My trip to San Antonio

Monday morning 0730 hours mounted my trusty pick-up for the start of my trip. Headed for I-20 thru Atlanta then to I-85 to Montgomery then I-65 to Mobile to connect with I-10 to get into Biloxi for the night.

Stopped in Biloxi intending to visit with "Swap Shop Smitty" for a while, but he was busy getting ready for a visitor named 'ISADORE'. So, I checked into the motel had a good seafood dinner and turned in for the night and got an early start the next morning.

Second day was an uneventful day on I-10 all the way to San Antonio. Found the Best Western Lackland with no problem and got checked in. Got settled in the room, checked in with the home front, then ventured next door to Denny's for dinner, then back and turned in for the night.

Wednesday morning got up and had coffee and read the morning paper before venturing out to find breakfast. Later went for a drive around San Antonio to see if I could still find my way around. Things have really grown and changed since 1969, but found my way to my old house and all the places I was looking for - even the Windjammer.

Back to the hotel for a rest, then over to Denny's for a bite to eat before heading out to the Windjammer. In the process fell down on the bottom step at the hotel and skinned my knee - that's the trouble with getting old and wearing tri-focals - can't see well at times.

Got to the Windjammer and thought I was at the wrong place - there were a lot of old folks there. Really couldn't see at all when I first went in - took a while for my eyes to adjust coming into the dark area from the outside. But it didn't take but a few minutes to be in conversation with folks there and the old age thing faded away.

It wasn't long before Mother Helen made her entrance and the place brightened up ... then a little later Margaret made her entrance, a little while later BJ, Jim Willis and a few others that I knew at Misawa showed. In a short time it seemed that I knew all that was there. There were no strangers - even the active duty types that wondered in and didn't know what was going on.

Stayed around until almost midnight swapping war tales with anyone that would listen, and listening to tales from others. The tales from Russ were sworn to secrecy with penalty of death if divulged

On Thursday morning got up , walked next door for breakfast and a paper. Came back to the motel and read the morning paper to see what was happening in the rest of the world. After that a trip to the golf course to see the folks tee off and visit with old friends, I toured Lackland and downtown San Antonio for a while. Then back to the motel for an evening of football on the tube.

Friday morning early started the journey home, for personal reasons. Since I came the southern route out I decided to take the northern route home, so it was off to I-35 for the start of the journey. Took I-35 to US-79 above Austin, then over to I-20 around Tyler, TX. Going thru Austin there was a tractor-trailer that had separated with the trailer part sitting with front end on the roadway and the tractor into a concrete divider on the right of the highway. Didn't look as if anyone was hurt, but was a traffic hazard.

Everything going good until I get two miles from the Mississippi River at Vicksburg. They were painting the bridge and only had one lane open and in that lane was a tanker truck that had wrecked. This was about a three hour delay while they cleared the truck from the only lane over. I-20 became one big parking lot. I just pity the folks that were ten miles back because after sitting for three hours they had to get into one lane at the bridge to cross.

Finally across it is getting dark now, so I start to look for a place to stay for the night. I finally find a place in the middle of no place, but they had clean sheets and it was quiet.

The next morning had breakfast at the Briarpatch Café and was on my way again. Everything was uneventful until going thru Atlanta with five lanes of traffic when a lady swerved to miss a pile of carpet in the roadway and lost control and done a spin out in front of me and hit the center concrete barrier going backwards. Had about two feet of clearance when I got by (at 75mph) and the vehicle in her lane was able to skid to a stop before hitting her.

The rest of the way was smooth sailing and got home in the early afternoon. Then on Monday Jane's friend passed away, which put a damper on things.

But folks, I really enjoyed meeting everyone that I only knew from the site and seeing old friends from the past and look forward to the next gathering.

This may not be as flowered-up as Margaret and Wayne (they have a way with words), but this is my story and I'm sticking with it.