As readers of my blogs know I try to run races on holidays or special occasions as well run races at locations that have significance to me. Lemoore California certainly has significance because I spent 3 years of my life stationed there when I was in the Navy. I was assigned to a training squadron at NAS Lemoore to learn the fire control systems for the A4 aircraft prior to being assigned to VA 23. After being assigned to VA 23 we shipped out on my first of 3 Vietnam Cruises this one on the USS Oriskany, a ship that is now a sunken reef off the coast of Pensacola, Florida. When we returned, the squadron was decommissioned and I was assigned to VA 122 for training again, this time on the A7 fire control systems before being assigned to VA 147, a squadron that I made my final two cruises with on the USS America and then the USS Constellation. I got out of the navy and left Lemoore in January of 1972.
Another reason that Lemoore has such an important place in my past is because that is where I met my wife and sons and was married while I was in the Navy. So Lemoore played an important role in my life from 1968-1972.
I had planned to go there later this year for a July 4th race but when I saw that they had a St. Patrick's race scheduled I decided that it would be good to run that race when I knew it wouldn't (shouldn't) be crazy summer hot like it can often be on July 4th. While I was racing in Lemoore, my daughter Stacie and Son in Law Tom were racing a St. Patrick's 5 mile in St. Louis, Spell was doing a St. Patrick's race in Fort Collins and Gerald was doing a half marathon in Salida and then a St. Patrick's day race in Denver the next day.
Since I had decided to make the race trip an overnight trip I decided to visit Sequoia National Park because it is in the area. I had been to Sequoia with my wife and sons while I was stationed at Lemoore and I had hiked and camped there with my father and the Boy Scouts in the 60's when we hiked part of the John Muir Trail in the Rae Lakes area. It was a beautiful spring day when I got into the park, the roads had been closed by snow just two weeks earlier.
I spent a few hours driving and hiking at the park and saw enough to know that I certainly hope to return for more some day. On the way to Lemoore I stopped for lunch in Three Rivers at a restaurant and enjoyed listening to the river rushing past while I had lunch.
The week prior to my trip I did some house and pet sitting for friends. Even though it was only three miles from home I chose to stay over there nights and come home during the days to get things done. It felt like a mini vacation.
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| My House Mates |
Springs is back in the Valley:
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| Cherry Blossoms |
This little guy (girl?) showed up out back under a tractor and stayed around for a couple of days so Gregg and I caught him so he wouldn't get caught by a predator or inadvertently get in with our dogs, not a healthy place for a rabbit. We put it in with the goats and Gregg made the goat pen more secure so that he wouldn't get loose again. My granddaughter Haley named him/her "Grover".
