To Texas - and Beyond!! (shades of Buzz Lightyear)

November 29 - December 7, 2010
Before beginning, I will apologize for a very long post.

The end of the month of November found us with our camping time accounted for. Of course, we started the festivities with the Thanksgiving holiday, one of our very favorite times of year. On most occasions we are camping for the Thanksgiving weekend, the last few years being spent at our perennial favorite campground, Flying Flags in Buellton, CA. This year however, we decided to stay home for the holiday. My daughter Katie lives in Memphis, TN. and wanted to come out to spend Thanksgiving with us. We don't get to see Katie as much as we would like and very much looked forward to being able to spend this wonderful family time with her. Here's some pics of Katie and some of the rest of us:

We had turkey and ham, green beans, stuffing, etc. All the traditional fixings for a big thanksgiving meal. Four of our eight kids were present for this huge feast. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of our meal and everyone that was crowded into our somewhat small house. However, we all had a great time!

On the following Monday, Sandy and I loaded up Boldlygo and headed for San Antonio, TX. Seems like a strange time to take a vacation, doesn't it? Well, we had a purpose for going at this time. Sandy's youngest daughter, Becky, had spent the last 8 weeks in Air Force basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. It was time for her to graduate and we were traveling to Texas for this purpose.

Now, let me say that Sandy and I love to travel. We often spend hours together, rolling along America's highways and byways, enjoying the scenery and savoring each other's company. We talk a lot, the bible often being our choice of subject. We listen to music (a LOT of George Strait :-), stop whenever we'd like and keep rolling when we want. So, although some of our friends think we're crazy, we headed out with Boldlygo for the beautiful state of Texas.

The first leg of the trip started on the Monday morning after Thanksgiving. While Chris drove Katie to the airport for her trip home, we hitched up Boldlygo and headed out interstate 10. I-10 is the same freeway that goes right through San Antonio, so there wasn't much chance of us getting lost along the way. We had planned the first leg of our trip so that we would stay in Benson, Arizona. At 520 miles distance, we felt this was a good first leg. We arrived somewhat after supper time and pulled into the Super Walmart in Benson. Walmarts are well known for their hospitality to travelers. This is, no doubt, a leftover from when Sam Walton was still around. Good old southern hospitality - except where prohibited by law. We pulled into the parking lot, popped out the slide and prepared our abode for the night. Then, as an exspression of our gratitude, we went into the Walmart and purchased a few items, including something to pop into the oven for supper.

Bright and early the next morning (well, it was early, but it wasn't bright yet), we headed out on the road again. This time our destination for the evening would be well into the state of Texas. First however, we needed to stop by the greatest little breakfast diner in all of Arizona. We discovered Reb's cafe on our very first trip to Tombstone. It so happens that Reb's is situated kitty corner from the Walmart where we spent the night. Never ones to pass up a good breakfast, we moved our rig over to Reb's for some bacon and eggs, biscuits and gravy. We were certainly not disappointed! Our planned travel distance for the day was 515 miles, to the town of Fort Stockton. Another Walmart awaited us at the end of this leg. Of note along the way was the town of El Paso. El Paso is a border town and joins up with the Mexican town of Juarez. Although I have not looked at the vital statistics, I have been told that Juarez is actually a larger town than El Paso. Be that as it may, we didn't have time to stop in either town on our journey through Texas, although we did stop briefly in El Paso on the way home. I wasn't particularly impressed. Sorry to all you folks that just LOVE Texas. I didn't think it was all THAT great . . . Arizona is better, not to mention Wyoming :-) The close of Tuesday found us 1050 miles or so from home and safely tucked away, cozy in moveable home, eagerly anticipating our arrival in San Antonio on the morrow.

Up early again on Wednesday and on the road again, on to our final destination 313 miles distant. Honestly, there is nothing much to write about concerning the trip itself. It was truly uneventful for which we are grateful. The truck ran perfectly, the tires held air and there were no mishaps along the way. We did get flipped off by an old guy in a little dinky car somewhere in Texas though. I thought maybe I upset him somehow or another, but my brother assured us via Facebook that it was just the Texan's way of saying 'hello'. I though about trying it out, you know, return the greeting, try to fit in. After all, "when in Rome" . . . Nah, I think I'll just stick to the California greeting which is basically ignoring everybody around you.

We arrived at the Admiralty RV park in San Antonio Wednesday afternoon, about 1:30. We had read mixed reviews of this RV park and, although it was pretty much just a parking lot, it was never-the-less charming and the staff was friendly. Above and beyond their friendliness, they left us alone, not bothering even once. In my book, that goes a long ways towards engendering good will. Once we set up camp, don't bother us :-)

That afternoon, it was off to Lackland Air Force Base in order to pick up our passes. Festivities started first thing Thursday morning with what is called the 'Airmen's Run'. This is the final PT for the trainees before they become airmen. They start at their dorms, run across a foot bridge, down the street behind the BMT Reception Center, past a thousand or so cheering parents and family, then back around and across the bridge to their dorm - a 2 1/2 mile circuit. This is very much a 'show and tell' for the parents, the airmen showing the stamina that they have gained during their 8 1/2 weeks of Basic Military Training.
Following the Airmen's Run, the spectators assemble in stands around a courtyard and await the Airmen. The Airmen then march in, each to their own group or 'Flight' and stand at attention for what is known as the coin ceremony. The coin ceremony is where the TI (technical instructor, the Air Force's version of a DI) hands an Airmen's Coin to the trainees. It is during this ceremony that these young men and women leave behind the name of 'trainee' and take on the status of Airmen. About 600 young men and women became Airmen on this particular day.At the end of this ceremony, retreat is sounded, the flag is lowered and the parents are allowed to go greet their airmen for the first time in almost 3 months. The airmen must remain at attention until addressed by their family members, at which point they are on base leave for the rest of the day, until 20:30 hours (8:30 pm). This was an incredibly emotional time for parents and airmen alike. There was a mixture of pride, elation, relief . . . many emotions during this very special time.

