CHAPTER 5 - I WAS BLIND BUT NOW I SEE

In early April we had a snowfall that was 14 inches deep. Colorado had the earliest snow and the latest snow that I had ever seen. We had eight inches of snow on September 8, 1971 and now this snow in April. Mark was camping in the mountains and they were snowed in for a few days and were unable to leave their camp site. Toward the end of April, on a beautiful day, we were able to go with the Ramsey's to Royal Gorge that was South of Colorado Springs. It was one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen. What was then the worlds highest suspension bridge crosses over Royal Gorge and is over 1,000 feet high. The Arkansas river which flows through the gorge looks like a creek from that height. There is a cable car ride that crosses over the gorge and a railroad parallels the river down below. I am terrified of heights and it was all that I could do to cross that bridge. Cars were also allowed to drive on it. When we returned to Royal Gorge on our vacation in 2012 they had added a zip line and a western town as attractions. We also rode the the train through the Gorge in 2012 which we didn't do in 1972. Our trip to Colorado Springs in 2012, exactly 40 years later, was a bittersweet experience but more sweet than bitter. We had a great time visiting the area again. My sons Robbie and Jon, along with their families, were able to go with us. Mark and his wife Paulette were also able to go. We were able to visit several new places that we weren't able to go in 1972. like Cripple Creek, the Florrisant Fossil National Park, and the cog railway to the top of Pikes Peak. It was tough breathing when you are over 14,000 feet high.

The bitter part was that my daughter-in-law Carrie badly broke her ankle a couple of days into our trip. She and Jon had to fly home where she would have surgery on her ankle. NORAD had moved the Command Post from Cheyenne Mountain to Peterson Field. It was my understanding that there was still a skeleton crew manning the mountain. I wanted to go on a tour of the mountain but I was told that since September 11, 2001 public tours had been suspended. It didn't matter that I was a NORAD veteran. I wasn't allowed to see it again. Because of the threat of an EMP or Electromagnetic Pulse weapons, Command Post has been moved back to Cheyenne Mountain since we were there in 2012. Sadly, we also found our old apartment from 1972 and the place was overgrown with weeds and brush. It was vacant and looked like homeless people had been living there. The doors were open and someone had defecated in the living room. The memories, however; flooded back to me as I looked through the apartment. Other than being in a state of disrepair, the rooms looked the same. There was no view of Pikes Peak from the kitchen window, however. Buildings that weren't there in 1972 were now blocking the view. The whole neighborhood had deteriorated but I did notice that the Pizza Hut was still there.

I spent half a day on May 4, 1972 processing out of the Air Force at Peterson Field Colorado. Everything was going fine until they paid me for my accrued leave because I only had about ten days coming but they paid me for thirty days. I was being overpaid about 1,000 dollars and I tried to give the money back. It wasn't because I didn't need the money but I knew it didn't belong to me and I didn't want the government billing me for it later after they realized their mistake. I argued with an Airman about the problem in military pay until he walked over and talked to his supervisor who was a SSgt. He told me that it would cost the government more money to take it back than it would for me to just keep it. This was my first experience with government bureaucracy and waste. About noon I was officially discharged from the Air Force. There had been a blizzard the day before that had stopped short of Colorado Springs. I stood in the parking lot at NORAD and could see snow as far as the eye could see over the plains of eastern Colorado and Kansas. The snow, however; ended in a semi-circle right at the city limits of Colorado Springs. I had never seen anything like that before.

As I was leaving Peterson Field I noticed a black soldier hitchhiking in the east bound lane heading out of the city. I knew that the road was shut down in that direction and normally I don't pick up hitchhikers but I took a chance on this guy because he was a soldier. I told him that he wouldn't get too far going east because the interstate was shut down. He said that he was going to an army base somewhere east of Colorado Springs, the name of which I can't remember now. I said that he would have to go north to Denver and from there he might be able to get to where he was going. My intent was to drop him off on the interstate where he could catch a ride toward Denver but after talking to him for a while I decided to take him to my house and feed him before I dropped him off on the interstate. As we were eating I asked Debbie if she wanted to ride to Denver. We all loaded into my 1971 Chevy Impala and set off for Denver. Along the way we ran into a blizzard and I began to think that I had made a mistake. Luckily I was able to drop him off in Denver and safely make it back home.

My time in Colorado was one of the happiest years of my life and I have never seen anywhere that beats Tennessee, as far as a place to live, but I believe that I would have enjoyed living in Colorado. If the Air Force could have guaranteed me Colorado Springs permanently I would have made a career of it. I knew, however; that I would probably endure several bad tours like Turkey before I was through and I didn't want to take that chance. Besides, Debbie wanted to be near her family so it was Nashville or bust.