We began our morning picking up my two WAC Sisters then off to Ft. Myer to present a quilt. The ride over was exciting as usual. Two GPS’s yelling out directions and we are trying to figure out where we are going and yes, here comes a big U-turn. I yelled to the back, “I’m going guys,” as I flipped a fast U-turn in traffic. They all screamed. Val, who is my co-pilot, said I had told them I was going.
We arrived at the Ft. Myer gate and you have to show ID’s. They always want the drivers then he asked for anymore in the car. I handed him a handful of IDs, he just glances at them and lets us through. We all started laughing. I guess 8 ID’s was a little much.
We finally got to the Old Guard Leather Shop where we were to surprise SFC Burk with a quilt. He though we were going to have a tour and yes, he did give us a deluxe tour. It was amazing to see his work. He was assigned there as an Army Veteran, he had retired there then they hired him as a civilian. He has over 37 years working at Old Guard Leather Shop. We loved seeing the machines. When he first got there all he had was needle and thread. We felt honored to have such a great tour. Thank you to Carla.
We left there to head to the Cemetery before we all needed a restroom stop. You know how hard it is to find restrooms but Carla came to the rescue. We went to Ft. Myer Headquarters and got to park in the VIP Headquarters. Thought we were big stuff. We left there and after a few U-turns, we finally got to Arlington Cemetery where we were driving to find Col. Arlene Burbank’s gravesite so we could give her a proper send off. We made sure there was no security and out came my bugle. Gail and Kay, who had served under her, stood by with tears as I played Taps. The Colonel so deserved this as she passed during COVID and no one could attend.
We left Arlington and headed to see some of the Memorials in DC. We saw The Lincoln Memorial where Willene, Rita, Val and Rick walked the stairs. Then to the Vietnam Wall so the crew could see where Johnny O Brooks, Flo’s husbands name is on the Wall. We saw the Vietnam Nurses Memorial with stops to sit on the benches under the shade trees. When we started down the walkway to the WWII Memorial we saw a bunch of trash so Kay picked up one of the bags and started to pick up the trash. It’s just so sad people can’t be better. We had a whole bag of trash that we dumped.
Did you see the pictures of the mushrooms? They were on the lawns between the Memorials and huge. It was very hot and humid, OMG. We had sweat pouring down us. There were lots of people with their feet in the Memorial trying to cool off. We walked to the Martin Luther King Memorial but not before Rita and I lost the rest of the crew behind us across the street. That is why you see a photo of the crew standing on the street corner. We stopped at the Roosevelt Memorial as we headed to the parking spot. It was really nice and if we all lived by some of his words, the world would be a better place.
We all made it to the car, hot, thirsty and tired. We had logged over 11,000 steps. We headed to Mt. Vernon to eat as we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. We decided to eat dinner at 4:30pm and had the place to ourselves and the best waitress. Everyone enjoyed the meal. The girls hit the Mt. Vernon gift shop and all came out with bags. As we were leaving Mt. Vernon we got to see this butterfly and I got a shot. We thought it was pretty cool.
We finally got home about 7:00pm and started sorting quilts. We had quite a few of no shows. Some of the quilts will be given out at a later date. The quilts will stay here for now.
We ended our evening with a fresh peach dessert that Jeanine made and boy was it good. We are hoping for safe travels Tuesday as we leave at 6:05am. We also hope we are beating the storm. Prayers for all of California with these fires and now the South with Ida roaring.
God’s blessings
Gail
Nurse’s Vietnam Memorial 
Jefferson Memorial 
Lincoln Memorial 
Rita and Willene
Taking a Break
Washington Monument 
WWII Memorial 
WWII Memorial 
Roosevelt Memorial 
Ft. Myer Joint Headquarters 
Restroom Stop 
Crew at the Vietnam Wall 
Crew at the Vietnam Wall
Finding Johnny Brooks
Lost My Crew 
Words to Live By 
Mushrooms at the Mall
Gigantic
Mushrooms at the Mall 
More Mushrooms – Huge 
Old Guard 
SFC Burk with Wife and Quilt 
Crew with Mr. and Mrs. Burk
Leather Maker
SFC Burk With Quilt 
Checking Quilt 
Leather Shop – Caisson 
Crew Listing to the
Leather Man
Raw Hide Leather 
Sewing Machine 
Sewing Machine 
Special Thread 
Butterfly at Mt. Vernon
Quilts of Honor 