The first leg of our trip took us to Eglin AFB, which is near Destin Beach, FL. Having flown the F-16 for almost five years now, I know a lot of F-16 pilots...some of which are stationed at Eglin. While our jets were being refueled, we grabbed a good lunch off base and caught up a bit with friends. With a full load of fuel and a full stomach, we blasted off towards Homestead. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, so I coordinated with Air Traffic Control (ATC) for a low departure from Eglin and to fly at 1000 ft down the FL coast towards Tallahassee. After about 100 mi of flying low, we climbed up to 25,000 enroute to Miami.
Since we had Saturday and Sunday to relax, we decided to spend one night near South Beach and then drive to Key West the next day. The weather was great the whole weekend! South Beach has a nice running trail with outdoor workout equipment, so Saturday morning a couple of us went for a 4 mi run and worked out a bit before hitting the road for Key West. Enroute to Key West, we passed a mile marker sign with the perfect number...it said "Key West...77 miles." Being in the 77th Fighter Squadron, it doesn't get any better than that. The sign now proudly bears our squadron's sticker!
We found rooms on the Key West Navy Base (yeah, I wish Air Force bases were in these kind of places), which was near the center of town and the beach. The island of Key West isn't that big, so we were able to walk to most places. After a couple days of fun in Key West, we headed back to Homestead and made our way back to Shaw stopping again at Eglin for gas and lunch. This was the first cross-country I had been on since being stationed in Italy, and I'm thankful I had the chance to lead it while being a flight commander. Until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment