Un-Official-----Fictitious

(Like you wont get me on the stand)

 

 

GUAM TRIP REPORT

3/19/90--4/07/90

     I was on a scheduled five day break and had tacked on a leading day of vacation, for my birthday, to make it six. Patty had been down to Sunnyvale Wednesday night and I was supposed to stay in Vallejo Thursday night. We ended up getting into a fight and I returned to Sunnyvale Thursday evening instead of spending the night in Vallejo. Early Friday, at about eight in the morning, I received a call from my boss asking if I could leave for a temporary stint in Guam ASAP. I took about ten minutes to think about it then called him back and said yes. I’m willing to go anywhere I’ve never been before, at least temporarily.
     It turned out I had been given 48 hours notice, my flight left San Francisco at 8:15 AM Sunday. Friday evening I went back up to Vallejo to give Patty an April support check and half of the state tax return. I was offered a bed for the night and was planning on taking it but ended up getting drunk and fighting with her again. Mike, Charles, and John were over and Patty was playing "Queen of the Silver Dollar.......... and the jesters flock around her and fight to win her favors". I decided to drive the seventy miles back to Sunnyvale which was almost a major mistake. I made it to within about ten miles of my apartment before I pulled off the road, turned the engine off, and passed out for a couple of hours. I was awakened about 4 AM by a Palo Alto cop and two CHP officers. I was still drunk as a skunk and had no idea where I was. Luckily they didn’t haul me off to jail but rather gave me a ride to a nearby Denny’s and told me not to move the car for a least five hours.
     That was the first time I had ever ridden shotgun in a CHP car, the two previous times I had been in one, I had been hand cuffed in the back seat. After eating breakfast I walked over to the Milpitas Holiday Inn and got a room for five hours for only $63.00, what a deal, but still cheaper than a DUI. If they had tried to get me for a DUI I was going to try and claim a friend had been driving my car. We had stopped to help a lady change a flat tire and he had left with her. I had climbed behind the wheel of my car but had decided I was too drunk to drive. I don’t know if it would have worked or not especially since I didn’t think of the story until the next day. It turned out the shoulder where I had pulled over on was used as a car pool diamond lane during the morning rush hour commute, luckily it was a Saturday.
     Saturday was St. Patrick’s Day and Al, Larry and I ended up at Paul & Harvey’s in Sunnyvale to tip a few. HBO televised a good boxing match between Chavez and Taylor. Chavez who had been trailing on points won by a TKO in the final round, which made the Mexican clientele very happy. I ended up somewhat inebriated, but nothing compared with the night before. I was in bed by shortly after midnight and for the third time in the five days since I supposedly went on the wagon for my birthday, I had failed to end up in a jail, a hospital, or a morgue. Larry picked me up at about 5:45 AM Sunday morning and we went to breakfast at Denny’s. He dropped me off a SFO just before seven. The check in line was long and it took over half an hour to check my backpack. It turned out that being at the airport a little over an hour before the flight was just about the right timing.
     I had a business class ticket all the way through, but only had confirmed business seating to Honolulu, from there to Guam I had a coach seat but I was on the waiting list for business seating. First class seating was roomy and I was able to sleep for the first couple hours of the five and a half hour flight to Hawaii. The movie "Gross Anatomy" was very good and I would recommend seeing it. As usual I passed on the offered meal and had two Michelobs instead. Even first class airline food is usually worse than prison, hospital, or military food. The passenger in the window seat next to me was only in her seat looking out the window for the take off and landing. There were empty seats in first class and she spent most her time in one she could get in and out of without bothering anyone. Her name was Carol and she was coming from Yonkers, N.Y. to spend three days in Hawaii. It seemed like a waste to me to come so far for just three days. Coming into the islands I was able to see the big island with it’s snow capped thirteen thousand foot peaks along with two other of the islands besides Oahu. We made the twenty seven hundred mile trip uneventfully and landed in Honolulu on time.
     I had a little over an hour lay over and decided to have another beer at the airport. Only $3.50 for a bottle of Michelob, what a deal! I don’t know where the security is at Honolulu airport but I didn’t see any. I was able to walk out of the terminal to the curb, where buses were loading, and walk down the side walk and into another part of the terminal without passing through any metal detectors. I checked at the loading gate for my flight to Guam and found out I was still stuck in coach. They did change my seating so I had an aisle seat instead of sitting in the middle of a five wide section. The flight was a little late getting off the ground which ended up putting it in Guam about half an hour late. Coach was too cramped and the seven and a half hour flight dragged on forever. The movie was "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". It was all right but I had enjoyed the movie on the previous flight more.
     Even at about five hundred and thirty five miles an hour, thirty eight hundred miles takes some time to cover. I was wishing I was piloting the one man SR-71 Blackbird which is capable of speeds in excess of twenty two hundred miles an hour. From thirty four thousand feet there was no sense of speed since we passed over no land until we reached Guam. The only view was of the monotonous blue ocean and scattered clouds. As we grew closer to Guam the clouds became more prevalent and the view of the blue ocean became scarcer. As we descended into Guam we passed through a solid overcast and the island didn’t come into view until we had dropped to a fairly low altitude. Even at a low altitude both the east and west coasts of Guam could be easily seen at the same time. Guam is about thirty miles long in the north to south direction but it is only five to nine miles wide from east to west.
     I disembarked the plane and went to the baggage area to await the unloading of my backpack before passing through a customs check. On the plane I had filled out a short form for customs. One section wanted a declaration of everything I was carrying that was bought off island. Since I had never been to Guam, everything I owned was from off island. Luckily the form stated that non residents could make an oral declaration. They never asked for one. The only thing they asked me is if I was carrying any personal weapons. The weather when I arrived was overcast with rain, high humidity and temperatures in the low eighties. I don’t think you can catch cold in a Guam rainstorm because the rain is so warm and the high humidity keeps the water from evaporating quickly and cooling you very much. I called the site from the airport and found that they weren’t expecting me until Tuesday afternoon, somebody had messed up the message. Guam is six hours behind the west coast but since it is across the International Date Line it is actually eighteen hours ahead. I arrived on the island around 11 PM Sunday night San Francisco time, or 5 PM Monday evening Guam time. Guam is as they say " Where America’s day begins".
     There were only two people manning the site and at least one person had to be there at all times. Luckily I caught the off duty man just before he was to take his wife out for their first anniversary dinner. My rental car and hotel reservations were made for Tuesday but I was able to change them to a day earlier. I ended up with a Nissan Stanza with just under a thousand miles on it for about $42 a day. Bob came down to the airport and I followed him to the Guam Horizon Hotel. The hotel was definitely not a four star hotel, probably not even a three. The rate at the hotel was about $95 a day but they also had a monthly rate of $1900. Since I was supposed to be around for thirty days I went with the monthly rate which worked out to about $64 a day. Bob got me settled in and left for his dinner engagement. The accommodations had two bedrooms, a living room, bath and a kitchenette. One bedroom had two twin beds and the other had a full, I took the full. The living room area had a heat pump which helped to deal with the heat and humidity.
