70th Birthday Bash

Resort Hotel

We got to the Austin airport and through security with no problems. My face did not set off any alarms! I was not expecting it to, but you never know. Our first flight was from Austin to Dallas, and was quick and easy. We even made it to the gate for the next leg just fine. But when it was time to board for that flight, they could not get the back door on the plane to close properly, so we sat, and sat, until they decided that plane was going nowhere. We boarded a second plane about an hour and a half late, and took off for Norfolk. Another nice flight and we were in Virginia.

We ended up renting a Toyota Corolla, something we knew all about, and drove a short eight miles to the Virginia Beach Resort Hotel, right on the beach on the Chesapeake Bay/James River side of the waterfront, just North from Virginia Beach proper.

As I checked in, I spotted one of my classmates, John Ebert, sitting in the lobby, and said "Hi" as I got the room keys. We got our stuff in the room, and had only about an hour to get ready for the first event, dinner at at the Lynnhaven Fish House less than a mile away, also on the beach.

Dinner

There were about 15 of my classmates there, and we had a nice meal. I had crab-cakes, something the Chesapeake Bay is famous for, Cheryl had a nice serving of Salmon, and we sat and talked with new/old friends, some of whom I had not seen in over 50 years. Needless to say, none of us looked like we did way back when.

Catching up involved telling stories of what we did after school, meeting the new spouses, hearing about jobs, kids, and travel experiences. It was fun.

My most nervous part was figuring out who all these people were! I knew all the names, some better than others, but putting a name to a face was a tough proposition. It is kind of embarrassing to have to ask someone their name, when you spent several years of your life with them in school. But that is part of what happens as you get older, so you get over it and press on.

I sat next to a classmate, Doug Conner and his wife, Sherry, who did not make it to the 50th, so I had seen him last at graduation! We talked a lot about his travel, past and future. He and his wife missed the 50th because of a trip to Florence, and I want to do that with Cheryl for our 20th Anniversary in a couple of years, so we discussed where to go on that trip!.

All in all it was a great evening, topped off with Key-Lime pie, another treat.

Finally, after a very long day, we were back in the hotel for a good night's sleep.

Aviation History

Phil Quam , our host for this bash, knowing I am big into aviation history, recommended that we visit the Military Aviation Museum in South Virginia Beach, so we headed out there after lunch. That place is incredible! They have an impressive collection of planes from World War I and II, and a few other craft to boot.

And they all fly!

As we arrived, there was a Messerschmidt ME-109 flying around. I have never seen one of those in person, much less in the air. A lot of the other ships were lined up along the grass strip, with folks wandering around them, getting them ready to fly. Sadly, we could not stay long, so I could not see them all in the air, but that place is a must for a revisit, and they do give rides in several of them! Really cool place.

Here is the ME109:

Where is Snoopy when you need him?

And, here is a British Mosquito:

One of my professors at Virginia Tech flew for the Hungarian Air Force (for the wrong side) during WWII. He used to tell tales of flying against this plane over England. The entire craft is made of plywood! (Ok, there is a bit of metal in there.) Metal was in short supply, and wood was readily available.

Party Time

We arrived at Phil's place in plenty of time for the evening BBQ feast. The crowd was bigger, since several drove down from the D.C. area just for the dinner, then planned on heading back that night. Once again, we had a great time visiting all these fine folks.

I am of the opinion that this class is unusual in a very good way. Many class get-togethers are a sad affair. Too many memories, some of which might not be that great, being revisited, and some feeling that they just did not belong with this bunch any more. While it will always be true that the high-school "cliques" will reform at a reunion, that is natural since those were the people you spent the most time with, our group was definitely different.

We can thank one classmate in particular for that. Judy Ingalls, who as I recall was pretty popular back then, set up a class website for our 50th reunion, and it morphed into a vehicle for all of us to keep in touch through the past few years. We have a message system that lets people tell stories, and connect with classmates regardless of who you hung out with. We all have been getting to know each other, pretty well through this website.

Here we are at the BBQ:

And here is the Class of 64:

Unfortunately, I still have the face-name problem, and need to look at my yearbook to make the connections. Still, as a group, we all get along just fine! I am pretty happy to be a part of this bunch!

