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Hawaii Barber's Point

by Bill6326
2012-01-19
United States California San Rafael
Sightseeing
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Bill6326

My Adventure Story

DAY 3: Friday January 13th Today a strong cold front is blowing through with temperatures below freezing and wind at 25 MPH with gusts to 35 mph. Due to the weather we decided to stay on base and shop. We went to the BX and to the Class 6 stores and then to the X exchange store. We checked out the movie theater and then headed back to the hotel. I’m sure glad I brought long underwear; I wish I had something to cover my ears.

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DAY 4: Saturday January 14th It was very cold, 26 degrees on the way to the air terminal. We checked in and we had a very nice visit with others waiting for a flight. Out plane arrived and it was caring several wounded soldiers including one woman.

The Flight to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />San Antonio, Texas, we picked up a severely injured soldier that was hit with an IED in Afghanistan.

Our Flight to San Diego, California we dropped off the wounded soldiers.

The remaining Flight to San Francisco, California; we arrived after dark and walked to the hotel. It was rather cool but not too bad.

DAY 5: Sunday January 15th, We went to the air terminal to see about a flight to Hawaii, but there were only five seats and they were soon taken. We returned to the hotel and worked on finding a hotel room in Hawaii and making arrangements for a car rental. After we secured a room and a car we went to lunch a Popeye’s. The remainder of the day we rested. Tomorrow we will go to the terminal again at 6 AM and try to secure a seat on the plane.

DAY 6: Monday January 16th We had our flight from Travis to Hickam Hawaii canceled today. We will wait for Wednesday for a flight MLK day, most places are closed today We did visit the AirForceMuseum, see photos

DAY 7: Tuesday January 17th We are just relaxing and waiting for a hop to Hawaii. We had a really good breakfast this morning and then we walked to the aircraft museum.

The museum is really a wonderful place. They have a terrific gift shop too. We met a very nice man, 84 years old; he is the gift shop manager. Our friends called us to tell us that there was a flight out in the afternoon. Our clothes were in the wash, we packed up and waited for the clothes to dry and then we ran over to the terminal. There we waited. The seats available went from 73 down to 19. We couldn’t make it onto the plane. As it turned out that plane had engine trouble and had to return to base. We returned to the room. I went across the street to the bowling ally and got some pull pork nachos and a chocolate milk shake. I was set for the night.

DAY 8: Wednesday January 18th We woke up at 4:30 AM and headed out and we took a shuttle to the terminal. It was freezing and we didn’t want to walk. The terminal was really full from all the people that had returned from last night’s plane as well as all the remaining people waiting for the next flight. It had 73 seats, but we are too low on the list to make it onto the flight. We said good bye to all our new friends, they were ahead of us. We returned to the room and took a nap. Then we got up and went to breakfast. After a nice hot breakfast with plenty of fruit it was time to check out of the hotel and head back to the terminal. There are flights today with about 29 seats and I hope we don’t get bumped again. We don’t have a room for tonight. The last flight for today is at 9 PM.

DAY 9: Thursday January 19th Another beautiful day even though the rain storm came in later in the day. We got up very early and headed to the terminal for roll call. After roll call we went to breakfast at the Sierra dining hall. We met up with Dave and Maryanne and invited them to rent a car with us. We walked to the commissary and then through the main gate to rent a car. The four of us drove to the JELLY BELLY factory for a tour. It was really a lot of laughs and we really enjoyed it. Next we drove over to see the GOLDEN GATEBRIDGE. It was raining, but we didn’t care because we were having so much fun. We then went to lunch at a Sausalito. The restaurant was right on the bay and the food was excellent. Afterwards we walked a few block and had some ice cream. By this time it was getting dark and time to drive home, back to the hotel.

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DAY 10: Friday January 20th We check on the flights to Hawaii for today and tomorrow. We had another wonderful hot breakfast with two kinds of sausages, eggs, bacon, fruit, German Chocolate cake, and diet Mr. Pibb. We still had the car for the day and so Dave, Maryann, Laura, and I went back to the BX and back to the Jelly Belly factory for more candy. We shipped it home in a mailer. We also went to an Olive Oil tasting place and I bought some fancy olive oil and had it shipped back home. For lunch we went to the next town and had a wonderful late lunch in this very small bar. I had the largest calamari and it was also the best I have ever had. Laura and I ordered the crab cakes that were really extra good. We also had a hot brownie and ice cream for desert. Tonight we were unable to get a room at the hotel and so we are sleeping in their lobby. It is just like camping out. We call it OCCUPY TRAVIS or OT for short. Tomorrow we have to check in at the terminal at 5 AM. I hope they have a seat for us this time.

DAY 11: Saturday January 21st Well it was a really long day! After spending the night in the lobby of the hotel and trying to sleep in the car we drove over to the AFB terminal at 4 AM . It was really cold, the wind was blowing hard, and it started raining very hard. We sat in the terminal, more and more people poured in. Many of them had two or three small children and a few with tiny babies. By 5:30 AM the place looked like Grand Central Station in New York. Then they started the roll call, Walt was ahead of us and he got on, then Laura stepped up and they called her name. We were then worried about our good friends Maryann and Dave. Before it was over they too were called. Halleluiah we were all going together. We rode in a white Air Force diesel bus over to the C5 aircraft. That plane is bigger than huge! I wasn’t allowed to take photos so I will need to go on line and lift some. To give you an idea, a truck with stairs drove up to it and we climbed up into the first floor and into the belly of the beast. Next we climbed a steep set of stairs; much like a ladder into the second floor of the beast. There we found our seats much like the ones in a commercial airliner. There was an empty seat between a Colonel and his wife but he wouldn’t let me sit there. One thing that was very interesting was that the seats all faced the tail of the airplane so that we actually flew backwards. It didn’t make much difference to us because there were no windows to look out to see which way we were going. We bought a box lunch for $4.5 with a bottle of water, a can of soda, a ham & cheese sandwich with lettuce tomatoes and onion. It also had a nutra bar, an orange, napkin and fork, knife. Packets of mayonnaise and mustard. Also they had cases of soft drinks for free. After five hours we landed in Hilo on the big island of Hawaii. It was for the benefit of the pilot that was getting his two overseas flights required each year. We never got out of our seats or even able to see it. We fly off to Hickam AFB on Oahu. Finally we actually made it! Yaaa! We rented a car and headed out to our cottage on Barber’s Point. It is beautiful, right on the beach. It is two bedroom with a full kitchen. We dropped off our baggage and went to the grocery store. We grilled steaks and ate our dinner on the porch picnic table. What a beautiful sunset we had. Also, we had two little moochers, a couple of kittens came over for the leftovers.