Opinion

Cape Cod

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

The boss called me in and noted that I had not made a choice to go to a new duty station named Otis AFB. Indeed he was correct I had declined a chance to live on the East Coast of the United States.

Our squadron in Great Falls, Mont., was closing and my two other available choices, Forbes AFB near Topeka and Shilling AFB near Salina, both in Kansas, were both comfortably close to my native Nebraska. The third choice, Otis AFB near Falmouth, Mass., I had intentionally left blank. The boss's logic has always intrigued me, "Well both those Kansas choices were already taken by officers senior to you (everybody was senior to a 2nd Lieutenant) and you hadn't written in a third choice, so I am sending you to Otis."

I saluted smartly and that was the start of a very interesting segment of my family's life experience.

For anyone watching or ignoring the news this week, it is impossible to miss the fact that President Obama and family are "vacationing" on Martha's Vineyard. More careful observers will note that "Air Force One" landed at Otis AFB and the presidential party then rode helicopter "Marine One" to his vacation "cottage" Blue Herron Farms on the island of Martha Vineyard.

Ah yes, Otis AFB, the assignment that I didn't choose but ended up thoroughly enjoying. Maybe it wasn't so much fun for Ann, because during those 41⁄2 years she had two babies to join the little girl that already had blessed our lives.

Both of our younger children were born in the same hospital where first lady Jackie Kennedy gave birth to a son who unfortunately only survived for a few days. Many times we watched the arrival and departure of President J. F. Kennedy and family as he flew into Otis on "Air Force One," beautiful Constellation named the Columbine in those days.

On arrival at the Cape we rented a home off-base in the town of Teaticket. That little a modern two-bedroom house was located on the shore of a small estuary overlooking the Atlantic Ocean with Martha's Vineyard visible on a clear day.

That house was not air-conditioned -- not needed -- and taught us the foibles of hot-water heating powered by heating oil. Also, the wind blew 24/7 and many mornings, fog thicker than you would believe made my drive to the base quite interesting.

In about year, family quarters came available and we moved on base. With duty causing my absence for weeks at a time, we thought the security of living on base important, but missed our civilian community. Actually, Ann still wishes that we had rented a "Cape Cod Bungalow."

She dreams yet of decorating that open-style staircase leading to the half-story upper bedrooms at Christmas time.

Life on Cape Cod was a whole different world from rural Nebraska. The Cape, including the nearby islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, is a big-time tourist destination. Many of the well-to-do "established families" own summer homes there; for example, the nearby Kennedy Compound on the beach in East Falmouth was only a couple miles from our Teaticket home.

We initially found most people rather standoffish in manner, not open and friendly as was our custom. We then discovered that once one cracked that cool protective shell, the natives were warm, happy and became generous friends for life. An interesting aspect of the Cape culture was an abundance of restaurants, most with a seafood theme: lobster, little neck and quahog clams, served boiled or stuffed, lobster Newburgh, fried clams and even whale steak.

And always, fresh fish prepared a hundred ways, a veritable diner's delight. The only problem was that the menu prices were prohibitive, especially on an airman's budget. Then we discovered that for those who lived year-around on the Cape -- that included us -- the price on the menu was halved and dining out became affordable. Nice touch.

Ann learned to cook the seafood plenty, including clams that I dug behind our house, bay scallops I netted and best of all fresh caught flounder. We gleaned fresh cranberries from nearby Ocean Spray bogs and decorated with greens from American Holly trees. Lobster was cheap when purchased directly off the fishing boats and as a parting shot, we purchased two five- pound monsters, and with a neighbor couple, tried to finish them off one evening meal. Too much. Some rich things are better in small portions!

Although it was within sight of our community, we only traveled once to Martha's Vineyard. My folks came to visit and we rode the ferry; no bridge. The ferry carried cars, too, but we thought the price prohibitive so just paid people fare. Obviously we didn't check the schedule and arrived to find that the next return ferry sailed a good four hours later.

Dad wasn't about to while away those hours in the many touristy shops and cafes, so we re-boarded and rode the ferry back to Falmouth.

Later on in my spare time, I became active as an instructor in the base aero club and made many trips to the Vineyard.

Airspace there was not crowded and a wonderful grass runway airport was available to practice landings. The main airport had a tower and they needed the air traffic to justify funding so they, too, liked our business. I came to know the island well and even was familiar with the location of Chappaquiddick Bridge later made famous by Ted Kennedy.

It was a different time back in the early '60s, when I knew the area, but suspect that not much has changed. The place names are intriguing; Buzzard's Bay, Barnstable County, Tisbury, Mashpee, Cotuit, even Provincetown with its colony of persons with odd sexual habits.

Rich people own most of the "summer" homes and there is a long-time black community thriving on the Island. Prices will be outrageous and the resident's accents will grate harshly on Midwestern ears. The media will be everywhere and the whole island will be in an uproar just like depicted in Steven Spielberg's movie Jaws.

Even Hurricane Bill stayed far enough away to keep from dampening the circus atmosphere! Some vacation, yet I wish them all well!

That is the way I saw it.

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  • Oops my proof-reader (that's me!) goofed. The Kennedy Compound was at Hyannis Port (pronounced:pooaht)! Teaticket is east of East Falmouth. Sorry. Dick T.

    -- Posted by Dusty on Wed, Aug 26, 2009, at 7:39 AM
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