Life in the fast lane 2016

   I would have used the "Bucket List" title of some sort again but I think that that term is getting a little hackneyed so I am trying something different this time. I have found that taking pictures anymore just does not do justice to the scene, so I just refrain from it, besides it means slowing down and stopping to take a photo. I am a great one for cruising down the road and thinking "I'll bet that would have made a great picture", but by that time I am a half mile down the road, and I ain't going to turn around. So far this year I have managed to get in a few over night rides, the first was a swing through Iowa visiting Air Force station sites. I think that I started out to do this trip a couple of years ago. I was south of Mason City thinking about refueling and realized that I had left my billfold on the counter in the shop, so I limped home at a reduced speed. This was with the Honda ST1300 we had at the time. The next day I took off again, this time on our BMW RT, after gassing up it barely turned over but did start, so made the decision to head home again lest it leave on the side of the road. After those two days I pretty much gave up on the idea until this year. I made the swing down past Waverly, LaMotte, Washington and Dallas Center. These are all cold war relics that were long range radar sites for 20 years or so. I actually did get a photo of one of the gap filler sites. Next up was a run back down south through Iowa into Missouri. I had big plans of going down through Arkansas into Louisiana and over to Mississippi etc. But turned around in southern Missouri after seeing the weather reports. Anybody that has been following my bucket list reports may have noticed a trend, big plans but smaller results, I can't help it, I miss my wife and home when I am not there. This is a photo of the gap filler site near Washington, Iowa, it is pretty much still all there except that the radome is gone from the tower. Most of these sites are long gone.

The regular Air Force stations were much larger with 2 to 300 personel stationed there, with housing areas for married troops. Most of the housing areas are long gone, but if you know what you are looking for, the type of houses can be found in the area after being moved to new locations. Anyhow I have that checked off of my bucket lists. Come to think of it I rode right past the Kirkville, Missouri Air Force station site on my way back home from the southern trip.

Next up is the premier bike trip of the Summer with brother Phil, who is riding a new BMW this year. Thankfully I did not make huge plans this time around, but tentative plans to get up into Canada did not pan out, although we were both packing our passports, just in case. We followed the usual route, out through Rapid City and over the Big Horns on highway 14. I saw 50 some degrees on top and on the way into Lovell it hit 106, like riding in front of a blast furnace. After that we spent the second night in Powell. In the morning it was a beautiful run up the Chief Joseph road and over the Bear Tooth pass. I actually managed to get video of most of the ride up Bear Tooth with my new Gopro camera, and believe it or not it actually came out pretty good. We set down in Bozeman, Montana that night. The next day we headed up towards Glacier National park via some two lane roads. We passed through Helena, my first time in that city. From there it was a long ride through the forest until we got to West Glacier. Once in the park I fired up the Gopro again and captured the whole ride over Going to the Sun Highway. Jan and I and the kiddos drove that one from east to west 30 years ago and were impressed I am sure, but it is a whole nother ball game on a bike. That road kind of clings to a cliff for a lot of the distance and finally over a pass. On the east side there has been a big forest fire, with miles of blackened forest. St. Mary lake which you pass by on the way out of the park is still very pretty. We called Cutbank home that night. After checking the Weather channel (an every morning task) it was down Interstate 15 to Great Falls, where we dodged between two cells and only got slightly damp, the only rain of the trip. It was a long hot slog to Miles City, within striking distance of home. The next day it was a run all of the way home, luckily with a stiff tail wind and reasonable temperatures. I rolled in around sunset so not too bad a ride. Tomorrow though, it's back to reality we are making another run back to Mayo to check out something else that has shown up recently, so wish me luck.

Here are a couple more photos, one from Bear Tooth pass and the other of Lake St. Mary in Glacier.

