More Pics from the Big Island

The Offutt Seven takes on the Big Island

After 6 years of talk and 2 years of planning the day arrived when 5 of my friends arrived for our Offutt AFB Nutritional Medicine Reunion. The cast of characters included Ron, Tony, Rose, Zamy and Zamy's wife Avi. Ron and I were in brother flights in Basic Training. Rose and Tony were in our tech school class and we all were assigned to Offutt AFB Nebraska together were Zamy was stationed. We were all stationed together starting in 1986 until1993 when Rose and Tony moved to Mississippi, 1995 when i moved to CA and 1998 when Ron and Zamy moved to Florida where Zamy met the newest member to our group, his wife, Avi. Ron, Zamy and I got together in 2002 when I was at the SNCO academy and we started talking about a reunion. When Rose found out we were moving to Hawaii, she arranged to trade a couple of her timeshares for 2 units on the Big Island. I suggested that everyone fly into Honolulu and spend a few days at our house before we all flew to Kona.

Every one arrived 3 March. We got up early on the 4th (my 42nd BDay) and went to the Arizona Memorial, the USS Missouri battleship and toured Hickam. That night Ben came over and we cooked out for my birthday.



The next day we went to Punchbowl Cemetery, drove around the south eastern corner of the island and went to a Luau. Everyone enjoyed the Luau and Ron found himself a Hawaiian Girl.

The next day we got up and flew to Kona. I couldn't believe the stark contrast between the Big Island and Oahu. The big Island had wide open spaces and beautiful roads. We saw over 50 whales breaching along the North Kona Coast, visited Hilo, the volcano national park, Parker Ranch and many other sights around the Island. We ended up putting over 600 miles on the rental. I took my bike and did a couple of rides including a 75 miler. The best part of the trip was the time we spent with our friends. Even though it had been over 15 years since we were all together, it was like we had seen each other every day. We had a great time. Here are some pics of the big Island