Lucan warm welcom home

Today I returned to Lucan to participate in a welcome home mission for some National Guard troops. Primarily I wanted to meet Capt. Andrea Ourada who just got home from Iraq. She is a Blackhawk helicopter pilot who has flown plenty of combat sorties. I finally got to meet her at our staging location, asked for a picture and gave her a welcome home hug. I said "I never hugged a Captain before", so she said " then you get two". Andrea is about 5' 4" and maybe a buck ten, I have to get over the idea that you need to be this big muscular person to fly combat aircraft.

Also there was her cousin, who could have been her sister, who just got back from Afghanistan. After a parade into town behind the firetrucks there was a program next to the bank. On the way in the street was lined ( at least 2 blocks) with citizens waving flags and cheering, wow!! After the program we had a short tour of the brewery and some samples. Very tasty that Brau Brew. They are also growing their own hops due to the high cost of hops nowadays. The next event was a drive out to the Ourada farm for lunch. The usual southern Minnesota fare of ham and barbecued pork sandwiches, all the fixings, salads, assorted things to drink and mementos of Andreas' time in Iraq. I have to tell you it was positively worth it to return today. It is fun to hang around with people that are all moving or thinking in the same direction. I'll add some pictures here but you will have to sort them out as I haven't figured out how to label individual pictures.