Misc. travels

I decided to take a break from Ireland, and go back to some of my TDY trips when I worked for the Corps of Engineers. I've already posted entries on my trip to Japan and Korea, but want to try to go through some of the trips in order that I took them. I can only go by the dates printed on the back of the photographs themselves, but I do recall that Omaha, NE was my first TDY, in July 1985. TDY is a military acronym that stands for "temporary duty", or "business trip" in civilian-speak.

Our business was conducted at one of the COE offices in downtown Omaha, but over our first weekend there we visited Offut AFB, which was a SAC base back then. I don't know if it is even still in existence, with all the base closures over the past couple of decades.



I found this item at the Museum on base, and painted on it are the words "Thermonuclear bomb". I got chills just looking at it.


The highlight of all my career with the COE came right here as we were leaving the base. Over to our left was an immense field, and we saw in the distance an odd looking aircraft coming down the long runway. We stopped the car and I got out to take a picture. It came up to the fence alongside the road, slowly turned around, and then took off in the direction it came from. Yes, it was the space shuttle "Challenger".



The disaster occurred in January 1986, so the Challenger had about 6 months left to live.

My next trip was to Baltimore in October 1985, and the only picture I can find is one of the Inner Harbor:


I visited the Baltimore office several times but didn't take many pictures. One weekend I walked with another team member from the Inner Harbor over to Ft. McHenry. This photo doesn't do justice to the flag, which is probably one of the largest I've ever seen.




I spent two weeks at Ft. Worth in May 1986. On the weekend I visited Southfork (the Ewing ranch) and the Ft. Worth Livestock Exchange.



One of the last evenings in Fort Worth was spent browsing Shepler's, and I found a prairie skirt and cowgirl boots with my name on them - fortunately I turned around and walked out before I made a complete fool of myself!

Back in the here and now, I just got my statement of rent for April which I need to go to the office and pay. Included are charges for all utilities, and in the past month my electric usage was 156 kwh, at $13.26. Not bad, as I have really been trying to remember to unplug the microwave and other phantom electric users unless I need to use them.

I am thrilled to know I'm not the only person in the world who could lose her glasses when they are hanging from her neck! I enjoyed the comments and shared experiences.