Our Week at Oceana Naval Air Station

April 21st - Monday - Cold 55 degrees  Windy

This has been a very cold and windy week here.  What we had hoped for and what we have experience have been two different things.  We have ended up having to put our slides in, as the wind has blown so severely that it has begun to fray out canopy over our slides.  We have run our furnace all of the time and I have used the quilt that my sister made me to cover up with while we have sat and watched television or read.

Sunday we did not go to Easter sunrise service as we had wanted to do, it was 36 degrees and warmed up to 48 degrees.  We did, however, go to church on the base and had a good sermon by the base chaplain.  After church we went to I-Hop for breakfast then back to the RV to change our clothes into something warmer and we read for a while then drove over to Fort Story and looked at the old lighthouse there.  It was complete in 1792 and it the third oldest lighthouse still standing in the US.  I didn’t have my camera with me, so didn’t get a picture of it this time.

We drove into Lynnhaven and tried to find the house that Lou lived in when he was growing up and think we may have located it.  Was an interesting afternoon for him to see how things have changed over the years, even the water ways.  We had dinner at Red Lobster last evening and had enough food left over to bring home for our dinner tonight.

Finally this afternoon the wind seemed to lessen a bit, gusts were down to only 20 miles per hour, and the sun finally come out, so we decided to go sight seeing a little closer to the RV.

We drove over to the Main Gate to the Aviation Historical Park.  They have 13 Naval aircraft from the past as well as the F/A-18 Hornet on display.  We enjoyed walking around all of them and looking at all of them.  Of course, Lou knew all of the information about them and several people there asked him questions about the planes and he was glad to answer all of their questions and add his own stories.  After that we went to the airstrip and watched the F-18 take off and land, that is always an experience.

One of the Blue Angels

One of the early bombers used by the Navy

All of these planes landed on ships at sea and these portable lights were used to guide them to the ships

We drove to the Flame of Hope Memorial/Jet Observation Park.  This is a park that is dedicated to the memory of prisoners of war, missing in action, and those killed the service of their country.  The Flame of Hope itself is lit at all times to light the way for those brave young service members to find their way home.  The park is situated in such a position that affords visitors an excellent advantage for photographing and viewing Oceana jet aircraft as they take off and land. It has picnic tables and open to the public.

Across from the memorial there was a John Deere working the fields and it caught my eye, with its huge disc and I had to take a picture of it.

Our site has been a great place to get a  picture of the sailors and the marines as they march past on their way to class.  I love to sit and eat breakfast and watch them pass.

Some Marines walking to class

The day  before we were to leave here, the temperatures did get up to where we could put our coats on and walk to the beach so we took advantage of it.  Was strange that we did not find any shells on the beach.

We leave here on Wednesday and should be in Carlisle on Wednesday night and home on Thursday, the Lord willing.  Should have internet on Wednesday, so I can get caught up on my posting.