Happy Birthday Al Perna

[davidbrady]

Have a good one Al!

[al perna]

thank you David we enjoyed the video hahaha

[MarkYuma]

Al.... You wanted my to post my stories on this site.... so this one is for you.....

Dodging A Bullet

Ginger and I had finally decided it was time we better start heading South for the winter. We had a wonderful summer trip all around the Pacific North West. We have had the chance to visit family and friends and to make new friends, some of which we love more than family.
The weather has been wonderful but it is time to get moving South.... The trees are turning and there are more leaves on the ground every day......

Our trip South so far has been more of a weaving pattern between Washington and Oregon along the Colombia river. The area has been hard to leave because it is beautiful and there have been even more friends and family (grand kid type) along the way.....
But.... we finally hit the end of the river.... well as it goes East that is... and this is where we decided to head to the desserts in the South......

The travels of the summer have been based on..... what neat thing can we see next... or where is the next fishing port.... so we can load up on fresh caught fish.... (our favorite thing to do) (thank you Pat and Jo).

Anyway We needed a new plan on not so much how to get home... a map will tell you that... but, what can we do or see to make the trip interesting along the way.......

So I came up with a Great Idea All... By.... My.... Self...........

We started the summer by staying at two Military installation campgrounds..... SO why not make the long trip back to Yuma by staying at Military Campgrounds all the way home.
Cool Idea....... Right.......

So a quick look at my handy dandy iPhone app for the closest Military Travel Camp and I found an installation that I had never been to before..... Which is hard to find for me, after a 33 year courier in the military that was off and on over 37 years.... I had been on a large number of military installations. Army, Navy, Navel Air, Marine Corp, Air Force, and NASA for that matter.
So to come across one that I had not been to was intriguing to me...... Soooooo

Halfway between Boise Idaho and no where.... is a little Air Force Installation called Mountain Home Air Force Base.

I had heard of it and did have some indirect dealings with the Base in the past.
I was working on a test that required a fast mover (a fast airplane) to do some nap of the earth flying to make sure our equipment worked when flying in the real hot air right next to the ground... and the guys got a F15 from Mt. Home AFB to do the flying for us...... That was all I knew about the place..... I never even saw the guy or the plane... except on a camera monitor from miles away......

ANYWAY.......

Lets Go There..........

Staying at a Military Travel Camp or Fam Camp as they are now called by the younger troops.... is one of the little perks you get for retiring from the military. I think the reason that they let you do this is because the entire time I was working for the military I never had enough time that I could use the camps when I was working.

They are typically located on the Base itself but some times the Base has a camp along a nearby river or lake.... but in this case the park is on one end of the Base Proper.

Which brings up the real reason for this story..... I knew you were waiting for it....

NOW if you do not know this you must be dead but...... You Do Not just drive a 40 foot monster bus motor home onto a Military Base. HE!! you can not just drive a 1960 VW on to a Base with out a darn good reason. AND since the beginning of time you will be stopped by a guard at a gate.... Well that has not changed.

No Big Deal...... I have been stopped by 10,000 or better guards in the past 40 years.... Think Nothing of it.....

Just check out the Fam Camp info on which way I need to go to get on the base (Ya there is usually more than one gate and I know that most installations have a preference on which way they want RVs to enter the Base. Some Gates are designed for cars only and an RV may have a tough time getting in so..... they quite often (as they did in this case) wanted us to enter by the Commercial Gate.

Now The Commercial Gate is designed to take Big Trucks, Construction equipment, the local cable company guy, stuff like that.....

And another thing you need to know is that the Guards have different ways they can be told to handle people and trucks and things that come to the gate.

They can salute every car and wave them in.....
They can stop every car and say good morning (afternoon, evening) and wave them in....
They can stop every other car and ask for ID and wave you in......
They can ….....
OH WELL.......
you get the idea..... they have lots of stuff they can do before they let you in....

Anyway..... We got to the commercial gate and there were 5 or 6 big dump trucks and a cable repair guy in line ahead of me...... waiting......... stopped........ with engines off.....
and the guard post was around a corner hidden by a wall, and all we could see was a RED light and a sign that said WAIT UNTIL SIGNLED TO MOVE FORWARD.......
OK
Every Base is different.... you get use to that..... sort of......
A couple of more trucks pulled up behind us and we sat... and sat... and waited....
and after a little longer the light turned GREEN and two trucks moved up and around behind the wall and the light went RED...... and we waited..... and ….. well you get the idea......
While waiting there I look back in my rear view mirror and see this truck driver walking around the back of my bus...... I was not worried but it was unusual to say the least....
So I watched him as he came walking up on my side of the bus being sure he caught my eye in the rear-view mirror.....

I opened the window as he walked up.... and I said Hi..... he said a very respectful.... Howdy....
Looking me dead in the eye as best he could from 3 feet below my eye level he said.....

“I don't know when you were on this Base last but they are doing 100% vehicle checks.”

“Oh” I said “so I need registration and proof of insurance also?”

“NO.... 100% COMPARTMENT CHECK”

Ooooow SHHIIIIIIITT......

“Yep”..... was the last thing he said......

I just stared at that RED light.... and the sign WAIT UNTIL SIGNLED TO MOVE FORWARD.......
I just stared at it..... and thought.......

