September 15, 2019

September 5, 2019

 We had a good stay while at Travis the past few days.  On Tuesday morning we had breakfast with Joe Martin at Mel’s Diner in Vacaville.  Later in the day Bill Fordyce drove up from Oakley, CA for a short visit.  Bill was a Loadmaster with the 708th Airlift Squadron, he flew with Joyce back in the day.

 Yesterday we hooked up and headed to Naval Air Station Fallon, NV.  The drive up the hills on I-80 was uneventful although slow since for a lot of the time we were in the truck lanes and down to 30-35 MPH.  After getting to the south gate maneuvering on the base was a tad difficult but we got it done.

 We had made the reservation here before changing our trip so we actually should have cancelled this stay and booked an RV park near Reno. It probably cost us 2-3 gallons of fuel from I-80 and back.

 On the 5th our good friends Jerry and Marilyn Howlett made a two hour drive from Gardnerville for a short visit.  We had a delicious meal at the Courtyard Cafe and Bakery in Fallon.  Thank you so much for taking the time to drive all that way to spend time with us.  We love y’all.

September 9, 2019

 We left NAS Fallon on the 6th headed for Wells, NV for one night.  The drive was easy,  especially when we got on I-80 so at a rest area we stirred the pot and decided to go all the way to West Wendover, NV and the Nugget Casino’s RV Park.  Not the worse place we have stayed but very close.  http://www.campgroundreviews.com/regions/nevada/wendover/wendover-nugget-rv-park-6921

 After leaving West Wendover we made the run to Spanish Fork, NV in good time.  We did have some issues with getting fuel.  We finally found a Maverick station in Pro, UT and got diesel for $2.86 a gallon.

 After getting fuel we got back on I-15 and headed down to the Canyon View RV Park.  Canyon View is a city owned park that offers all back in sites with shared 30 amp electrical and water hookups.

 After getting set up in our site we drove over to Ron and Katie Cutler’s home in Payson.  Joyce and I first met Ron and Katie in Temecula, CA when we were volunteering at Vail Lake RV Resort (now Temecula/Vail Lake KOA) and have become life-long friends.  Thank you Ron and Katie for all your hospitality and friendship.  We love y’all!

September 11, 2019

 Yesterday morning we left Spanish Fork and headed to the OK RV Park in Moab, UT.  We have been here before when we toured all of the national parks in southern Utah so this time it was just a stop over.  However when checking in the receptionist recommended we take a drive up UT Highway 128 that winds its way up through the red rock canyon following the Colorado River.  So after setting up in our site we did just that.

 If you have never been to Moab before, Joyce and I highly recommend you visit Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and to put this drive on your “must-do” list.  We drove eleven miles to the Sorrel River Ranch Resort and turned around.  Later we found out there is a loop we could have done in the same amount of time.  The pictures we took hardly represent the beauty of this area.

 We left Moab this morning, jumped on US 491 south headed to Gallup, NM.  Going through a canyon shortly after leaving Moab there were ominous looking clouds out to the west and all of a sudden we heard a very, very loud CRACK!  Holy Moly, I though I had blown a tire or had a backfire.  I immediately scanned the instruments and saw nothing out of the ordinary.  Whew!!!!

 Although the crosswinds were high the drive was fairly easy.  We stopped in Cortez, Co at a Maverick station and filled up with diesel fuel for $2.86 a gallon.  The winds picked up shortly after leaving Cortez with some pretty high gusts from the west/north west.  Everything changed when we crossed into New Mexico.  Not only were we getting a lot of winds but the highway was horrendous.  Numerous frost heaves caused me to slow down to 20 to 25 MPH to keep the coach on the road.  To add to all the fun there were numerous places that had repairs done in, I think maybe 1945.

 We pulled into the USA RV Park here in Gallup about 3:00 PM, tired and a tad frazzled and darned glad to be off the road.  The good news is they have supper here in the park so Joyce doesn’t have to cook and we can leave to CRV hooked up for the night.  Hoping for tailwinds and easier driving tomorrow.

September 13, 2019

 Yesterday morning we left Gallup and made the 147 mile drive to Kirtland AFB, NM where we plan to spend four nights.  After getting setup we went over to the base exchange and had some lunch and then went to the Joann’s store in Albuquerque, where Joyce picked up a few things to help here with a quilt project she is working on.

September 14, 2019

 This morning we stirred the travel pot again and changed some things,  Instead of staying at Kirtland AFB four nights we are going to leave tomorrow morning.  We plan to spend one night at the Elks Lodge in Tucumcari, NM and then on into Amarillo, TX on Monday.  This will shorten the driving days and get us to Amarillo at a more decent hour.

 We had hoped to visit Chuck and Oretha Souder who live in Gilmer, TX.  Well, that ain’t gonna work out so good since they have a trip to Branson, MO.  Maybe next time.

 So, what is the best way to get to Shreveport Elks Lodge from Amarillo.  I really want to avoid the Dallas/Fort Worth if I can so with Chuck’s directions we’re going to go south through Wichita Falls, spend one night near Henrietta then another night in Mineola.  Might be the slower root but I will do just about anything to stay away from Dallas.

Until next time,

Barry & Joyce

August 27, 2019

August 24, 2019

 After getting moved yesterday Joyce went out to lunch with some friends and I just hung out at the RV.  Later we had supper Bud’s Pub & Grill in Dixon, one of our go-to places when we lived in Vacaville.

August 27, 2019

 On Sunday we packed up and headed up to the Calistoga RV Park to visit Joyce’s mother Judy and family.  After getting settled in Joyce, Joann, Joyce’s sister-in-law and Judy went over to the Graton Resort and Casino while I just hung out here at the park.

