And a few old school shots of the young Tom Finn and yours truly (with Hair!) that Tom found in an old U of U yearbook..
I have to make a correction to get the last blog (Day 30) correct. I had put us at OCS at late 70s to early 80s but Tom had to correct me and ask me to get it right. Sooooo, I went to OCS in 1976, Tom in 1977 and we were both commissioned (became officers - 2nd Lt.'s) in December 1977! Man, that's a long time ago . . .
I also forgot to mention, when I say family and being a part of it, I introduced Tom to Tammie many years ago and Dorsal (Eddie) to Lei and was Dorsal's Best Man at their wedding . . . Hard to believe that I was a Yente, wait . . . can you hear that song , , , Match maker, match maker, make me a match . . . find me a find . . .catch me a catch . . . listen for it . . .ahhhhh yes . . .
I gave sweet Tammie a hug goodbye and hit the road - on a steel horse I ride . . .
My first stop was back to Quantico to see Brooke Ashford, that we had missed yesterday. . . She was back at OCS, had already fed and watered the canidates, after they had run the Confidence Course and it was only like 7:30 in the morning . . . That 4:30 wake up is a killer for her! But here she is and takes after her mother (thank goodness) and not her dad. I guess I am saying, that this is one beautiful Marine Capt, that I haven't seen since she was like 10-12 years old. And has grown up into a great young lady!
Yes, she is taken! By a VERY lucky guy
You have to admit, they just don't make Marine Captains this good looking. Her fiance, Kevin, is one lucky guy! We visited for 15-20 min and she had to get back to work. I can not tell you how proud I am of this wonderful young lady! She is fit, beautiful, intelligent, you couldn't ask for more AND she is a Marine . . . What else can I say??? I only wish I had more time to visit and meet her intended, but I had to get on the road Thanks for the visit little Brooke. . . . :-) Rock and Barb, you done good ! ! !
Off into the morning I rode, through the Fredricksburg and Spotsylvania battlefields of the Civil War. A horrible time for America, but still beautiful countryside today.
A very pretty day to ride the dual lanes through Virginia. Then a funny thing happened. . . The plan was to meet my cousin Chip and an out-of-the-way back woods little gas station/Deli for a bite of lunch and then go to my Uncle Duck's house after I drop the bike somewhere so he doesn't see it and rat me out to my Mom. (A quick word on this, my mom is "elderly" and worries about everything her 3 boys do. This motorcycle trip would KILL her with worry and there is no need for that, so I save her the worry and let her think I'm in my 4-Runner. . . This web of deciet is hard to do, but it's for the best.) Anyway, my Uncle Duck is on in years and he would say something to my mom - ie. he couldn't keep the bike on the DL . . . (Down Low) SOOOOoooooo, we had this plan to meet in the middle of nowhere and I was going to follow him to Duck's. I get to the gas station, and Chip is already there. I am getting my gear off to the side of the station and Chip comes running out yelling, "Hide - Quick!" I crouch behind the bike and who pulles into the gas station but Uncle Duck! Chip says hello and makes small talk, while I'm hiding. Small world, I know. . . Well, we had a quick sandwich after Duck left, and went to his house. I dropped the bike off at Duck's son's house that lives nextdoor and rode with Chip into the farm and house
We had a great visit with Duck doing all the talking because he can't hear and will NOT wear his hearing aids . . . He gets this random flow of consciencenous going, that hops from Obama to Vietnam, to jumping out of planes, to his kids, to hunting, back to Obama. And he talks real loud, so he can hear himself. This was cute, but a little sad as he has soooo many stories and no one to just sit there and listen. He was in heaven talking to us, and we were listening to him . . .
This is the last of a dying breed of men who gave their best to their country. He has stories that we all need to hear from Vietnam and how tough it really was . . . Here is Chip listening:
We stayed about an hour and a half and finally had to hit the road to visit the rest of my dad's family
As I got to the bike, I noticed that I had no rear brakes . . ??? So I took it to a Yamaha dealership in Charlottesville while I was around a big town. A great old guy named Jimmy, took one look at the bike and tightened a tube that goes into the brake assembly on the back of the bike. He then had to refill the res and bleed the brakes quite a few times to get the air out of the lines. Now I had good brakes and I said farewell to some good old country people. Here is the crew, Jimmy, James, his son (in the chair) and Madilynn, the store keep. . .
All at Jarmans Sportcycles
We pulled out of there heading to my cousin David's store, up next to the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Greenwood Gourmet Grocery. . .
This is a goldmine! All by word of mouth, the place was crazy ful of people from the moment I got there until Chip and I left. Here are some shots:
and inside the store
A lot of wine and trinkets and wine, and sodas, and wine, and beer, and wine, oh, and did mention wine . . .??? 3/4s of the store was wine. and some fresh, locally grown produce. About that time, my cousin Cliff showed up and the party was on!!!! Here is David
A handsome guy with my haircut ;-)
The boys and a wine seller . . . Here is David's daughter, a little photo shy
and their dog. These were some of the paintings he sells painted by a local artist. Jenn, I know you'll like these:
And outside the store, a park and play area for kids. They don't make tractors like this anymore
And this many cars the whole time we were there!!!! a gold mine, right here!!! David gave us a load of Greenwood T-Shirts and some stickers for my boxes and away Chip, Cliff and I went to my Cousin Elizabeth's house. Here is the group shot of us all at the store:
a lot of shiny heads in the group ! ;-) And wine . . .
Rode over to Elizabeths and I parked the bike by a beautiful old barn . . .
And walked up the path to Lizzy's house and found a whole crowd of kin waiting for me
That's (left to right) Chip, Uncle Malcolm, Cliff, Andrew (Elizabeth's son) Lizzy herself and my Aunt Jackie.
The son, Andrew, is an artist Here are some of his works
A self portrait and here are our relativies
Malcolm (sorry for the focus?)
Cliff
Chip
Lizzy
And the queen mother herself, Jackie ;-) We stayed there and visited for an hour or so and loaded the cars and my bike for Waynesboro and dinner!
After dinner (Thanks Malcolm) Elizabeths daughter Ruth so wanted a ride on the bike that I suited her up and took her for a quick trip to Malcolm and Jackie's house and then a sunset ride.
Here are some of the roads we went down and the homes
She had a great time and I planted the motorcycle seed in her. She wants one now - real bad!
Here was the sunset ride
I dropped Ruth off at Jackie's house and took some photo's of the house and garden and the sunset
We had a great night visiting and getting caught up on all that's happened since we last saw each other. I climbed into bed after trying to write a blog, but couldn't muster the energy it takes to produce these ;-) I'm now 7 days behind, at Snake's house, and trying to play catch-up with something I should have been doing every day. This ends the 2nd day of the 7 days I am behind.
LUKE Out!!!! ;-)
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