Run pick up Run

The date was March 10, 2006 the time was 0530 in the morning and we were on our way to get Doug. He was to arrive at the dock on Saturday morning and we all were driving to Virgina to pick him up and bring him home. It took us a few mintues to get on the Jersey Turnpike, coffee and cash was in need so we made a few stops. We were offically on our way at 0600.
Our first pee stop was at this pit stop called Clara Barton, after our bladders were emptied and some oil was put into the wive's van we were back on the road.















Here we are at one of many tolls we had to pay on the road. Now I am curious as how thes little vandles got these stickers on this sign. I wish I had my stick with me so I could have added one too....."Honkeie Lives"















As we traveled into areas of the USA that are foriegn to the suburbian rats that we have become, we see things that have yet to make there way into out world. At this gas station in Virgina I see this tank infront of my car. And all i can think of is Hank Hill from the cartoon King of the Hill. Nobody uses propane for home fuel around where we live so u never see these things around. The only time I have been around propane is when my mom had her propane grill, besides that in NJ no one uses it like southern folks do.















We found our lodging without too much trouble and thanks to Hotels.com we got a great price. Two rooms for one night for $184.oo. It wasnt any place fancy, Howard Johnsons, but it was good enough for our needs.
We finally came to a stop at 1250 in the afternoon in the hot Virgina sun. So six hours and 50 minutes my ass is very numb and my bladder is in pain. I have no idea how ppl drive like that for a living, its such a pain in the ass!
Here we have all the little indians inspecting all the features of the idiot box and of course the baby has gone native again.















Now like I said it was not anything fancy but we did find evidence it might be the local Navy Boom Boom joint.....................
















Now what trip would be complete without stopping at the local Target to buy all those things we forgot to bring with us....toothpaste, a couple of tee shirts for the baby and somethings in the clearance bins that we did not need but it WAS ONLY 3 DOLLARS!















I know things in the south run at a slower pace than what we are used to but this takes the cake. We decided to eat at Friendly's, it is a sit down fast food kinda place. I should have known something was up when our waitress started talking to us in her overly friendly manner. She was not a bad waitress but she was very very slow. We were in that place for 3 HOURS! I have never been in a resturant for 3 hours. Even the ice cream took forever, I think if they made it fresh from the cows utter it would have not taken that long. Its icecream, you scoop, drop, squirt and serve....WTF. But I was not a bad time and I did get a real kick out of the sign in the bathroom. If were there any longer we would have had to order diner as well, our original meal would have already been digested.















That night we were invited to a reception at the Nauticus National Maritime Center. The kids loved poking around at all the naval do-dads and exibits. I would love to come back to the museum during regular operating days to see all the stuff that was not on due to the reception. There was an old destroyer that I wanted to go on but it was not open but there were all kinds of other things to play with.
Here we have my oldest showing us what it might feel like staring down the buisness end of American might. That is one hell of a barrel you got dar!















The next morning we all loaded up the car and stole as many hotel towels, soap, and toliet paper from other ppl's rooms and head out to the docks. Here we have Dougs boat pulling in-# 71















Luckily for me I borught my binoculars and was able to find where he was standing. This did not help us in any way finding his ass in the crowd of over 5,000 seaman. But it is still pretty cool to have found where he was standing.















Once we found him we had to locate everyone else that had gone on Doug hunting tours at other parts of the peir. I was the first to find haha, I am that good I guess. Here we have me carring this bag of his that probably weighed about 75lbs. It had all of his stuff, he said he even threw stuff away in a desperate attempt to make it lighter. Try hard next time Doug haha.















Once we found them we took the usual family pics and did all the hugging stuff spanish ppl do. Here we have Lilian, Allen, Doug and Seth. AWWWWW dont they all look soo cutie!















After all the hugging and cry was over we head back to the barracks(sp) to drop off his green bag of back pain. We got to see where he will be living, not bad but it does suck he has a roommate. I hope he isnt a douche bag or likes walking around naked when you both are in the room. The Navy gave them these little goodie bags that had cookies, coupons, popcorn and other things. Doug decided to burn one of the popcorn bags in his microwave. God I hate the smell of burnt popcorn. I hope his roommate likes it haha.















We were back on the road @ 1500hrs that very same day. Nothing happened on the way back of interest. We stopped off at this one redneck gas stop and I got out and wandered around. They had all kinda of things for sail u will never find here in NJ. Fireworks for one, I bought the kids some smoke bombs. I promised them for christmass but I could not find any this year, so better late than never haha. I also found some Ephdrine, I thought this stuff was now illegeal but owh well I bought a pack and went on my way.
@ 2115 hrs we were home and all was back to normal. Now Doug has to get a few things in order before he leaves Wednesday for 2 weeks. He will be back in 2 weeks for a 2 week vacation after that. Everyone needs a break from time to time :-P