Shurijo Castle Park - March 20th '06

For many centuries Okinawa was an independent kingdom known as Ryukyu. There are a lot of fortress sites around the island of Okinawa but the most important is Shuri Castle. Shurijo (jo means castle) was the largest castle and served as the main residence of the Ryukyu kings until Okinawa became a prefecture of Japan in 1879. No one knows exactly when it was built but it is believed to have been completed at the end of the 14th century. Shuri is built high at the top of the city of Naha with many layers of gates on the surrounding hillsides. Visiting the area I found it hard to believe that it was completely destroyed during World War II, and was only restored and reopened to the public in 1992. It has been designated one of 11 World Heritage sites by the Government of Japan, the only one in Okinawa. Work is still progressing. The day we were there they were working on areas of the walls. The castle entrance and gates were everything I would have expected to see. It was quite a climb to the entrance and we really got our exercise today. At Shureimon, the second of the castle's main gates there were elaborately dressed girls trying to entice tourists to have souvenir pictures taken in borrowed costumes. We passed on those and took our own pictures.



The Ryukyuns were international traders particularly with the Chinese and this influenced their architecture. The lion-dog or Shisa that Robert is standing next to is a constant theme all over the island and even in the common Okinawan dwellings a lion would have been perched on the roof . (By the way, these photos are clickable so you can see them full size!)









The main hall of the castle is called Seiden. This is where all the official business affairs of the kingdom were accomplished. The courtyard is a lot bigger than it looks in the pictures and the kings had enormous official colorful ceremonies. The royal party would stand on the balcony in the middle of the second floor (underneath the arch)to oversee all.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the Seiden (we weren't allowed to wear shoes either), but a guard let Rob take pictures of the throne room.


Some Japanese tourists offered to take pictures of the American tourists in the flower garden:)


Yes, we really took a picture of the garbage cans at Shuri Castle Park. Read them and you'll see why! They seemed obvious but trying to actually use them became a confusing process. We watched Japanese visitors to see how to use it but they would go through the same process of separating their trash, swinging each door to see inside and then just shrug and throw it in. Maybe someone was secretly filming an episode of Candid Camera!

We read that the Japanese Army had used Shuri Castle as underground headquarters during the Battle of Okinawa by tunneling and extending caves underneath. We didn't see any signs indicating where they were so Rob asked at the information booth. When we found them they were just a couple of steps from the main path leading down toward Buddhist and Shintu shrines but unmarked. Although lots of people wandered by on the path we were the only people seeking the cave entrances out. Everything was very overgrown and it reminded us of a scene out of an Indiana Jones movie. It was very creepy and unsettling and we didn't stay very long.



Bezaitendou is the temple on the left and Enkakuji is on the right. Enkakuji was built in 1428 and is one of the major temples. The temple and the Hojochi pond are restorations but the Hojokyo (little bridge) survived the war intact and has been designated an important cultural asset.


Katherine FINALLY gets to buy a Japanese soda from one of the COOl machines on the way home. What did she choose? Fanta Grape. Brave Girl:)

March 20th '06 - City Bus Ride

Today I learned how to read a bus schedule in a language I absolutely cannot read. From the base community center we had picked up instructions which told us how to take the bus to the local landmarks. As informative as they were, they did not explain the frequency of the different busses that it recommended we take to get to these places. We stood at the bus stop for what seemed like forever, particularly to Robert. There was no name or number on the bus stop and I was beginning to doubt either the integrity of our cab driver or our ability to communicate clearly.
We noticed people stopping by a piece of paper tacked to a pole. One person copied information from the page into his cell phone. Rob pointed out to me that it was the bus schedule and based on his experience in Korea he showed me how to read the numbers. The number 90 bus which we needed to take only came once an hour and we just happened to arrive exactly in the middle of that hour. Fortunately by the time we figured that out we only had 15 minutes left so I relaxed and spent some leisure time taking photos and watching Okinawans as they progressed along their ordinary paths.

We rode the bus for almost an hour. We would pass several stops before our lit-up fare number would change. When you get on the bus you take a ticket. The number on that ticket signifies at which number stop you got on, kind of like the New Jersey Turnpike. We held on to our tickets very carefully because we weren't sure what would happen if you lost it and didn't know which number stop you got on - would you pay full fare just like the turnpike? Anyway, that number matches a number on the box above the driver's head. Every so many miles the light-up board will change just like cab fare. Busses take only coins and since bus fare came to almost $9 for each of us Rob had to carry huge pocketfuls of change.The only way that we knew which bus stop was ours was to watch for the price that our instructions told us it would cost to get to our stops. It was a little scary but people were very nice. They would overhear where we were trying to go and point us in the right direction.
We also learned that just because a bus had the right number didn't mean it was going in the right direction. Sometimes it was necessary to cross the street to catch the bus going the right way. We learned this after putting $2 in a fare box and then as an afterthought Rob asked the driver before we got on if we were headed the right way. It was kind of embarrassing and we felt pretty clueless, but we just shrugged it off and ran across the street to wait for the next bus.

Riding the city bus is a good way to get a new perspective on the city and it's people. Instead of riding around looking through the glass of the private taxi or car in your own little world you become part of everyone else's daily lives as a silent observer but also part of the routine. We rode in the back of the bus and sometimes someone boarding the bus would glance our way noticing the strangers at the back. It would be ridiculous to say that we didn't stand out as strangers since we looked so differently from everyone else - not too many blondes and even fewer redheads - I was a minority of one everywhere we went. Although different personalities emerged there did seem to be a uniformity among the people on the bus, particularly among the young people. Shag hairstyles are in here, but it seems to be popular to make it look as though they cut their hair with a straight razor themselves leaving long ragged tails in an unkempt sort of look. Both boys and girls wear this style making it hard to tell the difference between them if the girls didn't wear skirts as part of their school uniforms.

One brochure we read after arriving said that although the northern beaches of the island are beautiful, the populated areas of Okinawa are ugly. I wouldn't entirely agree with that although the city landscape too seems to have uniformity. Perhaps that is a result of the entire island being turned to rubble during the 60 days of the Battle of Okinawa. Up until those 60 days the city looked exactly as it had for the past 300 years. Okinawa is a very different city now. When the cities were rebuilt there was very little of the traditional Japanese style put into the structures. It's made up of concrete block-style houses, built close together and stacked on top of each other. Although this is a matter of functionality - they are actually built to withstand typhoons - I can't help but to wonder if it's an emotional reaction to the horror of such a war - as though all the beauty was wiped out - gone forever from the soul of the survivors. Perhaps it was just practicality - the cheapness of the building materials used - war brought financial devastation and Okinawa is still the poorest part of Japan - but to me the houses look like battle ships themselves, an image reinforced by the metal smoke-stack looking tubes on the top of each building which are actually individual water towers so necessary to island living. There has been very little attempt to make them beautiful - they are simply functional.

Miniature cars are parked everywhere, underneath and close to buildings on the sidewalks as though stowed-away in the basement. It's like a miniature futuristic city with every inch inhabited and fully utilized. We passed a fire station on our bus ride and it reminded me of a lego set. There was an over-sized replica of a fire-hydrant out in front with what I assume was the name of the station in kanji on it. Even the fire trucks were smaller and rounded like space vehicles. As though to counteract the gray there are colorful banners everywhere. Soda machines every 10 feet that are wide and brightly lit displaying plastic replicas of the 30 or so drinks each one offers. There are no garbage cans on the streets but the streets are clean except next to these vending machines where people neatly stack the cans they emptied while waiting for buses. I was concerned about the stacks and wondering why they at least wouldn't place a recycling bin next to them and Rob said, "don't worry, someone will come by for them. Sure enough, just as our bus approached an old lady walked up with a white plastic trashbag and was intently examining each can, turning it upside down to empty the meager left-over contents before carefully putting it in her bag.

Despite the uniformity and shabbiness of so many of the buildings I can't help but like Okinawa. There are children playing carefree everywhere and smiles are returned on the streets. The island is reported to have the highest number of centenarians in all of Japan. The mild weather, slower pace and healthy diets are said to be the cause. Sounds a bit like Monterey to me.

