East To Iowa

After packing up, we decided we wanted to return to the Dundee Dell because there were some sandwiches on the menu we wanted to try. Rachel was again our waitress and we got to meet Monique, the general manager, who Carl had been e-mailing about our visit.

On to Iowa: miles and miles and beautifully-manicured cornfields. We stopped in Winterset, the birthplace of John Wayne and to take a picture of one of the bridges of Madison County.

We arrived at our friends' house in Cedar Rapids about 5:30 and went to dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant where we met their "Wednesday Night Group." Neat group of folks!

A Day in Omaha

We started the day looking for the apartment where Carl lived when he first arrived in Omaha. We not only found it (in fact, he drove right to it!), but we found the neighborhood bar where he hung out -- Grover's Inn. We went in, had a Bloody Mary and visited with the owners. On to the SAC (Strategic Air Command, where Carl worked) Museum and then to Stella's for one of their world famous burgers. When Carl lived here, Stella still made the burgers; the diner is still owned by a family member and they still make burgers the way Stella did!

We were successful in finding the other places Carl lived and then went to another of his famous haunts, the Dundee Dell for dinner. A great trip down memory lane for Carl and he was thrilled to share this part of his history with me!

Slide Show to Match Earlier Posts

Pictures from Turner Fall, OK; OK City National Memorial; and Nebraska City, NE.

A Report from the Road

We left Erica & Allen's about 10:00 yesterday morning (we planned to be on the road at 9:00, but that's when we waked up!). We headed north on I-35, got pictures of two county courthouses, and ended up at Turner Falls in OK around 2:00 p.m. We had a picnic at the base of the BEAUTIFUL falls and then headed for Oklahoma City. We spent about an hour reflecting and mourning at the Oklahoma City Memorial (we'll post pictures later -- we're a little out of sync with blog posting and camera downloading). On to Stillwater for a visit with our niece, Bekki. We had a delightful dinner and evening visiting with her.

We left Bekki's at 7:45 this morning, still driving north on I-35. I was amazed at the neatness of the properties: no junk, no dilapidated buildings, etc. Beautiful country. Our first real stop was in Nebraska City whose claim to fame is that one of its prominent citizens established Arbor Day by the ceremonious planting of a tree on April 10, 1872. His philosophy: "There is no aristocracy about trees; a tree planted by a poor person will grow to be as spendid as one planted by an opulent person."

We toured the park which comprises the largest variety of trees I've ever seen in one location. We also toured the cider pressing operation, wine store, as well as the tree farm. We picnicked on the grounds with approximately a million billion lady bugs (give or take).

Arrived in Omaha about 6:00 this evening. We're spending the evening in preparing for a full day tomorrow of touring Offutt AFB and visiting Carl's favorite haunts during the four years he was stationed here.

First Day of Road Trip

We are off for a two-week road trip: destination Muncie, IN for the first ever Conger Cousins reunion. Every time I ask Carl about taking something his reply is "we have plenty of room." I have taken him at his word! Today as we were loading the car, Carl says, "does ALL this go?" I responded, "you said we had plenty of room!" We have an ice chest, a picnic basket, gifts for the reunion, games to play, and LOTS of clothes!

We left New Braunfels in a flurry of thousands of butterflies migrating to the south. We got to Fort Worth about 7:00 and took our daughter, Erica, and son-in-law, Allen, to dinner at one of favorite restaurants, Mamma Mia.

It doesn't yet seem like a road trip; it just feels like a trip to Fort Worth to visit our kids. More tomorrow!

The Great Bus Escape

We had a good time at the Officer Candidate School reunion in Washington DC. The final event was the banquet last night.

These reunions started out with just three classes of 1963 (63A, 63B, and 63C which was my class) showing up for our 40th anniversary in San Antonio. Now we have been joined by 63D, the last class of OCS, plus a number of individuals from prior classes, the oldest of which was in 1949. OCS was established in the early forties to enable enlisted people the opportunity to become officers. In 1962 USAF made the decision to close OCS following the graduation of 63D and limit future commissions to folks holding at least a bachelor's degree. Enlisted people who received commissions have long been called Mustangs. (Whinny!)

