A Long Story

A couple of weeks ago Christine and I went to Camp Buehring . About half way back Christine exclaimed, “Oh no. We’re really low on gas.” Knowing there was nothing along the road except bombed-out car shells, dead camels and sand, we did the only things we could: we cussed, pedaled and prayed. A few minutes later we saw a Chevy Tahoe in front of us with four people. “That looks like Americans,” I said. “We should stay close behind them. If we run out of gas we can honk our horn and they will stop and help us.”

We made it back to camp and held our breath while we idled in the Secure to Secure pass lane. We limped to the fuel point where amid prayers of gratitude we filled the tank. Christine dropped me off at the DFac and she went back to work.

As I started in to dinner I saw the four guys who had been in the Tahoe. I told them the whole story. They told me that they did not know we were behind them and even if we had honked they would have been too frightened to stop to help us. They invited me to eat dinner with them.

Sam, Dan, Ray and Tony explained that they are contractors working near the Iraq border training troops on the range. Three are retired Army; one is former Army.

Dan, Ray and Tony come to Camp Virginia DFac for steak night almost every Wednesday. Now they stop in to the USO to see us and sometimes play Madden09 on the PS3. Before I went on vacation Tony decided that we should all go to his favorite Chinese restaurant together. We made plans for when I returned from R&R and before Christine leaves for her R&R.

-o0o-

Last Friday Dan, Ray, Tony, Bettie, Christine and I went into town for Chinese food. We met just outside the Camp Virginia gate where two of us switched cars; Dan rode with Bettie and Christine; I rode with Tony and Ray, who, according to his own publicity, is really good in the lead car.

Kuwait City at 10:00 p.m. during Ramadan is comparable going to out to dinner at 10:00 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. Bettie was able to follow us until we made a left around a traffic circle and then did a drift across four lanes of traffic (with or without the blinker?) to make a right turn. “Did they follow us?” asked Ray. “Yes.” said Tony, “But they just missed that turn. I see them going straight. “ “So then, they didn’t make it?” said Ray.

The bickering escalated from there, with Ray playing the part of the obstinate husband and Tony as the nagging wife. The calls went back and forth between the cars. We found them, they lost us; they followed, we didn’t. We stopped so Ray could stand in the middle of the street with his cell phone and look for them. Finally we retrieved them from the side of the road and they made a right to follow us to the restaurant.

We were forging a path in our Tahoe for their 8” wider Yukon while Ray cussed at all of the people parked and driving in the opposite direction on both sides of the street. Turns out it was a one-way street; guess who was going the wrong way. We finally went over some curbs to get out (after all, we are driving SUVs) and made it to the restaurant.

The six of us ordered almost everything on the menu, including but not limited to, plain rice, fried rice, noodles, spring rolls, calamari, soup, and numerous dishes of chicken, shrimp, fish and beef. After dinner we went to Starbuck's-like coffee shop to get more to eat and drink.

Luckily everyone was in a good mood. We ladies were glad to be off base doing something “normal” and the guys were happy to be with companions who smelled good. It was a riotous, fun and laugh-filled evening. A good time was had by all.