Day 15 - Monday, 30 June 2014 - Crestview Florida

  Hello again . . .  The day started early, about the crack of 10:30, at the Fighting Skull's house.  He likes it REAL QUIET after that Irish stuff he was sipping last night ;-)  He and Jan were on their back porch overlooking this:

and this:

  (That's his 31 foot, white, center console, boat, in the center)  as they sat drinking their morning coffee, we got caught up on what all our kids are up too and our plans for this "retirement" thing.  Skull retired 1 month ago today and is enjoying his time off, although I'm not sure Jan is ready for him to be around 24 hours a day ? ! ? ! ?  Of course, none of us could take Skull being around 24 hours a day!  I had to grab his ear and put a knife in his rib to calm him down while he was cooking breakfast.  He forgot how I handled him in the day !!!  ;-)

  He cooked us a delicious eggs over easy and bacon breakfast and we mellowed for about an hour  It was sad to day good bye to this great couple also. . .

Me and my buddy.  He promised to watch "The Shawshank Redemption", which he has never seen???  One of my top 5 movies of all time, and at the end, the very end, I want him tell me if it doesn't remind him of our relationship over the years . . .  I haven't seen Skull but a couple of times in the last 20 years and it was as if we lived next store . . . (Well Skull, that's my take on it and I'm writing this blog, so pound sand if you disagree)  I also said good bye to "LANCER"  (Jan picked the name?)

A Marine Beagle

  I loaded the beast and hit the road about 12:30 for Pensacola.

  Jan and Skull, "OK 3 Wire!" on the "Hospitality Check" with a great time had by all.  Thank you so much for hosting this wayward Marine on his trip around the US.  You're good people and please return the visit to Las Vegas sometime soon . . .

   I rode the beautiful drive back to Pensacola:

    As you know, Sammi had to work a 12 hour shift at the hospital last night.  About midnight, she came down with a 102 degree temp, while on the ward, and they laid her down and put a bag of saline in her.  She came home this morning a sick puppy, sore throat, weak and achy, like Jack?  But she had a friend drive down from Alabama to go wedding dress shopping with her at 1 at David's Bridal . . .

  I left Skull's and drove to David's Bridal Boo - Teak! And caught up with Sammi and her friend Sarah trying on dresses for the 12 Aug Destin Beach-side wedding.  Here are a few in the stack:

  (This one was a size too small.  They only had her size in black:

  And this one was my favorite . . .  but here are a couple of more:

 She tried on about 25 dresses and I took to this chore like oil takes to water ;-) and got out of there at the first oppurtunity.  My place was at Nick'shouse  and those 3 lovable dogs!  Sammi eventually showed up and this is the crown in the back yard:

   They are some cute, lovable dogs and I wish they were mine!  I miss my Mr. Marbles . . . :-(

  We took a nap while Nick studied for his 06:45 helo flight tomorrow.  When he took a break, we went to dinner at the Ranch House.  I had country fried chicken and it was goood !!!  aaaaaaaaawe went back to Nick's, loaded up and drove back to Sammi's.  

  Well, the plan is to depart tomrrow morning for Tampa Fla.  But now I feel like crap, weak in the arms and legs, headache, weird . . . So we will see how the Tuesday departure turns out.  I'm signing off and going to "couch" and pack in the morning.  Wish me luck!!!  :-)

Luke OUT!   :-)

Day 14 - Sunday - 29 June 2014 Perdido Key, Ono Island Alabama

   Hello Friends!,  A great day today, Sunday.  It started out with me going to church with Jack and Kay. I thought I was going to have to ride the bike (and it is HOT AS HADES!!!) but Sammi decided to go and we drove her car.  We went to Niceville United Methodist Church, a BIG church with Sunday attendance, to the 5 services offered, topping over 2,000 every Sunday.  Jack and Kay had Usher Duty, so we walked around and found them - - - her - - - because Jack wasn't feeling well.  We are not sure what the problem was, but it must be getting him down because Jack is one of those people who never says die!

This is walking into the church.  It is way spread out, so you don't see how really big it is inside.  There are two services going at the same time.  We went to the Contempory Service in the Aux Gym while another huge crowds went in the main santuary to worship with more hymns and such.