     I drove a short way down the street to the Micronesia Mall and went to a Safeway market, the same chain common on the west coast of the main land. I picked up some bacon, eggs, cracker barrel cheese, crackers, and a couple six packs of Michelob. The beer was $4.19 a six pack which wasn’t bad and the other items were only slightly higher than state side. I noticed the eggs had the letters U.S. on each one in red and I wondered how they managed to get the chickens to lay them like that. For some unknow reason I was suddenly reminded of a sign I had seen on the wall of a bar in Ridgecrest, California which read "If you’re looking to get laid......crawl up a chickens ass and wait. The milk was mostly skimmed, low fat or filled. I skipped buying milk until I found out what filled was. I went back to the room to have a few beers and watch TV. The TV had all the normal cable channels such as MTV, CNN, A&E, Discovery and a bunch of LA stations. It wasn’t until later that I figured out they were all a week behind except CNN. Still it was better then the selection I had experienced in Japan in 1975-77 when the Tokyo area didn’t allow any English speaking TV stations. Early on Tuesday morning I was watching a Good Morning show at the relatively correct Guam time but the news seemed old to me, a week old to be exact. I was up at 6 AM and decided to drive around and see some of the island.
     March is supposed to be part of the dry season but it had been raining off and on since I had arrived. The roads, which are mostly made of crushed coral, were slick and I managed to skid partly through an intersection with no trouble or mishap. Some areas have a black top cover over the coral which makes the roads a little less slippery when wet. I was on the west coast where the main north/south road is Marine Drive. I followed it about ten miles north up past the gate to Anderson Air Force Base then turned around and back tracked. One thing I noticed was that the top of each auto license plate had "HAFA ADAI" on it. The middle had a map of Guam and the bottom had "GUAM USA". At first I thought Hafa Adai might be a geo-political division but latter determined it was some kind of greeting. It is pronounced like the un-official civil service motto " half a day......or less". Another thing I noticed right away was that most of the power poles were made of concrete. I assumed this was because that either large enough wood poles were scarce or that wood ones tended to rot and weaken in the damp climate. Bob told me it was because of the strength needed to withstand the typhoons.
     Traffic began to pick up around seven thirty, especially heading south towards Agana, which is the most commercial city, and capital of Guam. The speed limit on the island is basically 35 MPH with some very rare 45 MPH spots. Just like every where else, during rush hour, most people ignored the speed limit. I noticed some people doing up to about fifty, while I tried to stay below forty. Along the roads there are shelters where the kids wait for the school buses that are operated by the Government of Guam. They only provide minimum shelter from the warm rain and many of their sides are painted to warn of the evils of drugs and drunk driving. After backtracking almost all the way to the hotel, I cut off Marine Drive westwards towards the Naval Communications Center.
     The Stanza had a good radio and the FM stations came in strong and clear. One thing I noticed was that all the FM stations were rock stations, there were no country and western stations on that band, but they made up for the oversight by having Country Music Television (CMT) on their video cable system. After passing the communication station I continued on until I passed the Hatsuho International Country Club then turned around. The thing I didn’t realize at the time was that if I had continued going, the way I had been going, I would have made the loop back to the main gate of Anderson. I had been looking for the radomes indicating the tracking site but because of the relative flatness of the north end of the island and the dense jungle I had missed seeing them. The site turned out to be a few miles from the country club along a road controlled by the Air Force. I again backtracked, to slightly past the hotel, and took a right down towards Tumon Bay.
     Tumon looks like a little Japan with more signs in Japanese then English. This is the area the Japanese are really buying up on the island. Bob who deals in real estate told me the land was going for almost as much as in Waikiki, several million dollars an acre. There are a lot of huge hotels and many more under construction. Right now just about every room on the island is booked but in a few years they will have more rooms then the airport can support. There is a Naval Air Station next to the International Airport and Guam wants it to expand the commercial facilities. The Air Force is moving the 43^rd Bombardment Wing and it’s five or six squadrons of B-52s out of Anderson. Maybe some day the Navy will move its air station to Anderson and allow the commercial airport to expand. Guam’s economy has become big business by catering to tourists, especially the Japanese. In the past the economy used to depend almost solely on the military installations. One thing I noticed in Tumon, and in the advertisements I found in a book in my hotel room, was that there are a large number of target ranges or shooting galleries. Japan has very strict gun control and even the Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) has very few guns. The gun places on the island cater to the cowboy urges of the Japanese and they can shoot almost any kind of weapon imaginable from 44 Mag pistols to Uzis.
     At the south end of Tumon there is a rotary and one of the roads off of it heads east and back up to Marine Drive and a town called Tamuning. Along the road (Highway 14) there is a greyhound racetrack. At Marine Drive I headed south towards Agana. There are a lot of roadside businesses throughout Agana but supposedly the most populous city on Guam is the residential area of Dededo which is a little north of Tumon and Tamuning. I made a note of a lot of bars and clubs I’d have to check out when I got a day or two off. I drove through Agana and south as far as the Navy power station at Piti. At Piti I turned around and went back to my hotel room to await word from Bob about getting the proper papers to be able to get to work.
     Bob picked me up at the hotel at a little after one and we went to the site to start my in processing. After meeting the Major in charge of the site and having completed the proper paperwork we went to the main base. I received a dependents ID card which would enable me to use the base facilities. After completing the badge and pass task we went to the commissary. I purchased some whole milk that had been flown in from Australia. Only $2.96 for a two liter bottle. Later I found whole milk at Safeway for a measly $3.99 for the same size container. That works out to about $8 a gallon, what a deal! Good thing I drink more beer then milk. After Bob drove me back to the hotel I drove back on base and got a haircut. The hot humid weather and the wind was going to be a pain with my hair, which was starting to get long. I don’t have that problem now, they gave me a regulation military haircut. I also stopped and checked out the base exchange but didn’t buy anything.
     I bought a pint sized container of filled milk at the Payless Market and gave it a try. It is produced by Foremost on Guam and contains skimmed milk and vegetable oil. I managed a couple of sips before I dumped the rest out. It tasted just a little better then the powdered milk I bring backpacking with me but with access to fresh whole milk I wouldn’t drink filled regardless of the price difference. Wednesday morning the weather was still overcast and raining when I went to work at 7 AM. I had no problem getting through the security checks and only worked till shortly past one in the afternoon because I had to be back in at 1 AM Thursday morning for a twelve hour shift. After work I went back to my room, had a few beers and called it a early night.
