Pardon the ameturishiness of this post but this is this “D.O.D.’s” 1st attempt so bear with me…

My first trans-Pacific (or even International) flight was “text book”, but that’s kinda what I’d hoped for. Still, 16 hours on the same plane gets really l-o–n—g pretty quick. And if anyone wants to know the ending to any of the in-flight movies I saw, even after 3 times straight thru (each), the secret’s safe with me. Apparently, Randy’s “long flight” system ( 2 tylenol PM and 2 beers) doesn’t work for everyone.

Arriving at Tokyo Narita (at 3pm on Sunday) which was still 5am Sunday by my Oklahoma clock, was equally smooth and Randy was right there to meet me so it was awesome to catch up on 16 months worth of hugs (+ all those from everyone else who’d entrusted me to carry their hugs to Japan with me…)

Long story short, the bus back to the Yokosuka Naval Base was overbooked so even though Randy had left his car there, he assured me that taking the train to his house would be MUCH faster than waiting for the next military bus so after some sushi & beer @ the airport (actually VERY good, at least from an Oklahoma perspective), we were off!

What Randy hadn’t explained clearly was that it takes FIVE different trains to get from the airport to the stop in the Yokohama suburb (Oppama) where he lives, and that there were stairs between almost every train. I’m sure I’d have packed lighter and NOT been dragging a 50lb, rolling suit case behind me if I’d understood this in advance!

That night I didn’t need ANY Tylenol PM or alcohol to sleep like a baby.

Monday, we took the train down to Yokosuka where the Navy base, U.S.S. Kittyhawk and most importantly Randy’s car, the famed “Blue Tiger” (an early ’90’s super compact Nissan) were waiting for us. From the balcony of Starbuck’s it was already easy to see why he loves this place so much. It’s breathtakingly beautiful! From just a few blocks away from the base, you can climb (they LOVE their hills over here) up the narrow, winding streets to a beautiful part overlooking the entrance to Tokyo Bay and “Monkey Island” (kind of a Catalina kind of place) right across from. Then we picked up the car and some essentials at the Navy Exchange (that’s “NEX” for us civilians) and took an even more scenic drive further down the coast to a quaint, little fishing community. Looked like I would envision Route 1 north of San Francisco but with weird writing and everybody driving on the wrong side!.

Tuesday we took a series of local trains toward Tokyo where we could catch a “Limited Express” train to a town 95 miles NW called Nikko. You’ll see if you look at Randy’s flickr pictures (don’t be shy, just push the button over on the right side of the post) that this place was amazing! Looked like an Alpine village in the mountains.

Without belaboring the point, we spent just about all of our first day in Nikko, either walking to or up the stairs of several 7th century temples. Man! This D.O.D. has never climbed so many stairs in his life! Too bad we didn’t think to leave our backpacks in a locker in the train station (or take the tour bus that was included with our travel package…). Thankfully, our  hotel had it’s own “onsen”, (hot baths) so we were able to soak away some of the aches & pains from our long day of walking, climbing (and in my case, complaining about waking & climbing…). More details about Nikko later but suffice it to say that the trip up the mountain (no, we did take a bus this time) to the waterfalls was awesome. And it was snowing on us while we were up on the mountain.

Back to Tokyo & (Oppama) after a short stop in Kawasaki to “California Pizza” (I recommend the garlic shrimp) pizza and a few Miller “Special’s” .

Friday & beyond, Randy’s got it all on his calendar so look forward to another installment after Saturday’s trip to Tokyo’s shopping district, Shibuya, a tour of the Kittyhawk and a trip next week to Kyoto (SW of here) to see some more shrines.

It’s easy to see why Randy’ loves this place. The landscape if breathtaking, the people are warm & friendly.

Roger, Wilco, Over & Out for now! Stay tuned!

Rob