Sep 2006
Ken and I traveled back to California. Why? Well that's a very good question and there is a logical explanation. It was Ben's fault. He had to go and retire on us... DAMN YOU, BEN!!! So back to our old stomping grounds we went... Beale AFB, CA. It was as we left it over a year ago, dry, desolate, freaking HOT! The 9th Communications Squadron was our first stop to watch Ben as he muddled through his retirement ceremony. All of his friends and family were there to witness the transition from military man to civilian dweeb. It was a surreal occasion, images flashing through my mind like an old television show, strange, like something from the Twilight Zone. Maybe it was nostalgia creeping over me, maybe it was the slide show of old days past, or maybe it was the Dramamine still running through my body. Once the ceremony was done and over with, Rich, aka Lt, had mentioned that several years back a time capsule was place in one of the walls by a few members of the squadron. So, what would any good officer do? He led the charge to hunt down that old time capsule. They went after that thing like Geraldo Rivera going after Al Capone's vault. They hacked and sawed, punched and poked their way into that wall. They made a bit of a mess but unlike Geraldo they were successful. It was an emotional moment for them, I think I saw Lincoln crying. The pictures immediately below are from the events of that day.

Today is Thursday, a pretty much do what you need to do and rest day. Ken and I decided to go caching in Yuba City and visit a friend on Beale. We forgot how terrible the traffic was driving through Lincoln, wow! It took us about 1/2 hour just to drive about 3 miles. We get annoyed if we sit through more than one light cycle here in Anchorage! We drove on base and met up with Ela, we brought her Subway for lunch! We chatted and reminisced then we left her to go visit her hubby Pat. We kept getting the stare down from this one dude while we were talking to Pat, it was creepy. When we had our fill of Beale we took off for Yuba City, were we used to live when we were stationed down here, to cache and to visit our old house. We grabbed 16 caches that day, not a personnel best for us. As a matter of fact, we tied ourselves for the most caches in one day. We also did drive by our old house, it looked the same except the hedges were a lot taller. I guess that's what happens when plants grow.

What do you get when you have 14 people hanging out for the weekend in a HUGE house overlooking Lake Tahoe? Ben's retirement weekend mayhem! You know, I could go into a long drawn out story about the weekend, and how there was inter species erotica, drunken wickedness, and over fodder indulgence--but I think you wouldn't believe it, besides I pled the 5th.... so, below I give you the pictures.