     The rain had stopped Thursday and after work I drove south past the Piti power station to the Navy base to check out their exchange. I had my dependents ID and a gate pass for the Air Force Base but I still had to get out of the car and deal with the Navy Badge and Pass office. They wanted to see registration and proof of insurance but when I told them it was a rented car and I had turned down the insurance because my company covered it, they dropped that request. They issued me a temporary pass good for a couple of hours and I went on base to the exchange. The Navy exchange was much larger and carried a much larger selection then the Air Force exchange. After browsing for a while I bought a three quart pot with lid for about six bucks. Although my hotel accommodations came with a kitchen they didn’t come with any pots, pans, dishes, or silverware. The pot brought my newly acquired kitchenware up to a pot, a small fry pan, a pie pan (used as a plate), a fork and a knife. These I was planning on bringing back to the States with me because my selection of kitchenware in Sunnyvale wasn’t much larger.
     On the way back from the Navy base I stopped at a nearby bar called Suzies. I had been on the island for three days and this was the first bar I had been to, I must be slipping. I had one Budweiser for a $1.50 and left. I went back to the room had about three beers watching Lavern & Shirley and the Golden Girls and went to bed. Friday I put in another twelve hour day from 1 AM to 1 PM. I hadn’t been using my kitchen facilities much since I had found out there was a barracks and chow hall at the site. I had been eating breakfast and lunch at the dinning facilities at a reasonable price. Although the price was reasonable I was paying more then the rest of the people at the site because I was TDY. A grilled cheese sandwich and french fries cost them 45 cents, it cost me $1.05. Two eggs, 3 pieces of bacon, 2 pieces of toast, and a glass of orange juice cost me $1.85 it cost the permanent military and civilians only 80 cents. It didn’t really matter that much because I was planning on charging between $25 and $30 a day on my expense report for meals.
     The barracks facilities at the site were not the best I’ve ever seen but they were working to upgrade them and had just received some money to help in the endeavor. The rooms and hall ways had a musty smell about them because the area wasn’t climate controlled like the work areas were. Every two rooms shared a common bathroom and they had a common recreation area room with a full sized pool table, couch, TV, VCR, Stereo, refrigerator, unstocked wet bar, and vending machines. The thing about the barracks you couldn’t beat was the rent which was either free or seven dollars a day at the maximum.
     After work Friday I went up to Anderson to the Stars & Stripes Bookstore. I had noticed before leaving Sunnyvale that the next issue of Club magazine was out (it’s about the only magazine that I try to buy monthly). After buying the magazine I realized that although May’s issue was out in the States it wasn’t out on Guam. I had ended up buying an issue I already had at home. On the way back from the base I stopped in my second bar on the island, a place called The Scoreboard Lounge. Their Budweiser was $1.75 and again I only had one. At home I had started to and drink Bud in the non returnable bottles because I could taste the chemical that they used to clean out and sterilize the returnable long necks found in the bars. The American beer on Guam reminded me of the American beer I drank in Japan when I was there. I had been told that they added extra formaldehyde as a preservative or that it just had a funny taste because it had been heated so many times in storage and shipping since being brewed. I’m not sure what it is but the beer overseas definitely taste worse than it does Stateside, even the Michelob I had been drinking in my room had an off taste. When I was in Japan I had solved the problem by switching to Suntory, a Japanese beer. I’m not sure if there is a beer brewed on Guam.
     I got up for work about an hour and a half earlier then usual on Friday night so I could stop down in Tumon and check out a bar I had been meaning to go to. When I walked into Viking’s Tavern there was an unclothed young lady on stage putting a string of pearls somewhere you don’t normally see a string of pearls put. The was no cover charge but the beer was a little steep at $3.50 a bottle, although they charged the same as they did in the Honolulu airport, which didn’t provide live entertainment. The place was loud and crowded and there weren’t any good seats available I stayed about an hour, had two beers and watched five different women, sometimes three on the stage at a time. I’ve definitely got to go back to Viking’s Tavern when a front row seat is available and/or check out the Dallas and Texas Clubs, which are supposedly similar in their entertainment.
     Saturday night before work I stopped at Viking’s Tavern again for an hour. Had two Michelobs at $4.00 each, Bud was only $3.50 but what the hell you only live once. If I had thrown in another nineteen cents I could have bought a whole six pack at Safeway for the price of one beer at the Tavern, but Safeway doesn’t allow drinking on the premises and also isn’t much on atmosphere. About the only thing you can do for entertainment at Safeway is to paint it green, stand so you can lay it in with the cucumbers, and wait. I got to sit in Ukers "front row". It ended up costing me three dollars in tips for the ladies. Don’t know if I can afford these expensive outings. Eleven whole dollars, I’m only getting about thirty dollars a day food money and fifty dollars a day per diem. Not to mention working five twelve hour days a week including twenty four of them over the weekend. I’m not yet sure if I’m going to rate the Viking’s up with my favorites. Casey’s in St. Paul, the Lamplighter Lounge in El Passo, Flashdancer in Orlando, Jolo’s in Olongapo, and some place I never knew the name of near the Chuo train station in Yokosuka.
     After my Sunday morning twelve hour shift I actually have twenty four hours off. I’ve already stopped at Safeway and picked up a Porterhouse and charcoal. After the steak lunch I’ll probably take a nap then go out and spend the night howling at the moon. Just heard that the two missing people are returning to Guam next weekend. Looks like my thirty days is going to turn out to be two weeks. I’m going to have to renegotiate with the hotel for a daily rate. Well at least I’ve got Wednesday and Thursday off to do some serious sight-seeing. I’m going to have to get a hold of Continental airlines Sunday or Monday and see if I can get a seat out next weekend, hopefully not coach.
     I was hearing on the radio that one of the states, I believe it was Utah, has passed the most restrictive abortion law in the country. I guess they don’t count Guam. It has passed a law making it a felony to have an abortion and even a misdemeanor to talk to some one about going off island to have one. I understand the misdemeanor is already being challenged in court as a violation of the first amendments guarantee of free speech. I guess they want to make sure the population of the island increases. There are supposedly about 110,000 people on Guam with more Filipinos the Guamanians. I’m not sure if that figure includes the military and I’m quite sure it doesn’t include the large number of tourists. With 209 square miles of island the population density works out to be about 500 people per square mile but that is not accurate because the military owns much of the island. Still it is a welcome change from the five and a half million people in the bay area.
     Sunday night I did some howling, about one hundred and forty five dollars worth. I started out at the Dallas Lounge where I went through four Buds and the same number of girl’s acts. More round eyes, most the strippers on the island seem to be round eyes. I was starting to wonder where they came from when I got an answer for at least one of them. Her name was Breezy and she was from San Diego. She did her whole act to Lynyrd Skynyrd tunes and thought Guam was laid back, not like Honolulu or Waikiki but more like the big island. There was a tough Mama San running the place and we didn’t talk long because I didn’t buy Breezy a drink for $10, $20 or $50. I should have, I ended up blowing all the money I had on me anyway. Good thing I left $2200 in cash and my credit cards in my room.