March 19th '06- Nothin' much

Today was a really frustrating day! All we managed to accomplish was moving from the hotel to the Airforce lodge. Rob seems to have brought the flu with him and is really sick today. By the time we moved into the hotel it was afternoon. So mostly we sat around and waited for him to feel better. The kids didn't mind. The room has a DVD player and we bought them Code Lyoko and Corpse Bride. They seem content to laze around. I guess it's good that we all rest. This lodging is kind of run down, especially in comparison to what we just left. Japanese hotels are so quiet and I hear the thumping of little feet upstairs! At least there are two rooms so we can spread out and have a little privacy. There's also a full kitchen so we can cook some of our meals and save money and time. The largest expense seems to be for transportation. Taxis cost a bit, but they are worth it. Taxi driving is a respected profession here so the cabs are all clean and the drivers polite and helpful. While Rob went into the lodging office to check us in the kids and I waited in the taxi. Robert decided to practice his Japanese by saying "domo origato" to the taxi driver (once I convinced him to stop saying Mr. Roboto after it). The taxi driver was so pleased that it seemed as though we had turned on a switch. He asked us where we come from in the states. We told him California and he got very excited telling us that he has a sister who lives in Takoma, Washington and in 1997 he visited Oregon, Washington, and Victoria in Canada. The dialogue had not been as smoothe as it sounds and so I mentioned that it is very cold there. He said," It dains, it dains" and I nodded and said,"oh, yes, it rains a lot." I started to assume that maybe I didn't understand him well enough because he pulled out a book that I thought was going to be an English dictionary but out of this little book he pulled a couple of dogeared photos and showed them to us. One was a picture of him with his sister at Mt. Rainier in the snow. He was so proud of it that I felt honored to see the pictures. That's how Okinawans have been this trip, if you make even the smallest attempt at speaking their language they just open up. Everyone has been so friendly!

We did manage to stop by the base community services building to check on tours. There is a gift shop inside with a lot of beautiful reasonably priced things. The lady who works there was making a 3-D cloth still-life. She was really nice. She explained everything to us. Katherine bought a blue cloth with Kanji on it that mean snow, wind, earth and of course I've forgotten what the fourth one is. Rob was feeling a little bit better and decided we should eat at the new Chili's on base. It was okay. I still want to have Japanese food. Tomorrow we are planning to go sightseeing on our own by taking the city bus. We picked up an instruction sheet at the community center. It should be an adventure since we have to change buses part way through the trip. We're planning to go to Shuri Castle.

Leaving the hotel:

March 18th '06- Evening in Mihama

We asked the clerk at the desk where to go shopping - where locals shop, not tourist trap areas. Based on his advice we headed out to an area called Mihama. It was formerly known as Camp Hamby, a helicopter base but when the U.S. Military closed the base and turned it over to the Japanese it was turned into a huge modern shopping area. Unfortunately, Rob forgot to bring the camera which I thought he did on purpose and didn't remind him that it was next to the front door so we don't have any pictures from that night. First impression was a big fairgrounds. We just started wandering around in a daze, most definitely looking like the tourists that we were. (I was kind of glad at that point that Rob forgot the camera or we would have actually looked even more generic than we already did!) The first place we wandered by seemed to be a home depot - the sign was orange but in Kanji so we could only guess. We wandered around some more jumping over mud puddles to carnival looking buildings. We checked out a bowling alley. It was noisy and colorful and I instantly felt out of place because people were staring back at us. It looked like a bowling alley at home except for the orderliness. The bowling balls were grouped by size and color in organized clumps almost like clusters of grapes since most of them were purple. My OCD friends would have really appreciated it! Each ball seemed to have enough holes drilled in for the entire hand. If I hadn't felt so uncomfortable we might have stayed longer to see how they actually bowled with them.

