A Marine Corp Base Day

I was in the San Francisco airport on my way to Japan last month when I got an email for an upcoming race called the Boot Camp Challenge. Three miles filled with obstacles and Marine Corp drill instructors offering encouragement along the way- sounds like fun right?! So I go ahead and sign up for the event. Fast forward to Wednesday of this week when I get an email reminder that it's this Saturday! Oh yeah, I forgot I signed up for that. . .

So I get up bright and early this morning and ride off towards MCRD (Marine Corp Recruit Depot) for the race only to be turned away at the gate for not wearing the proper safety gear needed to get my bike on base. Hmmm. . . plan B, ride a few miles up the road to Whit & Kathie's and they'll take me there in the car. I get there in time to hear the safety brief and to catch up with Zach before the start (he's the Strength & Conditioning coach on my team at work). Zach had gone to boot camp on this base 20 years earlier so I think he just wanted to prove to himself that he could still do it!

The event wasn't really a race since there were so many people you couldn't move faster than a jog. The obstacles were mostly hay bales until we got to the permanent obstacle course structures (which had hay bales around them to make them easier). A few low crawl and push up stations were sprinkled along the way to keep it interesting and to give the drill instructors extra chances to use their voices (which were virtually gone already after having graduated a class of 600 new Marines this week). Even though everyone bunched up at the obstacles rendering them not as much of a challenge, it was still a fun morning outside. Whit captured some great video on the course but I can't get it to work on my computer. You can get a feel for the event though from the first pic that Whit took of some random kid being "encouraged" over an obstacle. Even pregnant with twins, Kathie still made a great cheerleader (that's her in the pic with me in front of the blow-up Marine).

Not believing the weatherman's prediction of rain this evening, Whit, Kathie and I headed out to MCAS (Marine Corp Air Station) Miramar for the air show. There were a ton of people there and the carnival-like atmosphere overshadowed the storm rolling in. We didn't get there early enough to check out the static displays, but we managed to get some kettle corn and drinks before making our way to our seats. As we hung out watching the primer aircraft stunts while waiting for the main event to begin, it became clear that we were going to get wet at some point during the evening.


We went to the twilight show so we could experience the great pyrotechnics that would accompany the air demonstrations. Fortunately we got to see the HV-8B Harrier demo, the Patriots Team program (the four L-39 jets in the pic with the red, white & blue smoke trails), and the Blue Angels "Fat Albert" C-130T Hercules before the weather set in. Much to my disappointment, the Army Golden Knights Parachute Team jump had to be cancelled because of the 1200 foot ceiling that had moved in. The Shockley's Jet Truck was pretty cool though, especially after darkness set in. This jacked up truck had 1000 hp and shot down the runway at almost 400 mph leaving a trail of fire shooting out behind it!

Although not aviation related, the Patriot Chopper made by Orange County Choppers was on display and drew quite a crowd. Built in 2007, the bike was designed incorporating winning ideas from soldiers around the country. The finished product has a front wheel with 7 spears representing the 7 Army values, an ammunition belt lining the handlebars, chromed M-4 magazines for struts, and an M-4 rifle mounted near the rear wheel. I'm fascinated with choppers, especially those with so much symbolism and detail but I don't think I'd own and ride one. I guess I'm spoiled with my windshield and backrest!!

The night ended with a wet ride for me through the rain back to Coronado on my own, old-ladied out Sportster! What can I say, I'm a simple girl. . .