     From the Dallas Lounge I ended up at Club Sandy You, a place a sailor told me about when I was charcoal broiling my steak that afternoon out by the pool. There I watched three oriental young ladies and had the same number of beers. The beers at Dallas and Club Sandy You were three bucks a piece, cheaper than at the Viking. One of the young ladies, a petite young thing with a generously endowed super structure, had a interesting act. She had the seated patrons turn their backs to the stage and lean back so their head was laying on it. She would then place a folded dollar bill over their nose, which she would pick up without using her hands. The experience had a tendency to make you go cross eyed. The last time I was involved in that type of act was at Jolo’s in the mid seventies. Many a night I found my self laying on stage drunk with a peso on my chin, nose and forehead.
     From Club Sandy You I ended up at a Korean club in the same building as the Viking Tavern. The beers were four bucks a pop and the big thing was singing along to the words shown with a video and music from laser disks. The decor was plush living room type furniture along with plush bar stools. After two beers there, I moved next door to another similar Korean bar where beer was five dollars each. After one more beer I ended up at the Viking Tavern. There was a large group of Australians there who were going home the next day. I finished getting totally shit faced with them and at 2 AM, when the place closed, I ended up at Club Hana,yet another Korean sing along bar, with a bunch of the Aussies, and some of the strippers from the tavern. I know I had a least a fifty dollar bill left when I got there, probably more like $70 or $90, but when they unlocked the door to let me out after 4 AM I was cleaned out. I don’t remember much of anything after walking out the door until Bob called me at five after one, telling me I was supposed to be to work at one. I don’t know what the Aussies got took for but Bob told me he’s seen Japanese taken for thousands of dollars. I guess I’m still trying to end up in a jail, a hospital, or a morgue.
     I don’t know what happened but I’m in some severe pain at the moment. My back is hurting like hell but not where it usually hurts. Normally it hurts low in the middle and down the right siatic nerve, thanks to a chiropractor, but this pain is up higher. Tonight after work I just want to go to the room, lay down and hope the pain goes away, even though the sign at the Dallas Lounge said they were open till four. I wonder if they serve beer after two, hopefully I’ll feel like finding out tomorrow night. After Tuesday’s shift I have forty eight hours off. The twenty four hours I just had off were insufficient to get into any real trouble, theoretically I can do better with two days off. One thing I forgot to mention was that either Guam or Texas was copying the other. They have anti littering signs around saying "Don’t Mess With Guam". In January and February when I was driving across the country Texas had signs saying "Don’t Mess With Texas". I don’t think that their campaign is working because most of the island seems to be choked with litter, much of it beer bottles and styrofoam.
     I ended up dumping the last couple hundred milliliters of my whole milk because it had started to turn. It’s expiration date was the 27^th but I dumped on the 26^th. Went to Safeway to get some more but all their whole milk was dated the 26^th. I bought some anyway and it tasted better then the stuff I had dumped. I don’t know if they made an error or it was because the milk was old but they only charged me $1.99 for it(only four bucks a gallon). I saw something running across my kitchen floor last night and at first I thought it was a gecko, a small pinky sized lizard of which I had seen a couple in the elevator. Geckos supposedly have great chameleon abilities and the ones in the elevator had looked almost translucent to try and match the man made marbled wall material under florescent lighting. They have noticeable suction cups on the tips of their tiny fingers and it is considered good luck if a gecko walks on you. Upon closer inspection it turn out to be some kind of four inch insect that ran behind the refrigerator. I only hoped that it realized I had a second bedroom and that it didn’t have to share my bed with me.
     Tuesday morning I went and gassed up the car at a Mobile station for $1.219 a gallon for regular unleaded. I had been paying about 90 cents a gallon for unleaded when I left Sunnyvale. The gas station even gave me two free glasses, something you don’t see in the states any more. They were small and had the Mobile pegasus on one side and a Guam emblem with Olympic rings on the other. I was wondering whether the Olympics had ever been played in Guam or were they scheduled to be? Later I found out that Guam fields its own teams during the Olympics. I went to the Rexall drug store in the Micronesia Mall and bought a heating pad. My back is still killing me but after tonight I have two days off, work Friday then have the weekend off. I’ve got to be able to do some activities on my days off. I was planning on some ocean swimming, and going hiking to some of the caves and waterfalls on the island. I also want to look for some latte stones which are remnants of an ancient culture in the Marianas Islands.
     I found out I wasn’t scheduled to work in Sunnyvale again until Monday April 9^th. What I was going to do next week I had no idea. I still hadn’t made any airline commitments but now I guessed I was going to try and get a flight out around Thursday the fifth instead of Sunday the first. I’d be able to charge sixteen to seventeen hours for the flight which meant I still had to work three days somewhere that week. I only had three days of vacation left on the books but as of April first I picked up fifteen more days. If I needed to I could burn some vacation but I’d have prefered not to because I was going to need to use some when I went to Germany in June. I actually had preventative maintenance scheduled on my shift. For a while there I thought I might be able to get away with spending a few weeks in Guam and end up never touching the gear.
     I was originally expecting to see geckos and gooney birds on the island but unlike some of the other Pacific islands such as Midway, where gooney birds are plentiful, there are none on Guam. Actually birds are almost extinct on Guam because of the large number of snakes attacking the nests. The only natural things I’ve seen flying around are butterflies and other insects. I have seen domesticated chickens and a little speckled bird that seems to usually run rather than fly. Besides the dwindling bird population people I have talked to say the frogs and monitor lizards are also declining. There often used to be a great number of frogs covering the roads around the site at night, but lately their number has only been a shadow of its former self. I’m not sure about that because on the way home Tuesday night there were a reasonable number of frogs covering the road. Some had been flattened by traffic and covered a little more of the road then the others. At the T-shirt shop in the Micronesia Mall they have a T-shirt which displays a squashed frog with tire tracks acrossed it. The T-shirt reads "GUAM... the flattened frog capitol of the world".
     My back was still killing me but I decided to see how late the Dallas Lounge stayed open. Around 2 AM there was only me and a drunken sailor at the stage, they closed shortly after two. They had a young lady I hadn’t seen before and I offered her a dollar during the last song of the night. I had it folded several times lengthwise but she folded it in half and put it in my mouth. She then proceeded to remove the dollar by grinding my face between her legs. There’s an old saying "If it smells good........", this one would have to go a ways to smell good, maybe it had just been a long sweaty night. After the place closed I went back to the room, had a few beers, and went to bed with my heating pad.
     Wednesday morning I went out to Anderson and bought an inexpensive Vivitar camera for $21. It was a 35mm and claimed it was auto focus, probably the same type of auto focus as the old Brownie camera, one focus only. I drove to the airport and talked to Continental about getting a flight out during the next week. Getting flights out of Guam on relatively short notice isn’t easy and I ended up settling for a flight out on Saturday the 7^th. Latter I managed to change it to a flight on Tuesday the 3^rd instead. Everything else that week was booked up and again I ended up with a coach flight between Guam and Hawaii. Thursday’s flight goes through LAX to get to SFO, but although they could get me to Los Angeles, they couldn’t get me to San Francisco. I almost considered turning in my return ticket and trying Northwest which flies through Tokyo.