The Kuehl's Christmas letter, the sequel

     When last I posted I had managed to make my way through the month of June I believe, primarily because it is the half way point in the year. Anyhow, I am going to resume pecking away at the month of July.  We pulled the trailer down to Lanesboro for the 4th of July weekend again this year. We always bring the BMW GS along and explore southeastern Minnesota and the Lacrosse, Wisconsin area. We usually take a picnic lunch and find a quiet place to have a sandwich, lots of times we have stopped at old country school houses, or small town playgrounds. Eli, Lindsey, Leah, Aaron, Gen, Sam, and Gus spent the night of the fireworks there too, at Lanesboro I mean. We always try to reserve the spot right next to the field that they use for the fireworks, so we have a good view. Afterwards a lot of those small hot air bags are launched from the field, a beautiful site in the dusk. Did I mention that Jan is spending most days out at the farm working in the grove cleaning up fallen sticks and an unbelievable amount of scrap iron and broken glass. There was also a lot of really old farm machinery backed in among the trees, so it is kind of her second job after taking care of me, and her Mom's finances, and our house etc., etc..  My sister Kathy was home for a visit in July, as it turns out for the last time. Jan and I were over to Rochester to watch Sam and Gus, hit some garage sales, and let Steve and Gen have a night out. Mom, Kathy and I went to Mankato for a couple of Mom's doctor appointments. I see that I was also working on finally finishing up that B-36 model that had been gathering dust since about 1980, it actually turned out pretty nice, if you don't get too close. I headed west with the GS for a three day run to hit a trail that I had avoided due to wet conditions earlier in the Summer. I always wondered, here I was  40 miles out on a dirt road, have not seen a vehicle in an hour and here lies some roadkill. I wonder, how does this animal and a virtually non existent vehicle come together at the same time? Hmm, something to think about while the miles reel past. The last day of the month Jan and I stopped to visit her sister and bother-in-law in Wadena. We had the GS on our other trailer headed up to a lake home near Itasca for a family weekend.
     August started with the whole gang, minus the DeFors, spending a few days at a home on Hart lake, near Itasca. After spending some time there we understood why lots of people go "up to the lake cabin for the weekend", it was so beautiful there in the evenings. We watched beaver and loons swimming across the lake near the dock, and the water so clear, the kids had an awful lot of fun in the water, and Jan and I did some riding. We did manage to find the cemetery that was the site of the first Patriot Guard mission that I was ever on. It was not in the location I thought that I remembered, but we managed to drive by it by accident. Troy Linden was killed by an ied in 2006 in Iraq if my memory serves me right, and it often doesn't serve me so well anymore. Jan and I bought a ton of wood pellets for the pellet burner and carried all 50 bags into the basement near the burner. My sister Kathy had returned to California while we were up at the lake house, and as it turned out, had passed away at her home in Modesto. We were getting a little concerned when she did not make her usual calls to Mom and was not returning our calls. Her health had been poor for several years, so it was not a huge shock, but after a bit you realize that she won't be coming home again, and you won't be going there to visit again either. Kathy and I were closer years ago. We both came back to Minnesota together on a Greyhound from California in 1958 so that we could start school in St. James before the rest of the family moved back in December. While I was in the Air Force we traded letters and she visited once while I was at Rapid City. I got the proper clearances for her and we toured the flight line at Ellsworth, and a cockpit visit of a B-52. I am not so sure that was really allowed, what with all of the classified equipment in view on board but the crew chief said go ahead, so we did. Lots of memories. Luckily my brother Paul and his wife Marcy were able to spend nearly a month in Modesto getting all of her estate details in order and ironed out. Anyhow life continues to move forward. I did Ride Captain duties for a Vietnam Wall replica escort into St. James on a weekend of veteran appreciation activities. We dedicated the new veteran monument in the park here in town, and there was a field of crosses to commemorate all of the warriors from Minnesota killed in the middle eastern wars, and a country western concert. Shortly after,Jan and I headed east to Burke, Virginia to visit the DeFors, minus Hans who was still in command of the USS Curtis Wilbur in Japan. One of the reasons we were there was to take care of the kiddos while Rachel flew back to Japan for Han's change of command ceremony when he hands over command of the ship to the next commander. It's a very big deal believe me. We have managed to watch both ends of his tour as commander live on line, which was pretty cool. Rachel had picked a nice home in a good neighborhood all on line from Japan prior to moving back. Hans' next assignment is the Pentagon, so this home is a bus ride away from work. While Rachel was gone we all went to the nearby pool and took care of the house.
    September the 2nd, Rachel returned from Japan at Dulles and later we picked up Hans at Reagan, it seems that they could not get home on the same flight. Jan and I headed home to a lawn grown crazy by the rains we had had while out of town. I could have bailed it I think. Eli and I built some fence at their farm for some horses they were going to board for a lady in town, and we were up to Redwood Falls for Leah's volleyball tournament, also a trip to Rochester to watch Sam and Gus. Lucky for us the price of gas keeps coming down, although I think I would drive anyway as long as they keep making it. Things were picking up toward the end of  the month, planning for Mom's 95th birthday and Kathy's funeral, both of which were done on the same day down at Trimont. Kathy had already had a marker placed at the Cedar Hills cemetery west of town next to my Mom and Dad's site. Kathy's ashes were interred on a beautiful sunny day with quite a few relatives and her high school friends in attendance. Mom's birthday party was later in the afternoon with a nice party at her church in Trimont. The next day we had a good group watching the Vikings with the tv on the deck and us watching from the lawn. We have done that before and had a lot of fun. This was followed up that evening with a super moon total lunar eclipse, sort of a big weekend! Jan and I drove Rachel back to the airport in the Cities, she had come home for the events of the weekend, and I did some riding and attended a couple of PGR missions during the month, and that about does it for September.
