First Annual Ramstein Volksmarch

I'm a bit behind but I'm going to throw this blog entry together quickly because we are headed out of town for a four day trip to Ireland and I will want that to be it's own special blog.  So here goes...
We had two fun Saturdays recently.  I told you in my last blog that while I was off to Cuijk with the girls, Mike was on a twenty mile bike ride with his scout troop.  So today I thought I'd post a few photos and his email that he sent to all the parents of the boys after the bike ride. 

Parents:

We had a great day yesterday on the Rhine and I am sure several stories have been told, I am here to put the kibosh to the embellishments with photographic proof.  Like any good novel you must lead with definitions lest your audience grows weary from all those acronyms.  Any good Fighter Pilot must prepare his audience with a short explanation.

CSAR-Combat Search and Rescue, That is what we do when any of the friendlies get lost or captured.
IP-Isolated Personnel, This is the person that is either captured or separated from other friendies (ie lost)
DACT-Dissimilar Air Combat Tactics, 2 or more different type Fighters in an Air to Air engagement (ie High Priest vs Priest)
Formation Flight-Several aircraft in the same flight tied together by visual or radar (ie sometimes cell phone)
AB-Afterburner, The thing that makes you go faster in a fighter
Fights on-Term used to denote beginning of the competition

We departed the Netto in a flight of 5 with 28 bikes, actually we miscounted and had 30 bikes you can never have too many.
 

 Brother Price and Brother Harris were in the lead, since I had the trailer my VMax (maximum speed) was 100 KPH.  I had searched the target area (parking place) with satellite imagery (google map) and located a large empty parking lot near the Mainz Bahnhof.  When we arrived we discovered the reason said parking lot was empty is because it costs 1.50 euro per 30 minutes.  We quickly became 5 single ships looking for a better parking location.  Lead foot Harris having arrived 20 minutes ahead of everyone else had previously discovered an empty park on the North side of the Rhine.  Did I mention the original plan was to ride along the South shore.  Flexibility is the key to airpower, we decided to ride along the North shore near Wiesbaden.  Two points to Brother Harris for saving the scout budget 75 euro for parking.

Lining up at the starting line I am thinking how am I going to keep 21 scouts and 7 older gentleman together.  Time for a safety briefing; all the boys are paired up and told not to lose their partner, and don’t break anything.  I am thinking put the fast guy that runs marathons in the front.  I give all the leaders a map, this was a good thing.  Note to self, next time make sure fast guy that runs marathons (Brother Parish) knows how to read said map.  Next I say all right we will stop and rejoin about 7 KM down the trail at a Bieberich Castle.  It is also good to have big things on your map that you can see from a long distance.



We are off and only have 1 accident enroute to our rejoin location.  Brother Price is following Davis Fawcett, who approaching a ramp next to stairs decides to take the stairs and perform a cork 900 (fancy maneuver going up the stairs) Brother Price is thinking cool I can do that.  I am a few seconds in trail and round the corner to see Brother Price and his bike horizontal on said stairs, fortunately nothing broken. 

 We all rejoin for lunch at Kurfurstliche Castle.

 

 As we are getting ready to depart on the last leg of our journey Harrison Adams and Travis Palmer run up to our chase vehicle to make some rapid repairs.  Travis says I have never seen anyone change a tire that fast.  They get back to the lunch location and all that is left are myself and the  Priests.  Time to catch up and have a little DACT (see above definitions) along the way.  Bowen Creer takes the lead and gains immediate nose position, fights on,  I select AB and push to the front (nose position is everything).  Travis yells at Bowen, “Be careful, he doesn’t like to lose!”  You know those red and white striped poles they put in the ground about 18” apart to keep cars off the trail? We are approaching a set at VMax for me.  As I have nose position I push Bowen to the outside thinking no sweat he has to let off now.  But no, obviously Bowen also does not like to lose, he takes it off in the grass, the old people are scattering, and saying something in German.  I think they were cheering the old gray haired guy on but I did not want to stop and ask.  After about 100 yds the Priests are out of sight.  Oh to be young again.
 

 On the last leg of our journey Jerran Caroll has a serious emergency, engine failure in flight, (his right peddle fell off) which induces an immediate spin with all that thrust on the left side.  But with superb airmanship and expert skills well above that of his peers he is able to land it safely without incident.  Now we have an IP, we are in enemy territory, next to the sewage treatment plant, and away from any suitable landing area.  Jerran’s wingman Dave Bretzke notifies HQ of the wounded bird and calls for an immediate CSAR.  Captain Dale Sampson, call sign Sandy 1 is sitting CSAR alert when the call comes in for the evac.  Capt Sampson, without regard for his own safety expertly maneuvers the Creer van into position for a successful pick-up.
 

I am just catching up with the Deacons as we are approaching the end rendezvous point with no one in sight.  Did I mention our fearless leader, the one who runs marathons, has missed nearly every rendezvous point so far.  We finally catch up with the rest of the group in the town of Rudesheim, 1 mile past the finish line.



We all had a great time, thanks for lending me your sons for a Saturday, it is always a pleasure to be with them they are such great kids.   
 
Mike Palmer

So as you can see... They had a wonderful time and many great memories were made!!The next Saturday was the First Annual Ramstein Ward Volksmarch!  Volksmarching is a popular thing to do here in Germany and there are a lot of clubs and opportunities to do it.  It's basically an organized hike and they collect patches and these little metal things that they put on their walking sticks.  On any given weekend, you can find a Volksmarch going on somewhere around you.  Well our ward decided to have a Volksmarch for a ward activity.  It was so much FUN!   They marked out two routes..a 1.5 mile and a 3 mile one.  The started from the same location and then split and eventually rejoined to finish together.  
 

He's so handsome!

 This is the park where we met.  It was pretty chilly that morning but it did warm up a bit.

Travis planking on a very tall rock!

 The Bishop gave us instructions..always with a good dose of humor thrown in.

 And we were off...

 There we quite a few hills, lots of woods and great vistas.

 After the walk, we met again for some yummy fruit, granola bars and pretzels (hey..we are in Germany and it is a "Volksmarch"!

My friend, Becky's Westie...I need one of these!

And so that it's for this week.  I feel much better that now I'm all caught up and I can go to Ireland...take lots of photos and then do this again next week!

love and miss you all,

-corri