Tiger cruise is the chance for family and friends to see up close what the US Navy does on a day for day basis."Tiger" is any relative or friend (but not girlfriend/boyfriend, fiancée or spouse) of a crew member.
Terry wasn’t the only “Tiger” on the cruise as other family members joined him at the pickup point. . Since the ship was scheduled for maintenance and would be in port for some time, it needed to offload ammunition in Yorktown. A trip was made to and from Yorktown to do just that. Security is really, really tight at Yorktown but it definitely should be. 
A fellow blogger, Mr. Dahl, said,
“You can take the man out of the Navy, but you can't take the Navy out of the man..”.
He was right. Terry loved the cruise. He even took more pictures than he ever had in his life and did a pretty good job. There were many places he visited where cameras weren’t allowed.
After the cruise he and Justin did what most bachelors out by themselves do. They went to the show and did a lot of fine dining. One of those places was Justin’s favorite place which just happened to be for barbecue. I wonder if the love of barbecue is genetically inherited.The time ended too soon. Justin had duty and Terry needed to head back to Sacramento. This time he was flying stand-by again and he dreaded the idea of not making the flight. However, things were better than perfect. The flight from Norfolk to Dallas and from Dallas to Sacramento were both open and to top it off he got first class seats on both flights. He was definitely a happy camper.
With a slight delay I whisked him away from the airport a little after midnight and we were back at our “wonderful” RV park before you knew it. Now we could have waited for one more day to leave. That would give him a chance to rest up but he wanted to GO and so did I. We figured it would be a short day but at least we’d be moving. That's what we planned but that's not what happened. We thought an easy 120 mile day would move us just south of Redding but we didn't stop there.
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That planned 120 miles turned into 350 miles. From Redding we continued north towards the Siskiyous. The Siskiyou mountain range is a piece of cake this time of year. Heading south in the winter can be another story. The last thing we want to encounter on the Siskiyous is snow or ice. However, we definitely had no worries this time. After all, it's the month of May. It was sunny but at times very windy.
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It was up and over with our stop for the night at the Seven Feathers Casino --- about 230 miles farther than planned. We were just in time to pig out for dinner on their marvelous buffet. What a feast it was!
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| Terry's chauffeur, Justin |
‘Tis life on the road.
Grandparents and grandchildren are God's gift to each other.
Great pictures Terry. Glad you had such a good time. No snow over the mountains is always a good thing.
ReplyDeleteNow that is a good ays travel. Sounds like Terry really enjoyed himself, and took a great bunch of photos too.
ReplyDeleteLoved Seven Feathers Resort and plan to revisit next year.
ReplyDeleteLove your quote--absolutely true! Jim was in the Navy during Vietnam. The husband of one of my former colleagues was in the Navy & when I explained to Jim his Navy history, he promptly state "He's a Mustanger!" I had no idea what that was but my friend's husband confirmed that he was indeed a Mustanger! Funny...
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised Terry didn't run to the nearest Navy recruiting office after he left Justin's ship! A nice program for Sailor's families. I watched many a Navy ship go up to the Weapons Station when I was stationed in Yorktown. The WS even has a very nice campground we've stayed at many times.
ReplyDeleteFirst Class seats? I have to try this standby flight thing. ;c)
PS: "Mr. Dahl"? When did we get so formal? :cD
ReplyDeleteYea! I was waiting to hear awesome the trip was. So very happy for Terry and Justun. And what a perk...first class.
ReplyDeleteYou two travel like Paul and I. Let's just go 200 today. End if the day we are closer to 350. Just stay safe.
So happy for you Terry. What an adventure.
ReplyDeleteGlad Terry & Justin had such a good time. Of course, we knew they would.
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised that after having sat all the time in a park you didn't like that you got as far away from it as you could. :)
Great time on the water:)
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome experience. When our son returned to Norfolk after a tour overseas and to Haiti, we met him and were allowed on his ship....Joe also served in the Navy back in the 60s. We were proud parents for sure!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful experience - so glad that you shared photos.
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