Colorado Winter Wonderland

An interesting day here in Colorado, there was a call for snow tonight which began at mid-day and continues here in the early evening. The mountains that loom over the Air Force Academy were just stunning this morning, the air was so crisp and had a real clean scent to it. After driving through the relative flatness of Nebraska yesterday it is a real treat to see the mountains all around us.

We did something that may seem dull to some but for us, it worked. We got a leisurely start and headed out into the chilly morning for the base exchange/comissary where we took a whirl of how things looked from the Air Force perspective. It was nice walking around looking at what they had!

After picking up a couple of items that we'll use later on, we headed into Colorado Springs. As we were leaving we noticed four parachutist being dropped to the small air field on the base. There was also a glider soaring across the face of the mountain which must have been an incredible view for those inside!

Funny thing though, at that moment we started to drive into the city the snow flurries picked up quite a bit. So as it happens there was a Cracker Barrel just outside the Academy's South Gate where we ducked in for lunch.

We had thought to go a to museum after that but it turned out to be closed on Wednesday. So it was back to the city where we picked up a carry-out supper from Charles' favorite place, Schlotsky's Deli. Then it was back to the Academy grounds where we burrowed into our suite to see just how much snow does fall today! The view from the suite is just wonderful, everything you'd hope to see in the Rocky Mountains!

Right now, the mountains are shrouded in snow and clouds and "all" we can see are the evergreens being drapped with snow. This "campus" looks like a park and really is an oasis from the busy life that is taking place just outside the gate.

Tomorrow we'll see some museums and hopefully more of the mountains!

Just like the Pony Express: "Westward Ho"

Hello from Colorado Springs, Colorado!

We enjoyed a lovely drive through Nebraska today. After leaving Lincoln in the morning, we headed west on I-80, next stop: Colorado. Well, not really, we couldn't pass up stopping in in Kearney, NE, to visit a good friend, Rev. Dr. Marvin Koelling, Charles' former district superintendent when he was first in Nebraska. We had a great visit with him, getting caught up on life events for the past few years! He gave us a tour of the church he is pastoring (www.kearneyfirstumc.org/index.html). They are doing so many amazing things!! It was so inspiring to feel the energy of that congregation! Yea, God!

Just before Kearney we saw thousands of geese, ducks and swans taking part in the annual migration north. It is so moving and inspiring to see this miracle of nature. Charles likened it to the mass of planes and people moving through the skies above any major airport. We also saw the Archway Monument - www.archwway.org, (located above I-80 east of Kearney), we must make a point of visiting this tribute to the early pioneers.

We also stopped by Gothenburg, Nebraska, where we saw an original pony express station! We were quite excited by that! Even though there was a lot of snow on the ground it was fun to see a slice of American history. And, of course, while we were there, we just had to poke our heads into the local United Methodist Church there, which is absolutely beautiful, by the way!

We enjoyed a lovely day, driving through the western part of Nebraska, and then into Colorado! A beautiful day all around, it was!

Now we are all tucked into a fabulous suite of the Rampart Inn here at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. It is really quite plush! We are grateful to be staying in this lovely place. It will be great to see the mountains all around us tomorrow morning in the daylight!

See you tomorrow!

We're Nebraskans Again!

Today was the last full day here in Lincoln, and we got a lot done. First up was getting a bank account set up, which was accomplished in quick order. Then it was to the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to get our Toyota registered, titled, and tagged. Both the bank and the DMV visits went much more quickly and effortlessly than we had imagined. We were able to use a local UMC pastor's address for our "residence," until such time as we are able to establish ourselves wherever and whenever the Bishop determines!

We enjoyed lunch with a fellow clergy person, Jamie Norwich-McLennan (from Lincoln 1st UMC), and she graciously allowed us to leave some of our excess luggage at her house, happily located next door to the Conference office!

We made a couple of stops at the VA, first to see about getting Charles' medical records evaluated and seeing about the next step for his dental work at the VA Medical Center. Both stops provided the information we needed, and now we wait for the Navy to send the last paperwork our way.

