Ingertarpok (Walks To and Fro)
First Edition 25 Jan 2004
Outta green land and into GreenlandWell, it's been quite a while since I've written down anything, so here goes a bit o' story tellin'.
I left outta Italy the beginning of December and took another "whirlwind" tour before getting to my next station. Here'r some of the highlights:
After a short farewell party at Ghedi, I began my drive to England via Switzerland and France. The day quickly closed and left me to driving at night. The sky was the clearest I can remember, and the moon was full. I could see all the stars behind the backdrop of the Swiss Alps. The moonlight glistened on the snow caps, giving a view of such wonder and delight that I had to pull over a couple times just to take in the silence and tranquility of the moment.
Ok, enough artsy fartsy writing, here's the rest of the tale. I made it into France around 10PM and was starting to get tired. There was a youth hostel in Lyon, so I took a short detour to find it. Trouble was, when I got there, it turned out to be a pretty big city, and there were no directions on the sheet of paper I had. So after futily driving around town for an hour, I left Lyon and went north on the highway until I reached a rest area. At almost midnight, I finally crashed out and slept hard til around 5AM when I woke up. Fog had set in making the whole day's trip uneventful and slow. I didn't get to see any of the sights, needless to say.
Upon arriving at Calais in northern France, I drove to the Chunnel-way, which is an underground/underwater train that commutes from France to England. The train ride was only 35 minutes (versus the 3 hours it takes by ferry), giving me just enough time to clean up the car while we sped along under the bay. Getting back into England gave me that "don't you feel like your at home?" uh, feeling. It was pretty kewl, and driving again on the OTHER side of the road was a thrill. I headed up to my friend's place near Birmingham, though they weren't expecting me until the next day or 2 (I planned to enjoy France a bit, but forewent that based on the fog), so surprisingly they were a bit, well, surprised to see me already! But we had a great time BSin' and drinkin'. We ordered Chinese, but for some reason, they wouldn't give my "crunchy quack quack"! So when we went to pick up the food, I had to threaten the staff with throwing stars (granted, it was just road tax discs, but I tried to be as intimidating as is possible when you fling paper projectiles at someone).
After a couple days, I headed out toward my old base to see my friends in the 'hood, and start getting my Jeep ready for shipment and storage. It didn't even seem as if I'd left. If only my old place was still available!
It was a lot of work to coordinate the Jeep and my travel plans, but everything worked out. We also went out for some brews, saw a movie and went for a late-evening cruise. Fun stuff! The evening before the morning I was set to leave, Colin and I had some shots of whiskey as he tried to teach me how to play the bass guitar, and we all didn't finally crash out until after midnight. 3AM seemed so much earlier than usual, but the gang was up and we drove to the base so I could catch my bus to London. The flight out was good, since I just slept almost the whole way.
Next stop was Boston, where I got to hang out with my friend Matt (who you might remember had the wedding the year before) and his wife Anita. While there, they had a great Christmas party, and a huge snow storm; we saw "Last Samurai" and "Blazing Saddles"; checked out some of the infamous lighthouses; saw a Christmas concert; and went to Salem (witch museums and such). Plus, the day I left was the first day of "Lord of the Rings - Return of the King", so we saw that just hours before my flight left.
Detroit had some sub-adventures within the adventure. Along with visiting ole George and family, I went over to congratulate Matthew on his enlistment in the Army (he's the son of one my "other" mom's, Pam, from back home), so I got to see Pam and Joe, and checked in with a couple other folks. Matthew took me out to lunch to tell me about Basic Training and what not, and to say that he is going to Vicenza, Italy! It's less than an hour from Ghedi, so we had a lot to talk about there... George, Nicole and I went down to Greektown in Detroit for dinner and some gaming. Oh, and I retook my driver's test so I can have a legal license. I had to do the written AND the driving test! Did THAT feel weird!
