July 2018  Bill Crede, Dennis Fick and Friends on the Road    7 days, 6 people      Roundtrip from Amsterdam 

Travel light - no waiting time at the luggage belt - was the motto of Bill Crede, Dennis Fick, Michelle Innis, Jenny Brooks and Steve and Anette Poettgen as we met in the arrival hall at Shiphol airport. During the next days and thanks to an open friendly spirit of visitors and visited we met super nice people in Ramsdorf and got invited by members of a local marching band to taste from their BBQ in Rheda-Wiedenbrück. The next day we had an unexpected get-together with the Major of Castrop-Rauxel during a beach volleyball tournament on his marketplace as he learned that Steve's parents gave him the middle name "Castrop". In Bamberg the beergarden evening with the local soccer team was likewise memorable as the open air church service in front of Bambergs cathedral the next morning. Of course there were serious places and subjects on our tour such as the bridge of Remagen and we exchanged many thoughts on German-American history not only over wine or beer. Looking back it seems that this was just the perfect way to do it since this trip enchouraged family and friends from Missouri to come in 2020.