Columbus, Georgia

I just returned from working with some of our shooters out at Fort Benning, GA. I have to apologize right off the bat that I really slacked on taking pictures this trip. Even though there were lots of beautiful and interesting things to take pictures of, it just never seemed convenient to whip out my camera! So, the one picture I did get was of a hodge-podge supper of side dishes I had one night. After having read the advertisement for this restaurant (which I'll leave nameless), I figured a place specializing in Southern food was just what I needed! I had eaten a late lunch, so I opted-out of the meat selections and just ordered an assortment of sides.

For my non-Southern readers out there, I'll identify the side dishes for you! Starting with the blue bowl of butter and going clockwise: black-eyed peas, fried okra, sweet potato souffle, carrot & raisin salad, butter (Lima) beans, and cornbread sticks. It all looked right, but the okra had been fried in old grease and were inedible in my opinion. The sweet potato souffle was OK but I could've done without the raisins in it. It's hard to mess up carrot & raisin salad, so not too bad there and the butter beans had a good flavor. The black-eyed peas and cornbread were just bland, nothing special. All in all, it was OK, but certainly not like my momma's! It was a good effort, but my Southern taste buds weren't quite satisfied by the meal.

I realized on the plane ride back home that I didn't do the one thing my friend Suzanne in Colorado Springs had asked me to do- take a picture of the Fort Benning base sign! Her husband David had been born on the base but hadn't been back since. I'm disappointed to report that I don't have any pictures of the base or of Columbus in general. There were tons of magnolia trees blooming all along I-185 and I kept thinking to myself that I would stop before I left and get some pictures. Magnolias are one of my favorite flowers. They smell delicious and the trees always have a proud, shiny-leaf look to them. Just another reminder to never procrastinate doing things, time will slip away before you know it and you'll be left with disappointment or regret over something you didn't do!

This week at Fort Benning felt familiar to me; being in the south, being on a military base and around shooting. I had shot on a 22 smallbore rifle team back in high school, so I have a rudimentary knowledge of rifle shooting. Obviously the level of competition I was witnessing during this Olympic Qualifier was well above any I had been exposed to before, but there was still a familiar feeling to the smell of gun cleaner solvent and spent casings and the sound of 22 rim fire bullets being discharged. Beyond the shooting aspect, I'm always comfortable on military bases. Even though I've been off active duty for 10 years now (wow, a whole decade!), I'm still quite comfortable around folks in uniforms spouting acronyms as real words! Then of course, there was some heat and humidity thrown in there just to bring it all home! The first couple of days started off chilly (50-60s), but the temps got into the 80s the last couple days I was there with humidity will above the 75% level. Perfect!

So now I'm back in San Diego starting a 3-day weekend. The weather here is supposed to be in the 80s Friday, Saturday & Sunday! I'm thinking me and my Harley will be rolling out a few miles in the following days!