Wow! Here's a fellow we haven't seen in a long, long time! Preston Stone

Jim Wallner ran across him and convinced him to come join us for lunch. Preston used to handle marketing/sales for the Far East way back when. Good to see him again, and we hope he comes back regularly.

More pictures are here.

We're a group of folks who at one time or another worked with or for Collins Radio/Rockwell International/Alcatel in the general Richardson area. It's a chance to meet and socialize with old friends from years ago. Everyone's welcome! We like new friends too! We meet monthly at 11:30 a.m. at Tino's Too, 220 Avenue K, in Plano. Our meeting day is normally the 13^th of each month. If the 13^th falls on a weekend, Monday, or holiday we meet the following Tuesday. Our next meeting will be Tuesday September 1 at 11:30 a.m. at Tino's Too in Plano. Join us!

Visiting Texas in mid-August isn't really recommended, but folks are at the mercy of school schedules. A little basketball outside convinced everybody that indoor games were preferable. Someone got the bright idea that they would teach 7 year old great-nephew Lucas to play Mahjong. I think the idea bommeranged on them though, because pretty soon he was winning nearly every game.

Although it made the trip fine, our 2013 Ford Expedition was definitely showing its age. Expecting a housefull of company shortly, Angie convinced me that it was 'bout time to get something newer. A long story short, we traded for a 2027 Ford Expedition with all the bells and whistles. Of course it was then mandatory to take the traditional picture in the same outfit and the same place.

Myself walking across the first bridge spanning the Mississippi river in Lake Itaska State Park in Minnesota. There are more pictures here on Flickr.

We wandered up from St. Paul to Deluth to see Lake Superior. We decided that we'd come so far that we might as well go the whole way (to the beginning of the Mississippi). We made the drive over west to Lake Itaska Minnesota State Park and the origin of the Mississippi river. Here's Angie at the headwaters of the Mississippi river where it streams out of Lake Itaska.

Saint Paul, Minnesota is the northernmost port of the Mississippi which is navigable by the large boats. While there we visited St. Paul's Cathedral, well worth seeing.

This year, after attending my class reunion we decided to duplicate some of the Mississippi river cruises, but to do it via car rather than boat. We headed up the Great River Road from St. Louis and soon found ourselves in Hannibal, MO, home of Mark Twain. The town hosts a great memorial to Twain including the Mark Twain boyhood home and Museum. The Museum includes a collection original Norman Rockwell paintings done to illustrate an edition of the Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn books. While we were in the old downtown area we ran across these high school students made up as Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher.

We did make it, on time, the the 65th reunion of my Dyer High School graduating class of 1961. My pictures from all our reunions are here on Flickr.

While in the Nashville area, we journeyed to historic Franklin where we met Mike and Judy Foley for an early dinner at Puckett's. Angie and Judy worked together in Taiwan back in the early '70s.

In Tennessee we took the opportunity to revisit the Parthenon replica in Centennial Park in Nashville. It is a major art museum, but in a bit of bad luck, it was closed for repairs to its HVAC system.

In June we traveled back to my home town in Tennessee, staying at a motel in Jackson. While there we finally got around to visiting the restored home and museum of the famous Casey Jones..

We made a new friend at the Temple of Hathor. Again, there are more pictures here on Flickr.

Angie and I at the temple of Karnack in Luxor, Egypt. There are more pictures here on Flickr.

The spinx and the pyramids of Giza. These iconic landmarks of Egypt are actually at the very edge of a suburban area rather than far out in the lonely Sahara as we might think. There are more pictures here on Flickr.

In February of 2026 we embarked on another cruise, this time on the Nile river in Egypt. We got to do the customary things such as ride a camel, see the pyramids, and visit the valley of the kings. There are lots more picture here on Flickr.

Ever since I got interested in genealogy I've visited a multitude of cemeteries. In Grindelwald, Switzerland we visited what I think is the prettiest, most scenic cemetary I've ever seen. There are lots more pictures of our Swiss trip here on Flickr.

We also made it to Zermatt where we took a cog railway up to view the Matterhorn. There are lots more pictures of our Swiss trip here on Flickr.