It has been five years since 9/11/01, in some respects it seems like an eternity in others it was like it was yesterday. Little did I know that when I left for the American Humane Association Conference in Crystal City, Virginia my life would change. When ever I have an opportunity to travel to Virginia for business, I always try to leave a few days early. My ancestral homes are in Virginia and I lived there for 4 years in the 70's while I was on active duty, so I have some ties to the area. I flew into BW airport and rented a car. I was staying with a friend of a friend in Arlington. I traveled to Amherst to see one of the houses that was scheduled for demolition, wandered around in the Blue Ridge for a bit. I also drove around the metro area to see what had changed since I lived there. Lots more people.

On the morning of 9/11 I drove past the Pentagon at about 8:30 on the way to the conference. The normal commuter traffic slowed things down. As I looked at the Pentagon I remembered working there while I was on active duty. I got to my exit and went to the hotel where the conference was being held. The morning session was on clicker training. The entire group of participants were to be at this session. As we sat and watched the demonstration, a conference organizer broke in to let us know what was happening. We left the room to make our calls home. Cell service was not working so we used what few payphones we could find. We could see the smoke from the Pentagon. The hotel set up TV's in the lobby so we could watch the news. People started walking in from the Pentagon. Then people started arriving from the airport. The whole thing was surreal.

I was able to finally get on a plane on the 15th to come home.

http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20010913/NEWS/10912040&SearchID=73256434504860