Starting Over....

I retired last year, December 2012. I had hoped to hike the California Coastal Trail, beginning in February 2013. Unfortunately, life had some twists for me, and I was only able to hike from the Mexico border up to Camp Pendleton. For six months, I went on road trips and spent my time between San Diego and Murrieta, CA. I had a great time during those six months, especially while salsa dancing in San Antonio, Dallas, Chicago, Albuquerque, and Phoenix. But I really wanted to go on the road full time.

On a brief visit home, I found out that my previous employer needed some help, so I offered to temporarily take my old job back. After six months, my contract is up and I'm ready to go!

I'll be heading for an extended visit to Europe, taking a military Space Available hop out of a nearby military base. Since this will be an open ended visit (stay until I'm homesick/tired), I've had to do some thinking about my preparations:

Passport:

I went to the State Department's website (http://travel.state.gov/passport/renew/renew_833.html) and downloaded Form DS-82. I decided against paying an additional $60 for expedited service, since I had a full month before I planned on travelling. Although the website states that your passport would be renewed within 4-6 weeks via regular service, I received mine in 3 weeks. BTW, the Application Status link at http://travel.state.gov/passport/status/status_2567.html wasn't providing the status of my application after a week, so I called the office to see what was going on with my renewal. I was told that the link hadn't been working in awhile! BTW, I had my passport photos (2 needed) taken at FedEx Office for $16. AAA will take the same photos for $8.

International Driver's permit:

Although I probably won't need it, I decided to get an International Driver's Permit from AAA (http://www.aaa.com/vacation/idpf.html). I've rented a car in Germany before without it, but I plan on visiting quite a few countries, and may decide to rent somewhere out of the way. Just in case.

Eurail Global Flex pass

I've decided to do most of my travel via rail. Since I really have no idea about where I'll be starting my trip (it all depends on where the military flight will drop me off), I'll take trains wherever I decide to go. I decided on a Global Flex pass, since it covers 23 countries throughout Europe. I purchased a 10-day pass, good for two months. The pass came in today, along with a Eurail map and a timetable book. Between the map and timetable book, I shouldn't have any problems planning my trip when I get there.

Car storage

I already have my personal belongings in storage, and decided to store my car in the same location. Once I move the car into storage, I'll file a Planned Non-Operate (PNO) certificate with the DMV. I'll provide a copy to my car insurance; they'll remove the liability insurance from my insurance bill until I take my car out of storage again. 

On my next post, I'll cover what I'll be taking along with me.

Catching up

I last left off on my visit to the East coast. Since then, I've continued my hike up the California coast, but it's been slow going. I spent several days hiking from Downtown San Diego to Camp Pendleton, covering around 50 miles. It was a pretty easy hike, usually along residential streets. The view of the homes while walking through the neighborhoods in La Jolla and Del Mar was amazing! I'm pretty sure that if I won the lottery, I'd find a home in one of those neighborhoods. My next leg of my trip will be a 20 mile hike across Camp Pendleton. Hoping to start that leg soon.

I've made a weeklong trip up to the San Francisco area since then, visiting some family members. I'm almost out of the limbo that was keeping me close to the San Diego area, and am looking at recommencing my travels. I was starting to get discouraged about having to couch-surf for the past several months, and started looking at purchasing a condo in the San Diego area. Not having a permanent place to call your own can be unsettling. My parents have been so kind in letting me stay with them while I'm in the Temecula area, and my daughter's friends let me stay at their home when I'm in San Diego. But I'm not one to hang around the house during the day, so I'm usually wandering around town with my belongings in the back seat of my truck. My days have been filled with workouts, Starbucks visits in downtown San Diego, and salsa dancing at night. Still loving the retired life!

Currently, I'm in Texas. My cousin Joe passed away unexpectedly last Monday, and I was honored to be able to carry him to his resting place. We were the same age, only 2 weeks apart. We grew up together, and he and I would hangout whenever I would visit Beeville, Tx. I can remember the many times during our childhood, teenage years, and adulthood that we spent together. Playing hide & seek as kids, shooting pool with my brothers and cousins as young teenagers during the summer, talking about girls, cars, and our futures as older teenagers. He was like my own brother, and I'll miss him.

