Friday morning we packed up and moved into the Galt House. On the way there we stoped at Stevens & Stevens and picked up a couple of sandwiches and some pasta salad. Linda had picked up a sheet cake sized trey of cup cakes that had an inch of icing on the whole thing to make it look like a birthday cake. Larry and Madeline, Courtney's daughter, both had birthdays on that day. We arrived at the Galt House at just about the same time that Gregg did. Parking can be a big issue but the parking gods were with us and we got a good spot in the garage. Gregg had to park at G.H. West garage which was OK. We stowed our gear in the designated gathering room (Courtney's on the third floor) and headed for the Command center.
Whereas, yesterday on my preliminary reconnaissance trip the one room facing the river that had the ten thousand or so wires, was now humming with the Military. They had attached those wires to things, I guess, because they were not so evident today but the sea of fly boys complete with the 'Air Boss' were gearing up. The place was humming, big time.
Larry was guiding tours through and we were just hanging out waiting for the planes to begin practicing their maneuvers. The weather was drizzly, the skies were ominous looking and the temperature was in the mid 40's.
I digress here.
I lived the first half of my life within a few miles (15 or 18) from Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Actually there were originally two bases, Wright Field and Patterson Air Force base. Wright Field is located on the family farm of Orville and Wilbur Wright, it had a wind tunnel built by the government for testing the new fangled jet propelled planes! During World War II Patterson Field became the Air Materiel Command for the Air Force and it grew so rapidly that it grew right into Wright Field, hence the new name, Wright-Patterson Airforce Base. All of the planes were tested there and so we grew used to hearing the jets breaking the sound barrier. Sonic booms were everyday events. Our friend Warner was in procurement at Wright-Pat so we all knew all of the names of the jets and other new planes and could easily identify them from our yard when they flew over. I have never lost my facination with planes, especially the fighter jets. So I could hardly wait for the practicing to begin but I was worried about how I could see them without going out on the cold swimming pool apron, in the rain to watch them. I particularly wanted to see the F-22 Raptor Demo. I am unsure how it all went down but the first thing I knew we were permitted to go out onto the balcony of the Command Center where four professional photographers were shooting pictures for various publications. Gregg, Linda and I had the best spot in the house!! The guys were cool, they were funny, knowledgeable and super friendly. They of course, knew the identity of each and every plane, even the 'comercials' as they called the planes headed for Standiford Field. It kept getting rainier and the clouds were hanging low and the Raptor could not fly unless it had a thousand foot ceiling. They finally had to give up and hope that he could get a practice in on Saturday morning. Woe is me!
Elton John was in concert at KFC Yum! on Friday and Brian called about 6PM and said he had a ticket and offered it to anyone of us that wanted to join him for the concert. Linda went and the rest of us stayed in the hotel. Except for Gregg. Larry had a health issue and needed some medication so it was arranged that the meds could be picked up at a down town drugstore, so Gregg graciously offered to walk the five or six blocks to get the prescription. When he delivered it to Larry in the Command Center, Larry took a little ragging from Wayne H. "You have your drugs delivered now??"
Courtney had her own three children and a neighbor's child with her. Two twelve year olds, one ten year old and one eight year old. All of the Ward children are Hotel savvy so they entertained themselves by 'playing 'on the escalators, riding elevators when they could find one not full and generally having fun in pursuits that I probably don't want to know about. They were cautioned each time they left the room that they were not to bump into old people or people that were dressed up! Whew!
Gregg went off on a photo shoot of his own, eventually going up to the roof of a parking garage to get some awsome pictures of the buildings and sights down town. The kids played cards and watched the cartoon channel and Courtney and I went to the bar across the hall for a glass of wine but an Amaretto Sour sounded better to us once we got there, we sat there and solved all of the world's problems and had a great time. Linda and Brian arrived back about midnight from the concert, Gregg came back from his photo shoot, Courtney and I joined them and the kids in #330 and sat up till about 1:30 hashing over our experiences. Linda and Brian said Elton John was super fabulous!! Brian had to be at work at the track at 4:30 AM so he went home to take a nap before work and Gregg, and I and Linda headed off to our rooms and left the Wards to get some sleep.Part 3 to follow.
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