Hauling a trailer along behind my overloaded station wagon added at least two hours to the ten hour drive, and then a stop in Raleigh-Durham that went a little longer than I'd planned (it was good, quality time and that's sometimes hard for me to cut short) added another twoish hours. So, even though I was leaving the Burg's boundaries nigh of 10am, I barely skirted onto base in time to check in before midnight. Had I been even a few minutes later, I would have been dreadfully unaccounted for (UA.. Navy equivilant of AWOL), which would NOT have made a good first impression on my present chain of command.

But I got my stamp just on time, and retired to the room they originally assigned me at the on-base-quarters. The girl already in the room was a friggin loon, though, and I ended up (fortunately) being moved into my own-for-now room about two days later.

Meanwhile, on Sunday I went to church with some friends of mine from home who were in town visiting her sister/brother-in-law/nephews-almost-my-age and then to the house they were closing on that day, then to the sister's house for lunch, a nap, quality time, and dinner. On Monday, I attempted to check into my new command (the Reserve Center) on base, but it's closed on Monday, so I went back Tuesday morning. They're in the process of merging with the other reserve component on base, so they said I should go THERE to check in, except that they were closed on Tuesday, too, since this past weekend had been a drill weekend for the Reservists. Thus, I essentially had Tuesday off, too. Monday I had found a storage space and returned my trailer to U-Haul after unpacking it, and Tuesday I made some more progress in bringing things into my new solo room that I'd need handy, along with spending maybe an hour on the gun-range learning to shoot since there would be a qualifying day for the 9mm pistol weapons ribbon on Wednesday. I improved a lot on Tuesday, but not quite enough, and on Wednesday I improved even more, but still didn't qualify. I'm going out to the range on Monday with a more experienced sailor who will teach me about breathing techniques and aiming more than I've yet been able to learn. Yup, that's ME, firing a gun and actually doing pretty well. Oh my goodness, how little-Peaceful-Patty has changed.

Those will be the first ribbons I earn beyond my Wartime Service ribbon, if I earn them soon. That would be exciting.

Wednesday, I actually got checked into my new command for reals, but the Captain of this command wants to meet with every new check-in as the first step in that process, and he didn't have an appointment available 'til Thursday morning. So Wednesday afternoon (after meeting many of the people who will be working in the building with me), I registered and titled my new '91 Subaru in the state of FL as a Virginia resident, since I still have that license. I will probably switch over to FL residency as well, soon, but that wasn't something I really had the time for just yet.

Thursday, I met with the Skipper (or Commanding Officer, or Captain), who is a very nice gentleman. And he advised continuing my college career, including taking some courses at the community college up the street from here. He also mentioned that the marina here on base has sailing lessons, which is fabulous.

And then I got a lot of the check-in process done, and learned a lot more about my way around the building and the base.

Today we had a half-day because there's an air-show on base this weekend (featuring the Blue Angels among others), so I only got a bit more done. But I think I'm really going to enjoy working in this particular office in this particular building on this particular base.

Tonight, I'm going to a halloween party. Tomorrow, perhaps sea-dooing with the local family I met through my friends back home. And then Sunday is church and some events they're having, and then perhaps another halloween outing. So it looks like a good weekend and a great start to my time stationed here.

Hoorah!