Roadtrip with Mom, Dad, and Foto...

I spent all of 1981 studying the Korean language at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) on the Presidio of Monterrey in California. The course lasted an entire year (47 weeks of instruction). We started in January and graduated in early December. It was a very tough course with high levels of attrition which we called "wash-outs." Anyway, amazingly enough when it was over I had graduated and was now off to Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas for another six months of technical training. My parents, Merritt and Daphne, flew out to Monterrey for the graduation ceremony. Once that was done, we packed up my belongings into my 1967 green Chevy Impala (affectionately known as "Bertha") and drove to Texas. My good friend Joe Filip was also in the Air Force, stationed at that time at George Air Force Base located in the "high desert" of Southern California. So, the four of us (me, Joe, mom, and dad) did a road trip from Northern California down South to Los Angeles, then through the desert, past the Grand Canyon, and eventually to San Angelo in Texas. This picture was taken on the rim of the Grand Canyon in December of 1981. Once we got to Texas we flew to New York for Christmas.