Back in Deutschland

I'm back at Ramstein AB, Germany, sitting and waiting for a mission to drop down. We flew out from Seattle on Tuesday, picked up a load of HUMVEEs in Texas, quick gas stop in Maine, then off to Germany. It's nice coming back for a visit. Place looks about the same as I left it. Today was pretty glorious; crisp, cold air and blue sky with not a cloud in sight. I've been up since 4:30 this morning--my clock is so screwed up now. It's pretty tough trying to align sleep patterns with when you fly. When you pull a 21-hour day, it kind of makes it tough. This is definitely a young man's game.

I've got to type fast. I'm at the base library and they've got a time limit on the computer. The internet Nazis will come in and haul me away if I stay on it too long. Funny, but adding the extra descriptive term "Nazi" takes on a new meaning here in Germany. They really don't like it...believe me. I made the mistake of renting "Schindler's List" once over here. They don't care for that movie either. Let bygones be bygones, or so they say.

One of my goals for this year is to buy an older pickup truck for my sons and I to work on and fix it up. I leaning towards a late '60s Ford F150. It has to be driveable as, I'm afraid, the limit of my car fixing skills ends with changing the oil and rotating tires. It's something for us to learn to work on together. My oldest's vote was for a Dodge Charger. I think he has delusions of fixing it up and then actually getting to drive it to school himself.

"That would be pretty cool," he says.
"Yeah, that's a pretty fast car," says I.
"Yeah," he says.
"That's why you're not getting it."

Pickup it is.