Isolation is almost over…

I think I did pretty well without my family for 2 weeks. I won’t lie it was pretty miserable at night without them; I hope they had a lot of fun because they don’t get to leave for 2 weeks ever again!! I am anxious for them to get back so that I do not have to cook and clean for myself. It is no fun coming home to an empty house. I have to give a huge thank you to my buddy Doug, what a great pal. He opened up his place, refrigerator and movie collection for me. THANK YOU DOUG!!!

My 4th of July weekend was pretty low key. On Friday I spent at Doug’s watching movies and eating. Because of the lovely heat, we spent all day indoors. There was no desire to go out and burn. He cranked the AC and we played some cards and I got some pointers for our upcoming Vegas trip; Doug is a master card player and we came up with a plan!! It will be fun.

Friday night I watched fireworks from a hill behind our complex. I think I saw about 10 fireworks shows, the closest being only a couple of miles away. I thought I was going to be clever but when I got up there people were all over the place with chairs and binoculars. It was neat and free. I did not have to drive anywhere, pay for admission or deal with crowds. From the hilltop you can see just about the entire southeast valley and as far as the eye can see. I had fireworks to the south, east and west; lightning to the north!! Fun night.

Saturday I went to a little town about 20 miles south of Tucson. There, amidst the community is the Titan Missile Museum. During the Cold War these 103 feet tall, 9 megaton behemoths stood on alert. After the Soviet Union was dissolved the 54 active Titan missiles and silos were decommissioned, dismantled and destroyed. The only Titan Missile to survive was N-10 which is housed in the silo at the museum.

I took a special tour that is only offered twice a month. It gave the small group a behind the scenes tour that not everyone gets to see. They took us into the control room and simulated what a missile launch would have been like. The crews practiced every day and thankfully ever had to act. We saw the crews living quarters (cramped) and the kitchen (cramped). The highlight of the tour was standing underneath the missile. What a sight! It amazes me that the silo was at one point state of the art and an unbelievable secure location. I believe that we were just about 100 feet below ground when I was under the missile.

Of all the features and gadgets (all original equipment) I could not help but notice the site was not designed for tall men! I spent a good deal of time walking short, I am glad that they required hard hats. Some of the volunteer tour guides were assigned to this location and I spent some time just talking to them about what they did. I really got a sense that they were extremely proud of the fact that they never had to do their job. I would go back in a heartbeat for another tour.

Sunday was low key; I went to church and sat with the ward mission leader. He said that he had a fishing boat that had been sitting since March because he could not find anyone to go with. I told him that I enjoyed fishing and would go anytime that he called. He said that the call would be sooner rather than later. I spent the rest of the day cleaning and preparing the house for Lisa’s return. My house upkeep skills will be on display and I want to prove that I can handle the chores; I may not like doing them but I can vacuum pretty well.