Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Something I have done that you haven't done...

Here's a challenge.  Name something I have done that I don't think anyone else I know has done.  That's easy.  I have driven down the runway at Lowry Air Force base.  In a big white station wagon.  It wasn't a terrorist act or anything, I was lost.  I was trying to find the Cherry Creek mall and I took a wrong turn.  (Okay, a couple of wrong turns.)  I noticed that I was on the base, and the streets were getting narrower and twistier, so my logic  was that since I was obviously getting deeper inside the base, I should look for streets that were wider and straighter.  So I aimed for the widest, straightest street I could find.  Once I found it and was driving on it, the first thing I noticed was that there were no other cars.  Then I  noticed there were no typical lines painted on it.  (Not much gets by me, huh?)  Then I noticed there was a big airplane in my way.  I stopped driving.

As I was looking to see where I could turn around, I noticed a perplexed guard (complete with rifle across his chest) behind my car.  I got out and said, "I'm lost."  He replied, "No you're not."  Okay, that wasn't what I expected to hear.  He wasn't smiling, either.  I said, "Yes, I am."  He again said, "No, you're not.  Where do you think you are?"  I said, "I think I'm on a runway;"  He said, "See?  You're not lost."  I said, "But I really don't want to be here!"  He said, "Well, I'm not too wild about that myself.  Where do you want to be?"  I said, "The Cherry Creek mall."  Then he got this "how-in-the-world-did-you-manage-to-get-here" look on his face and lowered his gun.  He then gave me a bunch of compass words to get me to the mall, which of course I didn't understand at all.  (If I spoke compass I wouldn't have ended up on that stupid runway in the first place) and I turned around and managed to get off the base.  I wonder how many air force people were watching me drive around while I exited Lowry?

Of course this was LONG  before 9/11.  Thank goodness.

5 comments:

Berserk said...

I've definitely never done that. :)

Scooter said...

I've never understood how that happened....

Susie said...

No? Does it make sense now?

Berserk said...

Not even a little bit. I'm occasionally ALLOWED to drive around the base, and can't figure out how that happened.

Susie said...

Well, I'm sure it didn't make sense to the guard either. And I'm sure it was discussed at some meeting or other. And I'm sure it didn't sit well with the powers that be. :) After all, how does it look when a woman in a white "grocery getter" wearing high heels and a dress manages to drive down the runway of an airforce base? Doesn't say a lot for their security, does it?