The loop above the road signs is not a half McDonald's sign. It is the arch over the Mississippi River in St Louis. Sorry about the long range snapshot. You get the idea.
This charming couple is Frank and Laney. We had a nice visit over a cup of coffee west of St Louis. Again, friends from a long time ago were reacquainted and at the same time new friends were made. Frank and Doug were SeaBees and spent some quality time together on the other side of the planet. We hope to stay in touch in the future and not wait so long for another visit.
Here are a couple old Sea Bees. You may notice the high performance hair styles. Believe me, we both ask for "Long and curly on top" when we go to the barber shop and look what kind of respect we get! Frank was an equipment operator and Doug was a construction mechanic in an earlier time. Also note that neither of us has changed at all in the 41 years since we last saw each other. Same goes for Joe in an earlier post.
Next stop for a visit was to see cousin Ed. It seems that Jessie was off on a visit of her own so, we're sorry she missed the picture. It was nice to stop in for a visit and a stretch of the legs. We are also hand carrying some greeting cards to Mom in Iowa for her big celebration. Watch for those pictures in about a week.
Finally, we're in Iowa and here is Loyal, Evan, Staci and Alexander with Old Gold. The boys had to show how well they ride the three wheeler included in the picture. We had a nice walk with Loyal and Staci while the boys traded off wheeling the three wheeler. Nice day!
Now we catch John and Shari for a picture before John heads off for work.
And once again, we gather for a meal with friends and family. After a tasty Cajun treat cooked up by Cody and Val we got together for a family photo. In the front is Max, Cory and Gary. Next row back is Shari, LaDonna and Doug. The back row has Cody, Stew, Marian and Val. It's been a long harvest day for the farmers in the group and so we wind down another day in our big adventure.
Old cars and old automotive memorabilia go well together. We spotted this restored Phillips 66 Service Station in Creston and just had to stop for a snapshot. I mentioned "Service Station" because that's exactly what my dad owned so many years ago in our old home town. He always said that it's a Service Station, not a gas station. Anybody can sell gasoline, while only the professionals can provide the complete service that all cars and trucks need. That's customer service!
And then, we're in Nebraska to visit cousin Pauline (Sister Jessica). She looks like she would be a better fit for Old Gold than we are but, she declined. We did go out for a nice lunch and visit at a favorite Omaha restaurant.
This handsome young man is a friend from MHS days. The connection goes back to the outstanding music program provided by Minden High School in the '60's. Ted and Doug were two thirds of a trumpet trio that enjoyed some success and if you refer back to the earlier posts showing "The Best Band Teacher On The Planet", you'll see more
One more quick stop in Omaha. This is our "Honeymoon House" where we lived after we were married back in 1980. Ted, shown in the picture above, is one of the best realtors in Omaha. He helped us find and buy this house and then only about a year later, helped to sell our house when we moved to Oregon.
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