   October started with soccer in Mankato for Leah, finishing up that B-36 model, and getting the dirt bike ready for Colorado. I need to include a picture of that plane after all of the time I have spent and mentioning it.  Jan and I drove out to Ridgway, Colorado again this year, just a little later than last year. We took the dirt bike along again as well. I was taking a chance that I would not have trouble with snow at the higher elevations, and for the most part I didn't, although trying to get down from Imogene Pass I lost it in the slush up there. That was good for a thrill let me tell you. Jan and I did drive over to Telluride just to look at the scenery, and it was gorgeous to say the least. It was a long run home again with the choice of Kansas or Nebraska to bore a person to death. We did stop at the BMW dealer in Sioux City to see if he had any GS's. Unusual lately, he had 2, a red and a blue , so it got us to thinking about a change up, after all we have 45,000 miles on the 07 GS. The next day I was back with the check book in hand and bought the blue one. Every thing I have read and heard about the new GS is true! Jan and I spent a day in Mankato for her birthday, going to lunch and bumming around the mall. We also got a water softener that actually works that day. A couple days later we were on the road again, out to the Spearfish Lodge in the Black Hills for a couple of days. We took the Mustang so it was an 85 mph cruise across South Dakota. I am almost to the point where we can make the run to Rapid City in the same amount of time I did when I rode home with a Air Force buddy in 1964, in the days before 4 lanes and radar. To this day I have no idea how fast we were going.
   November starts with a drive to Rochester for Sam's birthday party, and me taking the new BMW out to the Kennebec, South Dakota to see that the old rail line west of Chamberlin is being rebuilt, then down into Nebraska to visit the SAC museum and stop in Sioux City for the bikes first check up. Veteran's Day found Jan and I back in Mankato for the free offerings for vets. Breakfast at Hi Vee, haircuts at Great Clips, lunch at Applebee's, and tire rotation at Quick Lane, which we had to pay for. A few days later I visited an eye doctor in Mankato and we went on to Rochester for another visit to my doctors at Mayo, which did not go the way I would have liked. It turns out a spot on my tongue that biopsied clean last Spring now doesn't look so good, so more surgery was scheduled for after Thanksgiving. About as expected, the roads and weather started to deteriorate so that Gen and Sam, who came home for the weekend had a tough time of it. The company I had worked for for 40 years dropped my discount on our land line so I cut the cord so to speak. It is much quieter without the telemarketers calls. Jan and I were back to Rochester for Thanksgiving at the Theobalds house again. As a move to make prior to my upcoming surgery I shaved off my beard, which I grew in the first place to camouflage the effects of my 2008 surgery to my jaw. There was a possibility that further cutting would need to extend down my neck so I figured try to get ahead of the game.
    December started with some more snow and another trip back to Rochester, although this time was not so much fun as the last trip there. I guess I can say thankfully I woke up after surgery with just a chunk carved out of my tongue rather than the more extensive stuff I had feared. I should say that that is a really really sensitive area, that takes some time to heal. I am typing this January 4th and it is still touchy, although I am down to an occasional couple of Tylenol. We did take the truck in for servicing and I was working on the bikes, at least I am not rebuilding the 650 Honda this year for a change. This year we had an early Christmas at Eli and Lindsey's farm. The Defor family had just driven back from Virginia, so we had quite literally everybody here for Christmas at the same time. Everyone from my Mom down to William DeFor, the youngest. I should say I guess, that Jan's Mom is in the rest home here in St. James and not mobile and of course Kathy who left us this Summer. It was especially nice with the weather co-operating so the kiddos could run all over the farm and the adults could eat and lay around and visit. The DeFors headed back up to the Cities after a few days at our place to spend some time with Hans' Mom. Jan and I joined them later in the week for a couple nights at a hotel in Eden Prairie. Hans and Rachel and the gang headed back to Virginia on Christmas day to get ahead of the approaching storms, which they did. Jan and I started on a basement paneling project we had been waiting to do after things calmed down and it went well, now that I have all of the tools necessary to do the job. I wish I had had the tools years ago when I did most of those jobs by hand. And that is about it for 2015. For the most part this has been a good year with just a few bumps in the road with my health, and my sisters' passing. Other than those things we have been able to do most of the things we want to do and our kids and grand kids all seem to be good and getting along with life pretty well. We have no big plans this coming year but trying to love and take care of each other, but that should go without saying I think. I am already thinking of a different route for a bike trip next Summer. I also can't wait for this election cycle to be over, although after that happens I imagine they will be starting on the next round. So take care of each other and yourselves and with any luck at all, I will probably be doing this again next year.

