Greetings – to begin, some of you may have already noticed that this is actually Day Fifteen. I am, however, going to share what actually happened yesterday. I had it all done last night the had a disagreement with my iPad. Apparently it took offense when I attempted to add the wrong photo and it punished me by deleting my efforts. I sat there looking at it for 15 minutes before I “got it”. Everything I had so painstakenly written was gone. Forever. Now I have to make a bunch of stuff up to fill that void.

Yesterday … hmmmm.

The Cate’s awoke refreshed, ready to start another day of serious walking as they used the inefficient Las Vegas monorail system to gain entrance to Bally’s Casino. The goal this day was to visit the Saxe Theater, located deep in the bowls of the Planet Hollywood Casino. Planet Hollywood is directly across Las Vegas Blvd from the Paris Casino, which is physically attached to Bally’s via a 4 mile long tunnel filled with shops and overpriced things to eat and drink. It’s all a trick to wear you down so you succumb and buy something.

After finally finding someone who would talk with them, the Cate’s were directed to the “V Theater”, which had the box office where they could exchange their vouchers for actual tickets with assigned seats. This box office was located directly on the opposite side of the casino. To get there require a circumnavigation of the facility which took 45 minutes and covered approximately 1.8 miles. Once there, the Cate’s were greeted by a cheerful young lady who took the vouchers in return for reserved seats for the 7:00 pm performance that evening. The performance, you may remember, was going to be at the Saxe Theater so “Why”, you may ask, “did they go to the V Theater for the tickets?” Why indeed. It was explained to them that the Saxe Theater didn’t open until 2:00 pm and it was, at that time, only noonish.

The reason they arrived at noon was because it was their understanding the performance they were going to see was at 1:00 pm and that they needed to be an hour early to ensure reservations. So, in addition to be forced to walk miles and miles to get the tickets, they also had to either endure a 7 hour wait, or eat. So they ate. It was free with the tickets, and the tickets were also free, so that ws good and really left no room for complaint.

Traversing the circumference 15 times, again, they stumbled upon a sign pointing to the Spicy Somethingorother Buffet, one level down. They entered, got a seat, and proceeded to partake.

Jerrie, being the gentleman that he is, stayed in the booth, guarding Diane’s purse, while she filled her plate first. It was a long ordeal for him as she dillydallied over all the choices, deciding what to select. Finally she returned with about 3 small things on her plate, and released Jerrie to gather some food, with instruction to not take too long.

Having had time to view the choices from a distant, he knew exactly what he wanted and returned in 30 seconds for 6 different kinds of shrimp. Shortly after he sat down Diane was off again in search of sustenance. Sitting there, all alone, he ate his shrimp slowly, savoring every bite. All the choices were good, as there are no bad kinds of shrimp, but some are more interesting than others. One choice, for instance, was Buffalo Fried Shrimp.

Finally, the buffet served its purpose by filling them up, so they left. They had decided to return to the condo and lounge by the pool for a few hours fore returning to the evening show. It was windy and overcast, making the pool not a valid choice, so they soaked, instead, in the very hot hot tub. Yes, it was very hot.

They departed their accommodations at 5:45 pm for the transit to the theater. Jerrie knows this is true because at that time he pointed out that they had planned to leave at 5;30 and that they should probably leave soon. He was reminded that he wasn’t in charge of anything and that they’d get there when they got there. He sat quietly on the couch thereafter.

The monorail ride was uneventful, as they usually are, with the exception of one extremely loud couple with whom they had to share their car for two stops. It was annoying.

After the interminable walk to the theater, they were greeted by a stern lady wearing an apron, who ceremoniously ripped off the bottom portion of their tickets, and told them to go left, around the bar. They did, and found themselves surrounded by VIP ticket holders who were waiting to be summoned for the show. While they waited, they purchased two drinks, both sodas, in a wondrous cup with blinking lights on the bottom, for $14. They were allowed to keep the cups forever.

Finally they were summoned to enter the theater and find their seats. It turned out that the VIP ticket actually had value as they were seated smack in the middle, 4th row from the stage. Perfect seats. And, the show was stupendous. It was called “VEGAS! The Show” and was performed by approximately 30 extremely talented young people who took the crowd through the history of Las Vegas. It was one of the most entertaining shows the Cate’s had ever seen and Jerrie remarked that he’d put it right up there with “O”.

Pictures were not allowed in the theater but Jerrie conned someone into taking this one after the show …

And this one, on the walk to the monorail …

Too many people, most of them stumbling around with drinks and talking way too loud. Guess the Cates are just getting too old for this kind of stuff.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

OK, so I didn’t take a picture of the shrimp I ate, but I did get this one after that when we drove around on the Naval Base …

That’s the USS Peleliu (LHA-5). It was in the same amphibious group as the USS Cleveland and we deployed with her numerous times to the Western Pacific in the 1980s. I believe that she is now the oldest active amphibious ship in service since the USS Cleveland was decommissioned last September. I took pictures of some destroyers, too, but don’t know if you are all cleared to see them.