Tomorrow, it is back on the road for Charles & Belinda! We're planning on making a couple of stops to visit friends on the way to Colorado. If you're on the way, look out for us!

The Blizzard that wasn't

It turns out that the blizzard that was called for yesterday shifted to the north of Lincoln and we escaped with just a few inches of snow and ice. Of course, that is enough for us since the past few winters in Cornwall had nothing to compare with this weekend!

We got going this morning after sleeping in since the tv was showing all sorts of church cancellations (including St. Marks', the one we planned on going to today). We walked over to the Cracker Barrel and enjoyed the aptmosphere and food. We realized that there was more traffic on the road than we were expecting so we decided to see if we could find a church that was open. We drove over by Nebraska Wesleyan University, across the street is where First UMC of Lincoln is located (www.firstumclincoln.org). We got there just at 1100 though the service started at 1045. We enjoyed the service where a larger turn-out than we expected were sharing the First Sunday of Lent. We chatted with folks after the service and spent almost an hour talking with the two pastors, Larry Moffett and Jamie Norwich-McLennan, both of whom Charles knew from his time in the Conference.

Then we decided since so much was open (the roads were cleared very quickly) we would try to find the other mall in Lincoln. Turned out to be a rambling assortment of stores and restaurants and not so much an enclosed mall. So we shopped at a Christian bookstore and then got a NY Times and something to drink at the Starbucks next door. Since we needed to do laundry, we ended up at the mega-Wal-Mart on 27th Street, picked up the needed items and now we are holed-up in our hotel as the temps have started falling again.

We are going to watch the Academy Awards tonight and eat left-over Chinese food. Don't know who to cheer for since we've been not paying much attention to the goings on with the world that is Hollywood.

Tomorrow is admin-type items here in Lincoln. See you then!

It's SNOWING in Lincoln!

What a week! Last Sunday we woke to an inch of snow at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina and tonight we are in Lincoln, Nebraska with a blizzard in the making beginning to show signs of materializing already. It was interesting getting around today - rain, hail, & snow, oh my!

We spent the afternoon getting around Lincoln with all of the other people trying to get those last minute chores done before the expected snow and winds came in from the west. After lunch at Cracker Barrel, we managed to find some nifty skirts for Belinda at one of the area malls.

This evening we went to a service at St. Mark's UMC on the south side of Lincoln (www.stmarks.org). It was a lovely service in their chapel, about 50 or so brave souls faced the weather and came to the service. There are supposed to be four services tomorrow morning, we'll see how many we can make, I suppose some of it will depend upon just how much of the snow we end of getting overnight. Since there is a Cracker Barrel next to our hotel, we forced ourselves to pay another visit and then got into the hotel as the winds picked up a notch.

Stay tuned to tomorrow's blog entry to see how we fared!

The day before the big storm

Here we are in Lincoln, waiting for the storm that is being called for tonight and tomorrow. It was really nice today with it being a bit warmer than we were expecting. Tomorrow is expected to be cold, windy and possibly a good deal of ice and snow to go with it.

Today we got going with the re-introduction to Nebraska and the Annual Conference. We started out by stopping by the Conference offices and spent some time talking with the administrative staff. We ended up taking the Admin Ass't. to lunch after finding out he is going to be going to Europe in May for an awesome-sounding vacation. Having just returned from there three weeks ago, we were able to give him some suggestions and ideas from some of the places we've been that he has on his itenerary.

We also met with my district Superintendant, Keith Johnson this afternoon. It was nice to be able to re-connect with him and the rest of the folks here in Nebraska. He will be meeting with the rest of the DS's and the Bishop next weel to begin the appointment process. No telling how long before we'll know where we'll be going so keep checking this space for the latest news.

We took a quick drive to Gretna (35 miles east of Lincoln) to the outlet mall there, hoping to find some ideas of what folks around here are thinking of this spring. It was nice to see the changes in that direction and tomorrow we'll continue the exploration of the area.

