Day: 11 April 2009

Day: 11 April 2009
Weather report: sunny and high around 75

Woke up around 0837 hrs, slept hard last night and am still tired from sleeping. I don’t know how that happens, but oh well. Watch the Bourne Identity this morning and am trying to decide what to do today. I need to buy some stencils to make my helmet and canteen tape strips with my roster number on them and one additional one for the APFT on Tuesday. Tried to get on the internet and see what is around here to do and the server is still down. Going to try and get on with my Blackberry.

Found a few places I think I am going to try and check out. Look’s like the have a few museums in the Columbus Port area and should be similar to Charleston, SC. I know it won’t be the same but there is hope. Might check out a movie or take a walk by the river.

On the way out of the post I saw some of the damage created by the storm last night. It was a real same to see some of the old oak trees all broken and mangled.

Went out to Columbus and across the river to Phenix City, AL, boy was it a real dump. On the way out the gate I spotted Ranger Joe’s warehouse and decided to make a stop. I picked-up my maroon beret (Airborne), the 1/507th PIR crest and flash for the new beret, a set of silver jump wings to stare at to keep me focused on the end of the course, and a few things for my children. My afternoon adventure started with going downtown. On the way I was the Civil War Maritime Museum and stopped in to check it out. It cost $5.50 for military and I took the tour. There were a lot of Civil War ships and an Iron Clad vessel as the main piece. Pretty neat to see how they built ships and the equipment they used to build them.

I finished up there and headed for the River Walk and Broadway Street. I was expecting way too much. The place looked like a ghost town. The river was nasty and a bunch of broken down looking boats all over the river. The people were fishing out of the so they were still operational. I did not see anyone catch anything, but would not have eaten anything if I would have caught it. The downtown area was in sad shape. I asked a couple of people what there was to do and they said nothing gets started around here until after 2300 hrs. That is way past my bed time and only trouble happens in a place like that, that late at night. I will be having no part of those kinds of activities. Then I proceeded across the Chattahoochee River into Phenix City, AL. What a waste of time. The place is crawling with trouble. It is one of those towns you can just feel something bad is going to happen in. Amanda called as I was sitting at a traffic light and a child maybe 12 years old tapped on the window asking for money. He was dressed well and did not present any type of sign or what the donation was for. He said something about baseball, but he did not look the part nor did the town have any recreational areas that I saw. I headed out of there as quickly as I could. Finally, I was back to some sort of civilization. I headed down to I-185 and to find something to eat. I was looking for the Outback Steakhouse I saw on the way in on Thursday night but had no luck with that. I stopped at Logan’s Steakhouse instead and watched the Masters while I ate my meal. The filet and loaded baked potato hit the spot. I was scared about the sweet tea at first, but had two glasses, turned out to be really good. Once I left, I stopped at Office Depot and picked-up a ruler and the stencils needed to complete my roster numbering for Tuesday. Finished there and fueled the car and headed for K-mart across the street. It has been pretty boring and needed something to do. I made some purchases, 200mg Motrin for the aches and pains that will start on Tuesday, John Grisham’s book, ‘The Innocent Man”, and an air-freshener for my room.

In my room, Amanda called and the phone was on the bed on vibrate and I did not hear it ring. Tried to call her back and got her voice mail, will try again later. I was sitting in the chair at my desk stenciling my roster number four times, which turned out to be a pain in the butt. I am going to watch a little T.V. and then work on my beret.

Finished working on my beret and have wet it down to shape it. I watched the entire movie Leather Heads while doing it. It looks pretty good for now, may have to work on it some more when it dries. Don’t feel like going back out tonight. I will go and find something good to eat again tomorrow during lunch. I really don’t feel very safe by myself at night in Columbus. This place is pretty out there. I am going to watch some more T.V. and go to sleep early tonight. More adventure tomorrow.