TUESDAY, AUGUST 11TH – NASHVILLE TO GRAND FORKS, ND:
Traveling from Nashville, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Denver today to Grand Forks, ND for a Gary Sinise Foundation “NFL ALL STARS TOUR”. Besides James and I representing the Foundation, we have former Super Bowl Champions Reuben Droughns and Prince Amukamara plus Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders Ashley and Jenny.
The plan was to have everyone connect in Minneapolis but when booking the flights, we had to split up into two groups with James and I flying Minneapolis to Grand Forks with the cheerleaders and the players connecting to a later flight. Keep in mind that there are only 3 flights a day from Minneapolis to Grand Forks and only on Delta Airlines. Even though we booked months and months ago, flights were already almost sold out. For James, the cheerleaders and I to arrive together, our flights departed at 6 am from Philadelphia and Nashville. It meant James and I would only have 40 minutes to make the connection in Minneapolis…IF the flight arrived on time. Everyone else had plenty of connection time.
Around 4 pm the day before we left, I got a message saying the cheerleaders flight was being delayed by 1 hour and 50 minutes. I called the travel agent and Delta to find out how they knew the day before that the flight was going to be delayed. Evidently, the incoming plane on Monday was late and the crew was not going to have enough “rest time” to depart any earlier. Because all the flights were full out of Minneapolis to Grand Forks, we really had no option other than to stick with the original flights and hope for the best.
James and I departed on time and I was hoping to sleep the entire flight because I had not gotten any sleep the night before. That didn’t happen because we had WiFi and Jenny’s and Ashley’s flight sat on the tarmac for over an hour. Our alternate plan was to have them fly to Fargo from MSP on the first available fight and then have Lyft drive them from Fargo to Grand Forks – about an hour and 15 minute drive. There was only one flight with 2 seats available and that didn’t leave until after 6 pm. Meant having them sit at the terminal all day and “hope” that flight would actually depart on time. My travel agent found a car company that was affordable and we were able to hire them to drive the girls from Minneapolis to the hotel in Grand Forks. Reuben’s and Prince’s flights was also delayed over an hour. They arrived at the airport at about the same time the girls arrived at the hotel. Big sigh of relief to have everyone in town.
I had rented a large transit van to accommodate all 6 passengers and luggage. Again, keep in mind that Grand Forks doesn’t have a “lot” of choices for vehicles that size. I also needed to return it to Minot and have the back row of seats removed to accommodate the luggage. I had kept in constant contact with Avis and they were great to work with. We picked up the van but when we closed the sliding passenger door, there was a huge “open space” where the door should have been sealed. We drove to the hotel but could not get the door to open! We were able to drop our bags but had to go back to the airport to figure out what could be done. But first, we went to “Darcy’s” which is a little local diner that the hotel recommended to have breakfast at 11 am. It was definitely great food. Grace, the lady we made the reservations with at the Hilton Garden Inn, has been so nice. Our rooms were ready when we arrived and the hotel is really nice. We stayed here in 2024 with Tom Cotter and Matt Scannell on a Gary Sinise Foundation tour as well.
Avis was very accommodating but were limited on what they could do. We finally decided to take a Ford Expedition that would at least fit the six passengers and then after our visit to Grand Forks Air Force Base tomorrow, they expected to have another transit van returned and would let us pick up that one.
After picking up the guys, we all met in the lobby and decided to go to a local restaurant for dinner at 6:30 pm. James and I made a quick run to Wal-Mart to pick up bottled water and protein shakes. Then I had about an hour to get unpacked before meeting the group for dinner. We again went to a restaurant recommended by Grace “Ely’s Ivy” and it turned out to be really good food too. Got to know the members of the group a little better at the dinner and they are all so nice and friendly. It’s going to be a great tour. So thankful that Gary realizes the value of these tours and allows me to continue to live the dream.
I had a LOT of work to do before bedtime because I wasn’t able to get anything done during the day. Got in bed by 1:30 am and set alarm for 5:30 am.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12TH – FIRST BASE VISIT TO GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE:
I woke up long before the alarm went off so got up and started my “PT”. It takes me over an hour just to do that. Everyone was ready to depart at 8:30 am. We had pre-ordered Starbucks and James went to pick that up and had it waiting for us when we arrived in the lobby. We only had a little bit of a wait trying to get on base. One person did not have a Real ID when I submitted the paperwork and I sent the information only one day before we arrived. Evidently the change never made it to Security Forces working the gate. They were able to clear it quickly and we met our escorts for the day – MSgt Holly Carr and Janessa Vageline.
