Hailing Port Quantico spotted in Lake of the Ozarks! Part 2 of 2

 Part 2 of 2 The Yellow Brick Road

From last week, Brad and I are at Tap and Grill Lakeside Brew Haus talking to the bartender. We noticed the fit young woman in the pool with an older couple.  They are about to join us at the bar…

After our second iced tea, the trio from the pool joined us at the bar. The older woman introduced herself and her husband. The young woman was on the heels of the older woman and inserted herself too. I think she was from Indiana or somewhere in that general area. The more the young woman spoke, the more we realized she had a couple of drinks too. She was entertaining with her knowledge of the government, listening to our phones.  She declared the Faraday cases were essential to public privacy.  This woman was a hoot!  Although off duty, she was making sure everyone had fresh drinks.  I think she almost had a stroke when Brad told her we were drinking iced teas.  I saved her from an ER visit by convincing her our drinks were Long Island Iced Teas.  My white lie worked, and the woman refocused on the older woman’s drink.  By this time, we had three voices at once.  The man was talking about his boat.  The wife was asking Brad questions about our travels.  The young woman had just informed me about how the government is listening and watching.  I couldn’t resist telling her about George Orwell and 1984!  With all the voices filling the space, I heard the older woman say loudly, “Get that thing out of my face!” That got my attention.  It was a straw.  The young woman was insisting that the older woman try her mixed drink.  Perhaps the older lady released a little frustration that was building from their time in the pool? Who knows. The bartender made things right and called his other roommates to give the woman a ride home. 

The man from the pool owned the boat that hailed from Quantico!  He said he used to work on Quantico and he decided to designate that his boat came from Quantico.  He told us stories from when he worked with the FBI and Marines at Quantico.  Brad and I only spoke about our motorcycle adventures over the years.  Consider that Brad and I met while training at Quantico maybe twenty-three years prior; this guy’s stories were getting our close attention.  One story of particular interest is when this guy worked with the FBI and trained with the Marines on the “Yellow Brick Road.”  He proudly stated that he completed the grueling course through the woods with the Marines.  At the end, a Marine dug up a yellow brick and presented it to him.  Brad and I ran the course through the woods.  So we are looking at each other like this guy’s details make his story less credible.    

Brad breaks the news.  He tells the man that we have been to Quantico and that I spent the most time there, so I knew the area very well.  The man couldn’t answer the basic questions about the surrounding area despite declaring that he lived just outside the gate for a few years.  We kinda sorta agreed that the area has grown since he was there.  This man didn’t know the names of the surrounding towns.  So who knows?  Perhaps he was focused on academics and didn’t venture out too far.  The details that a Marine dug up a yellow brick and presented it to this guy as a finisher didn’t sound correct.  There is no real yellow brick road as he described with detail.  There are rocks on the course that are painted yellow to guide runners through the woods.  The FBI National Academy has leadership and management classes for employees.  It does award freshly painted yellow brick mementos to student finishers who elect to run the physical course, but they don’t dig anything up!