In addition to the Detroit area, I took a detour up north to Tawas City to see old family friends Dave and Jane and the kids. Dave had just won a third of a Fantasy Football game, so he was in high spirits. He made up an awesome dinner, and we all talked til late in the evening. The next morning, Jane and kids played around a bit and we all talked until I headed out about noon.
Now the next place I went to was a bit different for a couple reasons. One, it was to Toronto Canada, where I hadn't been before, but more so because I'd be meeting cousins I'd never met before. These are relatives of folks from the old country. In Italy, I met my great grandfather's Aunt, who's now 101 years old! Well, her sons moved to Toronto in the 50s, and that's whom I went to see. Giovanni's son, Tony, had been emailing me in Italy, and we worked it out so I could come out during this trip. I arrived at his house around 4, and once the door opened, all inhibitions dropped. He literally had open arms to greet me, and his wife Katherine and the kids were immediately welcoming. We had such a great time getting acquainted and figuring out where we all were on the tree of the Rea's. They took me out downtown to the CN Tower (the tallest tower in the world), we went to dinner and enjoyed just walkin' around town (though it was quite cold at the time). I had only planned to stay one night, but (after much arm twisting) it didn't seem to be long enough to visit, so we went another day, and I got to meet his father (Giovanni) and his brother, Gabriele. Giovanni told me a lot of old stories (in Italian), some from the old country, and others from his starts in North America. Overall, it was just amazing talking with family.
(Aren't you glad I'm keeping this short?!)After all that, it was time to head home for the holidays. I flew up to Marquette (after almost being bumped from the flight), and mom was there to meet me. We went over for a Christmas Eve party at the Barabes; Andy took me to the malls to show me all the kewl stuff out nowadays; we went sledding in the back and I pulled Herbie around in the sled; we saw Andy's cousins and Aunt; and of course went to visit with Mike and Karen.
The next adventure was trying to leave the U.P. My one o'clock flight cancelled due to fog, and the next available flight wasn't for another week. But the alternative was a 6PM flight out of Green Bay, which was about 3 hours from Marquette. So I had to rent a car and hurry to get there, arrived about 30 minutes before the flight time, ran to the terminal, got on the plane, and fell asleep... I arrived in Destination DC around midnight.
My cousin Matt was waiting up (or rather sleeping on the couch waiting for the doorbell) for me, and I got in around 1AM. Needless to say, there wasn't much conversation til the next morning. Since it was Winter Break for the kids, Matt and Laurie both had some time off too. So we went to the new Air and Space Museum, which just opened in mid-December. We saw an IMAX of Adrenaline Rush while we were there. I took the boys out to see "The Haunted Mansion", and we played some B-Ball in the front afterwards. Matt and I talked for a while and we called Mark and their dad in Nevada, too.
For New Years, I flew down to visit with my brother Mike in New Orleans. We had a blast down there. Mike introduced me to drive-thru daiquiri shops and we bought some fireworks for the evening festivities. That night we went down to Bourbon street and tipped back a few brewskis waiting for midnight to come around. We made our way to the main stage, where there was a band playing and the city mayor was indahouse. I bought a bottle of bubbly, and when 12 o'clock hit, we started to tip it back, and even clinked glasses with the mayor! We finished the night in a pub drinkin' Guinness and some shots of Irish Crème.
The next night, Mike threw a party at his place, made a big dinner, had some music and games, and lit off some fireworks. He also pulled out some typical Mike-style movies that were just really oddballs, but a must see anyway. The next day, we went down to the French Market Place, then to one of the mausoleum cemeteries to take some pictures. Mike showed me some good techniques and his creative, artistic work in action. I'll post some on my website soon... then we went to dinner in traditional Creole restaurant. Good stuff!
On the 4th, Mike dropped me off at the airport, right into adventure number 2. Yes, that's right, yet another flight to DC cancelled. This time because some idiot driving the cargo bins ran into the fuselage tank. So, New Orleans is hosting the LSU game, resulting in NO hotels in the area, so they opted to fly us to Atlanta, where we stayed in a Hilton and drank beer while watching the LSU game. The next day, the flight left around 9, and I got to DC about noon. I picked up my excess luggage that Matt was holding for me, and drove down to North Carolina.
