13 May - Goodbye Nebraska; Hello Kansas!

13 May
Another gorgeous day in the Midwest.  We bugged out of Offutt Air Force Base FamCamp about 0800 hrs and headed about 300 miles south and west towards Wichita KS and McConnell Air Force base FamCamp, arriving at 1418 hrs.  The trip was unremarkable, with a brief stop at a fuel stop near Emporia where we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then motored on down the road.  There was a strong headwind which dropped our towing MPG down to below 10, which is very unusual.  Normally we get between 11 and 12 MPG or more.

Stop #2 on our Northwest Trip 2017!

Hello Kansas, the sunflower state!

The billeting office at McConnell AFB where we checked-in for the FamCamp.

 While we were checking in to the billeting office, retired State Command Chief John Kimball checked in too!  We had been in contact during our trip planning and had planned to camp together here.  John was a Chief Master Sergeant with the 184th Communications Flight here at McConnell AFB.  He was in Communications Operations here similar to me being in Communications Maintenance at the Des Moines Air National Guard Base.  John went on to serve as the Kansas State Command Chief and also did a tour in Afghanistan, similar to me serving as the State Command Chief in Iowa and doing a tour in Iraq.  John also co-instructed the Command Chief course that I attended.  It is so great to see John again and reconnect!

So, after checking in we both headed to the campground.  McConnell has two campgrounds;  the old, original campground and the new campground.  Even though we made our reservation on 12 Jan 2017, over four months ago, we were assigned the old campground which is badly neglected to say the least.  It obviously had not been mowed in months and was in bad repair plus the sites are very, very tight.

With slides out there is little room between our RV's.

It also has no sewer hookup.  If we were going to be here for any length of time I would have left and found another campground, but we will only be here two nights , so we will "suck it up buttercup".  It's all good! Improvise, adapt, overcome!

All set up, Cubs-Cards game tuned in!

  So we got all set up and made plans for the evening with John Kimball and Jane.  John's son-in-law Nathan is a brewer at Central Standard Brewing, a local micro-brewery and they were having a nice event today called Sunflower Boogiedown 2017.

All of their brews were being served along with various food vendors and live music.  We had a great time and met John's daughter Liz, Nathan's wife.  My first brew was a "Girlfriend", a nice hoppy wheat beer at 5.6%  I also sampled a Boogiedown Pale, a kettle-soured pale at 5.11%.  Doreen had a Sangria.

John Kimball, Jane, Doreen and I enjoying the tunes and the brews.

We then headed to Old Town Wichita for dinner at Public at the Brickyard.  Similar to Des Moines' Court Avenue and East Side, it is so nice to see these preserved and renovated  On the way back to the campground John drove us through the Air Guard Base and showed us their Air Park full of static display aircraft including a B-1B bomber.  It was so nice of John and Jane to show us the town.

Many have asked me if I miss the Air National Guard since I retired.  I was in the military my entire adult life, from age 17 to age 60.  Obviously I miss the Guard, I miss the Air Force, but it is really all about the people.  It is so nice to be able to travel the Nation and reconnect with those with whom I served.  You meet a ton of people over a 42+ year career.  This is the life!  But tomorrow it is all about Doreen!  Happy Mother's Day to you all.