It's been a while

First off "HI"!

Second off..., I had no intention of taking this long to ever do a blog entry.

Well, since the last post we've moved away from Laughin half way across the country to Dover AFB (in Delaware). Haha.

I wish that I had more pictures for everyone but I'm operating off of my old laptop and not my normal computer, and I also need to purchase a USB cable to connect my camera and computer so for now all I have is my iPhone.

Packing our house into a U-Haul was quite a chore!  It took almost three days to pack everything well and bring it all outside to the U-Haul in the driveway. Not to mention I had to do all of the paperwork necessary to leave Laughlin.... which is A LOT (everyone on base wants a copy of your orders and a personal visit to their office to let them know you're leaving).

White trash across America

We finally got all packed up on 31 Oct (Halloween night).  We sat on a few chairs with some friends and handed out candy (no costumes for us this year).  Actually, we were all packed up by then but then we had to clean the house for our final out-processing inspection the next day.  It took till 5am the next morning to clan everything to their specifications (which was ridiculous, because Kristen keeps an impeccably clean house all the time, and we didn't receive the house as clean as we left it...., but oh well).  We spent our last night at the base hotel (1 Nov) because my orders said that I was leaving on the 2nd.

On the road

Del Rio is in my rear view mirror

 We woke up bright and early on the 2nd and drove to New Orleans.  Maybe to early beacause Kristen wanted to pull over and take a nap for an hour somewhere between Del Rio and San Antonio.  It's not that bad of a drive once you've done it a few times...and we have, Kristen just wanted ready for it wish all of the stress and almost sleepless nights before the move.  Haha.  Once we made it in we unpacked a few things and went to eat at Copeland's.

The next day we unpacked all of Kristen's stuff at her parents house (where she and Dallas will be living for the next 9-12 months).  I also got to go to my old ROTC detachment and talk to a few of the cadets about what pilot training was like.  Later that night we went to Sicily's pizza (one of my favorite pizza  buffet, carry-out or dine-in Westbank establishments).

Bye Louisiana

Me and T-Bob

Somewhere in the USA... this place is good!

Tennessee

Tennessee

Kentucky (I think)

On Thursday our plan was to drive to Knoxville, TN but our U-Haul had different plans.  Haha.  It broke down about 2 1/2 hours into our journey that day.  In a bad spot too.  On the interstate with a small shoulder in the middle of nowhere Mississippi.  Now...., this is Kristen and my whole life pretty much in the back of this truck just stalled out on the side of the interstate....Geeeshh.  We called U-Haul of course.  They said that they were just 5 miles behind us and they'll be there ASAP.  Well, U-Hauls definition of ASAP is 2 1/2 hours of waiting on the side of a dangerous interstate.  Then once Billy Joe and T-Bob's Wrecker and Repair Service got there it took them just a short 2 hours and 50 minutes to find the problem, get the part and fix it.  There was still a check engine light for the duration of our ride but Billy Joe informed us that it was OK.  Haha.  What a day!

Somewhere in VA

Somewhere in DE

DE again..., the leaves were changing colors.

 Anyway, the rest of our trip went well, just a lot of driving.  It was nice scenery that we've never seen before so that was cool.

We got here and checked into a TLF (temporary lodging facility) on base.  It was really nice.  In fact, the whole base is really nice!  The next day we drove the U-Haul to a storage facility and unloaded all of our belongings into it (tear, tear).

Om Monday (8 Nov) I checked in to my new squadron.  They didn't even know that I was coming.  It was awesome.  I took them by surprise. See, what usually happens is that pilots get their wings.  Go to a few other classes, then go learn how to fly the plane that they were assigned (C-5), then finally go their base to fly it with their squadron.  Well, I'm a little unique since I got two aircraft's.  They sent me to my base first.  It was just a huge confusion for everyone over here for the first few days.

On my first day they gave me a in-processing checklist.  People in my squadron told me it usually takes up to 3 months to complete everything on it.  I really tried to do it all this week....., but I didn't even come close! Haha.  I have a lot left once I get back from this training.  BTW, I'll be off to some special training (which I can't really talk about) for the next few weeks.  I'll be done and back in Dover on the 11th of Dec.  I'll be able to update the blog, I think, during my "off" time over there. At least on 4-8 Dec I know I'll have some time and I'll do it then if I haven't yet.

We drove to "the beach" over here... these ducks were guarding it

Atlantic Ocean

Kristen flew back home on Wednesday (tear, tear).  Thursday I had off for Veterans Day (I slept most of it).  Friday I tied up all the loose ends over here getting ready for my training.

It's really blurry but I was able to fly the C-5 simulator!

C-5 compared to a football field

 Today I went and saw the AMC (Air Materials Command) museum over here on base.  It was nice.  There's a bunch of restored airplanes there.

C-5 taking off... this picture does no justice for size and noise!!!

 Well folks...., again, sorry for the long delay, sorry for not that many pictures (trust me there are a lot more), but I'll try harder next time I promise.

If you are wondering....this is where I'll be and kind of what I'll be doing for the next month (just click on this sentence).