To Whom It May Concern

Day Five - 03Apr05

OKAY!! We are going to be on the road by 6 in the morning!!! Well, we got up and were downstairs around 9. Hey, do not judge us, it was the end of Daylight Savings Time that has knocked us off our schedule okay??? So after some continental breakfast, and cleaning the truck, we headed over to Walmart to replenish the cooler with some goodies for the trip home.

I told belly to buy whatever she wanted to snack on, because she had just spent the last 90 days unable to do that. I'm thinking cookies and Doritos, and she buys something else *grumble*. Of course, on the way home as I'm munching on mozzarella string cheese and garlic Triscuits, I realize her choices were better than what I wanted. I'm so willing to just stick with what I know and like sometimes, that I forego trying other things. Having someone in your life who expands your horizons, even with something as simple as buying snacks, is really wonderful. I have been with people who so completely lose themselves in my life that I never get a clear picture of their likes and dislikes, or who they really are, and relationships like that can never work. They end up being clingy and desperate and all around depressing for everyone involved.

Thankfully I don't have to deal with that now, I'm with someone who has her own life, her own favorite activities, foods, music, television shows, etc. I believe that in a relationship you mesh with one another, that certain things you both enjoy bring you closer, but the things you don't realize you might like, that your other half finds enjoyable, enhance your relationship and make life more interesting and rewarding. This is without a doubt a better relationship than being with anyone who would act as though they are intrigued by your thoughts and your ideals when in fact they are disgusted by them, and in the process they try and become someone they think you would be attracted to rather than just being themselves, which is deceitful, and ends up destroying the relationship because they are no longer the person you ever thought you loved.

People like that end up blaming others for their problems, they take the bad things that happen in their own lives and project them fully onto other people, with this assumed intellectual superiority that does not allow them to either admit fault, nor to apologize for their actions. What is hard is I find myself feeling bad for people like that, because I do believe everyone deserves to be happy, just as belly and I are. I think the difference now is that I no longer dwell on other people's problems like I did before, and it's like a breath of fresh air. As we loaded up our truck and got back on the road for the trip home, belly put the pillow on my lap and laid down across the front seat, the sunlight shining through the back window as we headed out west on on Interstate 16, I looked down and realized just how lucky I am, and that there is no where else I would rather be in the world than where I was at that very moment, and just how much I had missed her.

So there we were, with our string cheese, Triscuits, oatmeal raisin bars, grape juice, Pepsi, etc... on our way to Fort Benning, where I went to basic training in the summer of 1990, some 15 years ago. I wanted to take belly there to give her some idea of what I went through when I was at basic training. When we got to Macon, GA, we headed west on Highway 80, a road that winds through the backwoods of Georgia. It was a pretty drive, although confusing at times. I probably wasted about a half hour to 45 minutes just trying to find the right direction INTO Fort Benning, not realizing that it's actually south of Columbus, GA. So at about 3:30 or so we rolled through the gates of Ft. Benning, and headed over to the National Infantry Museum.

As we walked around inside, checking out the exhibits, it was an amazing feeling. Here I was, at the very post where I had trained to do exactly what these men had done for so many years, to protect our country, believing in something bigger than themselves, and I am a part of that brotherhood, that tradition, the 'blue cord' of the 11B, Infantry. It's really hard to describe the emotions... pride for the accomplishments of those who came before you, sorrow and appreciation for those who's blood fell on the soil of so many foreign lands to accomplish the mission, to protect each other, to protect one's country. To be there and see that with belly, herself newly part of another proud organization with it's own amazing traditions, it is a point in time I will never forget.

Unfortunately, we were only able to spend about 40 minutes in the museum before they closed. Afterwards we walked around outside and looked at the armored personnel carriers, artillery pieces, and tanks on the lawn in front of the museum. Then we got back into the truck, and using a map of Benning we got in the museum, tried to find Sand Hill, where I spent my three months of basic training. Now, despite my spending 3 months here, it had been 15 years before, and also, being at basic training you don't really get to see WHERE you are, in terms of being able to find your way around post, save for about one section, about a half square mile you spend the majority of your time in. Now certainly you leave that area, but usually on foot, marching in a long ranger file on the side of the road. So it probably was another 15 minutes of driving around before we came across something I recognized: the Sand Hill Post Xchange.