Now, let’s back up a little … we got up at a reasonable hour this morning and headed back down to San Diego with the intent of getting a smog check so we could get a base sticker for the car. Complicating this was the fact that we had an appointment with Chuck, and his bride Vonnie, at the old Chief’s club at 32nd Street. You may recall that this is where we had prime rib last Wednesday. Today it was dead fish and dead shrimp, and shrimp & chicken pancit. Pancit is noodles. Very good stuff. There was peel and eat shrimp, too. I ate way more than I should have and will probably pay the price when my right big toe breaks out in a terminal case of gout. It won’t really matter since everything from my hip down on the right side hurts. So, a sore big toe is really no big deal. I already limp on that side. I’m not complaining, mind you. I’m just stating facts.

We were able to get the smog check done ($40) but it almost made us late for our rendezvous with Chuck & Vonnie. They had already been through the line and were just sitting down when we sauntered into the joint. We had a great visit and Chuck is going to give us a hand with the September reunion. I’ll have to introduce him to Brian, who also is helping.

After a great visit and lunch, we went to the 32nd Street pass and ID office for our base sticker. I got in line and stood there for about half an hour before someone came out and said their computer system had just crashed and they couldn’t issue decals, just passes. So, I took the pass I already had, went back to the car and “ordered” Diane to take us to the Naval Air Station to see if we could get a decal there. It was a nice ride over the Coronado Bridge, and Diane took the order quite nicely. We quickly got the decal and a nice young lady in uniform, a Seabee from Tennessee, stuck it to our windshield. We won’t need to get another one until 2016.

It turned out that President Carter was at the Hotel Del Coronado today riding a Trikke. Perhaps you saw it on the news. Probably not because it was a local “thing”. I guess he used to live on Coronado a long time ago. That’s just really nice to know, isn’t it?

After we left Coronado we went back to the Naval Base so Diane could shop. No amount of whining and crying on my part would redirect her efforts. So, of course, I went along. The fact that she was driving had nothing to do with the fact that I had to go with her. I could have gotten out any time I wanted to. Really. I could have. She may have even stopped to pick me up and take me to a hospital. Maybe not.

Once done shopping, and confident that the rush hour was at it’s peak, we headed back north to Carlsbad on I-5. Most of the traffic during that time is going South, so it’s really not too bad. We arrived in time for another ho-hum sunset.

This is me and Brian. He and I were shipmates on the USS Dennis J. Buckley (DD-808) in 1965. This ship was in the first squadron that was deployed to the Western Pacific specifically for the Viet Nam War. It was the first US ship to conduct NFGS (naval gun fire support) missions during this War. Our first NGFS mission required us to sail up the Saigon River, something we could only o at high tide. This means once in, we had to stay there until the next high tide. The entire time we were in this situation, the gunners shot their 5″ 38 caliber guns at targets provided by an army spotter plane. The Veterans Administration cannot confirm that we ever sailed up the river, making us part of the “Brown Water Navy”, and subject to Agent Orange exposure, because they report they cannot locate the deck logs for that ship during that time. Kinda odd, huh? This is significant because it means they will not allow any claims for agent orange exposure for anyone in that crew for the entire time we were there.

Okay … enough sad sacking.

Diane and I spent a wonderful day with Brian. We ate lunch at the old Naval Base CPO Club. The CPO stands for Chief Petty Officer, which Brian and both were. Now the CPO Club is a catering facility, but is open for a buffet lunch every week day. All you can eat for $11.95 a person. Sure beats the casinos. Today we had prime rib and it was really good. That’s what they have every Wednesday. We’re going back for Friday’s crab & shrimp buffet and I’ll take pictures.

The old Club is an elaborate venue which will serve us well for DD-808’s reunion this coming September. That’s one of the reasons Diane and are in the area, to set up lodging and food for the masses we expect to attend that gala affair. Now all we have to do is figure out a tour for them. I suggested to Diane that we should buy all these old guys trolly passes, get them on the train, and see how many of them can get back to the reunion. She said I probably wouldn’t make it back, and she wouldn’t go with me if I was leading. Now do you wonder why I have absolutely no confidence in my abilities to do pretty much anything? No respect at all … well earned, I might add,.

We stayed on the base, fiddling around in the exchange (that’s a big store) until we were sure everyone else in San Diego was on the freeway. We timed it just right and managed to make the 35 mile, 45 minute trip see like 35 mile, 55 minute trip. And Diane refused to use the car pool lane, staying in the 3rd fastest out there. That amazed me. She usually goes about a zillion miles an hour, or as close to it as she can. She’ll deny that, of course, and I don’t blame her. I would too.

We made it “home” without mishap and immediately put on our jammies, turned on all the TVs, and had a snack. I ate dead shrimp and Diane ate dead chicken pieces. Then we had Haagen Das ice cream bars (little ones), now we’re going to have apple fritter things from Costco. Then I’m going to take a bath. Diane said I smell funny. Plus, she thinks it will help my right leg which I think is atrophying … it’s getting harder to use it all the time. And it hurts. I know. I’m whining again, aren’t I?

I didn’t mention that we got home just in time for sunset. It was pretty ho hum, don’t you think?