Reporter's Notebook

Blogger, departing

CLEVELAND, OHIO – The Freedom used the first tug of its career today to ease its stern onto the lakefront pier, but only because the tug boat master wanted something to do.

“He called me on the radio, said in this real mopey voice, ‘man, I’ve been waiting for you guys for a long time,’ just like that,” laughed the Freedom’s skipper, Cmdr. Don Gabrielson. “So I thought we’d give him a job.”

No need for much fancy footwork tying up in Cleveland. The ship decelerated from warp speed, crossed through the breakwater and nosed towards a starboard-side mooring. But the eddies at the water’s edge were a little tricky. So with the slightest push from the wooden tug’s sloping bow, the Freedom was alongside a dock near the Great Lakes Science Center, the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame and the Cleveland Browns’ stadium. The ship plugged into shore water and power. The porta-potties in the helo hangar were wheeled onto the flight deck, from which they’ll be discreetly emptied.

I rolled my clothes into my duffel bag and set the key to my cabin inside one of its fold-down desks. The Freedom is continuing on through its final Great Lake, Ontario, and then out the St. Lawrence Seaway into the Atlantic Ocean, the saltwater domain for which it was designed. But after an all-too-brief peek inside the most singular ship in the surface Navy, I was getting off. I paid my mess bill (via a check for $33.25, payable to the U.S. Treasury) ate a final lunch in the crew’s mess (hamburgers; delicious) shook a few hands and walked down the brow into the City of Industry.

The crew of the Freedom doesn’t get to fly home this afternoon, however. After some brief liberty – tickets for tonight’s Cavaliers game are in high demand – the sailors must get back to running their amazing machine. I want to thank them again for their patience in dealing with Rob and me, two strange civilians with notebooks and cameras and no shortage of questions.

But I’m not ashamed to say that I’m really eager for a shower.