One of my friends from Italy (Brad) moved to Asheville, so that was destination 400. He got himself a nice place in the middle of the country outside the main town. We drank beer in mass quantities, so life was good. But other than intoxication, we also checked out the area a bit. My friend James came out from Charlotte, so the 3 of us headed up to the mountains and saw Chimney Rock, then went to check out a movie "???". We also saw the Biltmore Estates, and went out to the Blue Ridge parkway; and we saw a Bluegrass concert in one of the bars in town.After that, I drove over to Lake Gaston, right in front of a huge storm and made it just an hour before it hit. Mama Pat and Paul weren't expecting me for a couple more hours, but I guess the "defensive driving" in Italy paid off. We had a nice, relaxing visit, and didn't do too much of anything, aside from watch the games (saw all 4 semi-final games). We played some pool, and looked at pictures, but mostly just chilled out... ahhhhh...
Then it was back to my Air Force roots, up to Langley and Hampton VA. I met up with John and Jeremy, and hung out with them for a couple days. Went and played some pool, headed out for a couple drinks at the bar, and saw a couple movies. I also got to see Master Ko again; it was really kewl say hey. My time was cut a bit short when I realized my plane departure from Baltimore was for Thursday instead of Friday, so I started to head out that morning, but learned that the flight was cancelled (yet another DC area change?!), and the next flight was Friday, so I stopped up to see Matt again for the night. And since the flight didn't leave until after midnight, I got to sleep in, and visit some more in the afternoon. The day before I was a bit apprehensive about leaving for Thule, but after the extra day's rest, I was calm and ready.
The moment of truth, I made it to the airport now, geared up to get to Greenland. I checked in around 10PM, and went to buy a razor to shave off the month and a half of goatee I had grown; then I grabbed some BK and went back to the waiting area where there were some comfy chairs. Well, they were a bit too comfy, because I fell asleep, and when I awoke, everyone in the area was gone. I looked at the clock and it was 1:30AM. The boarding time was 1AM, so I naturally went into a bit of a panic. I went up to the security gate, but they told me everyone was already in, and that everyone was accounted for. "How can that be, if I have a guaranteed seat assignment?" So they questioned the Air Force guys, and managed to get me in. Well, the 1AM time was just to meet on the inside of the secure zone, because everyone was just sitting around near the gate. 10 minutes later though, we started boarding.
Well, now I'm here. Thule, Greenland. Just 800 miles from the North Pole. Temps are roughly -28 to -60, and the sun won't shine until the end February. What made me come here? Well, the people here are awesome (it's one of those places where you have no where to go, so the people are all you can rely on). We get free food, a dorm room, and lots of on-base activities. Granted, the only one I've found so far is the club, but that'll change soon enough.
I already got a nickname: "Doc". But it's not from being like Dr Evil... little story: The guy who works in the Post Office (Jason) was in Italy, and married an Italian. Well that was instant talking fodder, and we headed up to the club for some beers. Well, he starts introducin' me to other folks in the club and I meet this Cannuk named John. Well John meets me as "Dan, the new guy over at finance", but he doesn't like the way that goes, so he starts introducing me to everyone as Dr Bill, the new head of operations at the hospital. During the evening, my name kept changing from Dr Bill to Dr Phil and back, but by the next day, everyone was calling me "Doc".
Most folks pick something up from my name, being "Ray" versus Rea, or "Ria" sometimes too (Danniria sounds like something contagious - and my poor mom with a name of Donna). hehe In England I was given the nickname Sting for Sting Ray. This is the first time a nickname wasn't derived from either my name or my work. It's kinda funny.
Anyway, that's the journey and the update... the next stories won't be so long, but I hope they'll be enjoyable. Stories about the tundra can't be too dry, can they?
Until next time...
Dan