 

The Kuehl's Christmas Letter 2015

    It is getting to be that time of year again so I am going to launch into my latest edition of a yearly tradition of relating the mostly boring details of our life here in flyover land. I have not been doing any blogging since last Summer primarily since I just can't get motivated to type it out. Typing with two or three fingers and a spell checker that is constantly interrupting my thought processes does slow things down a bit. Anyhow, for those of you that are waiting for the detailed details of our lives, here we go.
   January, one of these years I think I will start in, say, March just to keep people guessing. Typically January started off really cold with near zero high temperatures and snow to boot. Now Jan and I are starting over with the grandkids with sports games in local locales. Leah is involved with basketball, and soccer in the Fall and Winter, so we get to quite a few of her games, and Sam and Gus are involved in soccer, football, and basketball too, so they and we stay busy attending and putting some miles on vehicles. On the 21st Jan and I flew back to Japan to visit Rachel, Hans, Josiah, Annika and William. The fight over always takes longer because of bucking the Jet Stream all of the way there, I think it was 13 hours long, luckily there are non stop movies to watch and at least 3 meals. If you scroll back through my blogs you can get a play by play of the time we spent there. Japan is such a nice place to visit especially when you have a place to stay and guides that know their way around.
    February started in Japan with a shorter flight home and some jet lag recovery time. Jan is back volunteering at Leah and Aaron's school 2 days a week, and we were helping the Kuehl's move from their home in town out a few miles into the country to the acreage they bought from a dentist's widow from St. James. We were helping them move out there in between basketball in Godahl for Leah, and a trip to visit Jan's sister Paula and her husband Steve in Wadena among other things. Jan and I drove over to Rochester for a Chanticleer concert and a stay over at Gen and Steve's home. The next day was basketball there for Sam and Gus, they really have a lot of sports activities for kids in Rochester among other things to do. We are really lucky to have that city so close with all of the things that are available there. I did some work on the 94 Ducati, by replacing the steering head bearings, after noticing a notch for years. It turns out most of the work involves just getting down to place you need to get to, replacing the bearings wasn't too bad. Jan and I made a trip to Rochester for Gus's birthday party, some of the boys basketball games, and pick up a set of forks for our ST Honda that were getting rebuilt. As I have said, Winter is bike maintenance time in the part of the world.
    March. Jan and I spent some time helping Eli and Lindsey move from their home in town out to the "ranch" in the country. Also the weather was moderating somewhat, with temps in the 40s. Actually it was 48 the day we celebrated Leah's birthday. Eli's brother in law gave him an old skid loader, so we went down to get it, figuring we would need to winch it onto the trailer. Imagine our surprise, when after getting the snow cleared and some shade tree mechanic tricks, he ended up driving it onto the trailer! After some tweeking, that machine has been very valuable at the ranch. Shortly thereafter I had several bikes out on long runs, with temps in the 60s. Spring came a little early this year, with warm windy conditions, getting the Stang out of the garage, and uncovering the trailer, etc.. I was helping Eli to get power back into a couple of their barns on their acreage. He was hoping to put those units into use somehow to generate some income. Riding and the weather continued to improve with only a little interruption from some snow.
