Norfolk Trip: Day One

Chaperon (n): Any adult present in order to maintain order or propriety at an activity of young people, as in a school dance (or a week-long NJROTC trip to Norfolk, Virginia and surrounding environs).

Myself and another NJROTC mom (Lorrie) volunteered to be chaperons for the trip. We would be bunking with the 18 female cadets and the unit's Captain and Chief would bunk with the 22 male cadets.

Everyone met at the high school parking lot on Saturday, October 9th at 6 p.m. We loaded up the charter bus with our suitcases, sleeping bags, pillows, blankets, garment bags (cadets uniforms), water, snacks, coolers and an ironing board and hit the road to began our 16-hour trip to Virginia.

The Captain and Chief sat at the front of the bus while Lorrie and I sat in the middle, separating the young men in the back of the bus from the young ladies in the front.

We made pit stops in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina before pulling into Virginia. We also had a bus driver swap in Georgia. The new driver's name was Tom and he would be with us throughout our time in Virginia and then be swapped out again in Georgia on our way back home.

I did not get much sleep on the bus, I didn't think I would.

We pulled into Camp Pendleton, Virginia Beach, Virginia around 10:30 the next morning.

End of day one.