January 18 was the longest day we’d had in almost ever!!!
We literally watched the sun set TWICE that day, first in Tokyo, then in San Francisco!!!
From our hotel in Okinawa to our hotel
in San Diego was 30 hours……. We were all D.O.N.E. My biggest concern for the
actual trip was Truman. He was almost 10 and HATES being in a kennel. The
biggest part of concern was the nine hour flight from Tokyo to San Francisco.
When we landed in SanFran, we were sitting far enough back in the plane that
when they opened the cargo door outside, we could hear Truman!!! I felt so bad
he was so upset, but SO relieved he’d made the trip safely!!! Due to a broken
elevator in SF, the pets didn’t get to
the designated pet pick-up location in a timely manner, so we (along with five
other families!) missed our flight to San Diego, but they were able to get us
on one three hours later. One positive with that was we were able to get Truman
out of the kennel, take him outside, and spend some time with him. Although,
that sure made it rough to put him back in for the last leg of the journey.
But, he was SUCH a trooper!!! So, we finally arrived in San Diego, but, only to
find out they don’t bring the pets to the luggage area like they did when we
lived there!!! We needed to go to another building to pick him up!!! But, we
also needed to get our rental car and all our luggage loaded!!! Thanks to a
very helpful airline agent and a security guard, then a very kind Hertz rental
agent, we were able to go get our rental car and Truman while the security
guard literally stood watch over our bags, and get an upgrade to a vehicle big enough
to carry all our luggage and Truman’s kennel all in one trip!!! And, thus, we
were officially stateside!!!
Out-processing has to happen stateside and San Diego is a
location that does out-processing and being that we lived there for five years,
that was our requested location. Due to staffing shortage, acceptance is
limited and based on one of three things: you are retiring in the area (No….),
you have immediate family in the area (No….), you have personal
property/vehicle stored in the area (DING-DING-DING!!! We do!!!) So,
thankfully, we were approved to out-process in San Diego. That Tuesday, January
21, Rodney began his out-processing. The first day consisted of bunches of
paperwork and the feeling of signing his life away, again. But, each work day
after that was basically a matter of putting on his uniform, reporting for
muster/check-in, then back to the hotel. That lasted about 2.5 weeks during
which time we visited a few of our former haunts and got to hug some necks
(but, not near as many as we’d hoped). During this time, we were also able to
set foot back on a ship and Rodney took his Oath of Office for the Naval
Reserves given by a Chaplain friend we met in Okinawa!!!
One of my favorite events from our time in San Diego was
getting my car back out of storage!! We had done the “Cash for Clunkers” thing
back in 2009 and traded in my Isuzu Rodeo for a loaded brand new Mercury
Mariner. I picked it up in August, then in September Rodney got word we were
penciled in for Okinawa the following September and would not be able to take a
car, but, the government would pay to properly store one personal vehicle. That
would mean I’d come back to a four year old car with one of miles and it would
be almost paid off—Yes, please!!! But, then came the trick of making it legal
to drive again. It was originally licensed in California, but we had
transferred the registration to Texas (as our home of record) before we left it
in storage. I first tried to renew the tags online, only to learn if they are
over 30 days expired (just a bit!!) they must be renewed in person….. Well…..
now how do I do that??? So, I called Waco. She gave me three options—we could
trailer it from CA to TX… no, thanks; we could get a temporary registration
from each state we’d be driving through… uh, no, thanks; or, we could give
power of attorney to someone to renew the tags for us… yes!!! So, I called up
my friend Windy, who was more than willing to help out. It took a couple of
tries, but we finally had the appropriate insurance coverage and paperwork to
make Texas happy to renew the tags, which she then overnighted to us in CA,
which allowed me to see my baby blue once again!!!!
Funny story after we picked it up…. Rodney was driving
the rental car and I’m driving mine. The windshield was kinda gross, so I pushed
forward on the turn signal arm to run the wipers/fluid to wash it. But, instead
of wipers, I shined my brights! “Oh, maybe I pull the arm toward me!” … Brights,
again….. So, I’m thinking and thinking, then realized--- I was trying to work
my wipers like on my FunCargo!! But, where are the wipers on my Mariner?!?!?!?
I finally remembered something about a button on the end of the arm. Oh, yeah!
So, I pushed the button and sure enough, the wipers wiped!! But…… no wiper
fluid….. Wiper fluid is not a necessity fluid to be covered under government
storage. Oil, yes; transmission fluid, yes; brake fluid, yes; wiper fluid…. No.
Oh, well, at least I remembered where they were!!!
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