Hoping the weather isn 't as bad as the predictions. We'll let you know tomorrow!

Hello from Nebraska!

We made it to Nebraska at last! Three weeks after arriving in Virginia to begin the out-processing from the Navy, we drove north this afternoon from Kansas, arriving in Lincoln in the late afternoon.

After the long drive yesterday, we decided that a good sleep was in order, so when we stirred at last it was time to pack the car and get back on the road. But first, we wanted to see more of The Church of the Resurrection (www.cor.org). We enjoyed coffee and hot cocoa in the church's The Spring Cafe', did some shopping in their bookstore, and took a number of pictures to use in future church discussions. It was fascinating to see and learn more about what is happening at this dynamic community of faith.

At last we had to leave and so it was back onto the interstate and the short drive north. First was a quick cross-over back into Missouri and lunch at a Cracker Barrel and then an ever-s0-brief pass-thorugh a slice of Iowa brought us at long-last back to Nebraska! We crossed the Missouri River at Nebraska City and were surprised to see a new museum (new to us that is, we've been gone for awhile!). The museum honors the work of Lewis & Clark and is a very well executed design and is certainly a place we will visit again.

A short drive later and we were in Lincoln, capital of Nebraska. We found a hotel (next door to a Cracker Barrel, of course!) and settled down with the paper to catch up with the news of the Cornhusker state. Tomorrow we meet with Charles' district superintendant; it is the next step in the process of returning to the parish.

Great Vintage Signs at Nostalgia Ville, MO

While we were driving through Kingdom City, Missouri today, we stopped by an amazing place called Nostalgia Ville (www.nostalgiavilleusa.com). They had some great vintage signs posted around the place. We thought you might like to see some of them! Enjoy!

Ash Wednesday in Kansas

This is a first for our journey: Four states in one day!

We began the morning at the Cracker Barrel in western Kentucky, in Cadiz. A drive through the fog took us into Illinois, where just before St. Louis, we approached an exit announcing the city of O'Fallon. It just so happens that this is where Belinda and her family lived for several years when her dad was stationed with the US Air Force at nearby Scott AFB. We drove around the town, finding her school, the two homes she lived in and several other sites that reminded her of some childhood memories.

After a brunch at a nearby Cracker Barrel, we drove across the bridge that crosses the Mississippi River and past the Gateway Arch at St. Louis; what a sight!!! A rather long journey along the width of the state of Missouri was temporarily interupted with a visit to Nostalgia Ville, USA near the town of Kingdom City (www.nostalgiavilleusa.com). After enjoying the walk down memory lane at this stop, we continued on until we crossed into Kansas, just outside of Kansas City, MO.

We came this far to attend the Ash Wednesday service at The Church of the Ressurection (www.cor.org). This mega-church is the largest in the United Methodist Church and is really something to behold. The service was very special with their eight pastors taking part. There must have been a thousand people there, at least.

We enjoyed a lite snack at a nearby Mexican eatery, and now it is into bed for a restful night. Tomorrow we arrive in Nebraska!

Mardi Gras on the road

After a wonderful weekend at Lake Junaluska, NC, we woke to the best weather we've seen on this trip! We stopped at the Intentional Growth Center (http://www.intentionalgrowthcenter.org/)) and met some wonderful people who told us about some of their terrific learning opportunities. We also took in the Southeast Jurisdiction's Heritiage Museum and met the interim director, Rev. Art Swarthout, who turns out to be a retired clergy member of the Nebraska Annual Confernence! He knows many of the same people we do and showed us so many wonderful items from their wide-ranging collection.

After that, we set off on US-19 towards Cherokee, NC. It was so pretty and we thought we'd have a quick brunch. Little did we know we know we were in for one of the best breakfasts we've had (Cracker Barrel excluded!). Should you happen to be in Cherokee, look for "Grandma's Diner," you'll be glad you did!!! Charles had butterscotch pancakes! It sounds strange (there were some other rather unusual pancakes to choose from), but it was totally awesome!!! It was a good thing we did since this is Fat Tuesday (i.e., Mardi Gras). Belinda had to help him finish as the three pancakes were not only very large, but were also incredibly rich (butterscotch batter and butterscotch morsels in between the layers and sprinkled on top!). After that very satisfying repaste, we were excited to drive through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (www.nps.gov/grsm). It was wonderful! There was a lot of fog in places but there was also some wonderful views. At the upper elevations there was still a lot of snow even though by the time we reached the other side of the park near Gatlinburg, Tennessee, it was almost 60!

