Finally Home - after Desert Storm

We finally arrived home, the U.S., but we still had to process from active duty to reserve duty. We were allowed to come back to our homes in AZ for a few days but then had to go back to Camp Pendleton for a couple of weeks. There wasn’t much for us to do and so most days we’d do whatever the MC needed us to do and then we’d be off for the day. There were some days when we’d be heading off-base by 9 or 10 am. We’d make different trips throughout CA. Some brought cars back from AZ to drive and others rented a car. I’d usually go off with a friend or two. One day, my friend and I decided to go to Magic Mountain. What we didn’t know is that they were only open on the weekends. On the way back got off at the Hollywood exit and drove through Chinatown and then parked on Hollywood Boulevard and walked on the “stars.” I bought a black soft leather jacket that I wore for almost 15 years. While walking around we were invited to go to one of the Hollywood studios to be part of a test pilot group to evaluate a possible new show. It was a love reality show. I’m not sure if it ever made it on the air.

Later that week we did make it to Magic Mountain. While in CA, we also went to Disneyland, downtown LA, and a few other places. We had a great time before we finally headed back home to AZ. Now that I was home, I lived with my parents for about six weeks until I found an apartment a couple miles away on Mill Rd & the US60 in Tempe and I lived there for the next five years. Thus ended another chapter in my life and the beginning of another.