MONDAY, OCTOBER 13
Neal and James got up at 0430, as James's flight was at 0600. Neal then went to the Grey Wolves' portable lair, and took Todd to the the airport for his flight at 0930. Then they showed up at Neal's, and Dan immediately told Neal that he just had to go to the hobby store before he left. So Neal, Dan and Jason took off for the store, and Jim, Grant and I had one last talk. They came back from the store with a Revell 1/72-scale Gato model, and then I found out it was Neal's birthday.
There's a story about that model that hasn't been told yet, but it's Neal's story and I'll give him one last chance to tell it right before I spill the beans for him.
Sometime during those last hours I got to have one last good one-on-one talk, this time with Grant (TarJak). Part of my tour in Viet Nam was working with an Australian task group, and it was headed by HMAS Melbourne. It turns out that Grants dad was on the Melbourne at that time, so we were actually in the same group at the same time. Pretty cool how that works out sometimes. We talked about a lot of other things. I don't remember a lot of them, but the point was really the talking, not the subject.
Everybody's flights were at around the same time, so we started loading up Neal's truck and getting ready to go. I was sitting in the living room talking to Jason, when the horn honked out in the driveway. I offered to help McBee carry his stuff out, but he said his flight wasn't until later, and I realized that I was the one holding up the train. So we said goodbye and Neal took Dan, Jim, Grant and me to the airport, and there we said our last farewells.
HOME AGAIN
My flight to Phoenix was on a Boeing 737 this time. Back in the '70s I thought the 737 was a cool plane - almost the fighter among airliners. This one was just old. Stuffy, bad air conditioning, bumpy. I was glad the flight home was on a new Airbus again.
And then it ended almost as badly as it started. It started with them taking my shampoo, and it ended with bad timing. My flight landed at 2035, and I got outside to the bus stop at 2045, only to find that the bus left at 2040, and that time of night they only run once an hour. So I waited in the boring terminal and out in the cold for what seemed like a week, and finally the bus came. It took me to a point where I had about a half-mile walk home, and I got there at about 2200.
And there I am still, and this story is done, and I'm glad because I'm running out of things to say.
All told, it was a great trip. I've had vacations that seemed to go by way to fast, but this trip every day was filled with activities, good food and great conversation.
And I got to meet some of the people I've always wanted to, and I wasn't disappointed.
Until next year...
'Sailor Steve' Bradfield