We went on a tour of the CIA that was arranged by a classmate who, although retired, continues to work in some capacity for the CIA. He told us that he got special dispensation for our group to go on the tour, with which he was helped by the CIA museum curator and tour guide. Her father and father-in-law were both USAF pilots so she went to bat for us. She was excellent. Very knowledgeable and entertaining. We came away with a newfound respect for the organization.

Saturday, we loaded up on a bus to go to the Udvar-Hazy Center which is a new addition to the Air and Space Museum, where large planes and spacecraft are on display. We got about two miles from the hotel when the side doors for wheel chair access popped open, and the automatic braking system engaged. We came to a halt while the tour guide, driver and a few of us tried to get things rolling again. No luck, so after sitting for over an hour, six of us walked down the freeway about 100 feet, climbed the railing, slipped through a hole in the fence and made our escape. (See the attached pictures.) Subsequently, the tour guide called taxis which would only respond when police officers were on-site to allow it. We were back at the hotel within 20 minutes, while the rest didn't get back until nearly two hours later.

Day 1 in the Nation's Capitol

What a GORGEOUS day!

We borrowed our friends' MiniCooper (what a fun car!) and went to AAUW Headquarters (which is actually more of an AAUW museum). I saw several folks and Carl had a chance to tour the place.

Then we went on a tour of the CIA, which is something not everyone gets to do. Our tour was arranged by one of Carl's OCS classmates who works at the CIA. Our tour guide, Curator and Director of the CIA Museum), is the daughter of one of his classmates and the wife of a CIA operative! An EXCELLENT tour guide: knowledgeable, well spoken, and a great sense of humor.

Upon registration for the tour, we had to furnish our Social Security numbers and driver's license numbers. When we arrived, we had to all get off the bus (leaving cameras, cells phones and any other electronic devices behind) and go inside a small building where a CIA police officer called our names one by one, checked our ID, and issued our visitor's pass. While we were doing that, dogs were checking out our bus!

VERY interesting and informative -- and such a special treat!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's report.

Off to DC

Tomorrow we leave for Washington, DC for the reunion of Carl's Air Force Officer Candidate School class. We have a number of fun things in store for us including a tour of the CIA, a lunch cruise on the Potomac, a show by the Capitol Steps comedy troupe (tagline "we put the MOCK in Democracy"), and seeing a number of friends who live in the area.

To prepare for the trip, I had a pedicure and had my toes painted Air Force Blue!

West Texas Sunset

GNO

I am fortunate to be one of eight girlfriends who have been together for YEARS (I'm one of the newer members and I've been part of the group for over 30 years!)We used to all work together and would get together regularly for coffee breaks and/or lunch. Once we started retiring, we knew we needed to make an effort to get together; thus GNO or Girls' Night Out. We established the 2nd Tuesday of each month to get together for drinks and dinner at a local restaurant. We did that for years and then 2 of us moved to New Braunfels.

Those who still live in the Fort Worth area still get together for GNO and, if we happen to be in the area on that date, Susan and I will join them. We also now have two weekends a year that we get together.

I had the group to my new house for the fall get-together and one of the girls brought each of us a purple t-shirt with GNO and Girls' Night Out printed on the front along with a picture of a witch! We all wore them shopping on Saturday and received quite a few "What coven do you belong to?" comments :-)

We have a wonderful weekend full of rowdy KENO games, shopping, catching up, and just general silliness.

Girlfriends ROCK!

A Visit To The Watts Ranch

This past week we drove out to West Texas to Sharon (Linda's sister) and Maxie's ranch near Iraan, TX. The ranch covers about six sections and they are building a hunting cabin that we are helping with. The daily work schedule is:
1. Ease up out of bed and ride the four-wheeler to check on deer and turkey feeders.

2. Work on the cabin a couple of hours, stop and eat breakfast.

3. Work on the cabin until Maxie declares recess and eat lunch.

4. Nap and/or read.

5. Ride the four wheeler to look at birds, deer, javelinas, and let JJ and Grover chase jack rabbits. JJ thought he nearly caught one until the Jack saw him when he got within about three feet away.

6. Happy hour followed by dinner.

Pretty rugged schedule, but we struggle to stick with it. (LOL)

On one of our rides we saw thousands of Monarch butterflies roosting in the trees at the bottom of a draw. It was an amazing sight. Here are a few pics we took.