We went outside and into a bigger building where the crowd seemed to be an equal mix of American military and Okinawans. On the tiny island (60 miles north to south) there are still in inordinate number of U.S. military bases, mostly Marine, but all four services have some type of facilities. Inside we found huge karaoke places and a store with giant stuffed pokemon, hello kitty's and even a Bob's Big boy. I never quite figured out what the store was supposed to be about. It was a candy/junk/souvenir/sake store. There was so much in there that it was overwhelming. They even sold packets of Hello Kitty curry! And there was a whole store dedicated to cell phone straps. We decorate our keychains, the Japanese decorate their cell phones. Everyone has a cell phone and they are bigger than ours because they are designed to do everything - even watch videos! If they do laundry I'm in ;) Vending machines and arcades are everywhere! The Japanese are nuts over vending machines. There are whole stores dedicated to vending machines, completely unmanned - just vending machines. It's kind of unnerving. Like Hal is watching. You can win everything from stuffed animals to noodle bowls to big bags of potato chips in the arcades. Picture booths are also a favorite past-time. There was a huge area of the mall dedicated to picture booths - you can even rent costumes to wear for the pictures. It seemed cruel to make the kids just "window shop" in an arcade universe so we walked outside. At the top of one of the buildings was an enormous ferris wheel but with a storm coming we figured we'd pass on that ride. The wind is really whips in Okinawa!

We decided to walk across the street to where a crowd had gathered. As we waited to cross a scooter went by with two people riding it blasting rap music. It seemed so out of place amongst the little shoebox cars that we started giggling. Rob commented that no matter how you soup it up it's still just a scooter :)

The crowd had gathered around a street performer. He was very funny even though we could only understand a word here and there. He had a rope and this bowtie shaped rubber weight that he would toss in the air and catch on the rope. It was pretty impressive. For his next trick he dipped some wands into gasoline type liquid. He jumped on a unicycle. The most amazing feat of this trick was that he managed to light the wands in the whipping wind before juggling them. Just when we thought we was finished he hopped off the unicycle and drank down a huge gulp of the nasty oily looking liquid. He must have accidentally swallowed it or waited too long because he went back to the jug and took another mouthful. It had to have tasted nasty! Then he climbed on a railing which was scary because if he had fallen backward he would have been toast. But he managed to keep his balance and breathe fire. It was definitely awe inspiring!

We were all hungry but not feeling terribly adventurous we decided to eat at McDonald's. The girl showed us a menu that we could point to. It closely resembled what we were used to with a few exceptions. There was a teriyaki burger and something that looked like a hamburger with an egg on it. It seemed that eggs were part of every menu we saw- overeasy on noodles, etc. Rob ordered a Happy Meal and was directed to pick out his prizes from the bins behind him. Can you imagine that at a McDonald's at home?? I get to keep his hello kitty toy :=)

Before jumping into one of the waiting cabs we stopped by Starbucks because we collect Starbucks city-themed mugs. Rob started this when he bought us a couple in Qatar. The Starbucks was entirely patronized by Americans. While the Japanese will drink iced coffee like it's going out of style they don't seem to care as much for hot coffee drinks. They just don't know what they're missing! We found what we were looking for and jumped in a cab leaving the bright lights behind. Robert's head rolled around next to me in the back of the cab as he fell asleep. When we got to the hotel he woke up enough to walk inside and get in the elevator. Some Japanese girls got in after us and I noticed them looking at him and nodding at each other to look at him. I looked in alarm to see if he had something on his face as any mother would, but Rob told me when we got to our room that they were admiring him. He does kind of look like a Japanese cartoon with his big doe eyes! I think I'll hold tighter to his hand when we go out from now on.

March 18th '06-Swimming and Yen

As I write this I realize that we've lost a day somewhere. We had to be at the airport at 1:30 on Wednesday morning the 15th so it seems like we lost Thursday but since we crossed the international dateline on Wednesday maybe we lost the 15th. If I think about it too hard I just keep going in circles. We've decided to stay in Okinawa since we can't get to Singapore. We considered flying to Tokyo in a couple of days but we don't want to waste another day of our vacation on travel - we're all so tired! And we hear that it's been snowing there and we are packed for equator weather so we'll stay here "in the tropics of Japan."