    April. Started out this year with celebrating Easter at our house with the whole gang minus the DeFors who are still in Japan for a couple more months. I finally got around to replacing the walk-in door on the garage that has been needing replacement for some time. Things were warm but windy, a common weather type for this time of the year. I made a run up to North Dakota for a couple of days to visit the area I inventoried over 40 years ago when I was an outside plant engineer. Things in Aneta have not changed too much in the interim, and the Top Hat bar is still open in Mayville. I remember walking over there in 1970 after a safety meeting with a fellow employee. I said I should call Jan and he asked "when are you getting married?". It does not seem possible that it was that long ago. Back up in my blogs to see more details on that trip. I have been making it to some Patriot Guard missions this Spring in the area. Jan and I also attended a concert by Joe Bonnamassa in Minneapolis one Saturday night, it was fantastic! Then I started taking the XR650 Honda apart, it had developed a bad knock again. Here we go again. Anyhow, the piston was toast, so this time I took it to a dealer I trust to rebore and fit a new piston. It ended up Honda does not make one that oversize, so I ended up with a 10.5 to 1 Wiseco piston. After re-assembly and break-in, it is pretty snappy. It's getting to the point where I can take apart and re-assemble the engine in my sleep.
   May. A trip to Rochester for Sam's first communion, me home for Leah and Aaron's track meets and back to Rochester for doctors appointment to biopsy my tongue, and pick up Jan who stayed to do some work for Gen. A few days later Jan and I went to look at a new Mustang and ended up trading in our 2011 GT 6 speed for a new GT with an automatic. Along with assorted medical appointments and trips to Rochester for Sam and Gus's events, and St. James for Leah and Aaron's school events, Jan, Lindsey, and I drove up to Andover for Paul and Marcy's moving sale. They sold their home in Andover and are moving full time to the condo they have owned in Duluth for years. The condo is right on the lake shore within sight of the lift bridge. I was making several runs for parts for the 650 rebuild job, and did get it together successfully, ie. it runs. We had our annual Memorial Day picnic in Owatonna again with a pretty good turn out, with some cousins, and siblings etc.. Along with warm temperatures and good amounts of rain comes the problem of keeping up with the growth of the lawn, although it is better than the alternative.
    June. I had a PGR mission at Madison, South Dakota on the 1st and on the 7th Jan and I drove up to the Cities for Gen's Masters Degree award ceremony at St. Marys. I have some educated people in my family  don't I, come to think about it. I have been running our BMW's up to Monticello for maintenance quite a bit lately due to the fact that the shop that I bought them from, which is right down the road, no longer is a BMW dealer. It's not so bad though, it is a large dealer with lots to look at, and Phil is close by, so we go out for lunch once in a while. Eli Leah Phil, and I attended the airshow at Granite Falls that is put on by Fagen's WWll museum. I believe that over 20,000 people were there along with aircraft from all over the United States, from a B-17 to P-51s, P-38s, P-39s, P40s, and assorted trainers and airshow groups. It was a tremendous show, and the weather cooperated. The next day Phil and I headed west on our long tour. Phil had charging trouble in South Dakota and with some help ended up in Rapid City for the night. Check out an earlier blog for the nuts and bolts of that trip. We did get to the Tetons, Utah, and Colorado on a shortened grand tour, but had a good time by not pushing too hard. After getting home Jan and I got the trailer out and loaded up for the run to Lanesboro for the 4th of July weekend. As it turned out that was the only time the trailer got out this year.