We had a passing thought of stopping at Dollywood (hey, it was on the way) but it was closed for the winter :( So it was on to Lebanon, TN and the home of CRACKER BARREL! We ate supper at the second oldest CB (the original isn't around anymore). Even though there wasn't any commemorative items (a missed opportunity for them!), we enjoyed the setting and the chicken fried steak was yummy!

We ended this wonderful day by driving into Kentucky and ending the day outside of Cadiz (there just happens to be a Cracker Barrel next door to the hotel). We travelled through three states in today; tomorrow, it is into Illinois and beyond!

Happy Presidents Day from Lake Junaluska, NC

Today stated off with a proper "lie-in." We thought it best to rest today, since the next several days will include a lot of driving. It was back to Shoney's for brunch (an amazing value for the money, don't you know?!).

We returned to the "lake," and paid a visit to their Cokesbury store. What a great array of things to peruse. We even bought a few things (books, trinkets).

The weather was amazing today. Yesterday it snowed; today the sun was shining and the temperature reached the mid-50's! Charles took advantage of this and played golf at the Lake Junalusa Golf Course. It was a wonderful way to play golf AND be able to take in the beautiful surroundings of the mountains of North Carolina! (Meanwhile, Belinda relaxed back at the inn and got caught up on her favorite soap operas. A lot has changed in the three years we were out of country.)

Then we toured the World Methodist Museum here at the lake. If you are in the area, it is a "must-see," to be sure! We so enjoyed looking at all the displays, MANY reminders of our time spent doing the "Wesley walk" while we were in England the last three years! Later this evening, we returned to the museum to enjoy a special guided tour of selected exhibits that featured the life and work of Charles Wesley, this being the 300th anniversary of his birth. We met so many interesting people there, fellow clergy and spouses, gifted lay ministers, etc. We were so impressed that we joined the "Friends of the Museum" group!

All in all, it was a lovely day in the mountains!

It's a white Sunday in Asheville

Sunday morning broke bright and sunny and WHITE! Yes, a good inch or so of white, fluffy snow covered the hills around Lake Junaluska!! It is so wonderful for us to experience the beauty of this place at all and to have a white day at all is a real treat!!! There were even a couple of attempts at snowballs before we drove away to church.

After a yummy breakfast at Shoney's (the Cracker Barrel was too far to get to before church), we went to church at the First UMC of Waynesville (www.fumc.waynesville.com), a church that claims in its heritage a visit from Bishop Francis Asbury in the early 1800s. It was nice to be back in the land of UMC's again! We stopped for a chat with a retired AF chaplain and his wife at a Wendy's which was fun.

Then it was off to the Folk Art Center in Asheville (www.craftguild.org). It is one of the premier stops on the Blue Ridge Parkway and is a great place to take in quilts (some costing as much as $3,500) and other traditional art & crafts that would find a home in any museum.

We topped off the day with a walk around the Biltmore Village area of Asheville and bought some wine at the Biltmore Estate store. We couldn't resist the chance to try out some authentic Mexican food in the Village...if you ever get to Asheville, be sure to stop at La Paz (10 Biltmore Plaza) for some of the freshest chips and the most awesome Guacamole you'll ever have!!!

Tomorrow looks to be good weather so we're going to be out and about early, seeing the sites!

Farewell Virginia, Hello North Carolina!

After 16 nights at the BOQ at the Naval Station in Norfolk, VA, we are safely tucked into the Lambeth Inn at Lake Junaluska, NC!

