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Our Trip back home is very exciting and many wonders to see and we will have a lot of fun. The time seems to fly by and we are dreading the upcoming assignment. But I get ahead of myself so will just continue on from here.

BLISS IDAHO GHOST TOWN

We seen many sights on the way home and had a good trip. I had my Ham radio in the car and made many contacts on the way and we had many stops and finally arrived at home.

Grandpa Tammy Grandma

Mom Tammy Grandma

We visited friends and relatives and caught up on old times. Spent time at the cabin with carols parents and celebrated Tammy's birthday here.

The 1961 Dodge station wagon we now had burned a valve and had to get that fixed. Ralph Heckroth the mechanic I used through high school fixed it for us. Mom and dad had moved from the House for the milk barn and now were on the chicken farm. We helped some with the eggs and had a few egg fights. Dad would walk in with that very stern, sheepish, grin and say that's enough. Had a large rainstorm and a good water fight but could not get mom down in the water in the ditch. Time passed rather fast and it was time to head home to Oregon.

Sorry Hon Iam still a bad bad boy. It was an early wake up the morning we left and time on the road was stopping at the sights and snacking etc. One good one was in Yellowstone where we seen and fed the bears.

Right beside the car

We are out of food and guess we better go but the bear had other ideas.

Really beside the car

If you look real close you can see him right at the wing window. Back on the road again and lots of scenic mountain areas and tourist stops. As a small note when we first went to Oregon in 1962 it was Highway 30 with some proposals for Interstate 80. Now there was some of the interstate done but I still prefer old 30 as it had more scenery and pit stops.

Here is a picture of a pit stop just made for some exercise and some treats and we are on the road again.

Time to unload the car and wake the sleepy ones, as it was a long and exciting trip for all. We crammed a lot into this one and now the sad time is here for my trip to Alaska for a year remote.

The Hardest Goodbye Ever

Got on the bus in Burns Oregon and headed for Seattle. Here I got on a 727 and headed for Anchorage Alaska. That was a pretty high-class plane then. After some processing and finding out I would not go to Unakaleet, Alaska like my orders said I got on a twin engine DC9 bound for Cape Lisburne Alaska, 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle. It had very warn carpets and seats and had hydraulic fluid leaks you could see. After three attempts at take off it finally made it in the air. As I found out later the plane made two flights a day 365 days a year. Wonder when they performed maintenance. The ride was very bumpy but the scenery was good and seen reindeer and elk and other wildlife. Finally landed at Kotzebue Alaska for my last transfer to Cape Lisburne. This was a small Eskimo village about 1 block long and it had a bar and a taxicab. The Cab was a 1955 Chevy. On to the air strip, which was a runway plowed out of the ice, and my final ride. Turns out now I get on a single engine 4-seat fabric covered airplane with a bush pilot. The seats were like canvas lawn chairs and the luggage was thrown in the back. The pilot warmed the engine several minutes while he hit on some gauges and turned some others off and then pushed the throttle wide open and released the brake. After about 30 feet of runway was used up the nose left the ground and we went straight up in the air. OH MY!!!! We were probably up about 300 or 400 feet when he leveled off banked right and headed straight for the ground. He again leveled off at about 30 feet and told us to look to the right for the mama polar bear and her twins. YA RIGHT. We never did get very high as he said the damage would be less if the fall were short. I could see the fabric covering on the wings and frame ripple in the stress and the pilot opened his window too see as the windshield was fogged over. The rest of the journey was about the same, up and down to see reindeer, fox, elk, moose, bears etc. and some flying on our side to fit between the peaks. When we finally arrived at Cape Lisburne the fog, wind and blowing snow was terrible and the pilot contacted the strip for landing instructions. He was told he must turn around as the cross wind off the mountain made conditions to fierce to land. After several minutes of arguing with the controller about he didn't have enough gas etc. he kept calling on his radio is any one there I cant copy you. The tower kept answering him so he turned off the radio and headed straight for the mountain. As we got close you could see the runway parallel to the beach and crossways to us and we were headed straight into the mountain across the runway. The pilot managed to put the wheels down on our side of the runway and got us stopped, turned and taxiing for the tower with about 12 feet of the width of the runway left. After this ride any amusement park ride is a cakewalk.