As belly and I went inside to do a little shopping, it was amazing how the memories came back, the barber shop, the arcade gallery we were not allowed in, the long lines of young men waiting to purchase only the essential items allowed by their Drill Sergeants. I did have to laugh about one thing though. On Sand Hill, you are lucky if you see maybe half a dozen females your entire time at basic training, because only men are allowed to do infantry school, which is basically all Sand Hill is. So as belly and I walked in the door, I caught one private out of the corner of my eye elbowing the private next to him and saying "WOW" and pointing at belly. I started laughing and belly wondered what for, so I had to explain why the soldiers she would see around here might act rather oddly. Of course, I am always pointing at her and going WOW so I didn't see what the big deal was : )

I purchased a couple of Ft. Benning tshirts, one for myself and one for my buddy midas, then we got some dog tag silencers and a dog tag chain for belly, and headed out to try and find the battalion I trained at. Further down the road we came across the Sand Hill clothing exchange and I decided to buy a watch, one of the really cheapy 20 dollar timex military watches with the cloth band. I have been meaning to get one for some time, but they are hard to find on the civilian side.

At this point I had a rough idea of where we were at, as we drove past the medical building where I went to sick call twice, and then I saw the fitness track and realized I was there, the 1st Battalion, 50th Infantry. As we drove up I saw a few changes, the big hill behind the building where we used to have to run up and down, doing pushups on the way down and situps on the way up at the blast of a whistle, had been cut about halfway down and there were buildings there now, along with quite a few more trees. As we drove up and parked in the lot, I thought about getting out and showing belly around some, but a Drill Sergeant had a platoon out about 25 meters to the front and he stood staring at us with his hands on his hips, 'round brown' pulled way down, looking all menacing, haha, so we just headed out on our way.

We tried to get up to Harmony Church but every road was blocked off. I wanted to show belly some of the places where I had trained up there, like first aid and map reading and what not, the really old barracks from World War I. When we got to the front gate on our way out of Ft. Benning the guard told us that the buildings at Harmony Church had been razed to the ground. That was sad to hear, because of the history of those buildings. The guard said that they had left a couple to renovate back to the same shape they were in around 1918 or so. I would have liked to have seen them one more time. I would like to have just had more time to look around, someday...

So once again, out on the road we went. This time up I-185, to bypass Atlanta. We were both pretty tired by this point in time, it had already been a long day of driving. It was about 10 p.m. when we got into Chattanooga, Tennessee. My sister had wondered if I would want to stay the night there but I figured we would get a hotel instead. We did stop in and visit with her and her husband for about an hour or so. It was nice to be able to see them twice over a 5 day period like that. My nieces were especially rambunctious, they are growing up so fast. I hope they can all come to our wedding, I would love to have one of them as a flower girl, that would really be nice.

After our visit we headed back down Lookout Mountain and tried to find somewhere to eat at 11 at night. We passed by a Taco Bell on our way to Wendy's. This ended up being a mistake. We got to the menu board. "Hi, welcome to Wendy's, can I take your order?" So we gave her our order. "One moment please". Waiting... "Can you repeat that?" We repeat the order. About literally a 3 minute wait. "Hi, welcome to Wendy's, can I take your order?" Ever seen a Dodge truck laying down rubber in a Wendy's parking lot late at night? If you haven't, you would have had your opportunity right there as I showed my disapproval of the idiot lady taking our order and we headed on out to Taco Bell.

Then we stayed in a hotel just off the interstate, ate our cheap meal, and enjoyed more time together. Oddly enough, it was the best hotel room I had the entire time and the cheapest. It's hard to catch up on 90 days apart, it seemed like neither one of us ever did stay quiet the entire time, we talked and talked and talked some more, it was nice. After awhile though, we were both pretty tired and fell right asleep.