We were on the road heading to Andrews AFB, known as Joint Base Andrews, in the Washington DC area, by 6:39 AM and arrived there at about 4 PM. Needless to say we didn't let any grass grow under our tires. As we traveled up I-81 to I-66 to I-495S across the Potomac, we passed a town called Cloverdale. We considered that a very good omen as our friends in Germany, the Parrs, live in Kleestadt which translates Cloverdale.
When we arrived we immediately checked into the PAX (Passenger Terminal) and learned there was a flight going to Ramstein Air Base in Germany the next day. So we signed up! Perhaps I need to back up a bit and tell you about military retiree Space Available (SA) travel. This is a perk of being a military retiree. There are 6 categories of SA travel, starting with active duty emergency leave and ending with us, Cat 6, retirees. We had tried doing this for the first time last year out of Travis AFB to Hickam AFB in Hawaii, but we tried during the government shut-down over budget scrabbles. Many of the flights are Air National Guard flights which are budget dependent. So we were not successful then and flew commercial out of Oakland.
September 17, 2014
We slept very well at the Presidential Inn, yes that's the name of the hotel on base, and presented ourselves as "present" at 2:30 PM for a roll call at 4PM. Roll call usually means you must be present to qualify and your name has to be called. Cat 6 people are called in the order they originally signed up for the flight; in our case David had signed us up on August 23, which put us high on the priority list of Cat 6, but still behind Categories 1 - 5. We noticed a lot of black SUVs on the flight line and guys in black suits with earbuds and found out at 3 PM that it was Secret Service. We were told to vacate the PAX and wait outside. We later learned that President Obama was returning from CDC. As we waited outside, two busloads of people arrived and we panicked thinking we would never get on the flight if all those people were signing in. Fortunately they were evidently coming from other east coast bases and had taken a commuter bus to their cars parked nearby.
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Looking to the flightline. Technically
this photo is not supposed to be taken, but I didn't know that and it
was taken before the President arrived.
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About 4 PM we were allowed back in the PAX and shortly the roll call began. We were very hopeful as there were not a lot of people in the terminal. When you wait for your flight, there are many conversations with other SA travelers and we learned a lot to use for any future travel efforts. We were elated when we learned we were on the manifest and headed to Germany. The only cost associated with the flight was $9.30 for two boxed meals which were more than adequate for the 8 hour flight. To those of you who know AF planes, we traveled on a C-17. It is basically a cargo plane with canvas seats slung along the sides, far from elegant seating, but hey, the price was right.
We were loaded onto a bus to take us to the airplane rather hurriedly; we soon learned that the flight crew was trying to get ahead of VP Biden's plane. We didn't make it, but we sat in the bus for about 30 minutes while his plane arrived and he was shuttled off in a helicopter, just as the President had been. We never saw the President, by the way. We entered the plane and were taking off about 8 PM. Germany is 6 hours ahead of us, which meant we landed in Germany about 9 AM. I tried to sleep some on the floor, but it was too cold.
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| Selfie on C-17 |
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| Trying for sleep! |
Thursday, September 18, 2014
We arrived at Ramstein Air Base which is near Kaiserslautern, Germany and took a taxi to the Hertz Car Rental office and rented a diesel Citroen stick-shift car for the 150 KM trip to Kleestadt where our friends live. It's the first time in a long, long time either of us drove stick and also experienced the crazy Autobahn where the speed limit for much of it is 130 KPH (81mph) and is driven to the max! Germans seem to be more impatient than American drivers for the most part. We encountered several construction areas and stau, the German word for slow down, mostly because there are just too many cars for road space! We got to the Parrs by 1 PM and were immediately treated to a sumptuous meal and wonderful German beer and wine!!!
After some decompressing and unpacking, we went for a walk, something we had often done with Gabi and Robby in the past. It had been ten years since we'd seen each other and we had lots to catch up on. We walked near an area that once belonged to the kaserne where David was stationed in 1975-78 and which has since been closed. About 5 acres of land which once was used for local training is now pastureland for 5 pryewalski horses, yes, that's 1 acre per horse! It is fenced with very expensive wood/wire fencing with an interior electric fence, about 4000 meters of fence in all!!! Someone has a lot of money!!
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| 5 przewalski horses in 5 acres of land--there's more fencing inside the wooded area |
We came back to the house and enjoyed coffee (decaf) and kuchen Robby had made.
Friday, September 19, 2014
Since we were planning to go to Italy for a week, but hadn't been able to really make any bookings, not knowing when we'd get to Germany, we went on-line and made our flight booking on Ryan Air (similar to Southwest) for Venice with a return from Rome, as well as the hotel arrangements for Venice, Florence and Rome. Ann had done a lot of research ahead of time, so we knew where we wanted to stay. Because we were so close to departure, many of the bargain Ryan fares were not available, but still within our budget!
After mittagessen (noon meal, which is heavier than in the US), we went for a walk around Kleestadt, doing some birding along the way. Robby is quite knowledgeable about local birds names, so we used the Deutsch name which also gave us the Latin name which then lead to the English name for different species. We ended up with seven life birds during our stay, as many species are Eurasian, not found in the US or Africa. That was a plus we hadn't anticipated!
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| We enjoyed many bottles of Schlappe-Seppel (Sepple 'sche) brewed in bottle with flip-top covers. |
We have been blessed with wonderful weather, sunny and in the upper 60s. Today we had brotchen for breakfast. Gabi has been very solicitous that we are getting enough to eat and drink and she asked us what we'd like for breakfast. Ann mentioned brotchen, a German hard roll that is not available in the US because it takes a special kind of steam oven. There are many different varieties available now and a local bakery which is open very early for just this kind of purchase. Germans have brotchen and different kinds of sausages, cold cuts and cheeses as their typical breakfast. Gabi also had several varieties of cereal for us. Ann told Gabi she was going to rename her Martha because of Biblical Martha's concern with hospitality. Today the Parrs oldest daughter, Anette, who is our daughter, Wynne's age, came to visit with her oldest son, Daniel and his girlfriend. Anette was driving her motor scooter as was Daniel and his friend. We talked and talked and were hastened to stop by a rain shower.
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