Summer 2013 July 13: 40 years

July 13, 1973:  This is the day I got out of the Air Force.  Since my regular enlistment end date of July 15 was on a Sunday, I got out on Friday, July 13.

I packed my items in my car, a Datsun 510, said goodby to my friends and took off on an epic journey.  I drove from Langley, Virginia (actually Hampton Roads) and drove up through Washington D.C., which I hit right at rush hour.  After a terrifying trip on the Washington D.C. beltway, I took the Pennsylvania Turnpike (the geography of it all escapes me).

I stopped somewhat at a motel in what I considered the mountains.  Obviously I was dead tired and woke the next morning to mountain streams outside my door.

I don't recall a lot of the rest of the trip.  I remember at one time, I stopped in a City named "Springfield" and was confused as to what state I was in.  In Lawrence, Kansas, I had car trouble and probably escaped a hefty bill by telling the repaid shop I had just gotten out of the Air Force and was coming back to Lawrence to go to KU and I would bring my car in then.

I visited my parents in Wakeeney, Kansas for about a month.  I felt the freedom (and the fear) of unlimited choices of what I could do with my life, and I considered everything.

One day I got in may car and headed for Wichita, Kansas.  I stopped at a small motel outside of Wichita State University and enrolled in the Political Science Department for a Masters Degree program.  (I couldn't get into KU, I was too late for enrollment for whatever reason.  Wichita State University let me enroll based on the fact they wanted different backgrounds in their program.  (I had a BA in Economics and also had spent four years in the Air Force.)  Although I had taken some courses in Air Force, returning to school was tough, but very rewarding.  I enjoyed my time at Wichita State.

I used to think of 40 years as old and now it is merely the time of my life since I got out of the Air Force.  

Even now, I can remember the thrill of starting life, (this was the time of the draft looming, so finishing the Air Force was my first experience of feeling the complete freedom to make choices. 

Coolish this morning.  Almost too cool to sit on the patio.