One of the reasons we picked Catania as our base for the last few days was due to its proximity to Naval Air Station Signonella. This is a base operated by the US Navy, and because I am retired from the Marine Corps we can access it. In Italy we can even shop in the on base food store which is full of American goodies. But most importantly they have a big laundry full of giant American washers and dryers so we can wash and dry all of our sheets, towels, and clothes in less than 90 minutes. So in the morning we set off for the base which was only 25 kilometers away.
We arrived and went straight into the laundry with two big bags of laundry. The only problem is that we didn’t have any US Quarters to put into the machines. US Bases operate on the dollar, and I checked my wallet and I didn’t have any dollars. Luckily Ton had a hundred dollar bill tucked in her wallet, so we set off to find someone who could break the hundred and give us some change. The Navy Exchange was happily to break our hundred and give us $10 worth of quarters. So an hour later every bit of dirty cloth product in François was clean and dry for the total cost of $5.50. The same process in a campground if they had a dryer would cost about €20 and take around 6 hours.
We next stopped at the Commissary which is the grocery store for the US personnel. It is the same size and has nearly the same products as you would find in any US grocery store. We spent about an hour going thru and ended up with a cart full of American snacks, paper towels, toilet paper, and cleaning products. We also bought a sirloin steak, that I think came from a European cow. We then went to a Lidl to stock up with the staples such as bread, fresh vegetables, and wine which are much cheaper there than at the American store. When we were done the trunk of our little Lancia was stuffed full, and I asked Ton if it would all fit in François, and she said of course.
When we returned to the campground I unloaded the Lancia while Ton began putting things away. After I parked the Lancia and returned the keys I came back and asked Ton if I could help. She handed me a wine bottle with a large glass of wine left in the bottom and told me to get rid of this and stay out of her way. So being a good husband I sat outside drinking my glass of wine and offering moral support while Ton worked inside François. I did throw the wine bottle away when I was done completing my task as assigned.
We finished our American day with a meal of sirloin steak and potatoes, though the wine was Italian. While eating we listened to the Armed Forces Radio station where we heard tomorrows weather forecast with the high and low temperatures given in Fahrenheit instead of Celsius. To me this completed our American day in Italy.