25 Sep - Greg Cullen Visit, Opera House, Burr Oak Winery, Volk Field Visit

25 Sep
One of the things we really enjoy as we travel around the United States is reconnecting with friends, relatives and military comrades.  This morning the retired Wisconsin Air National Guard State Command Chief  and good friend Greg Cullen stopped by the RV to say howdy.  Greg now works at Volk Field CRTC that we talked about yesterday, so he popped over here to see us while at Ft McCoy conducting some business.  He also bought a fifth wheel RV but has it parked in a seasonal spot near Castle Rock Lake north and east of Volk a few miles.  Since Greg is still employed and his daughter is still in high school, he and his wife are not able to travel like Doreen and I are, but indicated he would like to in the future.

It was great to talk with Greg again.  We served on a national-level committee together, so we attended most of the same conferences and meetings while we were both State Command Chiefs.

Doreen and I then headed past Tomah and Volk Field to New Lisbon WI.  Since it was lunchtime we stopped by one of my old watering holes called the Opera House.  Over the years while deployed to Volk Field with the Air National Guard, the Opera House was one of our favorite places to go at night for pizza.  

 We were surprised to see a for sale sign posted inside.  The owner's wife said it has been for sale for three years and they have only had one significant nibble on it.

We ordered one of their famous pizzas for lunch and brought half of it back to the RV for later consumption!

After lunch we headed out of New Lisbon just a mile or so to the Burr Oak Winery.  

Burr Oak entrance

Area used for special events

The vineyards

We have been here before and Doreen loves their cranberry wine.  They also make several other really good wines, so we sampled them again and then selected a case full to restock the wine rack at home.

Doreen at the tasting bar

Three sizes of tasting glasses available.  We chose the smallest.  The $5 cost is minimal for eight samples, so for $10 we got 16 samples

The score sheets.  Mine has the dots

The wine tasting was fun, but we needed to get headed back towards the RV.  We stopped by Volk Field just for old times and drove through the base.

 It looked pretty empty so there were apparently no big exercises or deployments going on right now. We cruised around and snapped a few pictures.  Here is one of the fire department.  The equipment bays are around the corner. Volk Field is configured like a full-up Air Force base and units rotate in and out of there and practice war games.  There is a range not far from Volk that the aircraft can drop ordinance and shoot their guns.  As I said before, I deployed up here many, many times.

Then we stopped by the BX to see of they had anything with "Volk Field" on it that we might send to our deployed daughter Jennifer.  Nope, no post cards, no tee shirts, no nothing.  So we headed back to the RV.  Doreen started a load of laundry and I commenced tearing down everything outside in preparation for our departure in the morning.  

Tomorrow we head to Lebanon Hills Campground near Apple Valley MN, just south of the Twin Cities.  The drive should not be too bad and we will be there shortly after noon.