That first big trip

 My first big trip had to be going from George Air Force Base, in Victorville, California, where I was born, to my Dad’s next assignment at RAF Bentwaters, near Suffolk, England. It happened probably 6-9 months after I was born, so I naturally have no recollection of it. Thinking back on it, however, and considering the transportation of the day… it had to be a pretty major undertaking.

My mother had grown up in Texas, then Washington, and then back to Texas, so she had undertaken some long trips in her day, but the ones to come must have seemed incredibly daunting. After meeting my Dad at a dance in Texas, he had called or written and convinced her to get on a bus, meet him in Las Vegas and get married. Then move on with him to California, where I showed up. A year or so later, they were off to England!  Me too!

I don’t remember anyone saying we stopped along the way, so we probably flew from Los Angeles to the East Coast, then caught a plane from New York to London. I know years later when we moved to Wheelus AFB, in Libya, we flew from California to Minneapolis, visited relatives, then flew to New Jersey, stayed at McGuire AFB for two weeks while the girls healed from ear infections, then flew out of JFK, stopped in the Azores, then Tunisia, then into Tripoli. I suspect we probably stopped for gas in St. Johns or Gandar back in 1960/61, but I’m not sure.

The first big trips I remember once we got back in the US were trips to Washington to see relatives, or from Washington to Minneasota to see Grandma Branby (Grampa Branby had died before I was born.) The trip from Washington to Minneapolis was really memorable for a couple things… Staring off the side of a steep highway down sheer cliffs as we traversed Montana somewhere, and while staying at the Miller’s house, we got to watch a real tornado make its way toward us. We all just sat out on the front porch watching a NO-KIDDING funnel cloud move closer and closer until Aunt Wanda would have no more of it, and we were shooed into the basement. It was pretty epic for a 6- or 7-year-old.