After processing in at Bottom camp I loaded all my stuff in a tram and headed for top Camp, where 6 to 8 of us would spend the next year. The tram operator showed us several tram cable break accidents on the way up with the cemetery and remains just below us. Not sure I'll ever go back down. After my arrival at top camp I had hardly set my bags down, got some coffee and removed my coat when I got a phone call. It was my Angel and how she found me is a miracle as I wasn't sure where I was and was not in Unakaleet where my original assignment was. We would be able to talk regular over the next year thanks to the Ladies at the Alaskan switch, the Burns radar squadron switch and my ham Radio.

Now comes the long year and getting settled in. Work and our sleeping quarters were assigned. It was a large open room with no windows and only partitions to separate your area.

One day melted with the last and the next and you could very easily lose track of time as the whole year transpired the same as a 24-hour day. There were three months of twilight, three of daylight, another three of twilight, and then three of DARK. During the change from light to dark and back, the sun would bob above and below the horizon all the way around the horizon getting some higher or lower each day. You could endure most of the light period, as we had blackout curtains to make it night, but when the dark came there was no way to get enough light. Your body clock got very confused and you would sleep when you got tired, as there was no natural cycle to judge by. Sometimes you might be up several days before you knew it and then maybe sleep for 24 hours. Mail call and things from home were the only stable force in our lives.

Pictures from home

These helped some but in a way made it worse. The care packages helped the most I think as we shared all the goodies with each other. After some time I made a trip to bottom camp, in the snow cat this time not the tram. On the way down I seen a deuce and a half that fell off the mountain and the road ran clear over the edge of the mountain and was just on a shelf of ice. This would be my last trip down and up till I go home. I was able to get out some and picked some flowers that appeared on the tundra over night and once even got sunburned at midnight. We were so far north you had to look south to see the Northern lights. The fox were not afraid of us, only curious, as they had not seen humans much. I seen some polar bear up close and met some Eskimos and true rugged Alaskan settlers. I also saw the Cape Lisburne national forest. It was a lonely single pine tree inside a chain link fence, the only tree for miles. The time finally passed, I had orders for the 2869th GEEIA squadron at Norton AFB California and it was time to rotate out. I do not remember the trip home, only that I was finally back with my true loves and all was right with world again.

