The Journey Begins- Embarkation from Miami

30 May 2009 DC to Miami- I left this morning a bit tired after the send off at Clydes last night. Thanks Angie Goff! It's an absolutely gorgeous day in D.C. On way to Reagan National Airport the air was filled with white wisps from windblown Dandelions. Definitely can smell summer in the air. With my seabag and camoflauge backpack in hand, cabbie asks me where I'm going. I answer Panama (not Costa Rica). He proceeds to tell me that he is from Somalia and that he is a pirate, but a good pirate. A Pirate Cab Driver in D.C. Interesting. I asked him if he heard about the new Pirate movie. He said no. I said it's rated R. Arrr... He doesn't get it. But he did go on to say how he tried to tell his pirate cousins in Somalia not to f#$ with the U.S. Navy. Wise man. They should have listened. Flight is uneventful aside from the stewardess asking me mindless questions about being on TV. Once in Miami Aiport I trekked to the USO lounge and met up with a medical team from all throughout the U.S.A. We proceeded to Homestead Air Force Base. My vanmates are a recent Harvard grad/Spanish major, Navy Corpsman (Hooyah!), Master at Arms Navy Petty Officer, and Physical Therapist from Duke (Go Blue Devils!). The Chief driving the van makes a few wrong turns and bumps the van into the car in front of us at a tollbooth. Thank goodness for rubber bumpers. Harvard linguist got her first diplomatic tasking with this incident. Homestead is not all that bad. Air Force has the best lodging out of all the services. Went for a run in the rain. Plan is for NALO flight to Panama on 31 May for rendezvous with USNS COMFORT. Now to find some food......and figure out how to get into this jet.....