Thanks to everybody and sorry

Thank you for making our trip to USA great.

We loved to meet all the lovely people:

The Forsyths

Great family. We enjoyed every second. Thanks for all the hospitality and that we could park the RV in your driveway.

The Ebenhoehs

Thanks for the tickets to Sugarland, the Independence party at Carol and Greg and the visit to Houghton Lake with Cheryl and Tom.

The Potters

Thanks for the picnic at the Pavillion in Showboat Park.

Chesaning Rotary Club

Thanks for making all this possible. Lovely that you had Christopher as an exchange student. That made all the connections to all the lovely people in Chesaning.

A special thank to Richard Paul for being counsellor and taking care of Christopher.

Thank you for that.

Dianne Rodgers

A thank also goes to Dianne Rodgers for being district counsellor and also making Christophers stay possible.

The Amurgis

Another great family with 5 lovely kids. We loved them all. Thanks for showing us your home and Columbus and thanks for a terrific dinner.

I hope I was not to hard on AEP (American Electric Power) about all the cables in the air. I just could not keep my mouth shut. It wasn’t really polite.

The Crescenzos

Thank you for showing us Chicago. Picking us up from the hotel with your boat. Chicago Blues was great. The tapas restaurant super and terrific ribs at Twin Anchor.

 

.. and sorry

We loved all the people we met. Nobody took advantages of the stupid danes coming over there. Everybody treated us super. But we were not all that positive about your country which we perhaps should have kept to our selves.

But your roads are terrible with all the holes, dead racoons and exploded tyres.

Rap Poem about Bradley N. Jimerson and Vietnam

Rap Poem about Bradley N. Jimerson and Vietnam

Originally uploaded by kurtkragh

I meet Bradley in Kankakee, Indiana. He told me his story and gave me this “Rap Poem” and a list.

The poem tells his story and the list is the names of 18 of his friends, that did not return from Vietnam alive.

Killed in Action

Killed in Action

Originally uploaded by kurtkragh

I meet Bradley in Kankakee, Indiana. He told me his story and gave me a “Rap Poem” and this list.

The poem tells his story and this list is the names of 18 of his friends, that did not return from Vietnam alive.

Auto Club of America and a Motorhome with a flat battery

In Denmark the law says that your car always must have light on (when you drive around in it that is). Therefore the light automatically goes out when you leave your car.

The light also goes out automatically in our RV. Only problem is that this happens too long time after you have left it

When we came back from the Skylon Tower the car still had some light on but not enough to start the engine

We then called Auto Club of America as we had an subscription with them through our rental company.

Now you must understand that we have a motorhome without power on the battery and a danish very expensive cell phone and an american cell phone with limited air time.

The only thing I needed was someone to come by and jumpstart the motorhome.

I got easily through to the Auto Club of America and they were very friendly. I gave them the subscription number and the registration number of the motorhome. Told them that I had limited number of minutes left on my cell phone and that I just needed to have the motorhome jumpstartet.

The girl in the other end needed the serial number of the motorhome which we could not see because it was dark. She also wanted to know how many batteries there were on the motorhome, if we needed to be towed somewhere and if I had not stopped her she probably also wanted to know my size of shoes.

We finally found the serial number of the vehicle – do you know where it is on your car and how difficult it is to read whithout a flash light on a parking lot at night?

Then they would contact someone in our neighborhood and have them to come and help us.

Then there were a taxidriver with some jumpstartcables and we were on the move again.

Amazing what dollars can do in this country.

Niagara Falls from the Skylon Tower

We had dinner at the Revolving Diningroom, Skylon Tower.

The view was fantastic. We could see both Falls at Niagara from 146 m.

The food was very good and the price of course high, when you sit first row to that view. But I think they did good.

Very nice.

Columbus Zoo and off to Niagara Falls

Tuesday we spend with the Amurgis family.

We stood up to eat a fantastic breakfast with french toast. (Toastbread turned in eggs, fried on the pan with cinnamon). Very delicious and a new experience for most of us.

Then off to the Columbus Zoo and see a new born baby elephant and some Koala beers.

Home to rest and then off to a very good Bar and bistro in Columbus: Bon Vie – Bon temps.

Christopher and Alexander went with Don and Tina to see the new Harry Potter movie.

Off from Columbus and the Amurgis at 8:00 pm and arrived at the camp ground at Niagara Falls.

Going to the Revolving Diningroom, Skylon Tower to night.

Off to visit Andrea and William in Columbus, Ohio

Knowing that there is a thing going on between Michigan and Ohio we have not been talking to much about going to Columbus in Ohio. The people in Michigan do not understand why we would go to Columbus.

Again we did it because of nice people that we have met: Andrea and William Amurgis. William works for AEP (American Electric Power) and their intranet was given the price for being one of the 10 best intranets in the world. I met William and his colleague Joshua in London in 2008 and wanted them to present at IntraTeam Event in 2009. Andrea went along with William to Copenhagen and this wonderful wanted us to visit them if we ever came to Columbus. And that happened to be yesterday.

Monday morning we left Chesaning. Drove for some hours and had breakfast at Big Boy. Very american. Lunch at Wendy’s and homecooked dinner at the Amurgis. Very delicous.

Dessert was at the local icecream bar where we got to taste all the icecream before we chose the ones we wanted. Very impressive and tasty

Are now sitting in the camper parked on the road outside the Amurgis. Everybody asleep in the camper apart from Alexander that sleeps in the house.

Tomorrow we are going to see the Zoo and the University. Tomorrow night Christopher and Alexander are going to see the new Harry Potter movie.