Joe Carrizales was a well respected police officer in Beeville, Texas. He worked as a process server, and was well known in town. High school football is big in Texas, and Joe and his brother both played all four years. It seemed as though everyone in town knew Joe; everytime we'd go somewhere, he'd introduce me to another one of his friends and acquaintances.

His reputation was solid. Always seen with a smile, everyone knew him as a nice guy who was ready to help. His memorial and funeral services were standing room only. I don't think that I'd ever seen such a large gathering of police, sheriffs, active duty and retired military personnel in one place. Most of the officers and deputies were in uniform, and there were even several Texas Rangers in attendance. The procession to the cemetery was a mile long, with firetrucks, police and sheriffs vehicles, and the Patriot Honor Guard as part of the escort.

I stayed for a couple of days after Joe's funeral and spent it with his family. I pray for their peace during their healing process.

I'm back on the road now and spending a couple of days in Corpus Christi, enjoying the weather here and looking for some good BBQ. I'm planning on trekking through Texas for a little while; I've heard things about the Austin music and food scene, and I need to find a salsa dance club in San Antonio before I go through salsa withdrawals.

Will keep in touch.

East coast adventure

Time to catch up on what I experienced while on my Space-A adventure back east. My first full day in Philadelphia was spent visiting the Liberty House, the Liberty Bell, and taking a hike all around the historical sights.

Liberty House

It was really interesting to see and stand in the same room that George Washington and the signers of the Declaration of Independence spent time in. As I walked around, I came across a hostel located on a side street and decided to spend the night there. Apple Hostel has excellent rates, is extremely clean, and is located only a few blocks from the Liberty House. Plus, they offered discounts at the local restaurants. I wish that I had more time to visit the local restaurants and pubs; it looks like a foodie paradise around the historic section.

The next morning, I decided to head to Brooklyn to visit see the sights. Only 90 miles away, it seemed to be an easy enough drive. Along the way, I had to pull off to make an ATM visit and ended up in Camden, NJ. Now I've been to some pretty "dangerous" neighborhoods before, but they were nothing compared to Camden. I told a friend of mine that it made East LA look like Disneyland. It was 8:30 in the morning, and the hookers were already working the streets. Burnt out buildings, trash in the streets; if you've watched "The Walking Dead", you'll have a pretty good visual of what the streets looked like. As I pulled up to a convenience store ATM, another car pulled up a couple of spaces down from me. I had an unusual feeling that this guy was waiting for me to get out, so I kept my car running and decided to wait for him to get out first to see if he was just going to grab something from the store. I waited and waited. He would glance over to see if I was going to get out, but I kept waiting. After I decided that he was probably looking for more than just milk and bread, I left and found another ATM in a safer location. 

Along the way, I decided to visit my old Navy buddy Dan in New Jersey. Haven't seen the guy since '84, so I met up with him at work. The snow started to fall pretty good when I got there, so he took a break and we went to the local 7-Eleven and grabbed a cup of coffee. We sat in the rental car for the next hour catching up on what we've been up to all these years. I consider myself fortunate that I've got these friendships from my Navy days that are still going strong.

I left Dan and headed to Brooklyn to see another shipmate, Patrick. Not a bad drive, but the $15 toll going into Brooklyn on the Goethals bridge caught me by surprise (it was $13 coming out of Brooklyn on the Verrazano bridge). Still snowing, Patrick and I went out for a quick dinner at a local pub (best cheese stuffed ravioli I've ever had!), and got caught up since our last visit in '09.

I left early the next morning to head to Chesapeake, VA to visit another Navy shipmate and his family. It was a pretty uneventful seven hour drive, and arrived just in time for dinner. Frank and Denise have a wonderful family, and it was a real blessing to meet their kids and Denise's father. Denise is an outstanding cook, so we had a great dinner and fellowship that evening.

By this time, I was four days into traveling, and it was time to take a break. I spent the next two nights in Chesapeake, resting, doing laundry, and planning my next few days.

