Monday, August 10, 2009

Vacation

This post has nothing to do with art except that while in Kansas I took a boat load of reference photos. I attended an Army reunion with some of the guys I was stationed with back in Germany with the 1/37th Armor...1st Armored Division in Katterbach Germany. Needless to say we all had a great time. While there we were allowed to tour Ft Riley and the tank simulators they have. We were a tank unit, Gen. Pattons old unit that fought at the Battle of the Buldge to be exact, and we had the old M60A2 tanks. The simulators at Riley are of the new M1 Abrams tank you see fighting in the Desert Storm and Gulf wars. Too cool to fire and drive these newer tanks.
We stayed on a ranch owned by one of the guys just north of the town of Alta Vista, Kansas. We BBQ'd, drank beer, rode horses fished on his lake...lots of fun hanging out with these guys who really are like brothers to me.
The view from the front porch...lots of beautiful sunsets in Kansas.
This is the lake on the ranch where we had a small fishing derby.
My friend Dennis and I talked our host Steve into letting us drive his tractor and moves some of the bales of hay....or hay wheels. That's me driving and yes with cowboy hat on. The sun was scorching us all.

Dennis and I on an M60A1 tank we found in a park in Council Bluffs, Kansas. Felt good to be on a tank after 30 years.

This is what the inside of one looks like...very cramped with lots of stuff to bang your head on. Dennis in the Tank Commander position and me down below in the Gunners compartment.


I have a lot of fond memories of my old Army days and you develop really close relationships with the guys you served with. It was 30 years since most of us had seen each other but after 5 minutes it felt as if we had all gone home for 30 days leave and had just got back....we sounded exactly as we did back then, we got along just as we had back then in 76-79...it was great.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Really enjoyed this post, Ron. Isn't it life affirming to kow that the bonds of friendship endure over time and that we still have those positive feelings about our friends from the past. Recent contacts that I have had with friends from school days have given me similar feelings. Sounds like a great trip. Who won the fishing?

Ron Guthrie said...

Hi Mick,
A friend of our host who fishes that pond threw in his line 30 minutes after our group had started fishing and caught a 16-17 inch catfish to win. Good looking fish too.
We are from all over the States and have all been through many things in 30 years but it was like sliding on an old baseball glove. We are all as close as we ever had been. There was a lot of hugging when we each departed too.
A great bunch of guys. It's great to see people you thought you'd never see again....good thing the computer came along.