     Wednesday afternoon I laid around napping on the heating pad and around seven in the evening I went out for a while. I stopped by Club Sandy You and had a beer but the place was dead and I only stayed for the one. The woman who either owns or manages the place was on the phone talking to some girl about working there, the going rate was $75 a night. Next I ended up at the Dallas Lounge where the girl who had closed the place the night before introduced herself as Amber. I had a few beers with a couple of Sea Bees then moved down to the Viking Tavern. Just when I was starting to get bored with the girly bars I fell deeply in love.
     I never bothered getting the name of my future wife but it really didn’t matter. She appeared to be a long haired blonde vision with an amazing face and body. I couldn’t easily verify if she was a natural blonde, even though I looked very closely, because she had shaved. In the movie "Paint Your Wagon", Lee Marvin had to temporarily take a room at Bad Luck Willy’s Brothel. The working girl, who usually occupied the room, was in hiding because some sod buster wanted to marry her. She had said she would marry him but he also wanted her to quit working. Lee Marvin’s reply was "Now there’s a narrow minded attitude if I’ve ever heard one". I wasn’t going to insist that my new wife quit working, I just wanted the honeymoon and maybe an occasional private show.
     Most women will probably try and claim that places like Viking’s Tavern and such are degrading to women. Actually I believe they are actually more degrading to men. All that a half way decent looking women has to do is disrobe and shake her money maker and just about every clown in the place is slobbering and throwing money. The women are pretty much in control of the situation and manage to make a living by preying upon the natural weaknesses of the flesh. About the major draw back of the profession is that I don’t think it is an occupation you can remain in until Social Security eligibility. Or in another words you’ve got to make your money while you can, before you turn too old.
     From the tavern I went to the Pizza Hut in Dededo and got a medium cheese pizza. They cook their pizza on a conveyor belt system and it really turned out terrible, the crust wasn’t even cooked. I had half of it as a late night snack, a quarter for breakfast the next morning and threw the last quarter out. The pizza was the first meal I had that I hadn’t cooked or eaten in the chow hall. It might be the last except for a steak dinner on Tuesday before I go to the airport. I did notice something about the fast food places which has me curious. The American flag flies higher then the Guamanian flag, the Guamanian flag flies higher then the McDonalds flag but the Burger King flag flies at the same height as the Guamanian flag. I am wondering which is the proper protocol?
     Late Thursday morning I decided to go looking for Mt. Lamlam, which is the highest point on the island at 1,332 feet. I read somewhere that from it’s summit you can see all of Guam and the blue ocean horizon in all directions. I decided I was going to drive down the east coast to get to the vicinity. Unfortunately for me it seems that all roads lead to Agana. For the second time I made a wrong turn while trying to get to the east coast and ended up coming west again to Agana. Since I had ended up in Agana I decided to drive south down the west coast which was actually the shorter route. I managed to find the cut off to Agat which kept me from ending up at the main gate to the Naval Station, but shortly after taking the cut off there was a sign informing me the road was closed in four miles. After looking at the map, I decided four miles wouldn’t get me to where I wanted to go so, I decided to cut across the country to the east coast and go around the southern tip of the island.
     One reason I kept getting lost is that they don’t always mark their intersections properly. There might be a sign indicating a highway number or a town which is down the road or there may not. Sometimes if you pass a cut off and double back there will be a sign from that direction when there wasn’t one from the original direction. I was on Highway 5 looking for Highway 17 east towards Talofofo and managed to pass the cut off due to the lack of proper signs. Luckily I back tracked and managed to take the right road although its only sign was a small street sign saying Cross Is. Rd. It really must be that the third time is a charm because I finally managed to reach the east coast.
     The eastern side of the island was much more rural and rustic then the more developed western side. When the narrow road came down near the sea it was often only separated from it by a thin strip of palm studded sandy beach. There wasn’t the large hotels and sea side businesses prevalent around Agana and Tumon Bay. There were small villages such as Inarajan, Merizo, and Umatac, which almost seemed dominated by churches and cemeteries. The cemeteries had elaborate white washed markers which seemed like small alters adorned with medium sized Christian statuettes and candles enclosed in red colored glass. The bays, parks, and the beaches were tranquil and almost completely deserted except for at Merizo.
     Merizo is at the southern tip of Guam and about a mile and a half off shore is Cocos island. The island is surrounded by a barrier reef which stretches back to Guam to form Cocos Lagoon. There is parking along the Merizo beach and ferries which go out to the resort and park on Cocos island. The ferry I saw going out appeared to be an old WWII landing craft. Continuing north up the west coast from Merizo I came to Umatac and shortly beyond that the road was closed. I was still too far south of Mt. Lamlam to see it and it turned out that unless there was more then one point where the road was closed I would have done better by continuing down from where I had first seen the road closed warning sign.
     I back tracked back up the east coast and without even trying ended up in Agana, I seem to have the knack for that ability. I then continued up Highway 1 (Marine Drive) to the hotel and made myself some hot dogs for lunch. Since I had to be at work at 1 AM the next morning I watched a little TV and went to bed around three in the afternoon. I arose after ten and after cleaning up and having a little bit to eat I went down to the tavern to spend about an hour before going to work. I found out that the blonde’s name was "Barbie" and that what I had though was true love had only been a severe case of lust, compounded by a hormonal imbalance, triggered by the excess consumption of alcohol. As a matter of fact there was a sweet young raven haired oriental girl with a small, shapely, posterior portion (nice ass) that convinced me of my previous folly. Friday morning at the chow hall they forgot to charge me for being TDY and I only payed 85 cents for breakfast. Things were looking up.
     Friday night I was only going to have a few drinks out then retire to my room early. Ever notice how the best laid plans of mice and men...? At the Dallas Lounge Natascha told me Breezy had quit and was working at a place called The Tourist Club. Having never been there before naturally I had to check it out. It only cost me about a hundred dollars, a medium priced night. I was going to leave but Breezy told me I couldn’t until I saw her fire dance. She came out dressed as an Indian and did an act with torches soaked in rubbing alcohol. At one point she had a nice fire going on the stage and I was checking to make sure I knew where the exit was, having recently heard about eighty seven people dying in a club fire in New York City.
     Half of the money I blew that night was on Breezy. I broke down and bought her three ten dollar drinks. The house gets half the money and the girl gets the other half. I also gave her a twenty dollar tip, "Don’t tell me she don’t love me... the money’s just a formality". The owner of the club had been off island since she started working there and she didn’t even know for sure how much she was making. She figured at least a hundred dollars a day and claimed she usually worked under contract for twelve to fifteen hundred dollars a week. I was having a good time and didn’t want to call her a distorter of the truth. She had gotten out of the Dallas Lounge because she thought it was a dump. Of course it is and half the girls who work there have about as many tattoos as a modest sailor. I don’t like tattoos on women but when you go to a pussy on parade palace you take what is offered.
