Deployments End and New Beginnings.

In Modesto, stayed with Kelly and Brian - it was my birthday so Kel got me my favorite! Chocolate Cheesecake.. She's the BEST.




  On the way north from Santa Barbara it rained.. RAINED.  It was cold and rainy so to get out of this I aborted the ride up Rt. 1 and made my way through Wine Country in Southern California.  Now I know why folks like to go and spend time at the wineries. It is beautiful and from what I could smell through my helmet tasty indeed. Once I got above the marine layer inland I started drying off.

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First Stop... San Diego, one of my favorite cities.

 

Off to see friends in CA and scenic Rt 1 - the Pacific Coast Highway on my bike.

One of the first events I went to was a bar crawl with Eric and Curt... gotta love the Absolut Ladies.

After returning, my leave was filled with a lot of friends, family and this benefit dinner with Sarah.

Its awesome when your best friends greet you at the airport!

  

Everyone has a smile on the flight heading out of Iraq from a tour well done.

Flying to our re-deployment briefing in Kuwait to ensure we are good-to-go to leave country. 

  A much hotter location...

In this whole transition, I moved also.  We moved to a dustier, hotter, more remote location.

 

 A lot of our equipment was moved by ground support assets.  Some equipment I manged to get on airlift.  This sped up the process of clearing our camps but lent some unique challenges as well.

  It is nice that we have standardized equipment when it comes to moving containers.  The tricky parts are loading and unloading.  A lot can go wrong real fast.

 My first challenge was to move three locations in country to three other forward operating bases. I learned a lot, and realized I like transportation.  Moving 'stuff' is challenging but also rewarding when the mission is closed out and everything and everyone arrive safe where they are supposed to on time. Right stuff, right place, right time.

 The nice thing about having all the refinery and dust particulates in the air is it makes for really nice sunsets.

 When I returned to my unit, my commander called me into his office.  He brought up the matter of another non-aviation officer needing some command time.  He asked, "how do you feel about changing out command?" At that time I felt the whole weight of the last three years crash down on my shoulders.  I told him, "You know, Sir... I didn't realize i until just now that I am burnt-out.  This is a long time to be in command."  They shifted me into a new position the XO wrote for me.  Battalion Movement Officer. 

Heading home from SUCH a great R&R trip to Ireland.

Surf, Sand and Stone...

It is amazing  how much I accomplished up to this point so far in my journey... I recall the two things I wanted to do while in Ireland; the Guinness Factory tour, and visit Mountrath.  Already done and so much more.  One of the ideas that struck me as unique about the Emerald Isle was the surf culture.  That's right, surfing.  Apparently on the Atlantic side there are some little known (except for avid surfers and folks like me who stumble on them) great spots to surf. 

I took the rental down one morning and chanced the weather was great that day.  Most of the time it is either overcast or even rainy, and up in Dublin downright chilly.  Unusual for this time of year - figures the fluke weather hits while I'm here.  It took me a bit to figure out where the rental shop was.  I ended up chatting with a man living in his RV on the beach for directions.  The folks at Jamie Knox's were super.  I think the guys name was Greg, and he set me up with a good kit after sizing me up for a wetsuit and board, I was on the way to Brandon Bay. 

I am hooked!  After snowboarding for so long I figured surfing wouldn't be that difficult to pick up. Boy, Is it!  Although in my first day I only manged to get up on the board and ride some whitewater in once, it was a great accomplishment.  Surfing is HARD.  On snow you have a constant surface to work with varying your speed and cuts.  In the water it is a totally fluid environment.  I truly appreciate the Zen in the art of surfing now.  To ride the perfect wave has got to be such a rush... I foresee a lot of California beach time in my future. 

Another great place in Kerry County (where Cork is) to go is the Blarney Castle.  Yep, off to kiss the stone.  The castle is a very cool tour in itself of the Manor House type of castle. 

 The crazy worn narrow spiral stone staircases gave me a little vertigo at one point near the top when the steps got really small.  The gardens were also incredible.
  

Of course when I saw the 5-series parked at the Blarney House, I thought I was home.  Alas it wasn't mine.  Darn!  Beautiful estates and a great day.

Corcaigh

Cork is a great city.  Although I stayed a little bit out of the city center it was very walkable.  The University College Cork is amazing.  There are some parts of it that look right out of a Harry Potter movie.  Shane was nice enough to walk me around, and having a historian take you on a walk through anywhere is educational.

St. Finnbarre's Cathedral is amazing.  The really interesting piece of it to me was some of the work that had a huge eastern influence in the architectural design near the altar.  Another cathedral that really impacted me was the Franciscan cathedral in the city.  It left an indelible mark.

 Shane has some really nice Ogham Stones near his house.  It was really cool seeing these after looking at the writing in college. 

One of the really cool day-trips from Cork was to the Drombeg Circle.  As with most anywhere in Ireland, the views were amazing. 

Kilkenney Castle

I was excited to see the insides of my first castle. The tough part is I can't show you the cool things inside because there is no photography. Very smart for the ministry of tourism.

It is a beautiful place.  It would be nice to spend a day or two in the town, but we needed to get to Cork before it got dark as I was driving and it was a little scary at points on the narrow streets and folks driving quickly.

Mountrath

One of the reasons.. no it wasn't just for the Guinness Factory tour.. I wanted to go to Ireland was because my mother's family is from there.  Specifically a speck-on-the-map town called Mountrath.  Her sister, my Aunt Mickey diligently researched the family tree and found the town.  We have not mad the connection with anyone living there as related yet, but I am sure that will come.

I stopped and talked with the butcher for a while. He was a very nice man and I felt welcomed there.  I was giving Shane a ride back to Cork, so we grabbed some tea there too since we were in for a long day with Kilkenney Castle on the way.

All in all it was a nice town, nothing truly notable about it. Oh, it did win the 'Tidy Town' award last year.  Ireland has this cool competition in each county where all the towns compete on being the tidiest.  Based on frontage landscaping, rubbish, and other factors I don't know.  Very smart.