Well, I'm Back in Spring

Found a flight from the NAS in Ft Worth.  Wasn't sure if I would be able to get on it, so I took the Casita to Grapeland as that is approximately halfway there.  Was able to board it and since they canceled the North Island, Ca stop, it went all the way to Hawaii.  Stayed in the Air Force Inn overnight.  I was totally beat and had to walk over a mile to the room they provided.  A very nice couple saw me walking with my bag and stopped to give me a lift.  It is great to be a member of the military family.  Caught a flight to Kadena AFB on Okinawa the next afternoon.  Stayed overnight at Kadena and then boarded a flight to Yokota AFB near Tokyo.  Bored yet?

Since I was concerned about jet lag - I stayed at the Yokota Air Force Inn for 3 nights to recover.  Great place to rest up as the Enlisted Club, Officer's Club, and the chow hall (excuse me, it is now called the "dining facility"), BX, and Commisary were all within walking distance and there was a base shuttle bus to also ride if I wanted to do so.  The lady at the front desk gave me a suite with a kitchen, bedroom, and living area for only $41.50 a night.  As I am very picky about my coffee, I went to the commisary and bought a terrific blend of coffee and milk and had some of the best coffee I have ever made.  It was so good that I made coffee for each family stopover I made while there (I know, it doesn't take much to make me happy).

There is good news and bad news:  The good news is that I arrived during the peak of the cherry blossoms arrival.  They were fantastic! I have a couple of pictures if I figure out how to post them.  The bad news is that it was so cold that there was frozen sleet on the ground a couple of mornings.
One morning I went to breakfast at the Enlisted Club and since I was early and they had not opened yet, I sit on the couch in the lobby and happened to strike up a conversation with a newly arrived DoD civilian that was also waiting for the restaurant to open.  He was from within 7 miles of my home in Spring and went to school in the Klein ISD.  Small world.  He took me shopping off base with his wife and daughter that evening.  I needed to get some small gifts for the family in Japan as I visited each of them.  Great family and I hope they enjoy stay in Japan.

Even though there is a shuttle from the Yokota Inn to the New Sanno Military Hotel in downtown Tokyo, I elected to take the train from Fussa Station to Ikebukuro for old times sake.  By accident, I got on the express train to Shinjiku Station and it went with a minimum of stops all the way to Shinjiku.  Changed to the train for Ikebukuro and arrived with no fuss, no muss.  My nephew met me at the Tabu Dept Store entrance within the train station (I wanted to walk to his home, but he insisted). 

My brother-in-law Masao met us at Eibo's (my nephew) house and took me to the family cemetery to wash the marble stones, burn incense and leave fruit and flowers.  Very moving experience.

I stayed at Eibo's home for 3 days and we did some sightseeing one day while I was there.  It was great to get up early in the morning and wander through Japanese neighborhoods and business areas.  They keep them so clean.


Next installment I will talk about what happened during my visit (some very nice and some things unexpected)

So long until then.

Last Minute Details/Thoughts Before Launch

Woke up during the night and discovered I had a bedroom companion.  About a 1' long snake under the edge of the bureau.  Used a broom and dustpan to throw it outside.  Good thing it is so cool on the tile floor that it was very slow to react.  It was so skinny that it probably had been in the house for a long time without eating.  I leave the back door  open many evenings/mornings for the cool, fresh air.  I guess it invited itself in one of those times.

Had Sunday breakfast with my oldest son at Harry's in downtown Houston.  When we meet like that we do a lot more talking than when we get together at his house.  I don't know why, but it just works that way.

Well, almost everything is in place for launch tomorrow.  Just need to connect power to the Casita this evening to have the frige cool enough to transfer food from the house to the trailer in the morning and get some cash for the Japan leg of the trip.  Did buy a trailer locking kit at Walmart yesterday.  That is to secure the trailer while it is waiting for me at the air force base long term parking.  If I don't catch the flight from the Ft. Worth NAS - I have decided to buy the Yamaha EF2400is generator for the trip to Ca.  I was tempted to buy either a Generac 2000 watt or a Champion unit.  All I need for this trip is something to keep the fridge cold, make coffee, operate the microwave, and keep the battery charged.  But, upon reflection, I realized that living in Texas - if I was going to do any boondocking (for metal detecting) - I would need the air conditioning to be comfortable in the evenings and I like my morning and evening network news (NCIS also).  While I won't have satellite TV for this trip, I will have it for later excursions.

Bought a Uniden Slimline phone for the Magicjack telephone adapter.   The MJ will allow me to have U.S. telephone service while in Japan.  Hooked it up to the notebook computer and used it yesterday to make sure that it worked okay.  It is working fine.  Answered/made several calls with it yesterday and no one could tell it wasn't a regular land line phone service.  I will use email & Skype to communicate with the family in Japan as I work my way over there.

I just realized that I need to wear a watch on this trip as I won't have the cell phone telling me the time in Japan.

Living alone is for the birds.  My father lived alone for many, many years and I really didn't think much about it.  Now I understand much more about his lifestyle and am sorry that I didn't pay more attention to how he must have felt living alone.  I miss him also.

Checking out for now, stay tuned for the next adventure filled chapter in the Next to Last Journey!