I took off early the next morning and headed to Washington, DC. I checked into the Capital View hostel, a ten minute walk to the Capital building. Again, a really nice, inexpensive hostel conveniently located to all the local sights.

Capital Building

Washington D.C. was amazing! I had no idea that all of the monuments were located around the perimeter of the National Mall. I spent the next two days walking around to visit them, covering roughly 21 miles according to my GPS. I definitely got my money's worth out of my hiking boots those days. The Lincoln Memorial, the MLK memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, the Vietnam Wall, the WWII memorial; it's tough to say which one stood out the most to me. They were all pretty incredible; I wish that I had more time to visit the various Smithsonian museums. I'll definitely go back to see what I missed.

After my DC visit, I had to start thinking about heading back. Money was running low, and I was getting tired of walking 5-10 miles a day sightseeing. I drove back to Dover and spent the night. The next morning, I headed back to the Air Force Base terminal to see if I could get manifested on a flight back to California, but no luck. I turned in my rental car and hiked four miles to the bus station. I was able to catch a bus up to the Wilmington, Delaware Amtrak station, and then took the train back to DC. Another night at the Capital View hostel, and then I headed to Andrews AFB for the afternoon flight back to California. But, no luck; I couldn't get a seat on the afternoon flight and I ended up spending the night in the base air terminal. I lucked out the next day, and was able to catch a late morning flight to Travis AFB. Down to the last of my funds, I spent one more night at Travis AFB at the Westwind Inn and caught up on the sleep that I lost the night before. The next morning, I was able to catch a seat on a C5 going to Miramar MCAS. Finally home!

The whole Space-A experience was worth it. Next time, I'm going to plan it out much better and have some kind of itinerary before I head out. Trying to figure out where I was going to sleep every night was mentally wearing, but it did add to the adventure. 

I'm hoping to catch a few days worth of hiking up the coast next week, so I'll update the blog soon.

Cheesesteak adventure

So I've got about a month before I have to be at my next commitment. I figured that I could get some hiking in, maybe finish covering San Diego county.

But at the same time, I've also been thinking about taking advantage of my military Space-A benefit of free air travel from any military air base. Space-A is a great way to get around if you've got plenty of time and are very flexible.

I went to March Air Force Base yesterday, knowing ahead of time that they had a couple of flights scheduled. One to Fort Worth, another to Dover, Delaware. Either choice would have been good since there were plenty of seats, but since I've never been to Dover I figured that I'd give it a shot.

Since there were two flights to Europe out of Dover on Saturday, I was going to shoot for one of them. One flight to Rota, Spain and another to Ramstein, Germany. Although I really wasn't prepared for an extended stay in Europe, I was planning to wing it.

The flight from March to Dover was easy; 4-1/2 hours in a C-130, enough to take a long nap. We landed at 10:00 p.m., and found that there were no seats available to Europe. I was lucky enough to find a place to stay for the night, so I shared a cab ride with a couple of fellow Space-A travelers to a local Best Western.

The next afternoon (I slept in), I hiked a couple of miles and picked up a rental car. I asked some of the locals about sightseeing, but they didn't have any good suggestions other than visiting the local casino. With Philadelphia a 90 minute drive away, I decided to have an authentic Philly cheesesteak. I told my bro Bobby about my plans, and he suggested Tony Luke's.

I arrived an hour later, and found that I wasn't the only one that wanted a good cheesesteak. There was a 15 min line of locals, including a group that seemed to be on some kind of foodie tour. After another 15 min wait for my food, I was able to see what Tony Luke's was about. The sandwich was good and cheesy, and the steak was tender. The bread didn't seem fresh, since it was somewhat chewy. Although it wasn't disappointing, I'm pretty sure that I've had better elsewhere. Gaglione Bros. in San Diego, specifically.

New York is 90 miles away. I'm thinking "thin slice pizza" for lunch tomorrow.

Days 2 & 3 through Coronado Island

After I was unexpectedly stopped by an entry into an estuary the day before, I started day 2 of my hike by driving back to my last end point, and began walking from the north end of the estuary mouth. The weather was beautiful, and it made for an easy 5 mile hike through Imperial Beach. 