     The best thing about the Tourist Club was that Michelob was only three dollars a bottle and it was ice cold. The girls were generally better looking then those at Club Sandy You and the Dallas Lounge, although on an average just a little under the standards of The Viking Tavern. The Viking has a good light show including four quality lasers and also has a shower show. There is a shower stall off to the side of the stage that many of the girls used at the end of their act. The transparent curtain was either closed or left open and when it was left open some patrons would apply flattened dollar bills to various parts of the girl’s wet anatomy. The Tourist Club had the advantage when it came to the music because the decibel level at the Viking was just too damn high. Another thing in its favor was it was even closer to my hotel then the Viking. I don’t think it is any farther than half a mile down the hill from my room. I was going to close the place until I found out that the bars stay open until 4 AM on Fridays and Saturdays. I only stayed out until around three. Lately I’ve only been able to drink for six or eight hours at a time without taking a nap. A change in drinking tolerances is one of the indications of alcoholism, and here I though I already had all the indications.
     Saturday morning I crawled out of bed around nine and went to Safeway for bacon, eggs and milk. The milk was dated April third and still had four days to go, they charged me full price for it. I decided to go looking for Mt. Lamlam again, this time by going down the west coast past the cross island road I had used the last time. I made it through Agat and a little bit past Nimitz beach before the road was closed. They were rebuilding the section of road between the two points where I had been stopped and it was only open for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening. Of course Mt. Lamlam was in that section that wasn’t usually accessible. I heard on the radio that according to the contract the road was supposed to be open during the reconstruction and the local people weren’t too happy with the limited access.
     There was a thousand foot high ridge off to the east of Nimitz Beach and I decided since the lower ramparts looked fairly clear of jungle I was going to try and get atop it. I took a road to the east through what looked like ex military housing. where the road ended didn’t look like the best neighborhood I had seen on the island. There were cars along the curb up on blocks or with smashed windshields. There was even a car neatly parallel parked, on its roof. Guam has a problem with crime as can somewhat be inferred from the fact that the all night grocery stores and late night bars have, armed guards. Even though it was only a rented car I decided to park at Nimitz Beach and walk through the housing area. I walked until I came to a vacant field filled with junked cars. It looked as if I could go through the stand of growth at the back end of the field and onto the open lower slopes of the ridge. Even before reaching the back end of the field my socks and pants were full of burrs. What had looked like a short stretch of thicket turned out to be dense jungle. The land wasn’t nearly as level as it had looked from a distance and the land dropped away quickly.
     The contour of the land wasn’t always very evident. After pushing or breaking away the taller vegetation to see a place to step, the spot where I ended up stepping wasn’t always the solid ground it appeared. It usually turned out that the ground was several feet below the matted vegetation I ended up stepping on and it wasn’t even close to level. Several times I almost went sprawling as I fell through the rest of the jungle floor. Within a hundred feet of the back edge of the field I came upon a marshy fetid stream. Since I was wearing low sneakers I really didn’t feel like trying to wade it, with my luck it was deeper then it looked. Rather then try and find a different route I decide it would be a nice day to go to the beach. I now understand how they were able to find a Japanese soldier hiding in the jungle of Guam, twenty five years after the war had ended. Next time I attempt the jungle I’m going to be a little more prepared, with a the proper clothing,a machete, a guide, and a bull dozer.
     My great expedition had only lasted about half an hour but I had managed to work up a sweat in the hot humid weather. My arms were also itching because I had been wearing a short sleeved shirt. When I got back to Nimitz Beach I decided to check out the ocean. The water turned out to be nice and warm probably less then ten degrees cooler than the air whose temperature was in the high eighties. The shallow lagoon reached out a hundred yards to a ridge of volcanic rocks the sea was breaking on. It started out mid thigh and dropped to mid shin as I approached the rocks. The rocks had coral growing on them and I was surprised that living coral was much more supple then the dead pieces I had seen before. At least I’m assuming it was coral rather then barnacles or something else. Some of it was like tiny bushes while others were more like flowers or rose petals. Walking around in the shallows I noticed a foot long stick about as big around as my pinky. It was banded in alternate black and white bands about half an inch wide, I avoided it.
     The warm waters around Guam enable the reefs to live and flourish. The reefs help attract various types of sea life, including human divers from around the world. Guam itself is the merged tops of undersea volcanoes which are part of a ridge which rises over thirty seven thousand feet over the floor of the Marianas Trench. The trench is the greatest ocean depth in the world and its cold waters are partly responsible for the cold Japanese current which runs north along the Japanese Islands. Guam is a member of the Marianas Islands and sits in the warm waters thirteen degrees north of the equator.
     Sunday evening I literally went to the dogs, the greyhounds to be exact. I had never been to the dog races before so I decided to go to the local dog track. The first thing I noticed after getting out of the car in the parking lot was the noise. I’ve been to the horse track before and I always remembered the stable areas as being much quieter, but then again I don’t remember horses barking much. The dogs in their kennels can bark but those at the track itself can’t because they are always muzzled. The evening was a typical Guam evening, warm and muggy. The admission fee depended on whether you were local/military or overseas tourist. I just asked how much and they told me $2.50, I assumed that was the local/military rate but I wouldn’t guarantee it. I had left the room a little late because I had been watching "Star Trek the next generation" and had missed the first race. This didn’t bother me much because I wasn’t planning on staying for many of the races, especially after I found out the only beer available was Millers. They wanted $2.50 for a beer but I wouldn’t drink Millers if it was free. I almost went for a mixed well drink at $3.50 but finally decided I could live without alcohol for at least a little while. The decision was a good example of the will power and stamina I’ve managed to build up since going on the wagon for my birthday.
      One of the things I noticed almost immediately was that it appeared I had discovered a lost city of Japan. Eighty percent or more of the people appeared and sounded Japanese or Korean while another fifteen percent were Filipinos or native Guamanian. I looked at the racing form, which was provided with admission, and there was more Kanji on it then English. With the worlds economy the way it is at the present time I think the Japanese can afford to gamble a little bit. With some difficulty I managed to locate a group of four American military personnel and asked them some simple questions about the proceedings. It seemed the minimum bet was three dollars and when I mentioned that the usual minimum pari-mutuel horse racing tickets were only two bucks their answer was "but this is Guam". The first races trifacta had paid eleven hundred dollars and they were holding tickets on the second race where they had the first and second place dog correct. Third place had been a photo finish and they were waiting for the results to be posted. Seemed that in every race I watch one position or another was determined by photo, I guess it’s harder to see the finish with little dogs as compared with big horses. They didn’t hit on the third place dog but that didn’t matter much because the trifacta only paid twenty dollars.