Cheryl has a 50th reunion coming up soon, and she and Judy are starting to work on a plan to set up something similar for her class. I really hope we can do that, since I think this is a great way to keep those old friends close. It is a lot of fun to revisit old and new stories.

I will admit some of the stories I heard about football training back then made me cringe. I am almost glad I was not a "jock" in school, preferring to study technologies in the Smithsonian, and build model airplanes for contests around the East Coast! I am amazed that some of my classmates lived to get to college from the stories I heard! Wow!

I think we all missed those who could not come. My best friend, Ron Tinkham, from back then could not come, and I was really looking forward to spending time with him. There were others as well we all hoped would be able to come. Some are fighting medical issues, either personally, or with family members, so we all knew they were with us in spirit, and we were with them as well!

At the close of the event, we all had cake, courtesy of our hostess, Debbie Quam, and we sang "Happy Birthday to Us". It was a nice way to end the evening!

Then, back to the hotel to rest up for the trip home on Sunday.

Texas is Closed

Cheryl left Norfolk and headed for K.C. to house sit and work on our house there for a week, and I headed back to classes in Austin. We said our goodbyes at the airport, and headed to our separate gates.

My flight from Norfolk went through Houston, and I arrived with no problem. However, as soon as we landed it started raining pretty hard. That was annoying, since the plane was a small commuter craft, and the ramp was not covered. That made us hustle through the rain to the terminal. Then I had a long walk to the gate for the next flight.

I got to the gate in plenty of time for the flight. And sat there, and sat there!

It was still raining, but they did load the plane - about 30 minutes late. Again we sat and sat. To make matters worse, there was no air conditioning on this plane and we were all baking in the heat. Finally, about a half hour after we expected to take off, they informed us that the airport was closed due to lightning in the area. Fine, I thought, I would not like to be in an airplane as it gets hit by lightning! It does happen, but it is no fun!

We were made to de-plane and go back into the waiting area. We were told the delay could be several hours! As we sat there we kept hearing about cancelled flights, and gate changes for other flights. We just sat and waited, hoping we could get out.

All at once, they asked us to re-board!

Apparently, there was a hole in the storm approaching, and they thought they could get us out. We managed to get on board, the crew buttoned up the plane, and we taxied out to join about 15 other planes all trying to do the same thing. I saw planes headed to Germany, France, Alaska, and Austin, all lined up waiting for their turn at the runway.

Rush Hour at an airplane!

We managed to get airborne, and had to sit through a fairly bumpy ride to Austin, all of 26 minutes long! (It takes us 3 hours!) When we touched down in Austin, I saw maybe 15-20 airplanes lined up on each of two different runways. They were all trying to get out of Austin. It seems that not only was Houston closed for the storms, but Dallas was as well. That pretty much zapped air travel all along the south part of the U.S!

As I walked through the terminal, the airport was jammed with travelers all trying to get home. There ware tons of flights delayed because of that storm. What a mess.

Back Home

I retrieved my truck, and made it home in time to take care of our cat's evening meal and shots. It was a relief to get home.

We had a very hectic, stressful, and even fun, set of days through all of this. We were very stressed in Houston until we got the good news there, then the stress of the trip, then the stress of navigating around a place we have never visited. But the time spent with old and new friends helped make the last part a nice time, and in the end, we did enjoy this adventure.

I was very happy to find out that my blog has helped several of my classmates deal with their medical adventures. That was a part of why I decided to write this thing. I want folks to know that even something as scary as cancer is something you can survive. But not without the help and care from a ton of other folks. Sure, you depend on the medical folks. But in my case, without Cheryl by my side through all of this, and the HUGE crowd of folks who pray for both of us as we travel through this painful adventure, I would not be here to tell the tale. Thank God for all of you!

To the George Mason Class of 64, all of you who joined together in Virginia Beach this weekend, and all of you who could not be there, thanks for creating a group of travelers through life who care for each other and make this journey so worthwhile. As we get older, we all work through issues, but all in all, I think we are a great bunch.

A special thanks to Phil and Debbie for hosting this event. You done us proud!

Go Mustangs!