when The Deputy came to town

The first time I met The Deputy we were at a luncheon in the wardroom on that great white hospital ship with some important person in Antigua {might have been the Charge d'Affairs?} and I thought he was a reserved, quiet guy, who also happened to like some of the same authors I do {Malcolm Gladwell - Tipping Point/Blink}. He is that, but he is also owner of one those sneaky wits that catch you unaware and can draw out unexpected belly laughs with a well placed quick one. I enjoy that kind of thing no end.

So when he emailed to say he'd be out here at Hill Field for a conference I jumped at the chance to hang with my good buddy - The Deputy. {where else would I have made friends that go by such great names? JAG, Deputy, RP2, Chaps, LT... I think part of the draw of The Navy is the heavy use of aliases mixed with acronyms}

He introduced me to a new venue for hiking - antelope island. We hiked at a break neck pace to try to reach the summit in time to catch the sunset. We missed the sun by moments, but the 360 degree views from the top were stunning at sunset. We sat in that fantastic calming silence of dusk and watched the buffalo roam and the antelope hop about. The coyote started their howling as it started getting dark, answering each other up and down the beach.