Tuesday, February 10, 2015

0808, Tue, 021015. Rocklin, CA.

We started our day out with a trip up the hill to Colfax. A memorial service was being held for an old friend I had worked with on several projects some years ago. We arrived at the church only to find that the parking lot was empty. Sue got on her smart phone and found a note on Facebook giving the time. We were two hours early. Well, this conflicted with Sue watching the grandkids so we headed back to Rocklin where I dropped her off and headed back up the hill once more. What a lovely day for a ride.
Services went well, in fact I really enjoyed a couple of the guys who got up and spoke. Not easy for them, but they filled in a lot of spots in Elton's life that I didn't know about, a very humble guy. He did talk of taking off from aircraft carriers and landing back on that little deck, even in darkness of black out conditions, but he never mentioned that he was the lead guy, in charge of all those aircraft as they came back from missions all beat up and deciding which plane landed first. In fact, his orders could only be changed by the Commander of the ship so he was second in comand.
Once back in Rocklin we enjoyed visits with the Blooms although they are on the mend after a bout with the crud. Sue had them making little bugs out of hearts.
I finished up my day with karate. Our leader, Mike, is battling a bad back, numbness in the legs and a hernia. He passed off the lead to Dave, who has been absent for years from class with his obligations, now retired from the Placer Sheriff Department teaching self defense classes to officers all over the country. He brings a lot of history of karate with him as well as the experience, always fun. We had over a dozen students show up which made for a great class.....more later..