"Band of Brothers Adventure" Day 1-2 -- Flight to Paris and bus to Caen ...

If you have ever flown to Europe (or other destinations where your trip involves several in-flight "meals"), you know how LONNNNGGGG these flights are. And I don't need to tell you that there is an airline law that says the longer the flight, the less leg room you have between your seat and the one in front of you.  I know -- do they serve cheese with my whine?  Well, I forgot to mention I had just been released by my surgeon following partial knee replacement.  I had completed about 3-4 weeks of rehab, but still had to take my knee brace with me on the trip

We had a pretty good flight and landed in Paris right on time.  Unfortunately, our gate was at one end of the airport and the bus pick-up point was at the other end.   After navigating that hike, we got married up with our bus mates and headed out to Caen, a 3-hour ride.  Not too bad. Comfortable buses.

Caen was the site that Montgomery said he could take in a matter of a couple of days.  Not so.  As we rode through the country side it was easy to see how this area could be defended for quite a while --  narrow roads, rivers and canals, bridges that could be blown easily, tight turns and narrow city streets.
Once in the city, we really had a nice place to stay and the food and wine made up for the bus ride.

 

After an enjoyable meal, we found an outdoor band party going on right next to our hotel.  They told us that during the summer and fall these events took place almost 2-3 times a week. 

So it's off to bed kinda like on Christmas Eve ... with dreams of what is coming tomorrow bouncing around in our heads, keeping us from getting much sleep (although we did screw up the alarm clocks and almost missed the bus in the morning). So off we go on our great adventure to see what we see and learn what we can about that war and my father's trials.

“Don't listen to what they say, go see” (Proverb)

Hooah

"Band of Brothers Adventure" Day 1 -- Boston ...

Did you ever have something you've wanted to do in life, dreamed of doing but kinda thought its time would never come.  Maybe health would interfere, finances, or just be O.B.E. (Overcome by Events).  Whatever.

Well, my "I wanna do this before I die" project was to travel to Europe and walk the ground my dad fought over during WWII with his artillery unit.  A friend of mine, Kathy H. posted an advertisement for the Band of Brothers tours.  Bingo!  Here was the mechanism to get this dream realized.  It was affordable, looked very organized and fit the time frame I had open (i.e. any time before I died). And just by chance I happened to be talking to my friend, Keith (a retired Navy pilot who worked with me at Anna) and he said that sounded like a great thing to do and maybe he could go with me. Great idea -- he's a good guy and it's always good to have someone with you (wingman) when traveling overseas.  And it's especially good when your wingman knows the airline reservation system backwards and forwards and likes the challenges.  

So our first stop in our "Great Adventure " was to fly to Boston where we would catch a flight to Paris.  We got to Logan International in Boston the day before our first connection "just in case."  We got there at night and it was kinda fun to get to see some of the sights.  Also had a great seafood dinner in a restaurant overlooking the Boston Harbor.

 

We spent the next day looking at the Charlestown Navy Yard where we saw two ships anchored there: the USS Cassin Young and the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides).  What a great way to start this trip.

I was surprised how short the ceilings were in the Constitution.  I walked around the "below deck" area and had to really lean over just to keep from knocking myself out on the ceiling beams.  On the Cassin Young, it was fun for an Army guy to get his hands on real deck guns and take a short pause for a "cup of coffee" (the pot didn't work).  Keith said lots of officers looked just like me when he was on a ship -- huddled around the coffee pot!

Well, we're off.  Long flight ahead!

I don't know where I'll end up, but I'm on my way!

Hooah  

Happy Meal -- Grandpa style ...

It's still kinda cloudy out today and put that on top of all this corona virus stay-at-home stuff, I have been suffering from a case of the blahs.  So today, Pam made lunch and put my sandwich on a special plate.  Instantaneous smiles!  What a way to get rid of the blahs.

Oh yeah, the sandwich was really good too.

The grandkids and my wife have done their part to improve this day, so sunbeam -- it's your turn.

"A ray of sunshine melts my frown and blows my blues away.”(Jimmy Page)

Hooah

A journey Rudy would have been proud of ...

In the world of football, whether it is Pee-Wee league, high school, college or professional, discipline, imagination, drive, courage and teamwork are all key ingredients to success.  Pundits, coaches, parents and "Monday morning quarterbacks" will "cuss and discuss" the merits of each trying to make a case for one of these being more important than any of the others, but when asked for my opinion, I vote for discipline followed closely by perseverance and teamwork.

So let me make the case for this point of view.  My last civilian employment was as the principal of Anna High School, a small school in west-central Ohio.  When I went there the high school pretty much and about 45-50 students per grade and did not have a football program.  It had been 30 years since I last played the game, and 21 years since I last coached it, but I remembered how much fun it was, especially playing on Friday nights under the lights and then going to school dances in the gym.

So when the opportunity came to start up a program, I took it.  Our campaign got a lot of help from our superintendent who also happened to be a football guy.  Once we got the program off and running, there were lots of funny experiences along the way, ranging from having to show players how to put their pads on, to playing one of the early "varsity" games at a school that had a dog show for the half-time entertainment!