2015 Bucket List Ride

  Here we go again with another bike trip story, but like I have said before, it is my blog, so I get to blog about what I am doing in the recent past. Again this year my brother Phil and I took off on another bike trip, mostly headed west and south west. We fell a little short of my day one destination due to the fact that Phils' Harley had some charging trouble, and I don't mean with a credit card. We spent some time in Murdo trying to repair the trouble until we got into Rapid City and the Harley dealer. We met the nicest native American couple, he was a Marine, and a union pipefitter, so Phil and he had a lot to talk about while he was charging the battery with a set of jumper cables. We made it to Rapid and the problem was corrected the next day with a few expensive parts. We headed west and ended up crossing the Big Horns on highway 16, which is a great mountain road. It's wide and curvy and has beautiful scenery, when you get a chance to look around. It was Worland for the night. Parts of Wyoming have had some huge amounts of rain recently which was evident in Wind River canyon the next morning, with landslides taking out the BNSF tracks in more than one place, and road repairs on our side on the canyon. At the head on the canyon is a dam that backs up Boysen reservoir. That lake was the highest that I have ever seen it, and it seems as if I get by there almost every year lately. We ended up eating lunch in Dubois at a supermarket deli. Part of the fun on these trips is the people that you meet, it seems that being on a bike leaves you open to just about everybody. For instance I spent a pleasant 10 minutes in the checkout at said supermarket chatting with just about all of the people in the area. Dubois is the home of Marine Chance Phelps who was the subject of the movie "Taking Chance". Jan and I visited his grave a few years ago but Phil and I did not stop by. Next up is the tremendous view of the Grand Tetons as we come over Togwotee Pass. Coming from the east as we did puts the entire range in front of you framed by the forest that you have been riding through. The only downside to that area is fighting your way through Jackson on regular city streets, with crazy traffic and multitudes of pedestrians crossing streets. Were we glad to get out town. From there we headed south and west some more, clipping a corner of Idaho and Utah before dragging into Evanston, Wyoming for that night. The next morning it was off to the Uintah mountains in Utah. This route takes you up and over the Uintah mountains. I believe that the pass was over 10,000 feet and cool too. Just past the pass we came across a heard of mountain sheep grazing in the ditch, I think that there were 16 or so. Took a break in Kanab and ran over a couple more passes to Price, Utah for lunch. The temperature was rising, so I thought that instead of running into southern Utah where it was hotter still we would head south east for the higher elevations in Colorado. After braving winds, some light rain and 102 degree temps we stopped in Grand Junction for the night.

The next morning it was south through Ouray and Silverton to Durango on some of the scariest mountain roads in this country. As many times as I have ridden the road out of Ouray, I still find it a little unsettling to say the least. We got caught in the only shower of the whole trip in a road construction area, but by the time we climbed Wolf Creek pass and arrived in Alamosa for the night I was dry. The next day was one of the most scenic runs ever, between Alamosa and Leadville you pass by a series of 14,000 foot mountains that this year were unusually snow covered, with a deep blue sky to boot. At the stop in Leadville we spent some time talking with a local, another Marine vet, about the local celebration in progress there etc.. While studying a poster on the wall in the convenience store I realized it was a price list for various amounts of marihuana, you can buy it here, just don't bring it home. From there up to I-70 to Dillon, another traffic jam, to Kremling for lunch. Just short of Walden, a bad accident kept us on the side of the road for about an hour, chit chatting with local ranchers and a truck driver hauling crude. I never have been able to find out what happened, but it looked as if the car hit a trailer going the other way, on this nearly deserted highway, and ripped the whole side out of the trailer. The car was in the deep ditch with the top pealed back, and the trailer and it's contents were scattered for 100 yards down the road. It did not look too good for the car driver, but the ambulance passed us later headed for Laramie I suppose. It was Wheatland, Wyoming that night. The next day is the sort of day that you must put in just to get back home, I guess. I thought just this once, for varieties' sake I would try a route across northern Nebraska, all the way to Sioux City. From Wheatland to Chadron, Nebraska was not too bad. We passed through Ft. Robinson, which Jan and I visited last year. An interesting side trip while we were staying at Hot Springs KOA. Lunch was at Chadron and the grind eastward began on a two lane road that went north, south, and then east some more. By 6 pm we were barely to Yankton, South Dakota. Finding a place to stay in Yankton did not go well either, with weddings, and class reunions going on. Luckily we did nail down a room at a former Super 8 where neither  the snack machine nor ice machine were working. The next day it was up through Sioux Falls and east. Phil and I split just over the border in Minnesota so he could head home to Delano and I went east to St. James and home by about noon, after a stop at Eli and Lindsey's farm. 