Ginger asked me what the driver meant by 100% inspection???
Well it is real simple dear.... They are required to look at everything.

Ginger asked Everything???? like go through all of the cabinets and stuff...???

That and all the compartments..... all 10 storage compartments, the engines, they will need to see both the 8V92 in the back and the generator in the front. And they can ask that I remove the stuff from the compartments, all 10 compartments..... what do they do with the tanks..... fuel, water, gray, and black tanks... no they will just look at those......
my head was going through the many many 100% inspections I had been through in the past.... but never with a motor home... never with anything like our bus.... oh sh!t...
Hood.... ,open the hood, look around the engine, Same with the Trunk, look for bombs and guns..... open all the doors , the glove box, all the boxes, center console.....
any place you could easily put anything that could kill someone.....
That leaves just about every square inch of the bus...
ALL 10 STORAGE Compartments...

Ginger said all the cabinets and drawers... all of them.... like in the kitchen and the bedroom and the living room... (she really started to panic) Dear..... Dear.....
Its not like TV..... they can not just rip things out of the drawers or dump them on the floor..... It's OK... Relax.....

Being a good retiree... I calmed down quickly and went into my old inspection mode.
NEVER LET THEM SEE YOU SWET.....
I have been inspected by the best. GAO (Government Accounting Office), NSA, CIA, FBI, Higher Headquarters, Lower Headquarters and even foreign countries being sure I was in compliance with SALT II Treaty.... I Can Handle This.......

The Light turned GREEN.....
I fired up the bus and started to pull forward. As I pulled forward I saw the other cameras that had been watching us for the last 15/20 minuets..... They probably ran a inter agency check on me already.... I go to the big white line with the even bigger STOP sign in front of it and slowed to a halt as the SP came up and asked for my ID and drivers license and I handed it to him before he could finish asking... with Gingers ID also.
He could not see Ginger in the bus so he asked for her military ID to go along with the drivers license.... I informed him that retired DOD spouses do not get military ID like retired uniformed service personnel. He gave me a puzzled look....Like well she can't be here.... I said “I will escort her”.... I informed him....

Now... I know the rules...... If I am allowed on the base, I can escort one person unless specifically denied that privilege....

Cool.... That worked.... But..... I was still waiting for the shoe to drop.... I was waiting for him to say to open everything up and take everything out of all 10 compartments.... when he said.... Pull it over to the side, up out of the way and bring your papers inside.....
WHAT?..... What?..... What happened I expected more like open the hood and all the compartments....

Bring your papers inside may sound like a bad thing to those of you who do not know the military well and in most cases you would be correct but... in this case this was a beautiful thing....
We had Dodged That Bullet.... We are getting in with out a 100% rip everything out and then put it back inspection..... All the trucks that came before and all the ones after were inspected.... hoods open, doors open, mirror under the chassis looking for bombs but not us......
I am still having nightmares about what could have been.... BUT.... that bullet passed us by.

[davidbrady]

Fantastic story Mark. Thanks for taking us along on your ride! I've always been envious of the use of Military CG's, but I'm very pleased to see Wanderlodge owners taking advantage of it!

BTW, I kinda know what it feels like when faced with a open compartment search. I bought my Prevost in Kamloops, BC and imported it at Blaine, Wa. I was super relieved when all they did was walk thru the interior, no compartments were searched. It took all of about 5 minutes for the inspection!

[MarkYuma]

(09-27-2014 12:54)davidbrady Wrote:  Fantastic story Mark. Thanks for taking us along on your ride! I've always been envious of the use of Military CG's, but I'm very pleased to see Wanderlodge owners taking advantage of it!

BTW, I kinda know what it feels like when faced with a open compartment search. I bought my Prevost in Kamloops, BC and imported it at Blaine, Wa. I was super relieved when all they did was walk thru the interior, no compartments were searched. It took all of about 5 minutes for the inspection!

I'm glad you enjoyed the story. Have they done a walk-through of the interior that would've been okay. Ginger would not have liked it in anyway shape or form. This is only the second story with posted this year but I hope to post a few more before we get home.

[al perna]

now David ! Having a open bay inspection on a new bus is one thing , but having lived in one for 4 months is something totally different lol .

I also have a big time open inspection on our bus when we bought her , I can only imagine if there had been anything in her hahaha those guys spent 3 hrs searching a empty bus ? how is that for tax dollars well spent

Mark ,

thank s for the Birth day reminder , I thought for a moment I forgot when it was hahah

[davidbrady]

You nailed it Al! Ha! I was mostly worried that they might find some contraband unbeknownst to me! There's a lot of places in an H to hide almost anything, but with the help of a properly trained dog anything can be found. For instance, a few months later I was home giving the cabinet interiors a good cleaning and I stumbled upon a marijuana roach cleverly stashed inside a cabinet! Not enough to land me in jail, but certainly enough to slow down the border crossing and importation process!

[MarkYuma]

That's usually most peoples worry. Forgiving what they had stuck in there for the last five years. I have been inspected many times I pretty well knew what to expect but things do change. In the long run we are enjoying ourselves and I figured for those people who have never been through a military installation it would make a good story.