We began the day with breakfast at The Pancake House in Norfolk. Talk about yummy food!!! Sweet Potato pancakes and the best bacon in town made for a terrific start to the day. Then we mailed off several boxes (to Belinda's brother Rob in Colorado) before checking out of the BOQ. Charles did another expert packing job, getting ALL our stuff into the car: Amazing!

Then it was so-long to the Navy base and off on our cross-country adventure... Highlights of the first day's driving were two stops at Cracker Barrels, one in Virginia and the other in NC (Belinda is highlighting each of the stops on a full-sized Cracker Barrel map). The driving was very comfortable with little in the way of note. It was nice driving by places we'd seen during our NC years such as Thomasville & High Point (both are famous for furniture) in NC.

We'd always wanted to come to Lake Junaluska, the HQ of the Southeast Juridiction of the UMC. We're looking forward to going to church tomorrow, the church on the lake looks awesome from here.

More to follow!

Update from Norfolk

Thursday was devoted to Charles' dental work at the base clinic. A tooth had to be removed and he returned on Friday to have the temporary replacement put in. We found out they can't do the permanent work before Charles is scheduled to be out of the Navy so we'll have to deal with this through the VA in Nebraska. At least it happened here where we were able to save a lot of money and not on the road where we'd have to figure things out in a strange town.

Belinda has been the best nurse, taking care of Charles' needs! She did get a break from her caretaker role and went to the Applebees on base Thursday night for a yummy dinner!

As it stands now we're leaving Saturday for Lake Junaluska, NC for three days and then to Nebraska. Keep your fingers crossed that Charles' tooth stays where it was glued until we can get something permanently done!

Happy Valentine's Day

We enjoyed a wonderful visit to the Jacksonville, NC area yesterday and today. Today began with a warm morning and breakfast at one of our favorite places,
"Yana's" in Swansboro (www.yanamamas.com). After having grits, hash, huge buttermilk biscuits, and of course, apple fritters, we waddled to the car and drove back to Jacksonville.

We drove through the old neighborhood, saw all the changes and boy, are there changes! Then it was back to the Coastal Cat Clinic (www.coastalcatclinic.com) to visit Nick and his staff once more. After enjoying their company and reassuring Nick that we were not taking him with us (just yet!), we drove back to Virginia.

Along the way, we had the surprise of noticing a church that looked interesting and became a "wow" experience for us when we noticed that we knew the pastor! A classmate from Wesley Theological Seminary, Dr. Michael Lee Nelson's name was on the sign of Messiah UMC in Chesapeake, VA on US 17. We took the chance and stopped and as luck would have it, Mike was still in his office. We got caught up and promised to keep in touch along our journey back to Nebraska.

Tonight, we ate at the food court in the base exchange before going to the movie, "Night at the Museum." Much better than we had thought it would be! By the time we came out the winds had picked up and the temps in the low 30s really caught us by surprise!

Tomorrow Charles has his dental work and then we start to get things together for our Saturday departure!

Wonderful Visit with "Nick the Cat!"

Praise be to God! Charles and Belinda drove from Norfolk, Virginia, today... to visit with "Nick the Cat," who is staying with his wonderful vet "Doc Crystal" associated with the Coastal Cat Clinic! It took us about 5 hours to drive south. It rained a bit, but then it stopped, and it was a lovely drive down!

The wonderful staff at the clinic had given him a bath. He was getting blow-dried when we arrived. (What a great life, right?!) We sat down on the floor and just loved petting him and cuddling him and talking with him. ("Quack," he would say... and then "Aack," he would say.) It was so great to be able to see him and talk with the Doc about how he has been doing these past months. He has lost some weight. He is eating better, getting the right drug treatment. What a relief to see him doing as well as he is! Yea, Coastal Cat Clinic staff!!!

Feeling much better after the visit with Nick, we drove to nearby Swansboro and enjoyed walking around the downtown area, shopping in the little specialty shops there. Afterwards, we drove back to Jacksonville, where we enjoyed a WONDERFUL supper at Logan's Roadhouse. It was all just as good as we remembered it to be. We even got to sit in our #1 favorite booth!!!! "Louis" took very good care of us; thank you, Louis!

