Well, the journey has begun. I ended up drinking a little too much wine last night. I woke up, naturally, with a bit of a headache. I guess I was feeling a little melancholy about leaving my family behind. That was to be expected.
However, I still had some last minute work to do to finish up my bathroom renovation project. Mainly, I just had to caulk the toilet and bathtub. Thankfully, my wife volunteered to finish the priming and painting of the door jam and trim.
The parting with my wife and daughter was, naturally, emotional and difficult to do. I tried, and failed horribly, to not think of all the things that I’ll miss out on while I am gone. My daughter has only recently started walking. I can’t imagine all of the new things that she’ll learn in just the next few weeks. It’s impossible to think about what she’ll be like when I return after my year in Afghanistan. I miss her very much.
The flight started out typical of such a journey. Namely, it departed late. So, I ended up missing my connecting flight in Dallas. The flight was only about 3 ½ hours, which was a blessing because the seats were hard as bricks! The good thing about traveling is the different people you can meet. I ended up sitting next to an Australian Air Force Officer. Good “Bloke”. We talked for much of the flight about the various similarities between our cultures and militaries. I don’t envy the flight that he has ahead of him. He’s on his way back home and has about 24 hours of flying left.
So, I arrived in Dallas about 15 minutes after my original connecting flight departed. I was able to get onto the next flight to LAX; however, it was set to depart about 20 minutes after I got off of the plane. I had just enough time to get to the next terminal, call my wife (enroute) and get a boarding pass for that flight. I’m currently on that flight and hoping that I’ll have transportation to Port Hueneme from LAX. I received some vague references to available transportation at the airport. I have a feeling that I’ll have to get a airport taxi or shuttle and claim the costs when I arrive at the base.
