June 4, 2020 - Drove to Pine Grove Campground half way between Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska to spend some time in the area before heading north to Grand Forks, ND.

June 5, 2020 - I was stationed at Offutt AFB from 1984 until 1988, when I transferred to Beale AFB, north of Sacramento, California (Marysville). So today, I decided that I wanted to see if I could find my old home and my kid's elementary school in the town of Papillion, Nebraska. Lisa was so nice to go along with me on this voyage of nostalgia. I wasn't sure where the house was, but as soon as I drove down a street that looked familiar, I found Carriage Hill School where my son and daughter had attended. Sure brought back old memories. I then took a right turn into a housing are and then another right turn and "voila," there was our old home. I even took a photo of the stop sign across the street that my son William smashed into while jumping the curb. A trip to the hospital and a broken arm. The house is completely surrounded by huge trees, none of which were there when we lived there. What a difference 35 years can make. I even saw the neighbor's doorstep where my wife, Kay, parked our Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. Seems she had put the car in park, but it "popped" into reverse as she got out (cold engines tend to rev higher). She chased the car until it came to a stop on our neighbors porch about a foot from their door. Luckily, no one was injured. It is also the house that I decided to spray paint and failed to see the rapidly approaching thunderstorm. Too late! All my white paint washed of the house and running downhill into the gutter. After leaving the house, we drove to Offutt AFB to see the building in which I worked when with the Strategic Air Command (SAC). It is now a part of Strategic Command (missiles) and SAC is no more. We saw the base, the building where I worked and then went to the Base Exchange to shop. We then left the base for a quick, healthy lunch at Subway and then drove to Standing Bear Lake which houses the Omahawks Radio Control flying field known as "Hawk Field." A group of us were instrumental in building the flying field in 1986 and it is still there. Really brought back great memories of the people who all pitched in to build the facility. I had managed to get the air force engineers at Offutt AFB to bring out a road grader and the marine's engineering detachment to bring out a huge Caterpillar to level a hill just above the lake. We got the leveling done, compacting of the ground, and the asphalt was laid for the runways. Quite an achievement and it is still there. Many people contributed to the construction of the field, but in particular I remember Ron VanOveran, and Doug Ferguson. Lisa and I walked around the lake (in 97 degree weather) and got some exercise. We will return to the field tomorrow for an RC Combat event. Should be fun. We then returned home and rested before heading over to Parker's Smokehouse in Ashland, Nebraska. It was great! Some of the best brisket and pork ribs I have ever had. While there, I got a call from my old friend, Ron VanOveran. We talked for a while and then I had to tell him I would call him later as my brisket was getting cold. When I got home, I called Ron and we had a great conversation to come up to speed on all the changes of the years. Ron and his wife, Linda, are laying low during the Covid pandemic since he recently had heart surgery and he doesn't need to deal with Corona on top of it all. We will personally stop and visit with the family when the Covid is behind us. All in all, it was a great, nostalgic day for me.

Saturday, June 6, 2020 - One of the things that I wanted to do in Omaha was to go to the Omahawks RC Club flying field and what the action. First of all, we took a four mile walk (trying to stay healthy) and, after showering, headed for Hawk Field. It was a lot of fun getting to the field and meeting some of the older flyers who had been a part of the club 32 years ago when I was there last. The new president, Rick Sessions, was super nice to us and introduced Lisa and me to all the flyers there. We watched the "Combat" contest that was scheduled for the day and then had lunch put on by the club after the awards ceremony. The Combat event happens when pilots tie 15 foot long streamers to their aircraft and then try to use their plane to cut the other flyers streamers. There are usually crashes or mid-air collisions, so it can be quite exciting. After the contest, I took Lisa's drone up to take photos of the flying facility. I met a young man named Brit who was interested in the planes, so I let him watch the drone flight through the First Person View (FPV) goggles. Brit even flew the drone by seeing where it was going through the FPV goggles. He seemed to really be enjoying the experience. After the drone flight, Lisa and I visited some more with the flyers and then departed to look at Lake Zorinsky just to the west of Omaha. We are planning a kayaking trip there tomorrow if the winds do not blow too hard. We found the lake and it is quite nice. We sat on our chairs on the shore of Lake Zorinsky for about 30 minutes before heading back to our RV to do the exciting job of defrosting our refrigerator. Always fun!!

Weather: The temperatures today were in the upper 90s with a humidity of 60%. Sure feels muggy. We are kind of looking forward to heading up to northern Minnesota on Monday. Abut 20 degrees cooler up there.

Sunday, June 7, 2020 - We planned to take the kayaks to a lake in Omaha, but the winds were projected to be high. When we awoke, we found that the winds were too high to make the kayaking trip fun, so we aborted the kayaking trip mission. We decided, instead, to plan out our next month of travels into Minnesota and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We were out on our side deck at the table making plans when the couple next to us prepared to leave. We said, "Hi" to them and then found out that they had lived their entire lives on the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. For 45 minutes, they provided us with campgrounds to go to and sights to see. They were amazing and helpful. We seem to find a lot of that on the road. Nobody is in a hurry and they will help you with any info that they can provide. Our plan is pretty well set for now.

1. Tomorrow we depart for Summit, South Dakota for a two-day stay. Summit is a super-small town in the very northeast corner of South Dakota.
2. On June 10, we travel to Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota and stay at "Pete's Retreat" for three days.
3. On June 12, we leave Mille Lacs Lake for Big Bend Union Bay on the western side of Michigan's Upper Penninsula.
4. On June 15, we depart for Big Cedar RV Park in the center of the Upper Penninsula near Munising, Michigan. Here, we will join up with our friends Loraynne and Brian and we will be traveling with them for about three weeks.
5. On June 18, we will depart for a Sault St. Marie on the very eastern portion of the Upper Penninsula, but we do not yet have a stopping place scheduled.
6. On June 22, we will depart for the Iron River area of the lower central part of the Upper Penninsula. We are basically traveling back to Minnesota to spend about three weeks there traveling with Brian and Loraynne.
7. On June 25, we will travel to Wildwedge RV Park in Pequot Lakes, Minnesota. This is a "pretty fancy" resort in the south center of Minnesota.
8. On June 29, we will depart for northern Minnesota and Arnold's RV Park in International Falls, Minnesota. We plan to spend a week at this park and see the entire northern border area of Minnesota.
9. On July 6, we will depart for Two Harbors, Minnesota near Duluth to spend a week in that area.
10. After this, we do not have any plans as of yet, but we will likely move into Wisconsin and then into Indiana. We plan to have some maintenance done on the RV in Indiana in July or August.