Week 1: Road Trips, Hiking, and Launch Prep

Saturday, Jan. 2-Sunday, Jan. 10

On Saturday, January 2 Dillon flew into Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. This began the thirty-four hour road trip from Detroit to San Diego. What a nightmare. Luckily, there were three drivers on this trip--Dillon, Ioana, and her sister, Stefania (Stefi). 

On the second day of driving, we arrived in Phoenix, Arizona. Since only eight hours remained, we woke up the following morning and took a detour to Dobbins Lookout at South Mountain Park.

After some brief exploring of the Arizonian desert and granting Stefania her life-long wish of hugging a cactus, we returned to the highway and headed for our Airbnb--a cozy two bedroom unit located in City Heights. Just as we set foot in our temporary home, we received a call from Human Resources requesting that our first day of work be moved from Monday, January 11 to Thursday, January 7. One of NASSCO's current projects, TAO-1, a John Lewis-class oiler, had been rescheduled to launch on Tuesday, January 12 and in order for us to participate we were required to start our orientation and medical analysis earlier than scheduled. Not wanting to miss this incredible opportunity, we eagerly agreed to the early start date. 

The remainder of the day consisted of some chaotic unpacking, picking Daniel up from the San Diego International Airport, and a brief trip to the grocery store followed by some delicious Five Guys. 

To make the most out of our free time, we started the following day with an early morning batch of homemade pasta sauce, courtesy of the resident Italian. This was followed by a hike on Climbers Loop Trail. This 1.8 mile trail is rated "moderate" on All Trails, but its steep hike quite literally took Stefania and Ioana's breaths away. Also, Dillon was eager to try and climb to the top of the mountain, without any safety equipment. Fortunately, common sense was able to prevail and he did not risk serious injury to climb to the top, although he was tempted.

After a quick lunch at the peak of the trail and a hefty descent, we filled the remainder of our day with a stroll along Harbor View Drive. Unfortunately, most indoor attractions and restaurants, including the USS Midway Museum were temporarily closed due to COVID. However, on our walk we were still able to view plenty of boats, ships, and even a few submarines from along the pier. 

Our medical appointments were scheduled back-to-back on Wednesday morning and lasted until eleven. When we returned to the house, we ate a quick brunch and packed for another hike on the Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) Trail in La Jolla. Although much shorter than our previous hike, this trail was filled with twisting pathways and slippery crossings. It even resulted in a controlled fall into a canyon by one Ioana Mirica, and a few slips and slides due to the fog and muddy slopes.

 

On Thursday we began our first normal workday (0630-1500 with a half hour for lunch) with orientation at the Career Center. This included a virtual tour of the shipyard and an overview of NASSCO’s production process. 

Upon the completion of orientation, we drove to the office located in Mission Valley. There, we met our department supervisors; Ioana and Dillon were both assigned to the Initial Design and Naval Architecture (IDNA) department, and Daniel to Systems Engineering. Everyone who introduced themselves to Daniel on the first day, upon hearing that he was a Systems Engineering Intern, replied with, "Oh.... I'm sorry." From each of our supervisors we received a new hire packet with instructions on how to set up our computer log-ins. Unfortunately, the help desk would only return Ioana's calls, but she could still not fully access her computer. After introductions, our Production Engineering supervisor, Joshua Reece, carpooled us back to the shipyard for a quick tour. Since we are not permitted to take any pictures, a quick virtual tour of the shipyard has been included below. 

Flat Stanley visits NASSCO from General Dynamics NASSCO on Vimeo.

Friday we continued our orientation with some safety training at the shipyard. Before lunch, we received a COVID test in preparation for the launch the following week. When we arrived back at the office, we attended a Zoom debrief of the launch which was scheduled for the following Monday and continued trying to figure out the computer system. To end the day, we drove to Coronado Beach to see the sunset. 

Saturday marked our only full day of the weekend, since we had been called in to work on Sunday morning. We decided to make the most of it by traveling with two alumni, Isa Hill '20 and Chris Bal '20, to Joshua Tree National Park for some hiking. Isa and Chris both work at NASSCO in the Initial Design and Naval Architecture (IDNA) Department and both tested negative for the COVID. The Joshua Tree National Park terrain was unlike any other we had seen before--I will allow the pictures to speak for themselves. 

An inconspicuous Joshua Tree

Sunday morning, Ioana woke up at 5:30 to drop Stefania at the airport for her departure flight back to Michigan. At 8:00, the three Webbies arrived at the shipyard to help set up for launch. We finished early, and headed home in order to relax in preparation for a highly anticipated launch the next day.