     I decided to bet on the third race. Before the race they parade the dogs in front of the crowd, the same way as they do at a horse track, except with out a rider of course. I picked the biggest dog, seventy pounds according to the racing form, and put three dollars on him to win. I guess I’m used to Great Danes where bigger is usually better, my dog ended up coming in third. I can’t see how they can race while muzzled but I guess doesn’t really effect them. The mechanical rabbit they chase around the track actually looks like an overstuffed fuzzy water bottle with a whipping tail. With the muzzles on they couldn’t do anything if they caught it but none of them ever come close. Still they move pretty quickly and complete the circuit in under twenty five seconds. I watched the fourth race with out making a wager and left after it’s completion.
     Monday after work I went down to the navy base to check on cassette decks. Badge and pass was closed but the gate guard let me on base with my Air Force gate pass. I bought a Technics dual deck with dbx for $249. The only reason I needed a new deck was that my dbx Teac was broken and you can’t play a tape recorded with dbx noise reduction on a regular player without it sounding tinny. I had been having problems with finding a deck with dbx. Most players only offer dolby which to me is an inferior system to dbx. I was planning on bringing the deck aboard the plane as carry on baggage rather than mail it back to the states.

After leaving the base I stopped at Uncle Bob’s First Watering Hole and had two Michelobs at two bucks a pop. I also copied this from a plaque behind the bar.

A Fate Worse Than Death

He grabbed me by my slender neck
I could not beg or scream
He took me to his dingy room
Where we could not be seen

He tore away my flimsy wrap
And gazed upon my form
I was cold, damp and scared
He was bold and warm

His feverish lips he pressed to mine
I gave him every drop
He drained me of my very soul
I could not make him stop

He made me what I am today
That’s why you see me here
An empty bottle thrown away
That once was filled with beer

     From Uncle Bob’s I moved a short distance down the road to The Port Inn Club. There I ran into Alfred and John two, locals of Chamorro blood. The Chamorro were the original natives of Guam when it was discovered by the Spaniard Magellan early in the sixteenth century. They told me of the many changes they had witnessed on the island in the thirty something years they had been alive. Many of the changes had occurred in the last ten or fifteen years which is true of many places in the rest of the world. The problems on Guam are the same as almost everywhere else, mostly caused by over development because of a swelling population. They couldn’t understand how some of the people could sell their land to the newcomers regardless of the money to be made. They were very proud of their Chamorro heritage which they believed differentiated them from the other newer Guamanians.
     With the recent veto of the Idaho anti abortion legislation many people see Guam’s tough new law as the one which will end up challenging Roe vs Wade in the Supreme Court. There is a bill in congress which would make Guam a Commonwealth instead of a Territory and allow for more self governing. The local papers have been claiming that the abortion stand has caused a drop in support of the Commonwealth bill and that the two issues should remain separated. Both John and Alfred served in the armed forces but neither is allowed to vote in national elections. Guam has elected non voting representatives in Washington but the Guamanian people have no direct voice in the federal government and don’t vote for the president or other elected federal officials.
     They both remembered many more varieties and numbers of birds around when they were younger. The brown tree snake which is causing the birds demise is a new inhabitant of the island, probably accidently imported with cargo such as lumber from the Philippines, and it has no natural predator on the island. There was one bird, which sounded like it was probably some kind of hummingbird, they used to get lost while following it through the jungle. It seems the easiest way to get around in the jungle is to follow an animal trail if you can find one. The trails large enough to follow are usually made by wild pigs and in some parts of the wilderness there are some mean razorbacks. You have to be ready to climb a tree at anytime if you are following a trail and a razorback charges down at you. There are also small deer in the jungles which are newer to the island. During the Viet Nam war, when Guam was a huge staging area, they used to illegally hunt the deer on government land by letting the noise of the B-52s drown out the gunfire. They told me the Chamorro name for the hummingbird but I forgot the name and several other parts of our conversations by the time I left the bar. We were buying rounds which included the Korean bartender’s drink. She was charging hers as a ladies drink which was posted as costing five dollars each. Our three beers together didn’t cost as much as her drink.
     Alfred left and after losing a game of pool to John I stumbled out to the car. Some young lady grabbed me and pulled me into a bar which was right next door. I had one beer and bought her one at same price as mine. I made sure I wasn’t paying for a ladies drink before I bought it. I don’t remember if I finished my beer or not, I left the bar and somehow drove back north through Agana. I remember stopping at the Dallas Lounge and having one and stopping at a place called Chicago. I vaguely remember the place and think I almost ended up in a fight with some German guy. After that the evening is somewhat of a blank.
     Since I appeared to be getting old and my stamina was waning I didn’t go out after work Tuesday. My flight out had been changed from Tuesday to Saturday so I still had a few more nights to attempt my self destruction. Besides I didn’t want to take a chance of running into Breezy because it was her birthday. I had given her all I had planned to, including her birthday present, on the previous Friday night. Tuesday night I actually got well over eight hours sleep for a change.
     Wednesday after work, and after doing my laundry, I went down to Tumon to a bar one of the guys in the data area had told me about. Wednesday night is ladies night at the Signature Club and their drinks are half priced. We’re talking about regular ladies drinks not bar ladies, the place didn’t have bar ladies. I was there around seven and had a Michelob for the happy hour price of $2.50. It was early and nothing was going on yet so I walked over to the Viking’s Tavern and had one beer there. I decided to drive down to the Dallas Lounge and see if I could find out what I had done there after leaving the Port Inn Club on Monday night. When I arrived at the bar there was a long haired, long legged Korean girl dancing. She was a very pretty girl but unfortunately when she was close all I could smell was the kim chee oozing out of her pores with her sweat. Kim chee is an ethnic Korean cabbage dish that has a very strong and distinctive odor. Most people don’t like the smell and its name has sometimes come to be used in other ways such as "we’re in deep kim chee now". When she told me it was the second time she had seen me there I knew there were a few more holes in my memory of Monday night then I had originally thought. When my earthly race is over, and I’m ready for the clover, I just wish that I could at least live the parts of my life over that I don’t remember living the first time.
     After two beers at the Dallas Lounge I was planning on checking out Chicago and trying to reconstruct what I had done there. Instead I stopped at a bar called Pappillon. They didn’t carry Michelob and I ended up paying four dollars for a Budweiser. The place appeared to be another fancy decorred Korean sing along bar. The bartender gave me a disappointed look when I didn’t use the fancy glassware everyone else was using. Anytime the glass isn’t as cold as the bottle the beer comes in, there is no way I’m going to use the glass. I was back in my room by nine because I wanted to watch China Beach but the show wasn’t on that evening even though it was scheduled in the Guam TV guide.
