Back to the Future

We dropped anchor in Mayport Fl last Tues. We’ve spent every waking moment traveling around the Mayport/Jacksonville, Fl area.

We were stationed in this area for 6 years in the mid 70’s. Dylan has gotten a kick in seeing where his dad, our son Gregg, grew up as a pre-teen. Of course now they call these kids “tweens”. Just doesn’t sound right.

Had dinner with a former boss and his bride who reside in Amelia Island. What an absolute beautiful place.

Spent a couple of days with dear friends in Kings Bay, GA just a few miles away.

Drove to St. Augustine, Fl on Sunday and spent the day playing tourist. Mr. Man and I drove our motorcycles here on many occasions in our younger “rebel” days. Of course, this time around we were like all the other tourist. We did see a group of “cyclists” and immediately wanted to jump on the back of the closest Harley!!

It’s been a “trip back in time” for the past several weeks from DC, VA, NC, SC, and FL. The landscape has changed, but the memories of our past footsteps will last forever.

Tomorrow we hook up the BEAST and head South to Cocoa Beach, Fl. The only past connection is a short TDY (gov’t business trip) back in the late 90’s for me.

Don’t put your beach towels and tanning lotion away just yet! We still have awhile before we leave the Florida coastline as we make our way back home.

Tomorrow’s stop include a visit with another friend in Daytona before un-hooking the BEAST in Cocoa Beach, Fl

Well blog junkies, hope you have enjoyed going down memory lane with us.

Sunny Florida

We arrived in Mayport/Jacksonville Florida area today. We will be here for seven days. Mr. Man is totally awed with the fact that he can look out at the jetties from the shore as opposed to seeing them from the deck of a ship pulling into port as he experienced over 30yrs ago.

My memories are of Gregg as a young boy (about 8 or 9 yrs old and Ginger barely 6 yrs old). Mr. Man going out to sea every other day/week/month and gone 90% of the time. Military wives were the “single mothers” back in the day.

Next week we travel to Homestead/Miami Florida for a few days to visit more friends.

Hope you have enjoyed the photos. By the way, although the pics appear small on the blog, they can be enlarged by clicking on them to get a better view of the details.

I will continue to provide visual “snipettes” of our journey.

Salute to our Marine

Our stepson–now a Corporal.
The road sign is posted on both sides of the highway from Cherry Point, NC to Camp Lejuene, NC for our soldiers returning from and deploying to overseas areas.

God Bless them all!!

Go Navy

Historical sites

Note–the correct spelling is English –ie. Jamestowne.

Memories…from the corners of …

That song by Barbra Streisand has been running through my head since we arrived in the DC area.  With the exception of a short stint in Yuma, AZ all of Joe’s military career and my federal career has been following us for the past several weeks beginning in DC and the surrounding areas-Indian Head, MD; Patuxent River, MD; Richmond, Va; Arlington, VA.

We unleashed the BEAST in Yorktown, VA at the Naval Weapons Station.  I must say, the “civilians” there were very polite.  For those of you unfamiliar with military traditions, there has always been the annual (friendly) football rivalry between the Army and Navy.  In all fairness, Ft. Meade (Army)  from which we were “evicted” had better WiFi connections that Cheatham Annex  Naval Weapons Station).

 I know better than to take sides since I am a spousal unit of a Navy person, but also have a daughter and brother who served in the Army as well as other DNA attachments. It’s better if I steer away from this subject in order to remain neutral.

Our stay in the TRIANGLE area (Yorktown, Williamsburg, Jamestown) took us back many years.  We visited the historic sites again for the umpteenth time.   In order to appreciate all other tourist destinations, one must first visit our “beginnings”, sit back and imagine the life of the first settlers.  Visiting the Holy Land is powerful for Christians, but visiting Jamestown is for everyone.

For our fellow military readers here’s some points of interest just for you– Norfolk, Little Creek,   Virginia Beach,  Portsmouth, Chesapeake Bay; Ft Eustis, Hampton Roads ,  Newport News, Langley AFB, Buckroe Beach, Busch Gardens–I could go on and on.

I met a former Vietnam POW–Jeremiah Denton– who later became a US Senator, at the Armed Forces Staff College and so many other joint military officers in Norfolk.  I wondered how many of them I ran into later in life.  

The time spent in the area was truly memorable on so many levels.

From there we traveled to Cherry Point, NC.  Mr. Man’s first duty station out of boot camp (45 yrs ago).   Wow-I didn’t realize he was that old!(er) –than me!  Just kidding!!!

 Our stop here was to visit our step-grandson who is stationed at Camp Lejeune. For those of you on  our road trip 2 yrs ago–you’ll remember we went to San Diego, CA to see him graduate as a newly  minted Marine.  He is now a Corporal!!

Camp Lejeune is also Mr. Man’s second duty station AND where our son was born. 

