Visit to the Ranch:

OK, forgot about this for a while; taking a little break since return from the trip I guess:
Anyway, this is the 2nd visit to the ranch to check on the cattle, run the horses a bit, and tend to the barn. Last visit w Rich Flynn got to sneak over to Silver Creek a bit for a good day of fishing! Caught some nice fish but the Droid X got over-exposed to the moisture over there I guess and it went totally dead. After some discussion, I got a new one. That's all.
Came up here again d-r-i-v-i-n-g, my nemesis, to bring up the Subaru, my least partial car. Came up this time for some general R & R, and to bring the horses down so I exchanged the Subaru for the diesel and we'll take off tomorrow am early, providing I can capture the horses..
Did some more racoon control: that makes 5 in the last few weeks. No wonder Barn Cat has been so agitated; more than usual, that is.
It's cold finally; low 20's in the am, but up to low 50's during the day. Yesterday had the first snow flurries of the season, but didn't stick.
Tomorrow is Ash' and Paul's wedding anniversary: Congrats to them! Also, Susan turns 54.
So, it's me and Autie, and home we go tomorrow. Have a Christmas Tree permit, and the next time we're up will be around the 1st of Dec, just after Thanksgiving week-end.
Love to all, Come Visit! Dad

Last Day on the Hühnsruck..

Well, it had to happen; this is our last night in Germany. We had a wonderful day again here traveling with Gerlinde and visiting old friends.
First we had a long breakfast, talking, laughing, eating, planning. The first thing we did was go to Kaefer´s (aka Three Sisters)which was and still is very nice store in Sohren. When our family was here before it was open, still is, and still operated by one of the children who was only 22 when we were here but is still going strong. She produced a book that she started keeping for returning Americans who were stationed @ Hahn and of course I wrote a few lines, names, dates, etc. Bought the usual crystal and doodads at "cheap" prices and had a good time there. Was nice to see a familiar sight after touring Hahn yesterday w Peter Shittko and Gerlinde and finding Hahn to be quite a different place! My old hospital is gone and the sight now we believe is a parking lot! We also did a dry run to return the rental car, catch a bus to Frankfurt, and go from there. No one wants to leave.
We then went to the church and the gravesite. I wanted to see where Carsten rests. Was very poignant for me, enough said.
We then traveled down to Burg Eltz! I took the family down there 30 years ago and we had a wonderful time. I ate yet another schintzel, a Bitburger Pils, then walked 1 mile to the castle. Is very cool and I know Susan enjoyed it too. Gerlinde is quite a walker.
We then visited Helmut Fuchs, another old team-mate. He heard I was around and we recognized each other immediately. Yet another very nice reunion.
My German friends have been so wonderful to Susan and I, very warm and gracious. The day yesterday w Peter was so much fun, and Gerlinde´s continual presence is priceless. I have fears we will not see her again; she will have to form a new life for herself and it probably will not include travel back to the US, especially to Arizona. I don´t know if or when we can come back here. Maybe we can meet somewhere in the future. Peter and Jorg promise to come to the States in the near future and stay with us some, but I am sad for and about Gerlinde. She is a very strong woman, though, and I know she will do fine where-ever life will take her.
This has been a very special trip with many very special friends and experiences. I will miss these wonderful people and this wonderful place for a long long time.
Tomorrow we catch the bus, catch the plane, and hopefully to end up in Tucson.
Love, DAD

To-From Basel;

I have no idea what day of the trip this is: all I know is that we just yesterday said our good-byes to new friends, promises to try to keep in touch, visits, etc.. got the taxi to the Bahnhof, took the train up to Mannheim, met Margit Wingerter, got the rental car, and followed her to her home in Deidesheim. Jorg met us. What a time we had with them in their home! We had so many fun rememberences, read the scrap book entrees w newspaper clippings and photos (all in the local Kirchberg paper about the new tennis team..) and had a wonderful evening. Got up kind of late because all we,ve done lately it seems is drink more wine, and had a fun breakfast. Jorg and I walked about 200 yds to the local bakery, bought some fresh bread stuffs and vegetables, and walked back to their house. They have such a healthy lifestyle over here which is good because they are truly taxed to death!! Unbelievable what taxes they have to pay!
Anyway, what fun it was to see them again and have such a good time. We then headed up to Kirchberg and that is where we are now.
Kind of a tearful reunion w Gerlinde. We just hugged, and I told her in German how sorry I am that I am too late, and we shared some tears then and there. She is a really fun and great lady. We have become settled, had some coffee and torte, then went for a long walk. We went to Carsten and Gerlinde´s first house by the tennis courts, and then went to the house where Carsten´s mother Frau Koppke lives. She is 92 and her mind is sharp as ever. She remembers me well, remembers Inger and Ashlez and Erica, and we talked about the old days IN DETAIL! We remembers my 2 matches w Jorg, the one that I won and the one I lost, and we had a great time. For the life of me I do not know where my German speech is coming from, but we talked quite a while with Gerlinde as a helper now and then. She enjoyed meeting Susan, and it was quite an experience. She is a gracious elderlz lady, has a sharp memory about lots of things over the last 60 years or so, and she is quite interesting. A world traveler for sure.
Walked back to Gerlinde´s house, she cooked up a fantastic dinner, more wine, and now I´m struggling to type some blog stuff on an European computerö the keyboard is quite different in several respects..
But, now, to bed. Tomorrow another team mate from the olden days comes and we will tour the area. There is a completely new autobahn that connects the old Flugplatz Hahn with the Rhine autobahn, and it by-passes Simmern, Kirchberg, and even Beuchenbeuren. There are now wind turbines all over the landscape of the old Huhnsruck and of course I do not like it one bit. And there you go. I should have returned many years ago. love to all, DAD

Day Whatever; Strasbourg!