   This is where we went and as you can see, it's big.  It was filled up for the 9:30 am service.

   This is the street crossing into the Main Building.

   It had a very advanced sound system and at the back they not only showed the words, but the chords to the music, so no music stands were on stage.  Notice the timing marks . . . they show countdown times for when the service has to be over, how log the worship can go, and the current time.  They started ON TIME!!! to the second.  I can't attach the video's I took, but I'll show them when I get home.

   After the service we had an early lunch with Kay at their favorite Chinese Buffett...

  We ate until we were all FAT and got some Egg Drop soup for Kay to take home to the wounded soldier!  We said our good-byes with a tear.  

    To all my friends who have not had the pleasure of knowing these two wonderful people, I swear to you there are no two finer people in the world and it is my honor to call them friend.  I'll keep the both of you in my prayers . . . :-)

   On with the day - we are FAR from over!  Drove back to Crestview to let Sammi go to sleep (she had another 12 hour shift at Eglin.  I packed the bike light and headed to another friends house, Bill and Jan Guilfoyle (The Fighting "Skull")  It was amost a 2 hour drive in sweltering heat, until I get the sea breeze at the coast, and what a pretty drive it was . . .

  Perdido Key Alabama

  This kind of view is what motorcycle riding is all about!

   I passed this famous landmark (at least in our family) (my mom's name ;-)

  It wasn't enought that Skull lives in this paradise, You have to go into a VERY gated community on an exclusive island called Ono Island ( like the Hawaiian fish ;-)

That's the 8 mile Long Island with those kind of houses on it!

  This is the bridge to the island.  When I get to Skull's house, it takes my breath away.  Take a look:

Of course the Marine Corps flag hanging proudly by Old Glory!

  From the back walkway down to a sitting area  Wow is all this poor Marine could say.  Makes me proud of the FIghting Skull, a retired Col and after being in a Marine F-4 squadron with me as Captains, went on to be the Commanding Officer of our same squadron.  (See previous Naval Air Museum entries and you'll find the Skull on the plaque.

   Also waiting for my arrival were two old friends, "Noah" DeWitt and "Sluggo" Gil Butler, who i haven't seen since 1981 for Gil and 2004 for Noah.

  Jan had prepared a great dinner for the crowd and the adult beverages and stories started to flow.  As the evening progressed, we adjourned to Maggie's Irish Bar, which is in Skull's house and named and dedicated to his favorite neice, taken in the prime of her high school life, in a car wreck.  This memorial is beautifully furnished in honor of his neice.  

The skull getting ready for a toddy (Irish Whiskey, of course) 

   The skull in Maggie's

  

  This famous picture was hanging in the bar and right here are the finest group of Marine Avaitors EVER!!!!  (If you double tap on the picture, I think you can save it and enlarge it)  That's me sitting, with HAIR) on the wing tank.  Red Dog beside my right arm (made General), Skull right 2:30 from me (Col) Gut's Robling by Skull's left knee (a 3 Star General currently the commander of West Pac - or whatever it's called now ;-)  I don't have time to name them all, but as the night progressed, we decided (and that makes it FACT!) that this may have been the high-light of all our carreers. . .  The personalities in this group were amazing, we knew what we were doing (sort-of ;-) were on time, on target (except me), could be depended upon in all things, and had the best time of our lives, before we had to grow up and be adults.  Of course, some of us have not done that yet (me riding a motorcycle all over the US :-)

  As the night wound down, I think Skull and I both shed a tear, as I am now typing this, thinking about those wonderful men and their flying machines, those still with us and more importantly, those departed. . . . . .

  Im not being dramatic here, well maybe a little, but I find as we get older, it's those friends who make our life whole!  All the stories, the good (RED DOG and the famous "Mo Matting" story) and bad times together (SKULL getting us lost during our WTI low-level mission, winning the Ferdinand Magellan Award! :-) and keeping in touch all these years. . . are what keep us alive!  I truly love you guys (no homo) and you know my house is yours anytime you're in Las Vegas.

Good night Lancers!

Luke OUT!

Day 13 - Ft Walton and Pensacola Naval Air Station - 28 June 2014

  Well this was a very busy day!  Sammi stumbled into her bed about 7, not really bothering me on the couch, as I slept way too long and missed my departure time to go spend the day with Nick!  I headed out abot 10:30, when I was supposed to leave at 9ish . . .  Sorry Nick :-(  That kind of put us in a rush as he had a whole day planned for us and I goofed it up!

