Saturday, October 18, 2008

Anchors Aweigh

Wow, are we ever glad that we toured the USS John L. Hall yesterday. Today a brisk northeast wind was blowing and all ship tours were canceled. Things really started to pick up weather-wise last night and several sailors ended up unable to get back out to the ship. They slept at our church, the yacht club and in cells at the police station! So here's a last view of the Hall peeking past Motif #1.This evening she was moved to a calmer seas location in Gloucester. Most events for the crew will still be held. They will transport everyone from the ship over to Rockport. There will be no more civilian tours. The veteran's tour that was supposed to happen today has been rescheduled for tomorrow in Gloucester.

This afternoon I volunteered at the Drop-In Center for the crew. I was there from 2:30 until 6. It was a blast! Here's a picture. In the right foreground is RL of RocNavCom having a bit of a rest.After the Drop-In Center, I went home and picked up 'A' to go watch the softball game between the crew of the Hall and Rockport's police/fire departments.The second annual game was as cold as the first! The young sailor above was such a cutie in his shorts and heavy knit knee-highs! It made him look like he had knickers on. My mom met us down there and we all cheered for the Navy guys. After the fourth inning, mom went home and 'A' went with me back to the church Drop-In. The Navy guys had used the church for changing in to their game attire and needed to get back in after the game. Also there was a lot of food stuff that needed to be packed away or loaded for transport to tomorrow's Drop-In location and also out to the ship. It ended up that 'A' and I helped pack up and then close up the church. In the process we found a bag of clothes that had been left behind! So......we carted them out to my truck and headed for the American Legion Post where SG (co-chair of RocNavCom) and some of the crew were relaxing for an hour or so. Once parked outside, I called SG on her cell phone to let her know what was up. We then each made two trips around the outside of the building trying to find each other! I finally gave up and stopped by the door and waited. She circled back and all was well! 'A' thought it was great fun hanging out with the sailors.

And for the second year Rockport beat the Navy. The Navy photographer and I talked back at the Drop-In. Evidently the fourth inning score of 25 - 11 left the Navy in a tough spot to catch up. Final score was Rockport 30, Navy 15. It's hard to practice softball on a frigate!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I gotta say, you're beginning to sound like a matelot! Well, I guess you get that from your Dad. Keep up the good work, my gal!
PS. Didn't look like you had too many 'customers' in the picture of the 'drop-in'!!!

deb said...

I took the pic before the crowd arrived. After all, I was supposed to be working! They couldn't get many off the ship because of the rough weather. The Cmdr was holding out moving until he could manage to get the softball team ashore. (some things are important, you know!) Once they got in, we were packed with hungry sailors and officers. Then they all scrambled to find a room to change in to civvies for the game