Tag Archives: Nebraska

Nebraska Trip, June 2015

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This was a perfect trip…lovely weather, worthy friends and a bit of nirvana.

I had an opportunity to visit my hometown of Cozad, Nebraska and I took it…or I should say my lovely wife Linna gave me her blessing to fly back home for 4 days to see friends and classmates. I also had a motive, my good friend and classmate Jerry Story was coming back from Finland with his family and we haven’t seen each other for a couple of years or so. Plus my other good friends and classmates Brad Wilcher and Nick Morse from Lincoln, Nebraska were coming back too. My ex-brother-in-law Brad Stallbaumer opened up his 6 bedroom house to Wilcher and I and we used it for home base the whole weekend.

First night back we all met up at the local Elks club for food and beverage, we had other 1979 classmates that showed up too; Andy Pflaster, Todd Morris, Deb Hunke and Kelly Worrell. Of course we closed down the Elks and a few of us walked over to Big E’s…the only bar left in my small town of 3,500 people. Even though I finally got to bed in the wee hours, I answered the bell for breakfast at the Green Apple restaurant in Cozad…of course my classmate Todd Morris had to call me out of bed though.

Breakfast was followed by a fishing trip with a long time buddy John Dorsey out to Johnson Lake about 15 miles from Cozad. We usually limit out on decent size Walleye, but our fishing rods were only bringing in small rubbish fish. Not to waste any precious time during this well-deserved hometown visit our group took off to Eustis, Nebraska for Wurst Tag for the evening; this is more or less one big ass party that is similar to Oktoberfest. This was actually a fabulous time to meet up with many old friends to share stories. One major gripe I have is the light beer they were serving during a major German type festival…your only choices were Coors Light, Bud Light and Busch Light! Who in their right mind would serve such crap beer for a major German festival?

My last day was another Green Apple breakfast followed by some target shooting with the Story family. I brought back my 9mm and .45 Kimber 1911 style guns from Seattle and we shot 200 rounds of ammo. This was the first time shooting for Erika and Patrick Story and I know they appreciated it.

Nebraska Trip, July 2012

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I had two main reasons for this trip, to see my sister Nova in Nebraska and to summit Mt. Elbert on my 52nd birthday in Colorado. I flew to Omaha via a Minneapolis connection by myself; Linna would join me later in the week in Denver. It was a smooth and sunny flight over to Minneapolis; the beautiful Cascades still had a lot of snow on top.

After flying into Omaha, I grabbed a rental car and drove over to my sister Alicia’s house in La Vista, Nebraska for a long overdue visit with her and her children Kason and Jolie. Later in the day I drove over to Lincoln to meet up with Brad Wilcher an old classmate of mine from high school. I lived with Brad and his family for a small stint my senior year in Cozad and we have maintained a worthy correspondence ever since. We ended up having a few beers at a local hot spot talking about old times, people and sharing a few laughs.

The next day was a leisurely drive to Kearney, Nebraska to meet up with my sister Nova where she was having some medical testing done. She was diagnosed with cancer about 1 1/2 years ago; she looked great for what she has endured. After her testing we met at the Alley Rose, about the only nice restaurant in this small college town of 30,000 people. I didn’t have any plans after dinner so I decided to call John Dorsey on a whim who lives in my hometown of Cozad. After a quick 45 minute drive I was sitting in John’s backyard enjoying a refreshing cold beverage with him and his son Mike Dorsey. Mike is a retired Marine and is living out to Johnson Lake for a few months before heading onto Alaska where he will guide big game hunts and fishing trips. John was nice enough to offer up a guest bedroom and a delicious brunch the next day. Before driving out to Johnson Lake for a swim I stopped by to chat with Deb Hunke, another old classmate of mine.

Later in the evening I met up with my ex-brother-n-law Brad Stallbaumer and his wife Gina Krysl Clyde at the local Elks Club. During dinner a woman came over to grab a spare chair from our table and to my surprise it was another classmate of mine Renee Rowe, it seems I run into her on every Cozad trip I make. After dinner we cruised around Cozad and to check out Brad’s house where he is adding another 2,200 square feet.

I left Cozad around 9:30 p.m. to head toward Denver; I thought I would stay at the Hampton Inn in North Platte about a 45 minute drive west. They were full, no biggie I said to myself…I will drive to the next town toward Denver. Well, the next town and the next town were all full too. I finally pulled over in a hotel parking lot and crawled in back of my rented Jeep and crashed about 1:30 a.m. After sleeping for about 6 hours I woke up in my same clothes I had on the day before and went into the Hampton Inn and had breakfast. I picked up my wife Linna at the Denver airport at 3:00 p.m. and headed for Mt. Elbert, my birthday hike.

Nebraska Trip, April 2011

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I haven’t been back to my hometown (Cozad, Nebraska) since my class reunion in September 2009.  The main purpose was to spend Easter with my sister Nova Walker, she was diagnosed with cancer 6 months ago.  Linna and I flew direct from Seattle to Denver on Alaska Airlines, just a little over 2 hours.  Cozad is located on Interstate 80 halfway between Denver and Omaha; taking a direct flight from Seattle is much easier than flying into Omaha with a connection and still driving 4 hours.  The Eastern side of Colorado is not much to look at and all it does is encourages you to drive as fast as you can through it.  Speed limit is 75 and I usually drive 85 to 95 to make sure I get to Cozad for dinner…..well this time I had Mr. State Trooper stop me to say hi. 

After we settled in with my good friend AJ Hudgins and his girlfriend of 27 years, Colleen Favinger in Cozad we headed out to Bella Italia for dinner.  There isn’t much in Cozad, but I have to admit I am totally impressed with this Italian restaurant located in my small hometown.  After dinner, AJ and I sat up until 4 a.m. gossiping about the 4,000 residents in Cozad.  The next two days AJ and I spent driving around Cozad seeing old friends and neighbors.  We stopped in to visit with Mark McKeone, Scott Diehl, Eric Seaman, Marty Munster, Verna Story, Ardi Wilcher, Heidi Bazata, John Dorsey, Scott Hergenrader, Sherry Armagost and even dropped off a dozen tulips to Ardi Wilcher.

Linna and I spent Easter Sunday with my sisters Nova and Alicia and their families.  We started the day off with church service at the Nazarene; I haven’t been to a church service for 9 years or so…..and it might be another 9 before I go back.  After church we drove over to Gothenburg, ten miles west of Cozad for brunch at Walker’s Steakhouse.  After munching down the Midwest buffet, we headed back to Nova’s house for pictures and an Easter egg hunt for the kids. 

Most all small towns in the Midwest, especially Nebraska….the towns are pretty much closed down on Sundays….which means there is no place to dine.  The nearest town for a decent dinner on a Sunday is Kearney, a college town 50 miles East of Cozad.  We first stopped at Hunan’s, a Chinese restaurant that Linna rejected after taking one look at the menu.  After another late night, we got up Monday morning and headed back to Denver.  I took a small detour to Sidney, Nebraska and stopped in at Cabelas to pick up a new shotgun case for my over/under Browning Citori 12 guage shotgun that I was flying back to Seattle with me.