Norfolk Trip: Day Seven

Final day.

Final breakfast at the navy mess hall.

When we get back to the barracks it is time to pack our things and get the barracks ready for inspection.

The cadets are in charge of cleaning the barracks (Lorrie and I swept our rooms). The girls have cleaned the barracks so that we leave it in better condition than we found it. The male cadets do the same.

A Sergeant from the Virginia National Guard performed the inspections and both barracks passed with flying colors.

Time to load up the bus.

We watch movies and sleep on the way home. I must have slept soundly for a while because I missed bus driver Tom's departure and his replacement driver take over. We stop for dinner in South Carolina.

Back on the road again and back to sleep. I sleep soundly again, miss all of Georgia and awaken when the bus pulls onto the side of the highway.

Our poor bus has finally given up the ghost. The transmission will not engage any longer. Some sort of electrical problem I think (I'm about as good a mechanic as I am a submariner). We are just south of Orlando and it is 5:00 a.m.

As we are sitting roadside, back home at 5:00 a.m., The Colonel is just waking up to his alarm clock and having some breakfast. Our bus was scheduled to arrive home at 6:00 a.m. As he is eating his breakfast he says to himself, "Because I'm up this early, I bet they'll have some bus trouble and not arrive on time." Just as he finishes this thought his phone rings and its me telling him that we are stuck roadside near Orlando and we will be getting in around 9:30 a.m.

We have to wait less than an hour for a new bus to show up, when it does we gather our things and get off the bus. Our gear underneath the bus has to be transferred to the new bus and the cadets get that job done in no time. Finally everything and everyone is aboard the new bus and we are on the road again.

I catch a few more winks before we pull into the school's parking lot.

The Colonel is there to greet us. It is good to be back home.

I enjoyed the trip. I saw a lot and learned quite a bit. I enjoyed most of my chaperon duties (there were some emotional outbursts from some of the girls). I met a new friend in Lorrie, and got to know the Captain and Chief a little better as well as some of the other cadets along the way.

Would I do something like this again?

Yeah, probably (but not the roller coaster thing).