and we’re almost to Shasta Lake. First stop of this leg is Redding for gas and Gas (lunch).

Now I must pause and navigate before I get into trouble. Again.

Hey there … it’s 1:23 pm and we just left the Win River Casino in Redding where we had a very nice lunch. And we didn’t gamble even though we each received $5 on our Players cards so we could get the lunch special at a discount. We figure we made $18 with the free money and discounted lunch. That works.

It especially works because the gas tank lady was telling Diane it’s time to fill up so we stopped at the first station after leaving the freeway. I know, dumb thing to do, but we both thought the safe thing to do was fill up sooner than latter. As you may have guessed, we paid $4.30 a gallon instead of $4.00 had we waited a little bit.

It’s 90 degrees here. And mostly brown. Not pretty like home.

It’s 7:13pm, now. We’ve had a Subway supper and are ensconced in our Visiting Airmen barracks room on Beale AFB. We arrived about 4:00pm. It would have been about 3:30, but Diane let me drive for the last couple of hours and didn’t navigate me very well. The difference was that, instead of going around the right side of the base, to the main gate, I took a left at a sign that read Beale AFB, with a very distinct arrow pointing to the left. The Wazer program didn’t seem to object, except for a distinctive “BEEP”, so I thought everything was just fine. But, we had to drive all the way around the runway to a back gate.

Beale AFB is about the size of Vermont and is covered, mainly, with dried up fields that appear to have been cut and bailed. Very tidy. As we made our way across many miles to the correct side of the base, we watched high altitude spy planes landing. They look like gliders and are the modern day version of the U-2 Gary Powers was flying when he was shot down over Russia in 1960. At that time, the U-2 was running under CIA control. Perhaps they still are. I do not know. But, they are super quiet, and glide along slow as a bird.

Now, about our our barracks room … it’s really nice, actually, something I would expect for the Air Force. They always get the best housing while the Navy always got the best ships. That’s seems fair.

Our room is one of four access from a common area that is about the size of a large hotel room with a living room and a full kitchen. That’s where I’m currently sitting, watching the Seattle/Green Bay game, as I type. Two of the other rooms are occupied … one by a male sergeant, and the other by a female Lt. Colonel. The sleeping rooms are large, with their own TVs, with Dish Satellite. We can’t find anything wrong with the place and, it would be dumb to do so, because the room only cost us $34. Nice. There really is a benefit for spending half your life in the military.

Tomorrow I’ll keep another diary, whether or not you want me to, and finish it up from the Navy Lodge at Lemoore Naval Air Station. That’s going to cost more than tonight, I’m sure.