Well, first, to complete yesterday's story;
I was sitting just off the boat with some new friends enjoying a HefeWeizen, when Susan comes up and taps me on the shoulder (she was still on the boat); she said she had a surprise for me; I looked up and lo and behold there was Margit and Jorg Wengerter!! My kids, you probably remember, you have heard about him all your lives. He was my main doubles partner in Germany from '77-'80, and we did quite well together. He is now a Judge, of all things, and still does not speak English well. His wife Margit, a really fun gal, speaks excellent English since she was raised in South Africa. Anyway, what an incredible reunion. It was so unbelievably fun to see them again. They made the trip in the hopes of meeting the boat before it sailed since his doctor's appt ended sooner than expected, and so they came on down to the pier. We only had about 1/2 hour together, but what a time. We are to meet them again in a couple of days to spend the night and have more time to reminesce. He is a great guy and was a great partner.
After we had to leave them and board the boat, we traveled to Strasbourg. It is another incredible European town, going back and forth from German to French to back to French. The Cathedral is amazing, and the clock inside still works from the year 1450 or so. We spent the day in Strasbourg, had a boat tour in the canals (it is the "Venice" of France. The problem for me was, now we were expected to speak FRENCH. I don't like that language, no one spoke either English very well or let alone German, and so it goes. Susan was not really prepared so she wasn't that helpful...still, she managed to buy a pretty table cloth; I bought the Eclair Chocolat for breakfast tomorrow. Our friends will be jealous. Maybe; they aren't exactly starving us on the boat, and the wine flows freely. The nice German white wines, that is. We walked and walked along the little cobblestone streets, by the canals, and window shopped. It is expensive here and the value for the $$ that would be spent is not good. Unfortunately, there are one-of-a-kind items here that are quality made and it's tough to let some go bye. But we did...
Tonight we already had a disembarcation briefing. It is sad; we've made some great friends and we will miss their fellowship. Tomorrow though is yet another day, to Colmar (a medieval French town), and another one in the afternoon. Tomorrow night is the Captain's farewell dinner. Ugh. It will very hard to leave. BUT, then we get on the train, head for Mannheim to once again see and stay with the Wengerters', then on to Kirchberg and stay w Gerlinde Koppke. We will also see Peter Shittko and spend a day with him in the Huhnsruck. Still so much to look forward to but we've found a niche of friendship that has just seemed to mesh.
Love to all, DAD

My goodness, Day 11 already! In Speyer

Well, I can't believe it's been so long since I've been able to post something. The coverage is spotty for sure, and so much has happened, and it's all been such a wonderful trip.
We sailed down the Mosell and stopped at 2 old stomping grounds, Bernkastel-Kues and Traben-Trabach. We did more wine probes, wonderful and fun-filled dinners, and tours. I can't remember drinking more German white Reisling wines that I have these past few days and maybe that's part of why I haven't posted, not sure. But, we have lots and lots of pictures to share.
I've had chess games on top of the boat, great discussions with new friends, such a fun trip (have I said that?)
Anyway, yesterday was Rudesheim (on the way we ran the gauntlet down the Rhine; about 12 castles with running commentaries and wine of course en route), and did another tour of the town of course. Last night's dinner was a really fun time with a band, lots of people out for the dinner, and it was in a restaurant in the town itself. Got back about 10 and then stayed on top of the boat sharing another bottle of wine with friends. We need to be getting to bed earlier I think.
Tonight we dine on board, then have a KriskindleMarkt on board as well en route to Strasbourg. Strasbourg is the "Venice" of France and I've been there before. Promises to be another great day for sure; we continue to have great weather without rain to dampen our journey.
No one's missed any more boat deadlines, but the subject still comes up once in a while..
The antiquity of these places boggles the mind. Speyer dates from about 2000 years ago, first a German tribe settlement, then Roman, then German tribe again, then the Franks, then the Holy Roman Empire property, then this and then that and so it goes. A common thread is that everthing gets destroyed about every 300-400 years or so, then re-built. The cathedral here, though, was built in the 800's and stayed pretty consistent. It's Romanesque (as opposed to Baroque) and it shows. It was Here in This cathedral that Martin Luther started his move to reforming the Catholic Church, which, of course, resulted in the great schism. Anyway, it's an exciting place to be and to be able to sit in these places and listen to the stories. We've had great guides as well.
We've seen ancient city walls, cathedrals, castles, parts of castles, and so on.
Soon we will leave this ship and our new friends, and head up to see some old and dear ones. Hope all is well in Arizona! Go Cat's! Love DAD

Day 6, maybe: To Trier!