   Arrived in Milton (he flies out of Whiting Field) and got to see those great dogs, Leo, Mia, and Shelby!

In the cage getting ready for FREEDOM!

Nick has a huge backyard attached to the apt's he lives in and the dogs love to run out there!

This is Mia, a Red Tri, (I think)

  We said good bye to these kids and headed to Nick's squadron to check out the helo's he is learning to fly!  I have to admit, they looked pretty cool.

   The young Marine Capt himself

The hanger deck

And cockpit of a "B" model, I think . . .

  And a "C" model, that he is currently flying ( yes, those are my hairy legs and boots on the rudder pedals)

And YES, I would like to fly one . . . If given the chance :-)

  Me and the young lad!

   We headed off the base and I saw this cool shot . . .

  This is a T-28 Trojan I worked on and have a few rides in waaay back in my enlisted years at Yuma Arizona.

  They like water towers down here . . .  We left and went to Pensacola for our 13:00 massages at Massage Envy.  An hour later, every muscle relaxed, we headed to the Naval Air Station (after a great Jason's Deli Beef Eater sandwich) (This part sounds a little off ;-) We had our own rooms for the massage and were hungry)

   Arriving at one of the most fantastic museum's in the world!!! The Naval Air Museum

An F-14 Tomcat

 Just walking in the door takes your breath away, if you have one, single flying bone in your body!

  We had a quest/misson during this trip to the museum!  The last time I was here, 2 years ago with Jennifer, the display where they shipped everything back from the Cubi Point O'Club Bar (a place many of us hung out while in the Phillipines) and made it into a snack bar, was closed.  This trip, it was open, and our goal was to find my old F-4 squadron, VMFA 212, the Lancers, plaques on the wall.  We had success!

The 79-80 deployment, before most of our time in the squadron, but some old names we all know.  Then:

And finally,  Success!!!

This was my first deployment with the GREATEST group of Naval Avaitors ever created ;-)  See if you recognize any of the names:

Nick was as excited as I, to see this little piece of Marine history, proudly hung, like myself, forever in this great museum!!

   a little older, and a little balder, and hopefully, a little wiser than when my name was carved onto that plaque!

   We then toured the whloe place and it was exciting.  Here are some shots:

The Blue Angels, flying A-4s in the diamond formation

Nick in front of his current ride . . .

The Blue angel's current plane, the F-18 Hornet

I had many hours strapped in this great plane, The F-4 Phantom

Nick checking out the cockpit

It brings back many great memories

The business end of the F-14 Tomcat..We saw (and took) this shot ALL THE TIME, in the trusty F-4  I took this pictue for Skull!!!  ;-) to remind him of the old days!

   With our manhood re-junivated!!!!  we left for some food.  He took me to a weird, but good pizza place called the Mellow Yellow or something like that.  I thought it was a head shop from the old days, but it was good pizza . . .

I had my 2 pieces, Nick ate the rest!

  As the day was closing down, we went back to Nick's place to get some dog time in.  I really miss my Mr. Marbles and these Aussie's could tell!

I left for Sammi's and to my suprise, her boss gave her some comp time off for a Sat night.  Just when I thought the day was over . . .  It was country dancing time at The Block, a local Ft Walton Beach hangout.

We had a good time 2 stepping and I met a great crowd of Sammi's friends.

Sammi's friend Jimi, a great lady with a PhD moving to Tyler Texas to teach at the Univ of Texas.  No way she has grandkids, but she does!!!  I got to dance her around the floor a time or two.  My pleasure!

I still remember how to two step!

Line dancing

A big place, but I ran out of steam about 1:30.  We drove back to Crestview and HAD to stop and have a Krystal's late night snack!  (Remember "Heaven on a Bun)

Got to bed at 3 am with a fairly early wake up to go to church with Jack and Kay Sunday morning.

Yes, I packed it into this day.. Thanks to all of you I met, who extended me a warm welcome, and to Nick for being a great tour guide, and Sammi for helping me remember how to dance.  It was a busy but productive day!  With more to come . . .

LUKE Out!