We settled in onboard Camp Lejeune, the Marine Corps Base here. Our room at the Officers Quarters (BOQ) is great... very comfortable! We did a little shopping at the exchange. We were able to find a great shadow box for Charles to use, mounting his Navy insignia, etc., into it, as a wonderful reminder of his time in the Navy. Yea!

Now for a good night's rest and then... Tomorrow we will stop by and see Nick one more time! (Great Valentine's Day present to see "our boy!") Afterwards, we will be off, driving back north to Norfolk, Virginia.

Thursday: Charles is having a tooth out at the Naval Dental Clinic there. He is happy that he can get this done, since his one tooth is loose and bothering him right now.

All in all... a great day! Praise be to God!!!

Sunny Sunday

Wow, what a difference a week makes! Today was dazzling with sunshine, bright blue skies, and temps in the upper 30s. This being Sunday, we managed to get to church at 0800 and enjoyed ourselves a good deal.

We attended the First Baptist Church of Norfolk (VA), a very large church (www.firstnorfolk.org) with a lot going on. We went there at the invitation of the dentist Charles saw at the base dental clinic on Friday, CAPT Chip Anderson. The service had over 200 in attendance (at 8AM!) with a 32-member choir, drums, guitars, and more! Afterwards we went to CAPT Anderson's Sunday school class (he led the week's lesson) which was really interesting for us. There were more people in Sunday school than I've had in most Sunday services over the past few years!

After church, we went to Newport News and got Belinda into her very first Cracker Barrell! It was really yummy and the experience was everything we were hopping it would be. Even the wait to get seated was made enjoyable with a stop at the mall across the road and the coffee shop in the Barnes & Noble bookstore, the hot chocolat for Belinda was awesome and the latte was terrific for Charles!

A warmer day is in the offing for tomorrow so we hope to take advantage of it...

Saturday in Virginia

Our second Saturday came out very bright, chilly, but narry a cloud in the sky. We ran some errands around town, ate a forgettable lunch at a chain restaurant, and then took off for the Williamsburg area.

We enjoyed a full afternoon at Jamestown which is enjoying its 400th anniversary year in 2007. If you have not been there in awhile, do make the effort. It has a fascinating history and we both learned a good deal from our visit. We made sure to get the National Park Service's passport so we can track our journey across the USA this year.

We then went back to Williamsburg to our favorite place there, The Seasons restaurant. Belinda loves their walnut chicken salad so much!!! After a quick stop at the base exchange for provisions, it was back to the BOQ for a restful evening.

Tomorrow is church...come back and see where we went!

TGIF

Today got off to an early start with Charles making a visit to the base dental clinic. Thanks to the diagnosis given on Wednesday and the fact that we are leaving the area shortly, Charles was seen by the head Dentist himself, a Captain! Charles was quickly seen and scheduled for a treatment next Thursday which will allow plenty of time to heal before we get to Nebraska and the new parish.

The rest of the out-processing was completed this morning when Charles signed his DD 214, the document that accounts for all of his Navy service time. It is a bit odd to see eight years summed up in black & white like that but it was good to see it completed and filed at last.

Belinda in the meantime paid a visit to the base beauty parlor where she got a welcomed perm! The folks at the beauty parlor do such a good job and were very friendly taking care of Belinda on such short notice, well done!

We made special plans on attending the "Military Appreciation Night" at the Norfolk Admirals (minor league hockey farm team of the Chicago Blackhawks) game. Unfortunately, the crowd was a tad corser than we were anticipating so we left just before the end of the second period. Perhaps another time we'll try again.

A relaxing weekend ahead, so come to see where and what we've been doing!

Nearly done

Wednesday was a busy day - Charles completed more out-processing chores and then we found out that the Toyota that had been shipped from Cornwall on January 12th was ready for us to drive away! We were glad to have it back on the road since the rental car we'd been driving was so much bigger than we'd been used to having.

