For the better part of 1990 and most of 1991 I was gone. Between training, routine deployments and the Gulf War, my ship was away from our home port for over 14 of the next 19 months. Somewhere in the attic there is a box of hand written letters from those final eight months. We wrote each other once a week but they were long letters, six to sometimes 12 pages long. Kinky stuff too, it seemed we tried to out do the other in outrageousness towards the end. We should probably burn a few of those before they’re found.
When I finally got home we were pier side for quite a while. About the only time we got underway for six months was to wash the barnacles off. A couple days on the water and home. Then for the following five months the ship got an upgrade to several systems and she didn’t move. It was a good time to take leave. 30 days worth.
We really didn’t have any plans. Simply pack the car up with what ever we might need then hit the road. We had both camping gear for the wilderness and evening wear for any event we might stumble across. Our first stop was Vegas.