1 September
We leave Kyoto taking the bullet train, via Tokyo, to Fussa. We shall attempt to catch a "Space Available" flight back to the USA, courtesy of the U.S. Air Force. Gerri has been watching the current statistics, and is feeling a less than 50% chance for us from Yokota. Other options, after several days of Yokota attempts, will be grabbing a hop over to South Korea, for additional attempts from Osan Air Base, which is frankly looking like the best chance at this point.
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The visual results of polling ourselves "are you happy or sad this tour of Asia is done?" - sad and mostly happy.
Last bento box on the train...
A bonus last peek at Mount Fuji from the bullet train...
We arrive in Fussa...
Those supermarket dinners are something special - yeah, surprisingly oishi.
2 September
Originally the flight we would have attempted was leaving today, but due to weather somewhere in the hemisphere, it was delayed till tomorrow. So today we mosey onto base to get a flavor of home, and some deodorant that works better than what we've had for several weeks now.
Gas prices for gallons and in dollars.....Taco Bell Cheesy Beans and Rice Burritos, first since at least March.
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Vendors in the BX lobby, with cool stuff to look at - feels like we're on any base back in the States.
One last brewery, between the base and the hotel/train station - very friendly people running it...
And one more supermarket dinner is had...
3 September
We've checked out of Japan with the passport/visa peeps just outside the gate, and begin the wait to see if we can get on a "free" flight. We're seeing several groups of what appear to be active-duty vacationing singles and families - it's not looking hopeful to score a couple of seats out of the handful available for "Space-A"ers like us.
It's about 11am, and we are waiting with bated breath till around 3pm or so, for the announcements.
Holey crap and moley, Bob's your uncle, we got selected!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Tim is shocked, Gerri is delirious ....
(actually Gerri was kinda hoping for a few more days in Japan, and maybe even bonus time in South Korea)
And 8 1/2 hours later we're back in the good ole USA.
Here's how close it was in getting those seats - there were about 260 seats on the military charter, 255 were used by mission related personnel (mostly families leaving their Japanese assignments for their next station). 5 seats were available for people like us - we scored the very last two seats.
After arrival in Seattle, we found reasonable purchased-same-day tickets to Cleveland, but it leaves in 13 hours, around 1am. So, we watch the sunset over Seattle as we hunker down in the terminal.
4 September
It's mission complete - we return on Labor Day - back again in the Home of Rock-n-Roll - Cleveland.
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