First stop was a visit to Security Forces. The group got to see their vehicles including a Humvee and police vehicle and hear about their work on base. They were also able to hold some of their weapons. A visit with the K9 unit was the last stop with SF. After taking photos with everyone, we moved on to visit Civil Engineering. They had a huge room set up and filled with people. They let about 20 different men and women come up and talk about their duties on base. It was extremely interesting and entertaining as well. Took photos with everyone and moved on to meet the Force Support Squadron. We toured the gym and met with a lot of the staff. After taking photos with everyone, we moved to the DFAC for a surprisingly good lunch. After lunch we had a Meet and Greet immediately followed by the football and cheer clinic for the youth. The guys had “practice sessions” with the young boys and the girls taught the young girls a cheer. It was so cute! At the end, the girls performed the cheer they were taught for their parents and staff.
We had a meeting with base leadership including the Wing Command Chief and his XO. What super nice guys. He gave everyone a coin which thrilled the cheerleaders since this is their first tour on a military base. We ended our day on Grand Forks Air Force base with a Meet and Greet at their club. I met the nicest lady there. Her husband is deployed and she is a former Marine.
James and I dropped the group off at the hotel and rushed to Avis to turn in the Expedition and pick up a new transit van. I was really worried about “what” they planned to give us based on our experience with the horrible vehicle yesterday. I was pleasantly surprised. The new vehicle was a very nice Ford transit van. They had removed some of the seats out of the back as I had requested so our luggage would fit. James was really happy with the way it drives.
We went back to the hotel to pick up the group and go to dinner. Janessa had told me that the other great restaurant we should try was a Mexican place called Jarras & Tequilla. Reuben was adamantly against eating Mexican food because he doesn’t like it if it isn’t “authentic”. We overruled him and he came with us for dinner. Turned out to be fantastic and Reuben kept telling us how glad he was we didn’t listen to him. We made a stop at a place called Scheels — somewhere I had never heard of. Prince and I stayed in the vehicle since we did not have anything we needed to buy. The group came back with large bags of goodies they had purchased.
We were back at the hotel by 10 pm and I got in 3 hours of work and packed most of my bags. We check out and depart at 8 am tomorrow to Cavalier Space Force Station. It was a great day and we boosted the morale of over 400 people today on behalf of the Gary Sinise Foundation.
Jude
THURSDAY, AUGUST 13TH – VISIT TO CAVALIER SPACE FORCE STATION:
Lobby call and check out time was at 8:00 am today for the drive up to Cavalier Space Force Station. I love visiting this base because it is so remote and has such an incredible “family” atmosphere. Quick stop at Starbucks to pick up the orders everyone had placed earlier and then what we thought was a 1 hour and 15 minute drive was more like a an hour and a half drive. But, Sean (our POC at Cavalier and someone I have loved working with since 2024) had planned a very flexible schedule for the day. No problem getting in the gate and we met Sean at the Community Center – the “hub” for everything that happens at Cavalier.
Sean gave everyone a quick tour of the facility. He was so proud to show us his new equipment in the “play area” for children. It was huge climbing structure complete with a rocket ship slide. He said it took him 8 years from initial request until final completion. Nothing moves quickly with “government red tape” but I know he is persistent when it comes to taking care of the families at Cavalier. There was a small bowling alley in the facility and the group got in a little session. Both cheerleaders got strikes with their first ball….the guys, not so much. Prince managed to send his ball down the alley on a regular basis much to his embarrassment. I was happy I couldn’t participate because of my foot because I would have been much worse than anyone else in the group!
We stopped by the Gym and meeting rooms, meeting people and taking photos at each stop. Then it was time to go to the PARCS Building. It takes special permission to go inside that facility and we were fortunate enough to be able to visit it last time as well. PARCS stands for Perimeter Acquisition Radar Attack Characterization System. It is a massive, single-faced, long-range phased-array radar system. Sadly, we have to leave our cell phones and smart watches in lockers near the front door. No photos allowed inside there. We not only had a great tour and explanation of what our men and women serving in that building do on a daily basis but got to spend about an hour chatting with them. I gave everyone a coin and autographed photo and the group took individual photos with them.
Next stop was lunch. Last visit we ate at the community center. They have a great vendor with a food truck who comes in and serves amazing meals. But he was busy with other events and couldn’t be there. We drove about 10 minutes to a tiny local restaurant and had amazing food. I had maybe the best BLT I’ve ever had in my life.
