Journeys: Fort Meade

Maryland, here I am!

Begin flash back here…

The adventure to Maryland began on Sunday, and what a Sunday it was in Georgia. It was sunny, warm, and the air still smelt of dog shit. My itinerary consisted of two short legs; a 30-minute flight from Augusta to Charlotte and then another equally short flight from Charlotte to Baltimore. Upon arrival at Baltimore I was to retrieve a rental car, lodging, and then be ready for class on Monday morning.

Things went quite well between Augusta and Charlotte, but the situation rapidly and significantly digressed when I arrived in Charlotte. On top of my standard two hour lay over, it began raining, snow rolled into the DC Metro area, flights attained the status of “cancelled”, and the civilians around me became very hot tempered and frustrated. Fortunately my flight to Baltimore was not cancelled, initially, but we passengers did go through a routine similar to musical chairs.

Except there was no music and we had to stand in line too.

We proceeded to board and deplane our flight three times over the course of two hours due to a mechanical error that was occurring in the cockpit. To calm the distraught passengers, the crew acquired another aircraft, one that had no mechanical problems, and with a collective sigh of relief we quietly boarded. In spite of our frustrating delays we soon learned, after settling into our seats, that there was a ground stop in effect at Baltimore and our flight was going nowhere fast. The tempers flared to new levels, voices were raised, and our flight was cancelled.

Snow, snow, snow. I, for one, like it.

Using the Army's dime I gladly purchased a hotel room for the night and ate a chocolate chip waffle at the Waffle House before slipping into bed early in preparation for my departure in the morning.

The following Monday morning while on my flight to Philadelphia (I had been rerouted) I dozed on and off while watching Cranium Trivia on the in flight TV. I now know that Wonder Woman has a lasso and that lasso has a magical power and that magical power is to make people tell the truth. People, being the liars that we are. I was soon considering the following question; what happens if Wonder Woman strikes Superman with this lasso? Will it have a reverse effect, causing Superman to spout lies from his Super mouth, or will he just say,

"Dammit bitch, that shit hurts!"

OK, ok. After the City of Brotherly Love it was onward to Baltimore. Upon my arrival I wasted absolutely zero time in acquiring my rental car and hotel room before attempting to check in with my school leader at Fort Meade. Of course, the time was 1500 and everyone associated with the school I was attending had disappeared for the day. I went to bed.

On Tuesday I was informed that, since I missed the first day of class I had been dropped from the school and would be forced to attend the next class, which starts on Monday. Of course, when I informed those personnel in charge of my life back at Fort Gordon they gasped, threw up their arms, and instructed me to immediately proceed to the airport and fly my happy ass home. Well, while I was driving to the airport they called me again and instructed me to NOT fly my happy ass home and further instructed me to standby for the next class to start on Monday.

Since Tuesday I have done much adventuring and exploring in the Fort Meade/Baltimore/DC area for places to possibly live in the near future upon PCS to Fort Meade. Of all the places that I have visited this week, which were all of the suburban nature, I have found one area that is desirable for the establishment of my future humble abode. Crofton, MD. It has lovely housing, but the main attraction is the, oh so close by, Village at Waugh Chapel which is the keeper of Bike Doctor of Crofton and Owens Skate/Board/Ski. Other areas that were visited in my journeys were graded accordingly.

College Park: B+.
Bowie: B+.
Laurel: B-.
Odenton: D-.
Glen Burnie: D-.
Crownsville: F+.
Elkridge: F-.
Catonsville: F-.
South Baltimore: F-. Wow! This place sucks!

Annapolis, of course, is beautiful, but I no longer have the desire to live there. It appears that Washington, DC may be the only real suitable urban environment in which to live, but it will be difficult to live there and commute to the Fort during the week, but I’ll try it if I can find an affordable place to live. This is all also dependent on my actual PCS to Fort Meade from Fort Gordon.

Pray for my little soul…please.

This weekend I'll be linking up with an old Soldier buddy from Korea who now lives in the area and we have plans to run rampant across downtown DC taking in the sights and certainly not taking pictures. If your jealous...don't be jealous, just come on down and hang out!

P.S. Awesome new website folks. Check it out.