On Monday, 6 Aug, we departed Atlanta Hartsfield Intl Airport for Washington DC. Arriving just after 2 PM, we droved over to Bolling AFB and checked into our room. The view of the area as we flew in was great...from the Capitol building to the Pentagon and Washington Monument, we were amazed at the sites. Bolling AFB's proximity to the airport was great, and the base is right on the Patomac River...a nice touch. The rooms on base were adequate...and downtown was just crazy...the drivers, the traffic---WOW---a far cry from our "hodunkville" traffic here in GA. We took a quick trip downtown that first evening, and had adventurous parking and walking among the downtown area...but enjoyed a nice dinner at McCormick & Schmicks (great seafood place, if you have never been).
Tuesday, 7 Aug, was Orientation day. Our 13.2 trip from the base to Walter Reed Army Medical Center took a full 48 minutes in the DC traffic. And our initial impressions of the area were not the same as what we actually saw...the hospital being in a very rundown area of the city. Chad had another eval that morning, and then we had a couple hours off before we went back for the briefings from noon to 4pm....much of the information we already knew, but there was some other good info and definitely some paperwork to fill out. There were about 20 couples in there with us, mostly local area and predominantly Army (at least it appeared that way). We met the initial coordinator we had worked with, as well as the financial coordinator, one of the nurses and one of the two doctors that we will work with when we go back for the actual procedure. Everyone was very nice and helpful, and overall it was a great first experience.
That night, we enjoyed a visit to some of Gena's friends from her time at Wright Patterson AFB in Ohio....the Ogawa family....we shared the evening with them enjoying Thai food in a great restaurant in Old Town Alexandria....what a great historical place...even got to go by the church that George Washington attended. That was a great evening with great friends.
Our quick trip was rounded out with a flight back to GA on the 8th. Having completed our orientation, we left DC with all of our requirements finished and standing by for a call from the financial coordinator to let us know we were medically cleared and ready for payment to get financially cleared.
Overall, a safe, quick and good trip.....now waiting for the phone to ring!
Until the next post
In Him
C&G
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