None of those things cited above or below would have happened, though, if there had not been an intense drive tempered with discipline over a long period of time.  It would have been real easy to throw in the towel after a season of "two-a-days"  or a winter of pre-school day lifting and running.  After all, this had never been done at Anna before.  While their friends at other schools were running around all hours of the night, doing who knows what, these young men were now introduced to a new discipline that made certain new demands of them. Men who were good or stars at another sport now had competition for the glory.  They had to learn new skill sets, all of which required dedication and DISCIPLINE. I had coached that in my earlier years, but our traditions had been established long ago and everyone knew what was expected.  As the principal, I could watch the development from the sidelines, but I really got to see what was going on when I talked to my community friends and my next-door neighbors.

One of the exceptionally great things that happened was our next-door neighbors had three boys and all of them have played or are still playing for the school.  The oldest is now graduated and attends University of Toledo.  When he was a senior, the team tied for the championship of the MAC (Mid-American Conference), arguably the most powerful football conference in Ohio (based on the number of schools who have won state championships and the total number of championships won  -- 34 state championships just in football). 

Jarred, #23 (3rd from right) is the oldest of the boys.  He played for several years including 4 yrs. in high school.  Here he is with the other seniors on that team as they display the co-championship trophy, the first such award in the school's football history.

He was also joined by two younger brothers, Dylan and Carter.  While all three boys were beset with injuries during their careers, the younger two have had more than their share.  Dylan missed pretty much the whole second half of his Junior year and Carter was injured in a pre-season scrimmage and missed the whole season (and all of his basketball season due to the virus plague).  Both boys also play baseball and will miss those seasons too.

The boys are holding this year's (outright) MAC championship trophy.  I am looking forward to following them next year.  This could be fun -- Carter is a quarterback and Dylan is a center.

But this year's team had a unique goal or battle cry -- "Leave no doubt." It seems there was some talk arond the league that Anna wasn't really a co-championship last year because they were just lucky or some other schools had injuries, or whatever.  So this year, they set their goals high and were determined to leave no doubt as to who was the champion.  Discipline.  And why stop with just the league, why not be state champions.

 

I think the pictures speak for themselves.  Not only did they win the Division VI state championship, they did it in a rather convincing manner with 4 "running clocks" in the state play-offs. Quite a feat for a team that only started football in 1999, and played its first varsity game in 2000. Oh, by the way, Anna is the first school in Shelby County to win a football state championship in any division.

Really glad I was able to play a small part in this.  Way to go, guys.

"Leave no Doubt" -- not a bad goal for a season (or life) well played.

Hooah

NC Welcome Wagon ...

Well, we are in the midst of our first spring in North Carolina and it seems the Welcome Wagon (what the locals call it) is here.  We are experiencing our first blanketing of pine pollen.  Some of my golf buddies and I briefly experienced this a few years back on one of our "Man Trips."  There were literally"clouds" of green and yellow pollen floating across the fairways as we played.  Looked like swarms of bugs or birds.  Couldn't get out of them and didn't want to stop playing so we just adapted.  I think I remember some of us playing with "Freeto-bandito" scarves over our nose and mouth.  It was hilarious until we got home and pretty much everyone had upper respiratory infections for about a week or two. Cars were that ugly yellow all the way back home. 

I have had a runny nose, itchy eyes and a cough for about a week. Sinus. Pretty much gone now, but people looked at me like I had the plague.  A sign of the times I guess.

But this is a lot different.  We now live here and there's no going back to Ohio to get out of it.  So just in case you have never seen anything like this, check these out:

The top one is our table on the screened-in back purch.  You can see the "stuff" on the glass part.  In a way, it's funny because every time you sit down on a chair back there you have a yellow butt where you sat in the pollen.  I take a dust rag and wipe off the rocking chair back there, turn around to sit down and it is already starting to get covered again.  And the locals say this isn't even the worst part of it yet.  A neighbor just drove by the front of the house in his black Honda.  It had been sitting in the driveway of his house this morning.  Now it is almost all yellow!

This one is the front door entry.  Notice the pollen piled up on the door sill.

And another thing we've run into, along with the rest of the country, is the corona virus. In this sub-division all of our mail is delivered to a central mail drop (no individual mail boxes in front of the houses any more).  There's a little parking area there so you can drive down to get your mail when it's raining.  Most people just walk to it.  But it's strange to see a bunch of people all standing 6 feet apart, spread all over the little lot, talking to each other.  A Navy friend of mine, Keith, sent me this "Social Distancing Card."  Actually it is a "Range Card" from the military and seeing it really brought back a bunch of memories.  All but some of the headshed types will recognize it and remember filling it out for the Squad Leader or Platoon Sergeant to check.  This new version is supposed to let you know how close to or far away from people you can be.

Adapt and Overcome, right??!!

Oh well, at least I can still go to the golf course and play or to the driving range (which is where I really need to go), just so I don't hit yellow golf balls.

There must be a lot of people who have a seat on the same boat I'm in, 'cause there sure are lots and lots of funny quotes about this topic. I can relate to both of these.

Spring: When you have to endure four months of people asking you, "Why are you crying?" (Unknown)

 

Spring: When your nose does more running than you do. (Unknown)

 Hooah