RG & Carole Head have had an exciting time this year. In March they took a Seabourn cruise of New Zealand and Australia.

To begin, they flew to Sydney, saw two operas and made a presentation of RG’s book, Oswald Boelcke, to the Australian Society of WWI Aviation Historians and the Western Front Association. RG reports that the first printing of the book is completely sold out, the second (Hardback) printing is virtually sold out, and a third printing is now in paperback. In addition, the book has been translated into the German language and is being distributed there.

Then they joined the ship in Auckland and headed down the east coast of North Island to Blenheim, where they spoke to the members of the Sir Peter Jackson Omaka Aviation Heritage Museum.

They made a third presentation in the salon of the cruise ship enroute to Melborne, where they spent an afternoon with Jim and Erika Kerr.

Finally, they just returned from Sheppard AFB where they--as the guest of the former Wing Commander of the 31st Wing "Boelcke" in Germany--made a presentation to the German and other Allied pilots of the Eur-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program.

RG comments, ". . . the model Albatros D.II and the book have given a whole new purpose to our retired life. Warm regards to all Classmates."

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This from J.T. Smith: I just returned from a ride on the Rocky Mountaineer, a private site-seeing train operating in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. When I was a kid, I used to ride the Santa Fe Super Chief from LA to Chicago each summer to visit family in Illinois. Those early experiences spawned a life-long love of trains, and I ride them whenever the opportunity presents. The Rocky Mountaineer has been on my must-do list for quite some time. In fact, Diane and I were booked on this same trip back in 2016, but I had to cancel it when her stroke and subsequent passing brought this and other dreams to a close.

I did not want to make the trip on my own, but when my long-time and dear friend Beth Shepard agreed to go along, I rescheduled. There are several options of varying length available, but I chose the longest one, and their "Gold Leaf" service to maximize the experience. Their less expensive "Silver Leaf" service provides the same scenery but considerably less pampering. We flew into Seattle on 31 August and traveled to Vancouver, BC on 1 September. What followed was one of those "experience-of-a-lifetime" trips through some of the most interesting and beautiful scenery imaginable.

For a complete account of the trip, see my report in the Travelogues Section.