July 30, 2010 This morning Mandy fixed a filing breakfast and I headed down to my early meeting with the governor’s staff. they were very receptive and gave me suggestions as to who I should follow up with in the legislature. At 10 am there was a scheduled ceremony at the local Elks Lodge. There … Read more

July 29, 2010 Travel day, 7 hours to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Ended up by invitation at the house of Mandy and John Estes, cousin to Chance Phelps. John helped me get my bearings for the morning and I went down for the count after a long long day. Tomorrow: Flag presentations and legislative visit. Blessings, George

July 28, 2010  Wednesday Dennis Edwards, the leader of the American Legion riders post 22, Rapid City, had begun planning my day the moment we met. He wanted to be sure that I had the best opportunity to share the message in the most places. Needless to say, today was packed. The morning began with … Read more

July 27, 2010   Tuesday This morning I was escorted by my four friends, Dennis, John, Dick and Ed to the statehouse. I have to pause and let you know that two things that happened before we arrived were that when I pulled into Bob’s Sinclair gas station to fill up, Bob would not let me … Read more

July 26, 2010   Monday Today was the scheduled personalized flag presentation at the state capitol for 130pm. I was called first thing this morning by the local news and drove down early to the statehouse for an interview. Following the interview, which is posted below, Reggie and I went to visit his local state … Read more

July 25, 2010 Today starts off with an opportunity to speak at a local church Solomon’s Rest. A very moving worship and a supportive congregation as I was able to again share the vision as God gave it to me.  …. This afternoon I actually figured out how to get water into and out of … Read more

July 24, 2010  Saturday Woke up to a beautiful sunrise over the campground and the incredible view of the North Dakota skyline. The  plan for today is a Fallen Hero ride to the GWOT memorial and the State Veterans Cemetery. The ride was graciously arranged by Reggie and Pam Treib and sponsored by ABATE of … Read more

July 23, 2010 Today was a travel day, left Andover at 930am with an escort to Saulk Center, then Ron “Mac” escorted me to Fargo.   Mac a Vietnam combat veteran, with two purple hearts, was the nephew of Lyle Mackedanz, MIA in Vietnam in 1968. We stopped for lunch and had a great time sharing … Read more

July 22, 2010 Today was the long awaited ceremony at the state capitol in Minnesota. The morning started out with a Patriot Guard escort to the statehouse, it was a bit drizzly and it was decided that we would hold the ceremony in the nearby Natl Guard Armory. Of course they wanted the RV inside … Read more

July 21, 2010  Wednesday Today was a day of much needed rest and some sadness. I had the day off but had to say goodbye to Alex, my traveling assistant. He has been invaluable in filling in the gaps and I know some things will not get done at all now that he is gone.  … Read more

July 20, 2010 Madison WI state capitol this morning. I was met by WI Gold Star parents Byron and Susan Bird also my friend Richard Holsten and his friend Buffalo. We did meet up with one Senator there and received his support and also met with the chief clerk, a marine vet, who assured us … Read more

July 19, 2010 Good Morning, today was scheduled for us to head to Des Moines, IA for the state capitol. However we are two hours north of the statehouse and our next leg takes us farther north to Madison. We did not have any firm appointments in the IA capitol and many good things have … Read more

July 18, 2010  Sunday Today and for the weekend we rest at the home of Ron and Carolyn Sandkamp. They are the parents of an army major who was Tony’s boss when deployed in 2005 and graciously invited us to stay with them in Waterloo . We will be reorganizing the RV, give it a … Read more

July 17, 2010 Yesterday was a long day with nearly 10 hours of driving under our belt and the incredible ceremony.  This morning we were invited to participate in a Heritage day parade in Waverly, Iowa. This was our first parade in the wrapped motor home and it was quite a delightful and fun experience. … Read more

July 16, 2010 A restful night and then on to our agenda for the day, beginning with a 5 hour drive to Lincoln Nebraska. I have to say that our GPS decided we were to take a road under construction about an hour in and messed my navigational brain. It tok me about 30 minutes … Read more

July 15, 2010 It was an early morning for us as we left the beautiful home of the Deraps, a filling breakfast a full gas tank and a fixed rear end. Dale and his crew had helped us tremendously and his business Advanced Chimney was amazing. On our way at 6am headed 4 hours to … Read more

July 14, 2010 We started with a great breakfast made by Gold Star mom and world renown chef Terrie Hobson. Our days plan is to head to Jefferson City and a special presentation at the state capitol. Sandy Deraps and Katie Melies had arranged for an amazing opportunity to speak to legislators, patriots and Gold … Read more

July 13, 2010 After the night at Walmart we made our way to the IL state capitol. The legislature is out of session and the governor was in Chicago so I did not have any arranged meetings. However I was able to meet with the governors staff and from there able to reach out to … Read more

July 12, 2010 Woke up this morning to a wonderful breakfast thanks to Annie.  Headed to the TN statehouse for a personalized flag presentation. Arrived just before 10am to find a parking space for the beast. The capitol police allowed us to park right in front on the street. I think we got noticed by … Read more

July 11, 2010  Sunday Spent the night on the houseboat of my old friend. Woke up and headed to Crossroads Community church which meets in a nearby movie theater in Antioch.  Pastors jack and Sheila Harper were gracious and kind to allow me to share my vision with the congregation.  The mission was well received … Read more

July 10, 2010  Saturday Last night I mentioned that I was to receive an overnight package with a personalized flag for a Vietnam mother. The package never arrived and we drove early to the UPS hub in White Creek TN to try and locate it. Unfortunately the supervisor was unable to track it down amidst … Read more

July 9, 2010 we rose earl this morning in Indianapolis at the OMS facility. We had a 4 hour ride ahead of us and appointments scheduled in Frankfort KY beginning at 11am. I don’t like cutting so close our arrangements but in order to make this trip physically possible sometimes we have to push ourselves … Read more

July 8, 2010 This morning we arrived at the state capitol and spoke with the police in regard to parking the RV. We found one sympathetic officer who arranged our stay and we were able to park right in front. We then met several Gold Star families at the entrance, these were families I had … Read more

July 7, 2010 Travel day, 7 hour trip from Grand rapids to Indianapolis. Arrived late this evening and met with Melanie Smith for dinner. Afterwards we were invited to stay at the International Mens Ministries campus, we thought we were going to stay in the RV but were offered the use of a guest apartment … Read more