Aloha from Sunny Hawai'i!

Well, we DID make it to Hawai'i and we're loving it. Remember all that stuff about spending some time in San Francisco, etc, etc? Well, it didn't happen because we figured that our trip was all about getting OUT of the US. Well, Hawai'i isn't actually out, but it certainly is good enough. We found out about a plane heading to Hawai'i out of San Diego, even though we were waiting near Travis AFB near San Francisco. Nothing was heading out of Travis for a few days, and anyone who knows about taking military hops know that you have to work for your free flights.

We drove from Travis down to San Diego on Tuesday, and that is a pretty good haul. We did get to see all of central California, though, and we are both trying to figure out what all the hoopla is! Lots of agriculture, mountains with no trees and hot weather (102 degrees). Spent the night in San Diego (an expensive proposition) and took a taxi (never cheap) to North Island Naval Air Station. Got there and found out that the C-130 (noisy, slow) that was heading to Hawai'i with 50 seats at 0830 was actually taking only 35 and, since the crew decided to leave early, had already filled up. They DID have, however, an unplanned Navy C-40A (Boeing 737--fast, comfortable) going to Hickam AFB at noon. They also slimmed down the number of seats advertised, but since we were flying active duty, we made it. Still a 5 hour flight, but it was great. NO bumps (always best), good leg room, and best, it got us here.

We decided to stay the night up at Kaneohe Marine Corps Base on the north side of the island (25 minutes), and then stay the remaining couple of days at Hickam. Well...... I got a beautiful corner room facing the ocean, and I share a bath with Mike who is in the next door room. Very nice Visiting Officers Quarters, so we decided to plant roots till Monday. Room costs for both rooms is $50 a night.

Why Monday? Every Monday, very early in the morning, a plane heads to Australia (10 hours, ugh, but did I mention it IS Australia!) with 10 seats. The guy at the terminal said that if we showed up flying active duty, we were almost certain to get on.

So the plan here. Swim in a few minutes on Hickam. Germaine's Luau tonight (good food, good show), extreme parasailing tomorrow (1200 feet up), then I don't know. I was thinking about us flying to the big island, and we could do it, with a car rental, for a total of $246, but I'm thinking that we will stay on Oahu. Cali, and getting to Cali, was more expensive than I expected, so we'll slow down a bit.

Mike is having a great time and is greatly enjoying spending my money. Will talk to you tomorrow with an update on the Luau and parasailing and more.