All in all a good trip with no major trouble beyond Phils' charging problem that got repaired. I admit that I chickened out on my grandiose plans for Nevada and Arizona, due to the heat in those areas. Maybe some other year or Heaven forbid not on a bike.

 

Assorted Trips Etc.

  I know that it has been quite awhile since I last blogged about anything but sooner or later I need to come out of the background and put something up for the world to see, and marvel at. I had a thought back in February while Jan and I were home bound from Japan. We had gone mostly north out of Narita across Siberia and out over the Bering Sea at 39000 feet. It was -73 degrees outside the window and it occurred to me that this is as close to space flight as most of us will ever get. Extremely cold, low air pressure, and a lack of oxygen that would be deadly in a matter of seconds. We are just floating along in this 777 over the Bering Sea miles from any kind of civilization assuming that this Boeing collection of parts will keep flying to our destination, which it did. Anyhow, there's that. Another thing that I have thought about for years, Mars landing, now I just want to live to see the day. After our Moon landing in 1969, almost 50 years ago now, the plan was that we would plant the flag on Mars by 1985. That plan went by the wayside, and now they talk about the 2030s. If I make it that far I will be in my 90s by that time, although Mom is almost 95. Enough about that.
     Back in May I rode up to North Dakota to visit some of the areas that I worked in 45 years ago, back when that was part of the telephone company territory that I worked for at the time as an engineer. The area was between Fargo and Grand Forks extending to the west as far as Aneta. I had been through all of the exchanges out there, and spent some weeks inventorying Aneta and west Northwood when we sold them to Polar Tel. Our old office still sits on a side street in Aneta with Polars' newer building alongside. West Northwood was on an intersection of two gravel roads in the middle of nowhere, with maybe 10 lines heading in three directions. It was a fun time riding around in the other guys' station wagon counting poles etc.. He had a rifle in the back seat and we stopped sometimes to take a shot at stuff. This year it was kind of windy and dry up there, don't think that I will be back. You know I have  another long one to post so I think that I will post it up in the future. It is about my brother Phil and my western ride.

February is a Big Month but Cold

It is that time again, where I cheap out and write a blog to my wife, St. Jan, and some other family members that celebrate birthdays this month. 8 years ago Jan and I "celebrated" our anniversary on a packed 747 on our way to Japan the first time. We got there in time to visit Annika at the hospital at Yokosuka who was born on the 15th. I don't know if my Mom has come to grips with the idea of her birthday on the other side of the International Date line. She felt that since Annika was born when it was the 14th here, that should be her birth date, what ever. So, we have our 44th anniversary tomorrow on Valentines Day- I know, we are such romantics- Annikas' birthday is the 15th, regardless of where she was born, our son Eli and our son-in-law Steve, have the same birthday on the 23rd. Last but not least is our grandson August, or Gus as we usually refer to him as, on the 27th. So there you have it the birthdays and an anniversary all in one.
  I had written a whole nother paragraph just to Jan about how we met and how our lives have gone since but I accidentally deleted the paragraph. I don't know how, but it got highlighted and deleted, in literally the blink of an eye. How we met one evening in 1970, I thought that she just liked my 69 Mustang Mach 1, which she did, but I guess that she kind of liked me too. I brought her home to the farm by Alpha, very, very early the following morning, and we have been hitting it off ever since. Now in 6 years we could be looking at our 50th, holy cow, I remember going to my relatives 50th party's, and they were old. Probably not as old as I will be by that time, come to think of it. I just wanted the world to know how much I love you Janice B. If there were any justice in this world I would ask for another 50 years with you.
                                           Love Pete

These photos are of us just a couple of weeks ago, when we visited Rachel and her family in Japan.