Of course right after eating, it was time for the clinic back on base. We were surprised but pleased to have 49 guys for the football clinic. Unfortunately no girls signed up for the cheer clinic. But, the guys put the cheerleaders to work helping them with the large group. We had moved the clinic into the gym because of the heat and the flies (more about that later) but the first thing Reuben said when he saw the size and ages of the group is “Nope. We are going back outside. These guys need to sweat”! And, trust me, Reuben and Prince had them sweating plenty!!! They worked them for a full hour with the cheerleaders assisting and cheering them on.
While the clinic was taking place, I was getting things ready for the Meet and Greet afterwards to take place at the Community Center. I was walking through the gym on my way out to the practice field and noticed a man in a Uniform that looked like it was either Canadian or British and a lady with him. They seemed to be looking for something. Since we had moved the Clinic outside, I assumed they had a son participating and asked them if that was what they were looking for. Turns out it was their first day on Cavalier. They were from Canada but had previously been at Tyndall AFB in Florida. He was one of only two Canadians serving here – the other one we met in the PARCS building earlier today. I had a really nice chat with them and took them outside to watch the clinic. The cheerleaders were close by, we got photos with them and I let Sean know that they were there. They even came to the Meet and Greet after the clinic. I had a really long conversation with them about Gary and his foundation and his son Mac’s amazing music. If you haven’t checked it out yet, please do so. Gary has now released three full LP’s with Mac’s compositions. All are available for purchase through the website and all proceeds go to the Gary Sinise Foundation. They are also available for download on all streaming platforms.
After the clinic, we took group photos with the boys who participated and gave each of them an autographed photo of the group. We drove over to the Community Center and set up the Mac and Gary videos and Pop Up Banners. We always begin the events with a video of Mac playing harmonica on “The Star Spangled Banner”. It is always so moving! Then there is a video of Gary saying a personal hello to the base followed by footage telling the programs and mission of The Gary Sinise Foundation.
The group signed the “board” at the Hermitage Hall room. Matt Scannell’s (Vertical Horizon)autograph is also on that piece of history from our visit in 2024. Great visit to one of my favorite bases in the USA.
We headed back to the hotel and then began the 3 ½ hour drive to Minot. Because we were able to leave a little earlier than anticipated, we decided to wait until we got to Minot to have dinner. The “top” rated restaurant was an Italian place. The drive was nothing but “flat land”, grain elevators and sunflowers! We decided to stop at the restaurant before going to the hotel since it was already after 7 pm. The restaurant had a HUGE menu. We all asked for water to drink and when it arrived and we took a sip, it was terrible. We called the waitress back and asked for bottled water but were told they did not serve bottled water! We had to make a trip to the van to get our personal water bottles out for dinner. Not a good start to the meal. My food was actually excellent but James did not have the same luck. Everyone else said theirs was “good” but the water situation had put everyone off. Prince did not receive the salmon he ordered and had to have a chat with the manager. Not somewhere we would ever return to.
I tried to call the hotel before we arrived so they would have the rooms ready. I had talked with someone earlier in the day who confirmed that the room keys would be pulled and waiting for us. Whoever answered the phone was somewhere that there was so much background noise, she couldn’t understand me. When we arrived, there was no one at the front desk. I asked the lady at the bar where the front desk clerk might be. She said she had no idea and she couldn’t help us. More than 15 minutes later, she came walking slowly back and said she had been “helping” another guest! Then she proceeded to argue with me that she would have to register each person. I showed her the emails where I had pre-checked everyone in earlier that day. Then she mysteriously found all the keys already pulled for us but told me there was no reservation for me. It was so frustrating. I finally got everyone’s key and sent them off to their rooms.
Lobby call is 9 am tomorrow and I need to get up at 5 am to get some work done prior to leaving. Not easy since I didn’t go to bed until 2:00 am.
Jude
FRIDAY, AUGUST 14TH — VISIT TO MINOT AIR FORCE BASE:
The visit to Minot is how this tour came about. Matt — who handles entertainment for FSS — reached out to me. I had worked with him in 2024. He asked if there was any way we could bring some more entertainment their way. We were able to easily add the other two bases as well.
