Shannon (Ireland)

I learned last night that the aircraft was ready for an early morning departure - yay!  [After checking out of the Courtyard this morning, I got a ride from a duty driver and met the Detachment crew at NAS Willow Grove.]  It was a beautiful day for flying!  With a fully functional aircraft, we headed to St. John's, Newfoundland.  After a great fuel stop, we were on our way to Europe! We stopped again for fuel at Shannon.  Devlin met us and took us to the Duty Free Shop - it's always a nice place to unwind after the crossing.  We were on deck in Ireland when local midnight arrived... 

Willow Grove, PA (USA)

I checked out of my room at the NAS JRB Willow Combined Bachelor Housing and headed over to the squadron to meet up with my crew in the squadron.  Only then did I learn that our Detachment was scheduled to leave in the late afternoon.  More waiting...  Fortunately, there was food available in a few places today!  When we assembled for our mission briefing, we were informed that our aircraft was broken. We then waited hopefully for a few hours - the squadron eventually called it a day (at around 1845) and informed us our departure was rescheduled to early the next morning. I found out the the CBH was fully booked for the night but, luckily, one of my friends (Bobby) was also visiting Willow Grove and he took me off base to look for other lodging.  Most of them were filled today, for some reason, but I finally was able to check into the Courtyard on Easton Road, located down the street from the base (1915).  Bonus: also had a nice dinner at Bennigans.  After a slow/boring day, I turned in early.  Hope tomorrow is better!

Philadelphia, PA (USA)

Another squadron was facing a pilot shortage and asked a few of our pilots to join them for a Detachment to the Mediterranean - of course, I gladly accepted!  To reach their unit, I had to take a commercial flight from Norfolk International Airport early this morning.  [Not certain about transportation.]  My US Airways flight took off  at [either 0745 or 0935] - this meant that I arrived in Philadelphia early too [either 0900 or 1035].  A duty driver picked me up but it took a LONG time to drive over to Willow Grove. I checked into the NAS JRB CBQ.  There usually isn't much to do in this little town but, without a car, there was even less opportunity than usual. Even worse, the base seemed to have NO food available anywhere! I managed to talk the bowling alley guy into selling me a pizza that he had bought for a kid's birthday party... Otherwise, I spent most of the day walking and waiting for my flight in the morning.  Bed around 2230L.

Houston, TX (USA)

Woke up in Fallon - have a lot to do today!  We ate breakfast at the Best Western Fallon Inn, checked out of our rooms (0650L) and then headed to the NAS.  After getting our briefing and flight prep completed, we departed on our first mission leg of the day. This was one of Eric's first flights anywhere with us - everything is new... Standard trip from the mountains to valley in California, then flew down to Houston for fuel. Ellington Field is a good stop. Checked weather and figured out that we couldn't make Key West (huge thunderstorm!). Took part of our lift to Norfolk - the rest will catch another of our flights to Florida tomorrow. Had to help everyone find a hotel - home at 0200.

Virginia City, NV (USA)

Got another trip to Fallon today... Itinerary enroute was Norfolk to [Jacksonville, North Carolina (Albert J. Ellis) ?] to Fort Worth to Yuma to Fallon. After checking into our hotel, the Best Western Fallon Inn, at 1800L, our crew got into a long conversation about whether there was enough time to do anything social.  We had a rental car and, eventually, everyone agreed that we should head over to the historic town of Virginia City (of "Bonanza" fame) for dinner. The drive wasn't too bad, but almost everything was closed when we got there. We ate a steak dinner at the Delta Restaurant - home of the "Suicide Table." The food was good. We spent about two hours here and then headed back to get some sleep at our hotel, the Best Western Fallon Inn.

Williamsburg, VA (USA)

We got up really early so we could get to Busch Gardens (Europe) before it opened. We learned a long time ago that if you want to ride on lots of rides, you have to show up early on a Sunday morning - the park opens some rides at 0930. The kids brought their friend, Summer. Brenna and Summer rode the Loch Ness Monster, Apollo's Chariot (3 times), Escape from Pompeii (3 times) and the Big Bad Wolf. Mollie and I did all the great rides she likes - including a swing ride that takes you 20 feet off the ground - and Erin joined us while the others rode the scary coasters. Mollie tried the 4D Corkscrew Hill - and didn't like it. All of us enjoyed another episode of Pet Shenanigans. We left before the big rush for Hallow-Scream (1800). We will miss having our pass next year...

Outer Banks, NC (USA)

We drove down early today for one last day at the beach. Along the way (NC-168/US-158) we stopped at several Farmer's Markets to sample fresh fruit and other goodies. It was the last weekend for most of them... We arrived at Southern Shores (NC) around noon and had a picnic lunch. We walked along one of the public beaches for awhile - it was VERY windy - and saw lots of birds and sea turtle nests. The water wasn't really cold, but the wind put a chill in the air after we got out of the water! We stopped swimming for a little while - waiting for it to warm up - and drove north towards the towns of Duck and Carolla. We found out that there are wild horses living in the dunes at the end of the road (only 4X4 beach access). There was a great nature center in Carolla and a boardwalk through the marsh to a perfect view of Currituck Sound. We didn't see any horses, though. We tried the Corolla public beach around 1600 and found some sand-bars for boogie boarding. It was still windy, but we all took one last dip in the ocean waves. Aaaahhh! On the way home, we stopped for dinner at Sonic.

Saint Mary's City, MD (USA)

It was a beautiful fall day, so we drove through the Tidewater area of Virginia until we came to the Potomac River. We crossed and drove down the Maryland side to visit historic Saint Mary's City. It was the original capital of the Maryland colony and has important Catholic roots (including some of the first religious tolerance edicts). It turned out to be "Woodland Indian Discovery Day." There were reenactments of Native American life - complete with bows and arrows for the kids (a highlight) - and people dressed in colonial clothing. We toured some reconstructed homes and businesses and learned a lot about the Chesapeake Bay from the early 1600s. Compared to the Jamestowne Settlement, it was a little less formal. Still, we enjoyed the grounds and had a very nice day. We were able to get together with one of Mollie's school friends (who moved away last year) in Dahlgren, Virginia, on the way home.