Even more Homestead memories.
My Homestead Air Force Base story started with what could've been a nuclear conflagration that might have ended not only the Air Force base, but the entire country. So it seems rather ironic that my story ends with the complete destruction of Homestead Air Force Base. It's hard to believe that I had a connection to the base from my early teens through my middle age, but such was the case.
I was fortunate to leave Homestead Air Force Base because if I hadn't, I might not be here today writing this blog….. Do I hear cheering in the background?
I was happy with my job at the base, but the crime that had taken over Miami became too much for me to handle. Southern Florida had been taken over by South American drug gangs, drug smugglers, and drug dealers. So I bought the only coat I had ever owned other than an Air Force field jacket, packed up the family, and moved to Colorado.
In the summer of 1992, Hurricane Andrew tore through Homestead and obliterated Homestead Air Force Base. Having spent so much of my life in South Miami, I had been through numerous hurricanes and more near misses than I could count, but I had never seen the devastation of Hurricane Andrew.
I wasn't there for the actual hurricane, thank goodness. But soon after, I got a call from my best friend Pete, yes, it's the same Pete that my Colorado property is named after, who lived in Homestead, and his house had been damaged, and he needed some help. So I packed up some tools and headed for Florida.
I only made it as far as South Georgia, where my mom lived, because the roads through South Florida were closed due to hurricane damage, so I waited at my mom's house for a week or so until they got the roads opened up and I headed for Homestead.
I see this post has already gotten too long, so I will try to finish it up tomorrow.
theboondork
This tiny flower growing on the side of the hill was the size of my thumbnail, but when I looked more closely, I found that it was made up of even tinier flowers inside it.
Now that it's springtime, the sun is higher in the sky, so there is less shade on top of the camper, which means my roof solar panels are getting more sunlight during the day and my batteries are getting charged up before lunch... Without deploying my ground solar panels.
Vulture Peak.