A bit of a scare happened Wednesday afternoon when Charles developed a bit of a tooth problem that necessitated a visit to the base dental clinic. The very nice dentist discovered a problem that will need some attention which is fortunate that we learned about this in time. We're going to try to get at least an initial treatment to last until Charles can get into the VA when we get settled.

Thursday was another busy day with the last bit of out-processing paperwork completed and taking the Toyota to the dealer in Virginia Beach for a road-check and then taking the rental car back to the airport.

Whew! So much has already happened since we left Cornwall! It is hard to imagine that we've only been gone a week!!! Who knows what will happen next?

5th of February

Monday was COLD! Ice on the ground and a real bone-chilling wind off the water waited Charles this morning as he continued his check-out process. A stop by the office where he was sent for a briefing revealed that he didn't have to sit through the briefing again (having just had it in England) so a bonus was handed to him. He'll complete the process for getting out of the Navy on Wednesday.

We enjoyed a nice lunch with a friend, Jeff Tisdale, at Applebees, getting caught up on folks we knew from Chaplain's school back in 1999. Then we went to the exchange and got introduced to the 21st century world of cell phones, whew! A lot has changed since we had some in Nebraska eight years ago!

Tonight we went out to eat with Jeff, his wife, Tracey, and their four children. A fun time was had and the food, at a BBQ place, was yummy!

Tomorrow we think we might enjoy some tourist activities...come back to the blog and see where we went!

Norfolk, 1st Post

Sorry this report is late in coming, lots has happened since we left the UK on Thursday (hard to believe it has only been three days!)... Last night we were able to sleep through the night which was a nice treat! Seems the jet-lag isn't as bad coming this way as it is going over to Europe.

We arrived here in good order and got to our room in the Navy Officer's Quarters on the base Thursday night. We were able to get some sleep and on Friday morning I checked into the Transit Unit (or TPU). I had to get another shot from the medical clinic since it wasn't written down in my records and will need to attend another session of the training required of separating military (it mysteriously disappeared from my records too). Otherwise, it looks like we'll be done out-processing by Thursday at the latest this coming week.

While checking out, I ran into a buddy from chaplain's school and Belinda and I met him for lunch and got caught up. Jeff is a Southern Baptist and a terrific guy. After some laughs and a tour of the chapel, Belinda and I did a whirl of the massive exchange, food court, and comissary and then treated ourselves to a dinner at the on-base Applebees! Don't laugh, when you've gone without free refills on ice tea for several years the little things matter!!!

On Saturday, we slept in and were headed out to Williamsburg when as we were leaving the BOQ the desk clerk asked us if we could help a stranded officer from Jordan. Turns out there was a mix-up in his travel arrangements and he had no idea of where he was supposed to be and hadn't eaten in a long time. Belinda and I took him under our wings and after getting him to the right building took him to his first American meal at the Golden Corral (not the Ritz, but this is Norfolk!). Eventually he got to the right people and hopefully will have a great experience.

We spent the rest of the day at Williamsburg, taking in some of our favorite scenes and savoring walking the streets of this wonderful town. Belinda's favorite experience was eating the the Seasons restaraunt where she got some of their famous chicken salad. Then we went back to the Exchange on base, picked up a few items and crawled back into bed.

This morning (Sunday), we got an early breakfast at the Golden Corral (maybe we'll find something else eventually) and then went to chapel on base. After that, it was back to the room for Belinda to take a break and watch her favorite show, MONK while Charles went to the local zoo. Tonight we'll make an effort at watching the Super Bowl though after the commercials and the first half we may end up playing Scrabble. Since Charles is more of a real football fan (Go Wigan!), this Amercian sports spectacle may not be as special :)

The check in continues tomorrow, stay tuned!

On the road again

Here we are at 0604, sitting in Heathrow Airport waiting for our 0755 flight to Dulles Airport (Washignton, DC) and then to Norfolk, VA. We'll stay there for a couple of weeks finishing the out-processing and then we'll hit the road for an adventure of a lifetime!