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Here's a different balcony shot.

It's the Elephant Buddha I bought for the house - now at the house. It's supposed to bring prosperity. I think I already found it though.















My Thailand trip ended the way they began - in first class.

By the time I got to Dallas, I'd spent about the last 24 hours on an airplane in the same clothes, smelled like it and even worse - looked like it. So when I asked the guy at the counter for some sympathy he slid me into first class for the last two legs of the trip. Sure beat sleeping face-down on my tray table for hours on the first two flights.

What should have been a simple departure very early July 19, turned into a five-day nightmare of trying to get out of Bangkok back to Portland, only to get the most miserable flight out possible.

My first mistake was trying to reason why someone would purchase the following itinerary for a guy trying to get to Oregon: Bangkok to Seoul (8 hours), Seoul to Dallas (14 hours), Dallas to Salt Lake City (3 hours) and finally on to Portland for an additional 2.5 hours.

Nonetheless I made it home. And even w/ the departure fiasco of being chained to my computer and arguing w/ authority for some consideration over a five-day out-of-pocket extended stay in Bangkok, followed by my awesome flight series home - I still wouldn't have traded this trip.

It still stands as the experience of a lifetime. Now that I'm home all the details are starting to set in. My revived Navy career stands at the forefront of the realizations.

Nearly every night since I landed in Thailand I've had vivid dreams of the USS Sacramento and my first trips there - or at least some variation of them. It seemed as though the memories I left there were happy to see me again and rushed me at night.

Even today at the veggie market here in Aberdeen, I heard the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday." The memory faucet came on, this time bringing a feeling and a mind state. If this trip did nothing but brought back a feeling I loved so much, then it was worth it.

The real challenge now is trying to keep that feeling alive. You'd think it were easy being such a part of who I am and how I love to be. But it's not. Reality challenges me at every turn. Luckily I'm going back this time next year.

Also - I crashed my helicopter! We suffered a rear-rotor failure at about 150 feet. I caught a bad destabilizing gust, throwing me into downward spin. With no forward or aft movement capabilities, we struck the ground at terminal speeds. Luckily, no one was injured. However the aircraft is severely damaged and out of commission till I can find a hobby shop.

Bummer...