Travel Log: Balancing Bicycles and Biplanes

(Dec. 7, 2017) I visited Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, for the first time in 2002. I read my first full biography of the Wrights while stationed on Guam as the 2003 centennial of flight was observed. I already knew they had developed their gliders and the 1903 Flyer in Dayton and used Kitty Hawk as … Continue reading Travel Log: Balancing Bicycles and Biplanes

Travel Log: National Museum of the United States Air Force

(Dec. 6, 2017) I suffered a severe airplane coma three days ago. My brother and oldest nephew nearly had to perform mental resuscitation on me after my brain all but shut down from the incredibly amazing sensory overload that is the National Museum of the United States Air Force. The “Air Force Museum” (as it … Continue reading Travel Log: National Museum of the United States Air Force

Travel Blog: When a Napkin Saved a Family

(Dec. 5, 2017) I was touring the National Museum of the United States Air Force with my family the other day when I encountered this story. I’ll get back to the museum later; this story is remarkable enough to warrant its own column. It is a small “footnote in history” (to quote the man who … Continue reading Travel Blog: When a Napkin Saved a Family

Travel Log – Baguettes

(Nov. 28, 2017) One of the great things about traveling is people. You don’t always need big historic sites and grand natural vistas. Sometimes a small moment with a woman you’re sort-of-almost-related-to can provide a very lovely evening. I’m at my brother’s place in Ohio. Tom and Natalie are also a military family. They have … Continue reading Travel Log – Baguettes

Travel Log – Post Holiday Traffic

(Nov. 26, 2017) I left Niceville, Florida, yesterday and made it to just north of Nashville. Today was Nashville to my brother’s family outside Dayton. Of course today is Sunday, the last day of the Thanksgiving holiday. I got on the road at 10:00 and, with only a bathroom break or two and maybe a … Continue reading Travel Log – Post Holiday Traffic

Travel Log – Niceville

(Nov. 20, 2017) I have a headache. That’s neither here nor there; just thought I’d share it. I don’t have a job, and as such have a very unique level of freedom as well as a rather steep learning curve adjusting to civilian life. I’ve spent half of my lifetime in thge very structured, fast-paced … Continue reading Travel Log – Niceville

The First of the Lasts

I first wanted to join the Navy when I was six years old. It was 1978 and we were visiting my pop’s family in his home state of Hawai’i. I had traveled to Oahu at least twice before, but the first time I was about one foot long and my observational prowess consisted of alerting … Continue reading The First of the Lasts

Into the Sunset

(*Note: This log was drafted on the evening of July 28, 2017, but I was only able to polish it and publish it now due to being busy with travel and returning to work.) The inevitable always becomes inevitable. The trouble with traveling through time in the traditional, linear fashion we’re accustomed to is that … Continue reading Into the Sunset

Tangled Tale Along a Troubled Trail

Madness. Sheer, inescapable, asphalt-founded madness. Yet, what a story today’s tangled tale along a troubled trail of precipitation-painted pavement is! Tomorrow (Aug. 8, 2017) I have my first in-person interview for a job I would very much like to get—teaching public affairs at the Defense Information School (DINFOS), also on Fort Meade. However, as … Continue reading Tangled Tale Along a Troubled Trail

Into the Light

(*Note: This travel log drafted on July 27, 2017) Lighthouses don’t move…well, not normally. Usually it takes something like a hurricane, demolition, or a space-time continuum inversion to make a lighthouse get up and move. I’m happy to say the Key West Lighthouse is right where I left it the last time I saw it … Continue reading Into the Light