The next day, Monday, it was back to normal. Estella and I went to breakfast in the Dining Hall and met a new wife, Jerry Hook, then went to the pool and stayed all morning.
That Wednesday evening, Oran and I went to the Kaul’s before going with them to a performance by "Archie Bell and The LaDrells" and a dance in the Ain Nakhl Country Club (Golf Club House). It turned out to be rather dull.
On Thursday, June 9th, 1977, we ate breakfast in the Dining Hall before going to the Suqs. That evening we went back to the Dining Hall with the Kauls after visiting the Steindorf’s.
The next day was different, though it started out in the same way. After breakfast in the Dining Hall we went to the pool where we met Jerry Hook and her husband, Don. We spent a pleasant morning getting acquainted with them. Also, the extremely hot weather had broken and it was cooler. We made plans with the Hooks for that evening, so we went to the Dining Hall for dinner and the movie afterward.
The company finally started offering us other places to live besides our apartment, 15-511-5 in the 7-unit building. We had our choice of the new townhouses, some rowhouses, even some free standing older houses, but for one reason or another, we turned everything down. I had a ball looking though, and a lot of my time lately had been picking up the key from the housing office, going to look at the houses, then returning the key. I figured one of them would seem just right, and in the right location, any time now, and we would move.
The next morning we met the Williams in the Dining Hall for coffee before we caught the 7:30 bus to Dhahran, then on to Ras Tanura. At Pat and Guy Smyth’s we had Bloody Marys, then a delicious brunch, then took a nap to recoup for the evening activities.
The evening started out at Darlene and Art Moehlenbruck's for a unique and marvelous dinner of beef fondue. Everyone cooked their own small beef cubes in the fondue pot, then selected from an assortment of sauces to dip them in. Afterward, we got into our bathing suits and went swimming in the Persian Gulf, just a block from their house. The water was nice and warm. More time on the beach highlighted a lovely all around evening and weekend in Ras Tanura.
On Saturday, June 18th, 1977, Marge Williams and Cissy Mitchell flew up to Abqaiq on the afternoon plane from Udhailiyah. Cissy and Bob Mitchell had been neighbors in our 7-unit apartment, but had moved down to Udhailiyah as well by this time. We all spent time at our house, then went to the Dining Hall for dinner before going to the Sorority meeting at Sheila’s.
The next day was Father's Day and Oran was going to stay in camp for a meeting. I waited to have breakfast with him, but finally went on to join the girls in the Dining Hall. I thought Oran had gone on to Mubarraz, but he came home at 11 o'clock. I went back to the Dining Hall with him to have lunch then went to a card party in the Women's Club Portable. I won the high prize, which were candle holders.
At 5:30 we went to the Kaul’s, then drove with them to Qurrayah Beach for an Arab dinner with the classes that Oran and Keith had taught. They had returned from their training in France and the States and were working at the Sea Water Plant. It was a nice evening, but the dinner being cooked and brought from Abqaiq was late getting there so we ended up eating after dark. I hoped the tiny but poisonous snakes in the gulf weren't going to come up on the beach to join us.
The next morning, Monday, Estella, Pensi and I ate breakfast in the Dining Hall again before Estella and I went to the pool. Her children and a niece were visiting her for the summer, but they were on a company outing. So since Estella didn't have to go home to fix lunch for them, we just stayed at the pool through the lunch hour, as well. We went to the Snack Bar afterward. It was turning into those lazy days of summer, and we repeated those activities for the rest of that week.
Jerry Hook joined us again on Wednesday. Saturday, June 25th, 1977, was a red letter day for Aramcons. We got brand new air-conditioned buses for the first time and not only that, they started running every hour between camps. The Mercedes-Benz, 45 passenger coaches were painted the familiar Taseco green, but could be distinguished from the other buses by the A/C "pod" on the roof, and the tinted wrap-over side windows. So then we were able to go on our trips to the other camps and Al-Khobar in comfort, and also in a shorter time frame if we wanted to. It still required jockeying to be in the right place, at the right time, but the choice was unlimited. We were thrilled.
There had been another piece of exciting and unexpected news the week before in our weekly newspaper, "The Arabian Sun". One of the top name Country Western singers, Kenny Rogers, would be performing for us in Arabia, live, in person, the following weekend. Talk about coincidence! We never dreamed when Oran brought back Kenny Roger's recently released single, "Lucille", that he would even consider coming to Saudi Arabia to perform. Most of our entertainers were not so well known or popular. Anyway, I think a lot of people in Abqaiq knew about him because we played that record for just about everyone we had over to the house, and even made copies for most of them.
The Arabian Sun’s write-up of Kenny Rogers’ Performance.Everyone was a little more upbeat having something to look forward to like that, as they went about their work and social activities the next week. We got our tickets early, of course. We didn't want to take a chance on missing this once in a lifetime experience that was being handed to us on a silver platter. As an added bonus, the tickets just cost 10 Riyals, which was equivalent to about $3.00 with the exchange rate at that time. Sure enough, it was a sell-out, the Aramco Entertainment Association's (A.E.A) largest show to date with over 500 people expected to attend.
Finally, the big night came, July 6th, 1977. Our group went to the Steindorf's before, then we all went to the School Gymnasium in plenty of time to get a table on the dance floor. The doors opened at 7:30, and there was already a long line waiting to get in, but we managed to get a spot about three quarters of the length of the gym from the stage, but on the dance floor. A pre-show entertainment by the Warner Duo (whoever they were), started at 8. We were mostly busy during that time, though, greeting everyone, seeing and being seen, and getting our ice, Pepsi, and Teem setups for our table.
Boy, was it crowded by the time everyone did get there, and Kenny Rogers finally started performing. He had a beard, a mustache that grew down into his beard, at the points, and rather long, straggly hair at that time, but we thought he was the most handsome thing we had ever seen. And we knew how lucky we were to be seeing him at all, over there in Saudi Arabia. He sang "Lucille", of course, and we sang along with every word, as we had memorized it from our tape. He also sang, "Rollin' On The River", from his TV show of the same name, and a lot of other songs we weren't so familiar with. It was great. He did two shows that night, and we danced in between, so it was a lot of fun, and one of the highlights of that period of our life in Saudi Arabia.