On Friday, November 8, Jessica, La Shaunna, Lea, Stephanie and myself all arrived at Sea-Tac Airport wide awake at 5:30 a.m. for our flight to Dallas, Texas. Once on the plane, we slept most of the way to Dallas, waking up long enough to change planes and head to Killeen, Texas.

Birgit Bingham, our host for the weekend, met us at the Killeen airport and we were off to Fort Hood Army Base. The weather was heavenly (compared to a Seattle winter), in the low 80’s with a slight breeze. Our first stop was at the main gate into Fort Hood, where we surprised the guards with autographed posters and took some pictures with them.

Our next stop was at the helicopter hangers, where we were able to sit inside an Apache (a battle helicopter) and a Blackhawk (transport helicopter). After that, it was onto the Officers Club, where they were setting up for an annual formal event that evening. In the lounge of the Officers Club, we met twenty Dutch soldiers who had just finished training at Fort Hood earlier that day. They tried to teach us some Dutch and we were wishing that Kelly and Emily from the Dance Team were also here with us because they speak Dutch fluently.

Next we went to the perimeter of a Top Secret area on the base. We weren’t allowed inside (after all, it was Top Secret), so we signed some autographs for the soldiers by the fence. Our last stop of the night was an autograph session at the PX specialty store. At 8 p.m., we finished the autograph session and ended the evening with dinner at Jessica’s new favorite restaurant, Colters BBQ. She recommends having the BBQ chicken!

Saturday morning started with a visit to the fire station where we got the full tour…and even got to climb the 190-foot ladder on the fire truck! About ¾ of the way to the top, the ladder got a little bouncy and when I looked down I got a little shaky. I clamped my safety belt to the ladder, took some pictures and a deep breath before climbing down …what a rush! After signing our posters for the firemen, the station got a call and they quickly left.

Then it was over to the Clear Creek PX where we had an autograph session from noon-2 p.m. There, we met and signed with the “And 1” basketball team. From 3-5 p.m., we had some free time to shop at the PX. We all purchased some great clothing, make-up and perfume…and finished all of our holiday shopping.

Our final activity of the day was at the Warrior Way Phantom Lanes for some bowling. Jessica, Lea and Stephanie were on one team, and La Shaunna, Birgit and myself were on the other. We won’t reveal which team won. However, let me just say that we were glad Birgit was on our team.

We left the Phantom Lanes at 8 p.m. and headed back for dinner at Colters BBQ and ice cream for dessert. We were back at our suites by 10 p.m., packed our bags for the flight home the next day and went to sleep. All five of us had a great time and agreed that the weekend at Fort Hood went by much too quickly.