I don't know that it has ever been posted on NevadAdventures, but I just recently joined the United States Air Force. As one of NevadAdventures co-creators any of you can imagine it has been difficult to move from the Beauty and splendor of "the greatest State in the Union" (as I describe it whenever anyone here decides to argue that the whole of Nevada is Las Vegas and hot, hot desert) to this flat wasteland that has the personality and beauty of a dead moth. Even in Basic training, when I was given the chance to do a “shout out” to my Family I said “…I miss you, and I miss the mountains…”
In fact I miss everything about my home. Of course I long for the obvious, the lights and glamour of the Las Vegas, where I lived for 3 years and went to college. The clubs, Poolsharks, the girls, my girl, and the Illegal racing…
But also I miss the spring days swimming off the dock at Cave Lake, I specifically remember having my Mother and my Aunt holler at the boys to bring them another Corona and lime, because they didn’t want to raft back in to the shore. My dad and I would go around the backside of the lake, where he and his father used to fish. We would cast out, often catching nothing for hours at a time, but it was great. We would spend the nights at one of the campgrounds up there, and have the traditional nighttime hid and seek game. I doubt many people have done this, but there is something great about splitting the campsite into two groups and playing a giant game of hide and seek out in the middle of nowhere. It’s pitch black, there are two flashlights between the groups, you are all dressed in black, hiding it trees, gullies all as a group, sometimes we would pretend to be honing our skill for when whatever evil group invaded America. Other times it was just tradition that kept us playing and smiling…
There were the mid summer days spent jumping off the cliffs at Angel Lake. Everyone I knew was there, cooking steaks, chili and corn on the cob over a pit of smoldering coal. It didn’t matter that we had “real lives” to go back to the next day. All we wanted to do was enjoy this time together.
Countless hours were spent in dry camps, either pre-hunting area 3, 6, 8, 7, 6, 10 and whatnot or even just for fun. I’ll never forget the 4th of July when we went camping on Crittenden Reservoir; we didn’t see another living soul for days. So when we got two flat tires within 20 minutes we had to rig a way to civilization…
There is so much I miss about my family, my home; Elko, Ely, Reno Winnemmucca, Lamoille, Las Vegas and everywhere in-between. It breaks my heart everyday that I can’t be there. But I know that what I’m doing is to keep it there…
My friends and I in the United States Armed Forces won’t demand anything from you people at home. We aren’t going to demand your respect. We won’t accept special treatment. All we want is to know that they are still enjoying home. That you are exercising the freedoms afforded to you by our service…

With all my love,
Airman McFall