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.