     Thursday evening I went down to Tumon to check out the Pacific Star Hotel. They have an all you can eat steak and lobster buffet for $26. I wasn’t interested in the meal but wanted to see what one of the classy hotels on the island was like. I ended going from the fourth level to the first level in the parking garage before I found an empty parking space. The building is nineteen stories high and built on a steep hillside , with the lobby at street level and four floors extending below the lobby. Although the poolside patio where they served their surf and turf was on the sane level as the first level parking, I had to take an elevator up to the main lobby and go back down to get to the area. The hotel is owned by Nauru nationals and caters to the affluent Japanese. All the lobby floors I passed walking down the stairs to the first level were marble and some areas were covered with expensive oriental or Persian rugs. There were a lot of restaurants, bars, and duty free shops frequented by mainly orientals. The first level had an open courtyard with a waterfall and a small bridged stream that I crossed to reach the torchlit poolside area. As soon as I got there I turned around and left. I’m not really into opulence and decadence and my overall impression was that it wasn’t my kind of place, especially since I was unaccompanied and wasn’t trying to impress anyone
     After retrieving my car I went over to the Signature Club and proceeded to get drunk with a retired Navy chief whom I met for the first time that night. After I had started to get a decent buzz on, I stopped over at the Tourist Club and talked to Breezy for a while. I got off relatively cheap, I bought us both a shot of Tequila, and it only cost me ten dollars. I asked what my name was and she guessed John, I told her it was the Mark. After she went off to hustle drinks off of other people, I stayed around for a couple of more beers, then retired to my room fairly early.
     Friday night Roy, the engineer in charge of our company’s efforts at the Guam site, and his wife took me out to dinner at Tony Rommas. I had a New York steak which was slightly under cooked while they had the house specialty which was ribs. Originally we were planning on going to Mr T’s Steak House and Lounge but they had a private party going on until eight o’clock. Another reason for the change of venue might have been that when Roy and his wife checked out the place they saw a huge cock roach scurrying out the door. I don’t blame them for changing restaurants, even I don’t like to eat where the food is so bad that even the roaches get up and walk out. In Guam the roaches only come in two sizes, huge and gigantic.
     After thanking my hosts for dinner and wishing them a good stay on Guam I went down to Tumon Bay to check out the Signature Club. The place was packed with wall to wall people, probably because of a local radio station’s promotion. They were giving away free Australian beer, namely Foster’s Lager, and of course I tried some at that price. The beer was pretty good and didn’t have the nasty taste that the American beers on the island seem to have. I knew that I had found my Guamanian equivalent of Suntory beer. Much of the crowd seemed to know each other and I got the impression that most of them thought they comprised the in crowd on the island. After a few free beers I walked down the road to check out what was going on at Viking’s Tavern that evening. After a beer down there I stopped back at the Signature Club and found out that they had started charging for the Foster’s which was originally supposed to be free until they ran out of it. I bitched about that and they gave me another free one. After my last free beer I drove up the road to tour the Tourist Club.
     Breezy was working and she managed to do her fire act again without burning the place down. She only did the act on Fridays because the owner was still off the island and the people who were running the place weren’t sure about the insurance implications. I bought Breezy and a blonde friend of hers a couple of ten dollar drinks. I must be getting more efficient because it only took me ninety dollars to get good and snockered. I was back in my room by midnight and only had two of the six beers that were in the refrigerator. When I checked out the next day I left four Michelobs for the maid. Saturday morning I was slow to rise and I reset the alarm once in order to get a little more sleep. I was checked out of the hotel and down at Denny’s eating breakfast by a little after nine that morning. Denny’s only offered filled milk and I opted for orange juice with my bacon and egg breakfast. Safeway and the Commissary on base were the only places I saw fresh whole milk.
     After breakfast I went up to the T-shirt shop in the Micronesia Mall. I bought two T-shirts for souvenirs, one for me and the other one for Patty. In February on my way back from Florida I had stopped in the french quarters in New Orleans and picked up a sweat shirt, but had literally ended up giving Patty the shirt off my back one night when I was up in Vallejo. This time I was going to be prepared. I had been unsucessful trying to find the Hafa Adai #1 movie theater and the guy working at the T-shirt shop managed to find out where it was for me. I parked near the theater and walked around the area for almost an hour before entering the theater and watching "The Hunt For Red October". The area around the theater was almost like an open air market with small shops sheltered under connecting corrugated tin roofs. The place reminded me of a similar tin roofed bizarre just inside the border at Tijuana, except the Hafa Adai Exchange didn’t sell Mexican blankets.
     After the movie I drove to the Signature Club but the time was a little after three and the place didn’t open until four on Saturdays. I ended up driving up towards Anderson and having two beers at the Scoreboard Lounge. I then filled up the car and was at the airport between four thirty and five. It took me about twenty minutes to check in my back pack and another ten minutes to check in the rental car. I forgot to tell the Hertz people that there was a little brown lizard who had been living in the car for about a week. I hope they didn’t vacuum it up when they cleaned out the car.
     After passing through the metal detector security check point I turned in my coach boarding pass in order to try and get an upgrade to business seating. While I was waiting to hear my named paged a guy came up to me and asked me if I had ever attended Hudson Valley Community College. His name was Richard Mock and it turned out we had gone to school together in 1969 and 70 in upstate New York. I have trouble remembering someone I met the night before more less twenty years ago. He told me that I had an unique appearance and he remembered that I had been driving a psychedelic VW micro bus at the time. I didn’t bother asking him if a unique appearance was a complement or not. From the boarding lounge we passed by a custom agent before we boarded the plane. Although you supposedly don’t need a passport for Guam he asked me if I had one. He stamped a departure visa and my passport ceased to be a virgin. Continental traded in the originally scheduled DC 10 on a 747 which has more first class and business seating and I managed to get business seating in the upper deck. The movie to Honolulu was a repeat of Gross Anatomy but I stayed awake and watched it again. The flight was an hour shorter than it had been coming out because the jet stream was in our favor going east.
     I had to pass through customs in Hawaii which turned out to be an ordeal. When we landed we were taken by shuttle bus from the gate to the baggage area. They managed to misplace one of the baggage containers from our flight and that coupled with long slow lines added up to almost two hours of frustration. After finally clearing customs I rechecked my back pack, passed through the security check point, and took a shuttle bus to the appropriate departure gate. On passing through the airport three weeks earlier I hadn’t realized that there was controlled access to the gates and had thought they were lax in their security procedures. The flight to San Francisco offered the movie Blaze staring Paul Newman, "Vote for Earl", and again I got no sleep. It turned out that I didn’t have to work the night I arrived so the lack of sleep didn’t effect me much.
     Larry wasn’t going to be able to pick me up at the airport because he was going skiing with Dave, so after retrieving my back pack I talked to a limo service about getting a ride to Sunnyvale. They wanted twenty nine dollars for a shared ride and I said fine. When the limo arrived and I went out to board it I noticed Al’s camper coming up the arrival area roadway. I yelled something to the limo people about a mistake and hopped in the front seat of Al’s pick up truck. It turned out he had been sitting down at Charlie Browns, in Milbrae, having a couple of beers and watching the flights land because his camper had too high a clearance to fit into the short term parking area. By six o’clock Saturday evening we were sitting down at Paul & Harveys having a beer, I hadn’t left Guam until almost seven o’clock that same Saturday evening.