I had been concerned about crossing the beach adjacent to the Imperial Beach Outlying Landing Field. I wasn't sure if the beach was accessible or not; fortunately, it wasn't. I stopped at the south end of the Silver Strand park, where I was able to take a break and enjoy the scenery for awhile before jumping on the 901 bus back to my truck in I.B.The bus stop is located right at the entrance of the Silver Strand  Park.

No entry onto Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado

Today, I drove back to the Silver Strand Park, and began a 7 mile hike up the remainder of the Coronado coast. Since the Park is right next to Naval Amphib Base, Coronado, I had to detour to the other side of the highway through a pedestrian tunnel, since the beach adjacent to the base is closed to the public.

Ferry Landing

There's a bike trail on the East side of the Silver Strand highway. I followed the trail up into Coronado, finding the time to take a break for an excellent cheeseburger at Danny's Palm Bar & Grill. It's a little dive bar in the heart of Coronado, but it's clean enough to enjoy a good burger and a cold one. The walls are covered with memorial pictures of Navy SEALs that have been KIA. With Danny's being so close to the base, I'm sure many of those guys passed through Danny's during their time in Coronado.

After my lunch, I finished up my hike through Coronado by taking the Coronado Ferry at the end of Orange and First Street. For $4.25, the ferry took me across to downtown San Diego. I ended my day's hike by taking the 901 bus back to the Silver Strand Park to pickup my truck.

USS Benfold, DDG 65

I'll start my next hike from downtown San Diego as soon as I get some more free time.

Finally starting

Well, I'm still dealing with this family situation that requires me to hang out in San Diego for awhile. I have anywhere between 7-10 days of downtime before I have to attend to  business again (I'm intentionally being vague about what's going on), so I figured that I could get in several day hikes in between business days. I imagine that I'll be able to cover the San Diego county coastline with day hikes until I can hit the trail full time.

I started out by driving down to Border State Park and hiking about a mile down to the border fence. Of course I had to touch the fence, under the watchful eye of the Border Patrol parked 50 yards away.

I hiked along the beach for a couple of miles, until I came up to a inlet was too wide and deep for me to cross without going for a waist-high swim. So, there were a few lessons learned on this short trip:

- I will get wet. Whether from rain or having to cross a water way, I have to think about getting drenched. Salt water and electronics don't mix well, so I'll need to look into purchasing dry sacks for my phone, GPS, and solar charger. I've already got waterproof compression bags for my clothes, but anything else that is in my backpack that will have to be kept dry is going to have to go into some kind of waterproof bag.

- Walking on sand, even hard packed sand, is like walking on a Stairmaster set on level 4. I didn't use my trekking poles since it was going to be a short hike. After 10 minutes, my thighs were pumped up. I was only carrying about 15 lbs in my pack, and that will eventually increase to 30 lbs. The trekking poles will come with me next time.

- I need to preview each day's hike more closely. I didn't expect an obstacle today that would require a swim.

I'm heading back out tomorrow, and I'll start on the north end of the water inlet that kept me from crossing today. I'll have to figure out if I can hike the beach property adjacent to the Navy airfield in Imperial Beach, as well as the beach property adjacent to Coronado Amphib base. Even with my military ID, I'm sure the SEAL instructors won't appreciate me hiking through their workout space on the beach.

Delayed...

Well, I've hit a big delay. I came down with the flu during the third week of January, putting me in bed for almost 5 days. Of course I was supposed to be moving out of my apartment during that time, but I figured that I had one more week to move after I recovered enough to be up and about. But nothing ever goes the way that it's planned.

The last week of January, some family issues came up that forced me to travel to Northern California twice within three days. This situation will require my full attention over the next couple of months, so I'm currently couch surfing between my parent's place in Murrieta and my daughter's place in San Diego. I had to get a five day extension on my apartment to get the place cleaned out, and was able to finally move out yesterday with the help of my daughter and her friend. Everything is in storage, I finished up the last of the phone calls to the utility companies, and finally submitted my change of address cards.

I'm hoping to do some one- or two-day hikes starting from Imperial Beach, and then return when I need to take care of this business. This will set my completion date back several months, but then again, I'm in no hurry.