Our military men/women have all the comforts of home here although away from “home”.

The next time you see a service man/woman in uniform–take time to say “thank you” for their service.  They truly appreciate hearing those words.

Tomorrow the “wagon train” heads out for an overnighter in S. Carolina then on to  9 day visit to the Jacksonville/Mayport Florida area where we spent 6 yrs of our lives.  We have a lot of friends to visit while in the area.

Ok, blog junkies, thanks for following along and for sharing your comments.  Stay tuned.

Mr. Man, Talkies and the GPS

As most of you remember from our trip out West 2 yrs ago, Mr. Man was obsessed with getting a signal from the Dish satellite system he carried around the campsite until he “connected” with someone out “there”.

You’ll remember the “dark day” when he sat there in a “comatose state of mind” when he couldn’t get a signal no matter what he tried.

This trip is not much different.  The new BEAST has all the bells and whistles money can buy–YET the one thing Mr. Man has been baffled with is  getting the center channel (the people speaking channel–talkies) working.

We’ve been on the road nearly 7 weeks.  When we finally sat down to watch a movie there was no sound from the characters!  He had not ONE, but 3 remotes at his side.  Those that know Mr. Man well understand that he is happy, happy, happy when he has a remote in hand.  The more the better.

I finally suggested that perhaps the system wasn’t completely hooked up.  His reply..”No everything is ok”… so I paraphrased the suggestion and he finally got up and checked on it.  Whoa–guess what!!??  After it was properly hooked up we were able to see one of my favorite movies—Crimson Tide.

My next “suggestion” is to get rid of the antiquated GPS he has.   “Coach” has directed him to upgrade sites.  I’ve offered to buy him a new one–but he won’t budge.

Dylan and I have seen him drive around in circles as the “trusted” GPS coordinates instruct him to do.  We have driven miles off the beaten path only to hear him say “100 yds; 25 yds; 5 yds–I can’t believe this sxxt”.   (in other words, the restaurant, gas station or other business  we were driving to is NOT there).  Dylan and I have wagered bets the GPS is wrong and now have a nice nest egg from our winnings.

Example–today we left the WMart parking lot and the GPS gave him directions back to the Naval Base.  We drove out of the parking lot and turned right back into it—  Dylan and I have decided we should take public transportation  from now on.  We need to get off this merry-go-round.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Photos

Some pics of Gettysburg, Union Station ( blurred to protect identities); DC views and the Air Force memorial structure (3 steel structure).  You can also google Air Force Memorial and get the complete details on this enormous structure.

Evicted!!

We made it to DC on the 10th and unhooked at Ft. Meade, MD.  The following day we spent walking the battlefields in Gettysburg.  What a fantastic site!  Friday morning we took the train to Union Station (what a zoo!–people and shops everywhere.); then hopped on the metro  to the National Mall. 

Some where in the process of checking in at the RV park, there was a mistake made—Mr. Man only paid for 3 nights but our reservations were for 4 nights.  The clerk didn’t catch it and Mr. Man didn’t give it any thought until….

Just as we got off the metro, the clerk called and sternly stated we had to check out immediately!!

We explained we had reservations for 4 nights and sheinformed us that we only paid for 3.  “Someone is waiting to take that spot and must check out immediately”.

At this point she should have said, “you need to pay for the extra night”  but NO!

We explained it would take a few hours to get back–but she kept repeating her statement.  Note–Civilians who have no connection to the military community have no people skills.  Anyone traveling to this area should not camp at Ft. Meade.  The RV site was the most expensive one we’ve seen at any military installation $38 per night! The average rate is $20

So we didn’t get to tour DC as planned, but we had a great time visiting with family over lunch.   Joe’s niece graciously drove us back to train station to pick up our truck and then onto the RV park.

The adventure continued though in trying to find a “spot” for the night.  As luck would have it, I found Ft AP Hill, nestled off the beaten path in VA.  On our way there we learned that  Stone Wall Jackson’s museum was close by as well as more interesting battlefields.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t explore these areas as we had reservations in Yorktown VA and we were not about to have the same reservation error occur again.

New York City

Well I never thought I’d say this, but I actually enjoyed our visit to the Big Apple.  Dylan specifically wanted to visit NYC so I couldn’t say “no”.  We rode the ferry from NJ then walked from the dock to Times Square, Grand Central Station and so much more along the way. Later we hopped on the subway to Manhattan and walked down Wall Street and to re-energize our system with a very expensive pizza.  The sights, sounds of the hectic traffic with cars, taxis and buses competing for road space; sidewalks packed with  working people and tourists blending in seamlessly. Listening to people speak in so many different languages and seeing their faces at the sight of monuments, buildings, memorials…  It was an awesome experience.

But the highlight of our day was visiting Ground Zero.