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.