Below: Nov. 2023 Lights in the sky . . .

Just before the oldest turned 18 in 1996, we thought we would take one last family trip together, they would be moving on, and having kids of their own soon. We thought Disney Land, Arizona, and Mexico would do the trick.  So, plans were made and off we went.

The first night we made it from Portland, Oregon to Stockton, California. We were lucky enough to find a new hotel, with a new pool, and very few people staying there.

The next day we made it to LA and our cheap hotel. The following morning, we were off to Disney Land. It would be a one-day whirlwind tour of all the rides and attractions. We had a great time, and by 6:30 that night we were on the road to Phoenix, Arizona.

We arrived at my little sister Jackie's house around midnight.  She showed us around the area for three days, and then it was off to Tucson, Arizona, where my oldest sister lived. We did the local area tour, Tombstone, Colossal Caves, and a day trip to the Mexican border town of Nogales.

That night when we were back in Tucson from Nogales, we were all very tired, we watched TV, and both our girls went to bed early in the backyard where their tent was set up.

It was about 9:30 P.M., when one of our daughters said to come outside, there was something weird flying around in the night sky. My wife went out to investigate, returning to say, "You’ve got to see this!" So, my sister and I got up and went outside to check it out.

There they were five UFO’s flying outrageous maneuvers.

The first one I saw was low on the horizon to the right, it shot diagonally up to the left upper part of the night sky, it was the fastest moving thing I have ever seen, like a missile, but it stopped on a dime, next to the other green glowing objects.

So the five of us watched them buzz about, stopping and making right angle turns.

I went out to our van to get the binoculars and my wife’s coat. They were still there when I reached the backyard of my sister’s house. We took turns with the binoculars, and chattered loudly about what we were witnessing. The sighting lasted about 45 minutes,

They all left together all at once, and we scanned the sky a bit longer, 'till we knew it was over.

While watching these things, several airplanes passed through the sky, with their flashing beacons, and noise. They looked very slow compared to the UFO’s high above them. I would say the elevation was just below the stratosphere, and they were coming lower too.

My sister’s husband had been drinking since we were in Mexico, and he was very upset over the noise we were making in his backyard; he went back into the house, refusing to watch the UFO’s with us. He said they were bats or birds.

The next day we were on the road to Sacramento, California. This is where another one of my three sisters lived.

As we flew down the highway, we often talked about the sighting the night before, it was very fresh in our memory, my daughters would talk about what they had seen, comparing their stories, along with Mom and Dad.

I told a few people at work when I returned home, but the response was poor, and I quit talking about the incident, limiting the story to our family involved.

My sister, who is a private pilot license, had the same experience at work, and kept it to herself, but for months she went out into her backyard, and looking over the night sky, seeing nothing.

 

 

The kids have moved out, hooked up with boyfriends, and husbands. My wife and I go camping on a regular basis, she watches the sky; I watch the campfire and read by lantern light. My wife had sightings before we were married, and several during our marriage. But I was watching the campfire, and my wife watches the sky.

I built a double rolling bed frame for our back yard. On star viewing nights I would bring out cushions and two sleeping bags zipped together, pillows and everything.

When the space station flew over in 2001 you could get online to NASA J Tracker. It shows where the space station was across the US. When we start watching, we would go in the house and check the J tracker if we saw anything. The space station was the brightest thing in the sky.