Today was mostly a logistical day, trying to make sure we have reservations for the next few days on the Airbase at a much more reasonable rate and then visiting an ATM to get some yen. Even though the yen rate is roughly one to one our first experience at the ATM was less than successful. I think it's because they don't use decimal points that we sometimes get confused. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it). We were really lucky that we didn't mistakenly take out a million dollars! In fact, I think we accidentally tried to take out $500 which is over the daily limit. It's a good thing that ATMs spit your card back out at you before continuing with a transaction or the machine may have shredded our card :)

Robert is completely fascinated with yen. It seems to be the only souvenir that he wants at this point. We'll see how long that lasts. Anyway, we had to confiscate some of the coins because we needed to use them! Our biggest coin is a dollar, but theirs is a 500 yen coin which is worth about $5 depending on the day.


In the afternoon we relaxed by taking advantage of the hotel's beautiful indoor pool.

March 17th '06- Miso for Breakfast

Robert checking out the gear on a C-5

View from THE window!

We made it to Japan last night! After a 4 hour layover in Osan, Korea. We didn't get to see much of Korea except the flightline and the inside of the little terminal. Robert was so tired he tried to start a rebellion to stay in Osan overnight instead of flying, but my first impression of the place made me want to get out of there as fast as possible. When we landed the automatic staircase was broken so we had to download through the main cargo hold by climbing down steep stairs. When Katherine approached the stairs she suddenly refused to go down. I was really afraid we were going to have to drop her against her will(she has superhuman strength when she's scared), but she just wanted me to go first. It didn't help that there was an adult waiting at the top afraid to go down and letting everyone know that, but we made it out. Since there are no windows in a C-5 it was the first time we had seen what we had flown into. Everything was gray, dull, bare, a little fog rising. As Rob says, why in the world would anyone want to fight over this country? As follow-thru passengers we were told that we were not to leave the little room we were ushered into for the duration of the flight. Fortunately, they were merciful and would let us go out to use the restroom, but we had to give up our ID cards each time. We could use the courtesy phone to have food delivered because apparently anything in Korea is available for delivery. The Korean customs officer would come out of his office periodically and clap his hands at the poor Airmen who worked there and command that they had done something wrong. Just when it was starting to feel like we were living Tom Hank's life in Terminal it was finally time to go. Although the flight wasn't full there were so many babies on it because the Airforce is in on the secret of giving spouses Environmental Morale Leave and there was a big group coming from seeing their husbands. Somehow they were all loaded onto the plane through the cargo hold which was full and surprisingly looked even more massive full than when it was almost empty. Maybe it was all of the spotlights and the surrounding darkness but it just seemed so much like we were escaping rather than just catching a connecting flight.

We all slept the entire 2 and a half hour flight to Japan and it was midnight when we landed. The AMC terminal was dark and the outside doors locked and we all joked that they weren't going to let us leave even though we were all feeling a bit of panic, but the Marine who was the customs guy was desperate for us to get out of his way so he could go home, so fortunately he unlocked the padlocked gate and we were free. Rob called a taxi and the taxidriver kept his word that he would be there in 2 minutes. He took us to the airforce lodging, but just like in Guam there was no room in the inn. So, he drove us into Okinawa City and took us to look for a hotel. Right outside the gate we passed the usual soldier bars(I guess they're airman bars here). They were absolutely overflowing and there were what seemed like hundreds walking back to base. Thankfully we drove past that area before stopping at the first hotel. That one didn't have any room so the taxi driver took charge and started driving us around and calling around until he found us one. He was amazing, he'd turn off the meter each time we sat waiting and he just kept trying. I forgot that they drive on the left side of the street and fortunately he didn't drive like a San Francisco Taxi driver (or Rob for that matter) because it was startling enough to have lights coming toward you from what seemed like the wrong side of the street and then making sharp right turns into alleys through oncoming traffic. We ended up at a beautiful hotel (www.hotelgrandmer.com). After exchanging keys several times we managed to get adjoining rooms again so we had lots of space. The kids are in a "western - style" room with big twin beds and the toilet is actually in the bathroom. Rob and I are in a huge room with a refrigerator and bar(no liquor - got to supply that yourself and we could have really used a strong drink by last night). We have a Japanese style bathroom with a water closet and several appliances I'm not entirely sure what you do with them. Inside the front door of each room is a shoe cabinet with slippers inside. It felt so good to lie horizontally underneath an amazing comforter. We watched some Japanese TV and then Armed Forces Network for a while just to decompress. This morning we could finally get a view of where we had landed the night before. We have an amazing view of the rooftops of Okinawa City and the ocean.






