Guam, USA (Post #288) 4/17/2012

Guam circa 1967

After reading this article about how a man used Google Earth to find his long-lost mother, it reminded me of my own search to find my first neighborhood. I was born in Oklahoma City. My father worked for the Federal Aeronautics Administration (FAA) and he bid on a job on Guam and won. And so at the tender age of two, we moved to Guam. My first memories of life are of living on Guam.

I got my first bicycle on Guam. This was my first taste of freedom. It was likely yours too. Riding my bicycle was amazing. When you look back at your life as a kid riding your bike, is there any wonder why so many people like riding motorcycles? The wind in your hair, flying down the road, the sense of freedom, the bugs in your mouth, bliss.

So I had endeavored to find those first magical roads I blazed upon in my youth. Thankfully Guam is a small place. When I was a kid, my dad drove around the entire island in one day, several times. I remember the basic layout of two streets that were connected at the ends. One was on the ocean side the other not. I also remember the long drive out of our neighborhood and the turns to get to the “main road”.

I then brought up maps.google.com and started looking. And to my surprise there it was.

I was fortunate or perhaps unfortunate that the place is completely abandoned. There is a photo on the site that shows and describes the place as an abandoned military road. It is not military, it was civilian housing. Several things can explain the current condition but the most like is this one. Typhoon Karen hit in 1962. I have always remembered the name Typhoon Karen. People talked about it for years. We rode out several typhoons. I was told by my parents that after we moved back to the States, a large typhoon struck the island and our houses were gone. That would make sense now considering the houses are all gone.

Unfortunately Street View doesn’t go down these roads. I’d love to ride down them one more time, if even only electronically.

On a side note the location shows Golden Shower Ln, Dededo, Guam. That is not the name of the streets on the loop. The water side road was Oceanside Drive and the other was Karen Drive. Golden Shower Lane is south of there in a new neighborhood. Yes, I know, so stop snickering.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

2 Replies to “Guam, USA (Post #288) 4/17/2012”

  1. I lived there in the 70’s. My dad was Air Force and it was off base navy housing. We rode out typhoon Pamela in that house.

  2. I also lived on Guam from 1960 – 1973 in FAA Housing (Karen Dr.). Most wonderful place to be as a kid. Anyone remember Harmon Village? I used to walk there from our house to visit friends.

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