All communication now works again

Danish cell phone and ReadyBroadband works and I have wireless from Amurgis house. Great.

After Petosky we went to Saginaw to do some shopping. Dockers trousers for USD 25 is cheap. Other things very cheap.

Friday night we went to Chesaning Showboat to hear Sugarland. They put on a very impressive performance even though I was told of not to take pictures with my camera. The Lens was too long. Sugarland should have played at last years Chesaning Showboat but it was cancelled on the night due to a thunderstorm. The people from Chesaning Showboat payed Sugarland to come again this year so that the people could get something for their money. Very honest even though I know that the Showboat is struggling due to the economy. I sincerely hope they come though and can carry on what they have done since 1937. They deserve that.

I was flattered. I had to show ID to buy beer. Apparently they did not believe that I more than  20 years old. You have to be at least 21 years old to buy a beer in Michigan, but you can drive a car from 16 and get killed for you country as a soldier much younger.

Picnic at the Showboat Pavillion

Saturday Denise and Howard Ebenhoeh had rented the Showboat Pavillion for a picnic for all the host families and friends of Christopher. Sheila and Mike Potter brought burgers and hotdogs. Brenda Forsyth had made a potatothing that we are going to get the recipe for. She also made a terrific salat. Recipe is coming for this one too. The cake was also good. Lovely food and arrangement. Thank you everybody for making this possible and for attending.

Brenda and Dough have god our pictures on a flash drive, so any that want some of our pictures can get them from them. We will also if Flickr will work upload them there or on Facebook.

Sunday I was up to take som pictures of all the lovely people we now know in Chesaning. They were attending af 5 km run starting 8:00 am. Later on we had breakfast at the local Chesaning Airport and saw lots of old planes land and take off again.

Showboat parade

The parade started at 1:00 pm and lasted for at least one hour. Very impressive for a little town to make a parade that long.

Later on Sunday we went to meet Dianne Rodgers the District Counsellor for the Rotary to thank her for the Exchange that Christopher was on in Chesaning Rotary Club.

Sunday evening we spend at the Showboat Restaurant in Chesaning with Brenda and Dough.

What have we learned so far

Americans are extremely friendly and perfect hosts.

They drive very slowly in huge cars if they are not parked for full stop signs.

They live in plastic (vinyl) houses on huge well kept lots on not kept roads filled with holes, dead animals and exploded tires.

Beer and wine are served in plastic glasses and all electric and telephone cords are hanging in the air.

Easy to make old movies in Michigan as a lot looks like we thought it looked many years ago. Actually a lot of the roads are worse than they were in East Germany before the wall went down.

From Chicago to Petosky

Now finally I have internet access AND time to update you on what is going on here in gods own country.

We arrived on schedule to Chicago from London and picked up the RV at Abel RV on Wednesday July 3. It met our expectations fully. We were a bit worried about paying USD 5,000 on the Web without any recommendations or security for what we actually had paid for.

We left Chicago heading for Chesaning in the RV. We arrived at the Forsyths and met a very friendly family. The Forsyths were Christophers second host family.

Friday we drove the motorhome to CHESANING SHOWBOAT CAMPGROUND to be close to the Indepence Day fireworks that night. In Chesaning they have the fireworks on July 3 because a lot of the families go to bigger cities on July 4 to se bigger fireworks.

That Friday we were invited to the Ebenhoehs for the fireworks. We had a splendid evening with an overview of the park from their house.  Alexander and Christopher slept at a friends house and came home Saturday morning.

Saturday Doug and Josh Forsyth went golfing with Dan and Kurt. Alexander and Christopher went kayaking on the Shiawasee River with Sam, Alex and John Forsyth. They caught four turtles.

The Forsyths invited us to Applebys to have a traditional american dinner. Very delicious and good company.

Sunday morning Dough and Kurt went kayaking with Damina on the Shiawasee River. They got in church late were Susanne and the rest of the Forsyths were. Funny to experience an american church service. The service at the Forsyths gives six stars out og five.

Sunday afternoon we went to Cedar Point with Steve.

Monday were spend in Cedar Point and Soak City. Christopher, Alexander, Steve and Kurt all took the Dragster. 0-120 mph (192 km/t) in 3,8 seconds. Thats as fast as a F1 car only it does not go 420 feet (126 meters) up in the sky afterwards to loose all speed just to gain it again going directly towards the earth again. It’s all over in 17 seconds

Tuesday morning up early and off to Chesaning again. We should attend a Rotary meeting at Arthurs Pizza 12:15. Really nice people that have enjoyed having Christopher staying there as an exchange student for 11 month (aug. 2007 – july 2008)

Tuesday afternoon were spend at all the Outlets in Birch Run and at the worlds largest Christmas store Bronners Christmas Wonderland. Late afternoon we picked up Jonah in Chesaning and drove to Houghton Lake to stay at his grandfathers house at the lake. We arrived safely and so did Denise.

Wednesday we spend with Cheryl, Denise’s sister and father Thomas. We should have sailed on the river in their pontoonboat but even though it was tested the week before it would not start. We had a great day in lovely sunshine right on the bank of the lake. Very good service from Cheryl and Denise. Thanks.

Wednesday late we drove off to go to Newberry KOA very close to Tahquamenon Falls. We arrived around midnight after having had a whopper.

Thursday we went to Tahquamenon Falls, the Locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Harbor Springs and Petosky. We finally found a very nice KOA at Petosky. AND finally we had internet again

Now very tired after having experienced a lot today.