We spent the afternoon banging around the mini mall (a small market, shops and food court), over to the BX (base exchange) which is really just a department store or larger version of the mini mall and then went to see a movie. I don't remember the name of the movie, but it was a chick flick. Although I usually put the brakes on chick flicks, I acquiesced in this case and actually found that I rather enjoyed it. Don't tell anyone though, okay? After all . . . I have a reputation to uphold. Here are the Airmen in front of the movie theater, looking nice in their dress blues.

Friday morning was to be the graduation parade and it did not start until 10:00, so we were able to sleep in and relax a little finally. After a nice breakfast, we moseyed on over to the base and boarding a bus at the reception center, headed over to the parade grounds. The parade grounds are about 20-30 acres or so and are completely surrounded by historical aircraft. As a matter of fact, the entire base is dotted with old aircraft, some dating back to WWII. They even have an SR 71 Blackbird on static display. The parade was quite impressive, with each flight of airmen presenting themselves to a couple of colonels and one general officer. This was their chance to 'strut their stuff' for the brass.

This B-29 Super Fortress is a sister ship to the planes that dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the close of the PTO in WWII. Can anyone name them for me? Yep, the Anola Gay and Bockscar.At all times while on base, civilian visitors are watched. Trainees are used for this boring duty. This trainee knew that we were taking her picture. Basically, we were watching her watching us. Or she was watching us watching her watching us.Another shot of the parade grounds:

On Saturday, all of the graduates had town leave for the day. We picked up our airman at about 10:00 and headed to Starbucks. Yep, after 3 months sequestered from the rest of society, Becky was ready for a donut and some Starbucks coffee. Although there is a Starbucks on base, trainees are NOT allowed to partake of such things. After Starbucks, we headed over to PetSmart, where the airman proceeded to get cat hair all over her blues! Fortunately, we had stopped by Target for a lint roller. After assuring herself that there were no "unauthorized items" on her uniform, we loaded up our airman and headed to the Alamo.

Now, I have to say that the Alamo is no real big deal. I LOVE historic places and things, but there is only one original wall of the Alamo left and it has been repaired so many times that I doubt when one peers at it that they are seeing actual building materials from the mid 1800's. I actually found River Walk to be quite a bit more fascinating. River walk is a subterranean walkway along the San Antonio river. We stopped in for some Mexican food, against the advice of one of our dear friends. I'm here to tell you that we should have listened. For Mexican food, don't bother with River Walk. But do take the walk if you get the chance!

Sunday was off to chapel with the airmen. The chaplain was all wet and not worth listening to, but it was still quite a time. The building was full to capacity (and then some) with trainees and airmen, the trainees being at all different periods of BMT. Some were what are called "sneaker weekers", the first week or two of BMT. They call them this because for the first week or so, they do not wear boots, but rather they wear sneakers. To tell the truth, it looks a bit funny to see these guys in ABUs (Air Force Battle Uniforms) and white sneakers. What's even more strange is that these big strapping men, clean cut and so handsome even in their ABUs are - almost every one of them - sobbing as they link arms, swaying back and forth while they sing along with 'Letters from Home' by John Michael Montgomery. The first few weeks of BMT is terribly difficult on a new enlistee. It does get better though . . . at least that's what I'm told.

After chapel it was off again, back to the RV park to break down camp and get ready to leave. Our first night back on the road, we stayed at a Love's Travel Stop, about 100 miles east of El Paso. The next night, we stayed at Cabela's in Douglas, Arizona. This Cabela's is in the suburbs of Phoenix. Cabela's is another of those places that welcome overnighters while traveling through. I have stayed with my brother and some hunting buddies at the Cabela's in Lehigh, Utah. Of course, we always do our best to patronize the store, showing our thanks and trying to in a small way, pay back their kindness towards us.

Here we are stopped for a potty break on the way home.
We were able to add another state to our 'visited' map.
We saw a lot of wildlife driving through Texas, including Collared Peccary and a LOT of deer. Here's a shot of our deer whistle. I don't know for sure whether it works, but we have been to Wyoming and back and Texas and back and we haven't hit a deer . . . so I'm thinking it was pretty affective!
Before leaving, Sandy purchased a couple of flags, Old Glory and an "We Support Our Troops" flag. I bought a couple of flag holders and installed them on the front of our trailer. Here's a shot of the trailer with the flags.

We made it back home on Tuesday, December 7th - Pearl Harbor day. That somehow to me seems an appropriate day to return from this particular trip, doesn't it to you?