We departed on time and only had a slight delay trying to enter the base. Our first stop was a meeting with leadership. There were 7 people including two staff members who made power point presentations. My group asked so many questions that we were over 30 minutes late for our next activity. The leadership that we met were so nice and passionate about their love for our country. I had actually met one of them in 2024 and he remembered me.
Next stop was the Youth Clinic and there was a really big group for football and cheerleading. The players and cheerleaders spent well over an hour working with the kids. There were some really funny moments with some of the kids trying to do the activities the players had planned, especially one very tiny girl in her “princess dress” going through the workout routine with the football players.
After the Youth Clinic, we attended their monthly “Flame to Fame” competition. This is a competition to see who makes the best burger. There were five booths and each hamburger was cut into 4 pieces so everyone could try one of each. Unfortunately, it had finally started raining so while we were testing the burgers, the staff was scrambling to move the rest of today’s activities indoors. My group all agreed that the booth on the very end was the clear winner of the competition. Evidently the rest of the base disagreed because the burger we liked the least won. LOL.
We had a short break before going to watch a Flag Football Competition. It took place inside a giant “bubble”. Evidently they take this competition seriously because we interrupted the Military Police taking two people into custody because they had gotten in a fight with another participant! I would say “boys will be boys” but supposedly the one who threw the punch was the female! LOL
We had another break after that event which allowed the staff to finish moving our final “Meet and Greet” Sessions and the Promotion Ceremony indoors. It was really pouring rain by the time we made it to the huge building for our last event of the day. There were literally hundreds of young men and women standing in line waiting to walk on stage and “receive their promotion”! Our “booth” was at the back of the building so they were able to stop and have a photo taken with the NFL players/cheerleaders while they were waiting in line. We were supposed to finish the M&G at 5:30 pm but when the promotion ceremony was over, someone forgot to announce that we would be signing until 5:30 pm. The building emptied out immediately even though there was a local band setting up and playing for the next hour.
We were given the opportunity to tour the B-52 Bomber which had been stationed on the airfield near where all the events were taking place. They even got to go up in the cockpit – a very tight squeeze but worth it!
We left the base at around 5:45 pm and on the drive back, the group was still talking about how great the “briefing” was from leadership today. It’s so important for our tour participants to experience things like this so they better understand not only the sacrifices of the military and their families but also the importance of what takes place on a daily basis on the bases we visit. Prince was not with us as he was trying to get to the airport in time to take a flight out tonight.
We agreed to meet in the lobby to go to “Bones BBQ” for dinner. Prince had found it online and I checked out their “star rating” as well as asked several people if it was good. Then, Reuben announced that he had met the owner the night before at the Italian Restaurant where we had eaten. I got a message from Prince who said his flight was delayed until 10:30 pm that evening so he would join us. By the time we left the hotel, his flight had been cancelled entirely so he was back on a 5 am flight. When we arrived at the restaurant, “Jeremy” who was the manager that evening informed us that there would be no charge for dinner and he brought some of everything for us to try – brisket, chicken, pork, sausage, ribs, beans, cole slaw, mac and cheese, cornbread, broccoli, jalapeno poppers, tacos, peach cobbler, bread pudding and probably at least 6 more items that I’m forgetting. I have to say, it is right up there with the best BBQ I have every eaten anywhere. We left a huge tip and I left a GSF cap for the owner at the hotel front desk for them to pick up later this week.
Happy to be getting more than 3 hours of sleep tonight!
SATURDAY, AUGUST 15TH — TRYING TO GET HOME!:
Got up early hoping to get a little work done before departure. Got less accomplished than I hoped. Lobby call was at 11 AM but I had to go down at 10:30 so I could sort out the bills.
It was only a 10 minute drive to the airport and we had filled up with gas the night before. We arrived at about 11:20 and no one was at the check in counter and the two kiosks available were not working. Someone finally arrived at the counter about 15 minutes later. Security was upstairs but it was closed and the only restaurant was after security. There was a counter and a sign saying “Order Here” on our side. Someone finally came to that counter but said we couldn’t order until after we went through Security. I talked him into letting me order from him and just pick it up on the other side once I got through security. It’s odd that they are missing out on so many sales for people who want to eat, but can’t get to the restaurant until almost time for their flight to board.
