500 mile Colorado Trail Journey completed:
Message from Trish Larson Wild (73): FORT COLLINS, CO
Hi Gary,
I just wanted to let you know that I completed the 500 miles on the Colorado Trail and 6 weeks solo in the Rocky Mountain Wilderness yesterday. I updated my blog just now, so anyone who is interested in my adventures on horseback can log on and check it out!
Thanks Gary!
Trish (Larson) Wild
The Equine Nomad
Trish, This is quite an accomplishment that you undertook. You are so brave to be doing this all alone. Gary
Reply to Dale Pritchard (63):
From Bob Lykins (Teacher): Hutto, TX
Dale,
I was living at Tachikawa AB from Aug. 1974 to July 1977. I worked at Yokota 1974-1975 and at the Tachi Headquarters Bldg from mid 1975 till June of 1977. How well I remember the drive from Tachi to Yokota AB on the Ichi Kaichi Kaido (Highway #1) to work and back. The smell of the Benjo ditches and the dousing of the headlights at a stoplight at night (to improve vision for on-coming traffic). I also remember the flights coming in with Vietnamese refugees. I used to do TDYs into Subic Bay and I remember the word “Sin-chu-yee” (Attention) announced all too frequently over the loud-speakers at the Vietnamese refugee camp on Grande Island. It seemed like those people were constantly being called to attention for one thing or another. We closed dear old Tachi in 1977and I spent the next couple of years on Okinawa living on Kadena and working in Ojana from July 1977 till July 1979 when I moved to Wiesbaden, Germany. I was on Oki when they brought in a number of Southeast Asian refugees to the Exposition of the Sea grounds where they were kept in barracks and tents. I was also there when the Japanese government switched the Okinawans from driving on the right hand side of the road (during our occupation) to driving on the left side like they do on the “home islands.” Just think about it. Everything from bus doors to turning lanes had to be switched to the other side. Auto headlamps, street lights, signs had to be switched to the other side. Pedestrian safety classes were held in the schools, public halls and safety ads on TV. While it took months to finish the construction, the actual switch-over was made in 6 hours on a Sunday night. At 6:00 AM on a Sunday morning, with the help of thousands of Japanese traffic cops directing traffic, people were allowed to drive on the newly switched roads. And they did. Every vehicle that had an internal combustion engine took to the road and it was complete chaos. I remember at an intersection near the USO Gate that had no less than a dozen traffic police all blowing their whistles and giving different directions. It was all very Keystone Cops in nature. The chaos continued for about 3 weeks until they finally took the police off the intersections and allowed the Okinawans to settle into their own traffic patterns. I wonder if our paths ever crossed as we were both flying around the Far East. They were interesting times and my kids as well as my sisters keep after me about putting my memories down on paper. It would be a good retirement project if I wasn’t so busy.
Bob Lykins
Reply from Keith Pladson (66): Stafford, VA
Dale/Gary,
I’m enjoying reading of you two’s military travels and travails. Mine seem somewhat less entertaining by comparison since I had only a two year enlistment and I spent almost nine months of that in training, then six months in the hospital and I finished up the two years in an office here in the DC area.
I did, however, get to do a lot of traveling in my civilian Government career. I have now seen all but two of the 50 states (Arizona and Nevada are still on my bucket list) and I also had trips to Japan and Croatia with a stop in Germany along the way.
It is interesting how the three of us who came from similar backgrounds and very close together in the Turtle Mountains of ND could have ended up having such varied and unexpected careers/lives.
Dale, as to my animal magnetism, what can I say. Oh, sorry, I got confused. You were talking about a different type of magnetism, right?
Actually, though most of the storms have come up the East Coast this year, none of them have effected us here in the DC area in the least. Alice and I have lived here now for forty years and in that time only three storms have had major impact on the area. Those included hurricane Agnes in June of 1972, Fran in September 1996 and Isabel in September 2003. A few others have had lesser effect and few more have had just a little effect. The two currently out in the Atlantic (Igor and Julie) most likely will also go to the north far enough east of us to have no impact at all. We are lucky that they have gotten so good at predicting the direction these storms will take. Of course there are no guarantees on the predicted path they may take, but by plugging in all the available data on weather patterns (high and low pressure systems, cold fronts, the jet stream, etc) and then comparing all that to how similar weather systems effected previous hurricanes, they have gotten better and better at correctly predicting the paths of these storms now. Even in the case of Katrina and Rita, they were pretty good at predict their paths fairly well in advance that it gave many people enough time to clear out in time. Of course knowing where a storm will hit and eliminating damages from it are two totally different stories. But it is always nice to know if it will hit you or not so you can plan for that.
Keith
Folks,
These are some pictures from the dinner party, at our place, this past Sunday evening.
The two gentlemen, Kalvyn & Randell Vaz, in the first picture with me are father and son. They are from India. Kalvyn and his wife Rosette are retired and have come to live with their son Randell here in Cebu. Randell, 32 years old, is a VP with JP Morgan Chase & Company. Being a VP at such a young age, they must to be grooming him for bigger and better things with the company. That has never been mentioned, but that is my guess. He was sent here to head up a new branch, for the company. He will be here for one year. These folks are so friendly and so polite.
The 2nd picture is of the ladies at their table. .
The 3rd picture is of our whole dinner group.
Gary