Ah, cruising down the beautiful Mosel River valley: spent a great day in Cochem yesterday, with a bus excursion to Eideger. The castle at Cochem is very cool, neat little town, and it's wonderful to be here again. On the way back to the bus we stopped into a little mustard mill, very old, and bought some German Senft. Goes great with Bratwurst! (more about this later...)
The side trip to Eideger was very interesting as well. We took a bus to the small village about 20" away, were met by the Burgermeister, he gave a little talk of welcome, then we trooped in a procession to an ancient little church and we had a little concert! He was in medieval attire, had the "keys", and it was really fun. We also had an official wein probe at a local winery, and the wines we sampled were soooo good. So, we bought 2 boxes; one for Gerlinde when we see her, and one we hope to get home somehow.
When we got back to the barge, Susan volunteered to go help another couple buy some mustard at the mill that was close by, as above. Of course by the time they got back they had missed the boat and we had left the dock. Well, timing is crucial on the Mosell because of the locks, and so we had to get going. After a conversation and some pleading with a French captain on another barge that was tied up a bit upstream, he agreed to let the threesome board that vessel, cross to ours as we tied up alongside. After the proper maneuvering the miscreants got boarded much to the amusement to our fellow passengers. Susan had the fortitude to apologize to the Captain, and the Cruise director; they were very gracious and no harm done "this time". The incident served as pretty funny conversation last evening and this am though.
I see we have a travel advisory for Americans in Europe for possible terrorist attacks. I really feel we are fine here in the Huhnsruck, but as we travel down toward the bigger cities we'll just have to see. My erstwhile friends back in Tucson it seems have already divided up the pick-up, sold the plane, and are working on selling the ranch. No one seems to want the midget cows or my golf clubs. Haven't mentioned Auti yet either come to think of it.
Today we did walk into Trier; did you know it is the oldest city in Germany? Did you know the cathedral there dates from the 3rd century? Did you know they can make the best chocolate sundae there in the world? OK, maybe you don't know all that, but they can. Had another wonderful and informative lecture/tour, we're all back on the barge : where's Susan? Oh well, sure she's around here someplace!
Tonight we sail for Luxembourg, see the American cemetery and pay homage to General Patton, then turn around, head north, and stop at Berkastel-Kues. I hear we get to spend some time in Traben-Trabach as well. That's great news for me since that's one of my old haunts for wein-probes in the olden days.
Had a nice little break in the day and discussed the world's islamic problems w a couple of Canadians and a guy from Holland. The Canadians are pretty much in agreement w the American view, the Holland guy kind of said how tolerant they are in Holland and then wrung his hands a lot; too bad about the writer and the film director who were murdered for insulting their mohammed. Was a fun discussion.
Going to have another wine, then more food, then take a nap...more tomorrow I bet.Love DAD

Day 4 or so; Koblenz.

Well, we certainly had fun in Koln, and the trip up to the confluence of the Mosel and Rhine was very cool; lots of barge traffic, some missing us by about 10' or so. We passed by Remagen about 4 am, which was too bad because while I was up, too dark to see anything..this was the site of the "The Bridge Too Far" fame of WW II.
Turned the corner at the Moselle, lots of very interesting things here, for sure.
Statue of Otto von Bismark to commemmorate the reunification of Germany about 1880 or so.
The original church in which Charlemagne divided up the Holy Roman Empire and gave 1/3 to each of sons, hence starting the mechanism for centuries of warfare! It is here @ Koblenz, on the border of the outpost of the Roman Empire. Very cool; We had a great walking tour of Koblenz, and then after lunch explored Marksburg Castle. It is one of only two that have never been destroyed by either the French or WW II; great tour. There is of course the mandatory dungeoun/torture chamber, but also an excellent collection of original armor, broad swords, cross bows, etc. Incredible how the people lived in the middle ages, for sure.
So far we've had good weather and the food is excellent. We haven't even had to dip into our emergency chocolate stores that we bought in Koln @ the factory!
We've had regional wines paired w the dinners, some entertainment from local people, and some really good guides and talks about the area.
We are meeting some very interesting people and compare travel stories, family stories, etc. Last night, maybe I discussed it, but a couple escaped the barge with me (Susan went to bed early) and we went out for a couple of biers in a little bier stube. It's so fun to hear German and even speak it again. I've been studying my Rosetta Stone on the computer and it's working!
Tomorrow we head for Cochem; we get to meet the mayor and he gives a little welcome speech and then we go to some vintners for some wine testing and then to the local village streets for the WeinFest; the wine harvest is in full swing around the Mosel and Rhine Valleys and it is indeed a good time to be here! Now it's off for another supper, a little white wine of the Moselle Valley, and then I'm getting off the boat again for some more local experiences..The boat doesn't sail again until a little after midnight and I've made every deadline so far. All three of them! Hope all is well in Arizona!