Fort Bragg arrival

I arrived to Fort Bragg on Wednesday evening after a frustrating day of travel. I can't blame my frustration on the airlines though, the only obstacles I encountered during the day were due to my own carelessness. After accruing 100,000+ frequent flyer miles over the last couple of years, I did something that I usually roll my eyes at novice travelers for doing. . . forgot my Leatherman tool in my carry-on! My heart sank as I realized when the TSA guy told me it was in my bag that I was going to lose my companion of 20 years. The multi-purpose knife/tool was given to me by a Navy mentor and had accompanied me on just about every mission and motorcycle ride since. Did you know that you can pretty much fix anything on a P-3 aircraft with a Leatherman tool? Can't really say the same for my Harley, but I was sentimentally attached to the tool nonetheless (and yall know how often I actually get sentimental). Anyway, the security line was too long for me to go back through in order to mail it back to myself, so I watched in disgust as the guy tossed my tool into a bin labeled "trash". I could only be mad at myself since the guy was just doing his job, but man it sucked! As you can see from this blog post, I haven't quite gotten over it yet!

OK, enough about the sob story over my knife. . . I found my way to Ft Bragg and have been checking in on base (err, I mean "post") ever since. There's a ton of briefs and presentations newly arrived personnel must go through just to be in-processed onto post. Tomorrow I'll finish that process and start checking into the place on post I'll actually be working. The post is HUGE and I've only seen a small area of it so far, but decided to take a pic of one of the statues that seems to represent the essence of Ft Bragg- "Iron Mike." The monument depicts the Airborne Troopers of the Airborne units stationed at Fort Bragg, notably the XVIII Airborne Corps Headquarters, the 82nd Airborne Division, and the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC).

After avoiding owning a 4-wheeled vehicle for a year and a half, I finally broke down and purchased a car! My bike is in storage and I can't really get it out until I find a place to live. I didn't know how long that would take, so I decided it was time to become a grown-up (kind of!) and buy a sensible car. I looked around on the lemon lot and perused the internet, but I couldn't find anything I wanted and/or trusted for a decent price. I arrived at the conclusion that I hadn't owned a new vehicle (other than my Harley) since 1987 and that as long as it got good gas mileage (25-33 mpg) and would last for a while (5-year warranty), it was a wise choice. Actually, I convinced myself that if I was sensible with the four-wheeled purchase that I would be able to upgrade my two-wheeled purchase soon :-) Although non-descript, I'm satisfied with my 2009 Hyundai Elantra.

With the freedom of wheels, yesterday and today I got out-and-about in the gorgeous upper 70/lower 80 degree weather to look at potential areas to live. There's a town called Southern Pines to the west of Fort Bragg that I really like and spent the day out there. It's a bit of a commute since you have to go across the whole forest known as the Fort Bragg Military Reservation to get there, but I really liked how quiet and spread out the landscape was in comparison to the options right outside the post in Fayetteville. I found this lake at Reservoir Park and walked the 2-mile trail around it as I cleared my head with the wooded smell of fresh pine.

Tomorrow I'll continue the process of becoming a member of this military community and trying to establish a new residence. Hope everyone was able to get out and enjoy the weekend and get a preview of the refreshing spring weather to come!