Two Minnesotans in Japan

It is about time for me to post something again, and I thought that our recent trip to Japan to visit Rachel and family might fit the bill. We flew out of Minneapolis direct to Narita in Japan. Rachel and Will were there to meet us and drive us back to Yokosuka. There is a backstory to this trip, but I would let Rachel fill you in. Near Narita, which is northeast of Tokyo there is some agriculture but shortly after that, it is solid city all of the way down to Yokosuka. Luckily, Rachel had all of the paperwork done ahead of time so getting us on base was a piece of cake. Over there you never leave the house without your passport and base pass on your person. We did a walking tour one day of the city of Yokosuka near the gate, and it is a lot of fun just to wander through the stores in that country. Everything is so neat and well displayed and the people are so polite and friendly, it makes me wonder, sometimes, how in the world did we end up in WWII with them? I guess that those were different times. Rachel kept us busy for the most part, and she had a selection of local beers for me to sample. Not surprisingly they were quite good. We visited several shrines over the course of time we there, which is not difficult because there are shrines of some sort in a lot of locations. We did some beach combing a few times, picking up shells, and pottery shards that the ocean throws up. I am still not sure where all of the pottery shards come from and why there is so much of it in the water, maybe from the war? On a Sunday Hans took Jan, Josiah, and me on a tour of his ship, the USS Curtis Wilbur. His ship is fresh out of a stay in dry dock for some upgrading and freshening, so to say. We got the whole tour from the bridge through the galley to the engines. I was impressed by the ships' crew members, and the ship itself, it seemed like well trained family from what we saw. Annika and William attend the Hayama International School, which, surprise is located in Hayama, a bus ride away. Jan and I would usually walk the kiddos down to the bus stop and wait with them for the bus to arrive, and sometimes the reverse procedure. One day it even snowed pretty good for a couple of minutes. One day Rachel and we two drove over to Hayama to pick them up and wander the beach below the school. The Friday before we left Rachel guided us to the New Sanno hotel in downtown Tokyo. This required several different train rides to get from Yokosuka to Tokyo, and over to the Tokyo Sky Tree, the tallest structure in Japan. The New Sanno is owned by the Navy and is a very nice place to stay for sure. It is available to all branches of the services and embassy personnel, I believe. Navigating the tangle of train and subway lines is something that must be learned if you have any hope of getting around over there, and Rachel has it down, good grief, she used to do it with two small children the last time that they were there. Without her I would still be riding the rails under Tokyo.

Holy cow, I almost forgot about our drive out to Mount Fuji, until I was scrolling down through the 170 photos that I took out there. With a rented van we all drove out to Mount Fuji on our last Saturday in Japan. As you can see by the photos the weather was beautiful, with snow on the ground everywhere at that altitude. I had so many good photos that I had to include just some of the good ones. Using the logic that we will never be there again in this lifetime I shot a lot of frames. Thank goodness for digital photography! I still find myself thinking about shot setup etc., until I remember that there is virtually no limit to the amount of photos a digital camera can absorb, so shoot everything and cull out the bad ones later. Hans and I went to see "American Sniper" when we got back, and it was as good as advertised, lots of tears from me at the end, seeing the Patriot Guards at his funeral. I have been to a lot of funerals like that, just not that elaborate. Anyhow, we spent the last couple of days getting packed and ready to head home, walking Annika and William to and from the bus, and hitting the bazaar on base for some souvenirs for the "homefolks". Rachel got us on the bus back to Narita a week ago today, and a week ago today we were in the air over the Bering sea or northern Canada. My brother Phil picked us up at the airport and drove us out to their home by Delano. Naturally we came in to Minneapolis in lite snow, so the drive to their place was slow. We had left our car at their house for the duration, and we being anxious to get home headed straight home from there. So that completes our second trip to Japan, and I have to admit that I enjoyed this one a lot more than the first trip 8 years ago. I felt more comfortable off base I think and Rachel had all kinds of stuff for us to do, so being bored was never a problem, thanks again Rachel and Hans.