In August 1978 I had another business trip to a conference with the German Ministry of Defense officials at the Armed Forces Recreation Center on the southern shore of Lake Chiemsee. This was one of many former Nazi resorts taken over by U.S. forces. Again, during the day I had meetings, but afterwards Rich (a colleague who would also become a lifelong friend along with his wife Judy), Linda and I would tour the countryside between the lake and the German Alps. We would find a nice restaurant during our travels, and enjoy delicious schnitzel, sauerbraten, strudel and beer. On another day we took a boat out to Herrenchiemsee Island to see King Ludwig II castle by the same name. The castle was modeled upon King Loius XIV's Versailles. Our conference was cut short because our ... read more

I replaced my original text for this entry, as I recently recieved Kathy's detailed report of the trip which I have drawn upon for this entry. 15 June 1978 Thursday. Buz and Kathy arrived in Frankfurt at 7:30 am; one hour earlier than we expected them. We met up about 9 am. Linda dropped me off at my office on her way home, as I had to work. Unfortunately for Buz and Kathy I wasn't able to take much leave for the time they were visiting us. They rested up to recuperate from the long flight. After dinner we walked through the village, and then played Dutch Blitz. 16 June 1978 Friday. I had a meeting in Trier, which is the oldest city in Germany and where the Roman Emperor Constantine was born. I dropped them ... read more

Every January it was a tradition for the office to take a weeklong all inclusive ski trip to Erpfendorf, Austria, near St Johann and Kitzbuhl. On Saturday we would drive directly there and checked into the Larchenhof Hotel. Nan and Stacey, our neighbors from Glan Munchweiller, along with their kids Lowell and Allison, would convoy with us. Sunday morning after breakfast we were divided into groups by level of experience. Linda and I were grouped with the beginners. We proceeded to the bunny slope to learn how to snow plow and schuss. That was pretty much how we spent the rest of the day. The second day we were subdivided into slow beginners and fast beginners. This is when Linda and I were split up. The fast beginners then went to the top of the hill ... read more

On August 17th after an all night MAC flight from McGuire AFB in New Jersey, my sponsor met me at the Rhein Main airport and drove the two hours to my hotel in Ramstein village. I checked into the hotel where I would stay until I found an apartment to rent. The village is next to the air base where I would work as a civil engineer and project manager for NATO Infrastructure projects at the headquarters of U.S. Air Forces in Europe. Housing was in very tight supply, but I used a local real estate agent and in about three weeks found a duplex in Glan Munchweiler, a small farming village about 16 kilometers northwest of the base. There was only one other American family in the village, Nan and Stacy, and we became good ... read more

22 May 1977 Sunday. The only trip I took Linda on was to Bermuda. The official part was for three days where I was to conduct an acceptance inspection for an ammunition storage compound. We flew Eastern Airlines from Washington National to Bermuda, and I can understand why they went bankrupt. The stewardess was passing around candy and when she got to us, she told us that there wasn’t enough for everyone so passed us by. I was too shocked to respond. We never flew Eastern again. We stayed at a small boutique hotel on the hill above Hamilton. We ate at the hotel restaurant the first evening. We should have realized that the meal was going to be expensive when the maitre de brought the menu without prices. It was a great meal, but we ... read more