We took some vacation here so we could get ready for the move to California and just be together for some time. The Commander from Cape Lisburne sent a letter to my love and said I should not have any money for awhile, or be left alone with any women around, and especially don't feed me any powdered eggs or any instant foods for some time. It was really cute. We prepared for the move and decided to take the mobile home there so the Air Force came in and packed it and hooked it up to move. We loaded personal things needed for awhile in the 1961 Dodge station wagon and headed south. The trip was really nice and very scenic as we went down highway 1 right on the coast. The big surprise was yet to come. As we came over a peak into the L.A. area the quiet winding road suddenly turned into an 8-lane highway, 4 lanes in both directions and the whole valley was nothing but lights as far as the eye could see. The overwhelming panic and apprehension had not yet started to ease when we seen flare's and police cars and ambulances and accident victims in the road with blankets over them. We came from Iowa and lived in Burns, population 2,000 and I had been remote with 8 people for one year, what is this mess. Some how we managed to get through this and on to San Bernardino and get a room for the night. The next day we started the in processing and looking for a lot for our trailer. We learned very quickly that we lived in a mobile home in a mobile home park, not in a trailer in a trailer park. We looked all over and finally found one on Rialto Blvd. in Rialto. It was several miles from base but was real nice. The trailer finally arrived, and the setup and move in is completed, so off to work I go. This assignment would be a lot of TDY (temporary duty) as it is a Ground Electronics Engineering & Installation Agency hence GEEIA. Carols mom came for a visit during our first year here. After a short stay, there was a flood back at her place in Iowa, and we decided to take some vacation and take her back to clear up the damage. This will be a trip to remember forever. We have a 1961 station wagon with a two-man tent, Carol, mom, Tammy, two dogs, a cat, a bird, and me. Our first stop for a snack I forgot the movie camera on the roof as we left and it was lost. That night Tammy and Grandma in the car and Carol and I in the tent when Carol woke me with the side of the tent pushing in and we thought it was a bear. I grabbed the flashlight and ran outside in my underwear, only to see it was a bush pushed by the wind. What on earth was I going to do with a flashlight and in my underwear. The next morning when we stopped for breakfast and gas Carol left her wallet on the car and we lost it and all her credit cards so had to cancel them. The next day we stopped to see some dinosaur tracks and when we left we forgot the dogs weren't in the car so had to backtrack to get them. Some people had Tiny, who bit one of them, and got away and cuddles came running out of the desert. Later that day we stopped for ice cream and someone left the window part way open and the cat got out but we didn't notice for about 40 miles. Another back track. On the final leg to Iowa we were driving late and going through Missouri when it started to get smoky out, like a forest fire. After awhile it got so bad we couldn't see so I rolled down the window to help see and it was clear as a bell outside. About this time some flames shot out by my feet and all I could think of was an electrical fire so turned out the headlights and pulled off the road and hollered get out. The car was not yet stopped when Carol jumped out and all I heard was thump, thump. I thought I run over her but was just the pillows and junk on her side of the car. Turns out the exhaust had a leak and a spark had set the carpet on fire. We wrapped the area with some aluminum foil and finally got home. The trip back to California was not near so exciting. Tammy is now three and we are thinking it is time she has a baby brother or sister but now I am on the road a lot and this doesn't work real well. Since Tammy isn't in school we decide to get a trailer and a car to pull it and go TDY together. Carol got a small 13-foot Fireball and I got a 1962 Plymouth station wagon and we went together on some TDY trips. We got to see a lot of the West Coast this way. There were trips to Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico, California and so on and many wonderful sights to see. Still we have no luck with the baby brother or sister.

Tammy has started school, and the trips are less now and it seems I am gone more all the time. My sister Ellen and Angie come for a visit and there are more trips and sights seen. Seems like we have separate lives and this is not much fun. We go to the doctor to find out about the pregnancy problem and find out there are female problems and we will not have any more children. This is pretty tragic, as we wanted 2 to 4. After the numbness leaves we decide we can still have them through adoption so we start this long process. Little did we know that this would be a two-year pregnancy. There were meetings, and tests and medical checks and on and on. Carols dad comes for a visit as do my mom, dad and sister. There are trips to Disneyland, Knotts Berry farm, the Ocean. We buy another car, 1964 Dodge custom 880 convertible so Carol can come to close TDY areas over weekends. This helps some but seems I am on the road more now and then a truck runs a red light and wrecks the car and Carol has some neck injuries etc. I get her a dog, German shepherd and Collie mixture. We name her Lady. Life sure seems to be very hectic. What happened to Burns and the carefree days of the past. It is now August of 1970 and we are approved for adoption and are informed we can go and see our new baby boy born 20 June 1970. Once again I have the feeling of great elation, joy and the same excited high as with Tammy. When we see him it is all over and we know he is ours and his name is Matthew Bryon.

Now the long year wait for the final approval. TDY trips are becoming overpowering and we decide I should look for another assignment where I can be home more. After some long searching we settled on recruiting duty and applied for assignment in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Now there is school in Biloxi for three months for recruiting and not sure I can make it. It has a 50percent or more washout rate. While in school I call Carol and tell her if she can sell the trailer and clear up things there we will buy us a real home when we get to Marion. By golly she did it and is now living in the 13-foot camper with two kids, two dogs, a cat and a bird.

We've sold the convertible and school is completed and still waiting on the adoption finalizing when I get my orders for Cedar Rapids for December. The court waves the rest of the time and hurries the final papers along and we are ready for the next chapter of our life. One last trip to Knotts Berry farm and then we are off to our new life in Marion Iowa.

The trip back to Iowa is not too memorable so must not have been many problems. We were pretty excited about the new move and being home with family and maybe staying here till retirement. We will stay with my folks for awhile till we find a home to buy.

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