Home last night at 8:30 P.M. or so, and the reception from Sara Jean and Lucy was extraordinary. Bein' away from home more than a week does have a few benefits! Maybe I should find some reason to leave my girls alone more often?
Working at something this intense for a week leaves you drained. Work, travel to/from work, eat a little, (mostly MRE's and their blue collar cousins, "Heater Meals"), sleep... that seems to be all there was time for. Strange room, strange bed, strange flying area... I was even flying a BK117 that I wasn't familiar with, and there are dozens of differences in each of the aircraft that make it stressful trying to get the job done properly. Having to coordinate flying in a "Restricted" area with hundreds of other aircraft zooming around trying to do their thing... all the stress mounts up after a while. I was ready to come home. I worry a little about others... some pilots came straight from Hurricane Gustav relief to assist with Hurricane Ike. I don't know how they can do it.
Things are winding down in Galveston and Houston. Slowly but surely, electricity is being restored. When homeowners are allowed to return to their properties, I think we'll hear the majority of those homes have serious water damage, and many that appear undamaged will still be torn down due to mold/mud or structural damage. Galveston will be YEARS returning to normal.
We are on our way to Indianapolis today to visit friends and attend an Irish Festival there.
A wrap-up on my "IKE week" will have to wait until I've had time to take a deep breath and recover.
Thanks again everyone for your comments and kind thoughts.
4 comments:
Home Safely, mission accomplished. Proud of you, Stay safe.
Take your time, rest up. Glad you made it back safely. We'll be here waiting.
And doing Gustav followed by Ike differs from 12 months in the Central Highlands of Afghanistan or the RVN how? If ya didn't love it, ya couldn't do it. And you obviously do.
An interesting insight on your part, my bro. More than once last week I made the comment that this operation was not at all unlike a military op.
Same "hurry up and wait" feeling. Same "slightly out of control" feeling.
Exciting, stressful, and, once the job was done, satisfying.
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