Nomad Life - Day 40

My bed was very comfortable and the Navy Lodge was quiet - as a result, I awoke at about 0530 and was quickly ready to start my telework day.  At 0700, I went down the lobby and found a substantial breakfast buffet - that was a nice bonus on top of nice accommodations!  Returning to my room, I worked diligently through noon.  With the short break I had, I made my way behind the Navy Lodge in search of an access point for the Navy Exchange and Commissary - after walking almost completely around these buildings, I was able to buy some groceries to augment the supplies I'd brought from New Hampshire.  After returning to my room, I cooked lunch and then resumed my telework day with a series of meetings that lasted until almost 1600.  Wrapping up my work day, I departed JEB Little Creek - Fort Story and drove east on Shore Drive.  One of the big things I hoped to do during this visit to Hampton Roads was to reconnect with some friends from my Navy flying days - fortunately, I'd made contact with two of my old squadron mates and got invited to join more at one of their homes.  After checking out the Cape Henry Trail (located on the south side of US-60, just north of Long Creek), I arrived at Danny L.'s house (near the western border of the State Park) at 1630 and started catching up on news since the last time I'd seen him (probably 2010ish).  During this window, I got reacquainted with Danny's wife, Cheryl, and then our shared friends, Pete and John, who arrived a bit later.  Danny and Cheryl's was situated on a beautiful canal that (eventually) connected to Lynnhaven Inlet and their backyard had palm trees, a pool, a boat and a relaxing deck.  All of this would have been impressive, by itself, but Danny also had an extensive collection of different bourbons - the sheer number of bottles blew me away.  He gave me a glass with Navy Wings on it - that was nice - but Pete and John had glasses with their own names on them, indicating how often they visited this wonderful home.  Our conversations were aided by a huge (and extensively stocked) charcuterie board that Cheryl had prepared.  We spent a little bit of time outside but there was a relatively steady drizzle that dampened our opportunity to really enjoy the outside areas.  Inside, though, the home was warm and inviting and I really liked being able to hear about many of our mutual friends that live in Hampton Roads.  Pete and John departed at about 1830 - they made me promise that I wouldn't wait 10+ years to get together with them again. Overall, the entire visit was a spectacular success - I'd hoped to catch up with Navy friends and I was rewarded with more than I'd hoped to achieve.  Before long, I noticed the clock had reached 2100!  Reluctantly, I said goodbye to my friends and departed for my room at the Navy Lodge.  With the weather still on the wet side, I was very careful during my drive and, once I got on base and had parked, realized that I still needed about 5K steps to complete my normal walking goal.  As I've done many times over the years, I walked around in the Navy Lodge until I reached 10K steps.  By then (2200), I was quite tired but spent the next hour reading and doing Duolingo exercises. Turning off the light just after 2300, I didn't have any trouble falling asleep.  Very glad to have been able to get together with my Navy friends!