We went downstairs and had a buffet breakfast looking out at the same view. It was an interesting but delicious breakfast, semi-western and Japanese. I could get used to Miso for breakfast, it was so comforting and warm. I might even get used to the idea of salad (seems to be a breakfast staple) but I'm still not sure what you do with all of the odd looking condiment-type plates that were sitting next to the largest rice cooker I've ever seen!




After breakfast we called a taxi and drove back to the AMC terminal to check out our prospects for flight. It seems that there are 1 - 2 flights to Singapore every week. The next one is on Thursday which is cutting it a bit close to when we need to return and we couldn't manage to use the phone correctly to get through and find out from Singapore if we flew in there could we fly out again?!! There is a flight to Bangkok but not until the 6th of April. So, Karen, I'm sorry to say that we won't make it all the way to Thailand. But for those interested, it seems that it is indeed possible to get to Bangkok on Mac flights, and even to do it in a more direct way than we have attempted, but you need about a month to do this in a sane fashion. So, we are staying one more night in this luxurious hotel and then we have a three night reservation on the airbase in family lodging. Our plan is to do some shopping and sightseeing and then try to catch a flight to Yokota AB sometime next week so we can see mainland Japan and Tokyo and then fly back either thru Hawaii or Seattle and hopefully get home before school starts again on the 27th. We are all wiped out and trying to rest so we can enjoy some evening shopping. It's warm but rainy today - we have hit rain everywhere we've been so we probably won't even get beach time. However, we are all so excited to experience Japan. I've never seen so many brightly lit soda machines in my life! There is a row on just about every block, so no one ever gets parched here (or tired - most of the machines are full of iced-coffee type drinks). And they love their shoebox cars here. It's like living in a matchbox/hotwheels city! The only thing I am sad about is missing out completely on St. Patrick's day, but it's a small sacrifice to pay when you can have an adventure like this I suppose!


Our first images of Okinawa:

March 16th '06- Adrenaline rush

March 15 or 16(depending on where in the world you are!)

I just want to make sure that someone in the world knows where we are just in case we get lost! We are on an adventure for sure! We finally left Travis Wednesday morning at about 0730 after having gotten to the airport at 0145 for
roll call, being passed around from one lounge to another, boarded on buses, waiting, loading, waiting, then being unloaded onto bus, to another lounge, reboarded on the bus and onto the plane. Apparently the plane sat so long that
we couldn't get a waiver to take off because there is an hour at sunrise when it's dangerous to take off because it's hard to see flocks of birds which might get sucked up in the engines. Annoying, and a tough way to travel, but you can't complain about safety or the cost ($0.00).