Security finally opened up and I went through and breakfast was waiting for me. Before we boarded, the gate agent started offering flight certificates for anyone willing to get off of the flight. She said there was a weight distribution issue. She started out asking for five people to get off the flight and be paid $1000 each in flight credit. No one took the offer. Then she went up to $1200 per person and again no takers. She finally went up to $1500 per person and five people volunteered. Once we boarded the tiny aircraft, departure was delayed further because they had to take fuel off of the plane, again supposedly because of weight. We finally took off but before we even got close to the landing time, the pilot came on and made an announcement but she is an Asian female and speaks very softly on the intercom so no one could tell what she said. The flight attendant said that from what she could hear, we were diverting to a small regional airport in Scottsbluff, Nebraska! Evidently Denver is a mess with a ground stop and thunderstorms in the area. We had some pretty rough turbulence landing in Nebraska and probably the “hardest” touchdown I’ve every experienced. Once we landed, they told us we were going to stay on the plane and take off again in about 20 minutes. I knew that wasn’t true because the weather apps for the storms say they are going to last until 6 PM. They allowed us to get up and go to the toilet and there is only one in the very back of the plane on this aircraft. I walked past Reuben as I was heading that way and he had no idea we were in Nebraska. He had his headset on the entire trip and thought we had landed in Denver. Denver is his final destination so he thought he was home and avoiding all the weather delays.
While they were refuelng, they came back on and said that it was going to be more like 40 minutes before we took off. Our flight from Denver to Nashville is also delayed so instead of getting home at around 9 o’clock, we will be lucky to get home at midnight. I just hope we don’t get stuck in this tiny little town in Nebraska overnight. The same is true for the cheerleaders flight to Philadelphia only there is delayed even more than ours.
Another weird thing about this little aircraft is that the flight attendant does not bring snacks to the passengers. There is a section with shelves in the front of the plane and you’re supposed to go and get your own. Wish somebody had told me that an hour ago.
After about an hour on the tarmac, the pilot announced we were cleared to land but said it would be a short 30 minute very turbulent flight. My favorite thing…NOT! About 10 minutes into the flight, the flight attendant announced that she had bad news and it was going to take an hour because we had to take the long way around thunderstorms. Then about 10 minutes later, she announced that they have found a “break” in the weather and we would land in 24 minutes! James, the cheerleaders and I already had 3 hour layovers in Denver but they were now turning into 6 hour layovers or more. James and I kept tracking “where” our aircraft were on the Flighty App.
We said goodbye to Reuben and made our way to an Italian restaurant for lunch/dinner. The food was good but we were all pretty stressed by the fact that we would be arriving in Nashville until well after midnight and the girl’s flight kept getting pushed later and later. When that happens, it usually cancels altogether so I reached out to my travel agent to see if she could find an alternative. There were no flights at all with any space to get them home to Philadelphia tonight. Their aircraft was originally coming from Jacksonville, Florida and showing that it has a mechanical problem. That meant they wouldn’t get home until after 5 am on Sunday morning! My travel agent was still working on options when the app said the plane was now coming in from Phoenix. And, it was going to take off at almost the same time as me and James from Denver. Still not ideal because of the time difference but getting back at 3 am was better than not getting back until a flight opened up later in the week! There was no availability showing until Monday at that point.
We boarded close to on time and so did the girls. I had planned to sleep the entire flight but that didn’t work out for me. Too much going on. And, we had to pay for WiFi on this flight. The first flight offered Star Link free but not this aircraft and I had to be able to stay in touch with the girls in case there was a problem. It was a nightmare for them flying into Grand Forks which, as you remember resulted in us having to rent a car service and drive them from Minneapolis to Grand Forks. Now this nightmare trying to get home made me worry they would never want to tour for us again. But, they were real troopers and said they loved the tour and want to do more.
We definitely accomplished everything we hoped for with this visit. Everything in North Dakota is so “remote” and the weather in the winter is horrific with snow and temperatures hitting 40 degrees or more below zero on a regular basis. It was heart-warming to see so many smiling faces on the service personnel at all 3 bases we visited. I know how appreciative everyone was that we chose that area to visit but we can never adequately express our gratitude to them for their service.
Special Thanks to Gary and the Gary Sinise Foundation for making these visits possible as well as Grand Forks and Minot Air Force bases and Cavalier Space Force Station for the months and months of working with me on the pre-planning, and Sandy at Pro Tour Productions for working so hard with us to bring together an outstanding tour with amazing patriots – Reuben, Prince, Ashley and Jenny. And of course, my wingman James who among other things drives us from base to base, handles all the GSF video and music content and helps with every M&G.
And to quote my hero – Gary Sinise – “We Can Always Do a Little More” – and we will!
Jude