 Before we left Travis our sewer macerator system plugged up when I was emptying the holding tanks.  I worked on it for a while but decided to take the rig on over to Calistoga and finish the job there.

 So yesterday morning I got up and got that task accomplished.  Had a devil of a time getting the main hose connected but finally got that done but discovered there was a very small leak in the hose.  I fixed that problem with some Eternabond tape.  If you have an RV and don’t have at least one roll of that stuff you need to get some.  That tape will fix just about anything.

 After getting cleaned up after the messy sewer job we went to Saint Helena to visit with Judy.  Later we went to the Tra Vigne Pizzera for supper.  This restaurant has good food but as with most all places in St. Helena it is pricy.

 I’m going to break away from the traditional newsletter and write about something in my past.  I hope this doesn’t bore anyone.

 This past weekend the Loring AFB Heritage Center hosted the 25th anniversary of the base's closing.  I was stationed there for three winters and would like to share with you a little about that experience.

 Loring AFB was named after Major Charles J. Loring Jr., a Medal of Honor recipient that he was awarded during the Korean War.  More about Maj. Loring here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_J._Loring_Jr.

 I arrived at Loring in February 1972 after three years at Clark AB, Philippines.  Loring was located a few miles north east of Caribou, Maine, basically a long way from nowhere.  To say that it was a shock to my system is an understatement since it was about 10° when I arrived.  The next morning I signed into the 42nd Organizational Maintenance Squadron and was assigned to the bomber branch working on B-52G’s (nicknamed "The BUFF, Big Ugly Fat Fellow/%^$#@*") an aircraft I absolutely knew nothing about but learned very fast from the “older troops”.  I was also a certified flying crew chief so I did some of the more unusual missions during that time including flying some missions to RAF Mildnehall, England.

 After 18 months working on BUFF’s I was assigned to the Alert Branch, where I had the duty as an Alert Controller supervising B-52 and KC-135 tanker crew chiefs when they were on alert with their airplanes.  The controller’s worked a 48 hour on and 72 hour off schedule that really gave me a lot of time to explore Maine and New Brunswick, Canada.

 After three years at Loring I cross trained to flight engineering flying the C-141 at Travis AFB, CA.  And as they say, “the rest is history”.

Main Gate

These signs and others like it were all over the base:

Loring's tower as it is now and the weapons storage now:

B-52G at the Museum of Flight, Seattle, WA

Buff's on the ramp, winter 1972

A Loring KC-135 doing a low pass

I could not find many pictures of the Alert Force airplanes for obvious reasons, but here is one of the Buff's starting engines with the starter cartridges during an alert exercise.  We had one of those every week, always unannounced and at all hours both day and night.  They were always a pain in the butt, especially in the at night in the winter but we all knew the reasons for them.

This is a picture of a B-52 being loaded with weapons before being cocked on alert in 1972.  We loaded them with a SRAM nuclear missile rotary launcher loaded with six independently targeted missiles and with two "iron" nuclear bombs.  When the bomber was standing alert they had to be checked everyday and the aircrews would sometimes have to "retarget" the missiles depending on the that days targets.

It was COLD in the winter at Loring.  I saw the temperatures drop down to -30 to even -35 degrees.  It was routine to go for weeks at a time and not see anything above -10 degrees.  And it snowed a lot!

The snow really pilled up in the housing areas.  I lived on Meham Drive and sometimes would have to kick the back door to get out of our apartment.  Of course I couldn't get the car out of the garage so I road my snowmobile to the flight line.

Here are some pictures of Loring today:

When assigned to Bomber Branch, I spent a lot of time in these.

This is the large Arch hanger that we used a lot.  One time we had an ice storm come through that dumped so much ice on the Alert Force that we had to downgrade the complete force and move them into this hanger.  That included down loading all of the weapons off of the bombers and taking fuel off of the tankers before towing them into the hanger.  As you can imagine this was a big deal with the Wing Commander and at Strategic Air Command headquarters.

Arch Hanger today.

Some pictures of inside Arch hanger now:

During the reunion there was a flyby of the B-52 61-007 "The Ghost Rider" that is now based at Minot AFB, ND.

More reading about Loring AFB:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loring_Air_Force_Base

http://www.loringremembers.com/history-of-loring-afb

B-52H, 61-007:  “The Ghost Rider"

August 29, 2019

 This morning we hooked up around 10:15 and made the drive down to the Travis AFB Famcamp.  We plan to be here until Wednesday 4 Sep.  We also made some changes to our route after leaving NAS Fallon, NV.:  Wells, NV, Spanish Fork, UT to visit friends, Cortez, CO, Gallup, NM and then Kirtland AFB, NM.  A tad out of the way but we’re really excited to see Ron and Katie Cutler who we met several years ago when we were volunteering in Temecula, CA.  We have visited with them a few times over the years and have become very close.

August 30, 2019

 This morning we drove down to Fresno to visit my mother.  Mom is now 89 years old and lives in a board and care facility that takes very good care of her.  We plan to be here for a couple of days so we can see my brothers Alan and Richard as well.

September 2, 2019

 We got back to Travis AFB yesterday afternoon.  Mother is doing good and is in very good hands at the board and care facility.

 Right now we are closely monitoring hurricane Dorian that is bearing down on Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.  We are scheduled to be at Lynch’s Landing RV Park in San Mateo, FL on 1 October.  The park is only 36 miles from Michelle’s home in St. Augustine and is right on the St. John’s River so we’re very concerned about the damage in that area.  We’ll wait and see what happens and are always ready with Plan 2 ion necessary.

Later,

Barry & Joyce