We got to Hawaii at around noon, in the rain. We managed to make 1pm roll call for a flight to Guam. We decided to go right away just in case we got to Guam and there was a once a week flight to Bangkok. We boarded and left Hawaii with no problems, this time on a C-5. It looked a lot like a commercial plane inside with no frills. I couldn't figure out why we were pointed downward when we were taking off. It turns out we were in a small compartment at the back facing the tail. It's such a huge aircraft that you can drive a bus inside! Anyway, 8 hours later we landed in Guam, in the rain. There is a 20 hour time difference between Hawaii and Guam, so we had left Wednesday afternoon and 8 hours later it
was Thursday night. It was a bad sign when the flight crew was completely frustrated with the ground crew because they couldn't line up the stairs so we could disembark. It seems that everyone and everything here is in slow motion and it's a disease that is contagious when one is stationed here (either that or it's the place where they hide the incompetent in the Air Force:). We finally got in the terminal and it turns out that they only have flights to Singapore twice a year and that was two weeks ago, and the only flights in Thailand are north and duty personnel only go there - the rest of us civilians are not allowed and we don't want to go there. So, with things looking grim we called Hertz, waited an hour while they had to send out a second person who actually remembered to bring their car registration to get on base. The guy took us very slowly to the Guam International Airport to get us a car. After calling around to about 20 hotels we found one(onbase lodging is full through September due to missions). The only problem was that they only had twin bed rooms, but out of desperation we booked adjoining rooms. So, we went downtown Tamuning to this hotel. It looked like little Japan. When we went inside to check in we figured out why. Tamuning is a prime Spring Break vacation spot for Japanese young people. We were beginning to wonder if we had landed in Japan. When we went into our rooms we found them very Japanese. The beds were very low and stiff. The bathrooms are cubicles that were put in like a little trailer as an afterthought. The toilets and sinks are very low and the shower is adustable so that it can be brought down. In order to turn on the power in the room the room
key had to be inserted into a key hole in the wall by the front door. A handy way to make sure no one leaves the lights on. We ran out and got Taco Bell at midnight and then crashed until this morning.



We were trying to decide if we should spend a couple days and head back to Hawaii for a week as we had given up
entirely on Thailand. I sent Rob out to the airbase to check on flights while we cleaned ourselves up. He came back and said, pack. He had found out from a girl who was on our last two flights (poor girl spent the night in the terminal)
who is headed home to Kadena that flights leave for Singapore all the time. We raced back to the airbase (literally) and checked in for a flight to Kadena AB, Japan with a stop in Osan, Korea. So, here we sit, on a wing and a prayer
running our own amazing race, waiting to board a plane that we almost didn't get on because when Rob did roll call they left Robert's name off the list (they not only do everything slowly but they also do everything in halves, not to be
judgemental or anything:) The kids are hanging in there and doing amazingly well. Hopefully we'll be able to get a reservation for a place to stay tonight. We emailed lodging to make a reservation, but if we managed here where no one
works except during the hours of 9-2 we can certainly make it in Japan. Every military passenger terminal has internet access so we have been trying to check as often as possible. The only good thing about this one is they actually have
wireless so I can use my own computer.

Talk to everyone soon!

Spring Break and my new blog site

Welcome to my first attempt at my own web blog. I've sort of been doing this all along by sending out bulk emails. Some of our friends received similar entries about our move across the country in 2004. A lot of our friends expressed that they really enjoyed our adventures so I decided to do it again for this trip. It makes me feel connected and less of a stranger out in the world, not so lost if you will because we tend to wander the country (and now the world) without advance reservations or really knowing where we will end up between points A and B - our beginning and final destinations. I've been keeping a sketchbook/diary which is easy to do when you spend so much time hurrying up to wait. Now I won't clog mailboxes and people can read about our adventures as they want to.

We decided to take advantage of our proximity to Travis AFB, CA and the change in flying rules for family members as of 2001 and head west over the Pacific for the 2 week March spring break with a goal of visiting our friends and former Ft. Meade neighbors Karen and Rick in Bangkok. Flights are free but you have to be flexible as missions change all the time and safety is stringent. We have been flying Space Available and our status is based on a category assigned to us. Fortunately our status is at the top of the middle so we haven't had any trouble getting on flights that we want to. But all decisions have been made last minute since information is not given out in advance for security reasons and prior research was what we could gather by calling every so often to try to figure out the pattern. Unfortunately there isn't really a pattern so we often found that our research was for naught. So, you could say that we have been traveling on "a wing and a prayer." It's been a lot of work, but also an exciting adventure as we pack on a moment's notice and run to airports only to hold our breath during roll call as we watch the number of available seats decline until it's our turn. It may seem strange to some but we've found a whole sub-culture of fellow military travelers who find it the norm - they are as adventurous as we and were very encouraging about our trip. The rest of this blog will include my emails and other thoughts from my sketchbook. Hope you all enjoy reading as much as we have enjoyed experiencing!

It's 2AM, do you know where your children are?