Backpacking through Europe in 1994

Day 84 • November 29, 1994
Rota, Spain

My buddy Jeff and I had been best friends since junior high and we were practically inseparable all through high school. His father John was the guidance counselor for our school and he was like a father-figure to me growing up.

Once we got our driver’s licenses, Jeff and I would cruise around Kearney in each other’s cars on Friday and Saturday nights, looking for girls and trying to avoid trouble, before returning to one of our houses at curfew, then ordering pizza from Dominos and actually timing it to see if we could get it for free if they missed the 30 minute mark by a second, before watching MTV and playing Atari and Nintendo video games all night, and hoping a good movie would come on Cinemax after midnight. Jeff and I were also on our school football, basketball and track teams together.

After Skratch moved to Kearney with his family in 1988, when we were juniors in high school, he became fast friends with Jeff and me. And then in college, while Jeff didn’t live in the Dome, he will be the first to tell you about all the parties he attended there!

Jeff was, and still is, a real stud! After college he joined the Marines and was stationed at the US Naval Base in Rota, Spain.

Before I left Nebraska in September on this trip, I knew no matter how long I stayed or where I went, I was going to visit Jeff in Rota.

Now I was quickly approaching the end of my backpacking adventure through Europe, and the next week was exactly the re-charge I needed with my best friend. In addition to our deep and meaningful talks on life and love, we had an absolute blast partying on and off the military base and on the beaches of the Southern tip of Spain.

No Photographs from today

DAY 84 / 11-29-94
Rota, Spain

First of all, I’ll finish what happened last night. When I arrived in Puerto de Santa Maria, I called the base. Someone had to go tell Jeff that I was in, and I had to wait at the station for about an hour, but it was worth it. Jeff was looking good, and it was about a 15 minute drive from the station to his house. I met his wife (God, that is weird to write), who is a really nice person.

I got so excited to be home when I walked into Jeff’s apartment. The first thing he handed me an MGD – HOOAH – It was AWE-SOME! Oh my God. Next I saw his Super NES [Nintendo Entertainment System], not a SEGA, but he did have John Madden ’94!

Next up were Pizza Pockets & Pretzels. Just to see things I recognize was so awesome: matches that save matches, Resolve carpet cleaner, Pop Tarts, Country Crock butter, Pillsbury muffins, etc.

Their next door neighbor Eric came over for a little bit. After he left & Vicky went to bed, Jeff & I stayed up till about 1:30 [am] talking about old times.

I got up today about 1:30 [pm]. Eric brought the Stars & Stripes, the military newspaper, over for me to read. After taking a shower & starting to watch the movie “Speed” (Jeff has a movie collection that rivals mine), Vicky came home.

Tammy had written me, and Vicky was mad because I was getting more mail than them. (I had received letters from Skratch, Tracy, and a birthday card from his parents).

We talked awhile, I read my letter, she went to take a nap, & I returned to “Speed”.

Jeff came home a little later. Vic woke up & Eric came over, & we sat around telling old stories till 8:00 [pm]. Then we went to a bar on base that had karaoke.

Because I didn’t have my base pass yet I had to ride in the trunk so the could sneak me in, but it was cool.

There was hardly anyone there, so we each got to sing a couple songs. Vic was tired so we didn’t stay too long, about 10:30.

On the way home (in the trunk again) Jeff turned on the car radio to the base station, and guess who was on: Rush! [Limbaugh] Kick Ass. Now I really miss Huey [my jeep, which only had an AM radio, and the best thing on AM was Rush Limbaugh.]

When we got home Jeff & Vicky went to bed, and I watched “Ruthless People” before going to bed.

Tim Skrastins
1014 West 29th #630 [Centennial Towers West Dormitory at UNK]
Kearney, NE 68849
USA — (ha ha!)

Todd Rundstrom
somewhere in Europe — (doh!)

T-Dog,

Thanks for the letters and postcard. After you’ve mailed me 3 times, and I haven’t done anything, I feel like crap, so here’s a letter for you.

I’ll get those enlargements for you ASAP, if I don’t end up packaging them in with this letter. I’m impressed that you are getting the recognition from the magazine and maybe even published. Wow! I’m impressed, but not surprised — According to Arlen, you’re the second best photographer in the world. ;)

I’m jealous of all the photo opportunities you are getting, but I’m slowly working on building up my portfolio here. I work a lot of hours for the Antelope [the college newspaper, where we both were photo editors], and my Kearney Hub [the local newspaper where we both worked] hours are increasing now that I don’t work at Bob’s [Superstore Camera Department, where we worked together since high school]. School really sucks this semester. I am having an incredibly hard time making it to my classes and keeping up with my homework. It’s usually because I’ve been up so late with the Hub or the Antelope. Even worse, I have a class with Dork Dork and we have to write creative feature stories right and left. I’m so far behind, I’m going to try to write about three this weekend, I think that will catch me up. I’m just going to write crap and let her tell me how bad they suck and then I’ll re-write them, but at least they’ll be turned in.

To make matters worse, Chuck Salestrom, who teaches two of my classes, got blood clots in two of his legs and had to undergo major surgery. He won’t be back for a few weeks yet. Guess who took over one of the classes? You guessed it, Dork Dork. Ah, well. My biggest problem is that I end up sleeping through half of my classes and have to catch the wrap from her about that. She seems to be somewhat sympathetic, but I think the clock is running out on that. I just need to get caught up and life will be better, I hope.

I’m going through huge amounts of depression and loneliness and withdrawal from you, Kyle and Doug all leaving about the same time. I have zero social life this semester. Well, maybe not zero, but a very small amount for a person like me who’s used to doing something besides holing up in the darkroom all the time and not ever getting any release.

I guess I’ve done a couple things this semester. I saw tickets to the Billy Joel concert in Kansas City on the internet a few weeks ago. I saw them on a Monday, and they were for Tuesday. De managed to weasel out of work and I didn’t have to work that night, so we skipped our late classes and went and came back the same night. It was pretty cool. The tickets we got were pretty high up in the second section, and behind the stage, although it was open. De wanted to walk down closer to take some pictures, so we did and found some seats in the fourth row that never got claimed, so we had really awesome seats the whole time.

Last weekend, De and I went out to Colorado. She has some friends that live out there, so we had a place to spend the night. We went down to Colorado Springs to see Garden of the Gods.*

Stein also went down that weekend and he wanted to meet in Boulder to see if we could hawk tickets to the Colorado-Kansas State game. De decided that she didn’t want to go, thinking that we’d have to pay $40-$50 for each ticket and it wasn’t worth it to her. I planned on meeting Stein and his girlfriend there, so I went alone from where we were staying. I never ran into him although I waited about an hour outside of the stadium. Tickets ran about $40-$70 each and I didn’t want to spend that much to go on my own. I couldn’t afford it anyway.

I finally ran into students selling student tickets. I found those for $10-$25. Then I found out that I would have to validate them for $22.50 since I wasn’t a student. Shit! I was thinking about going home, but then thought, “Fuck it. If T-Dog was here by himself, he’d go and hang in the student section, and have a blast.”

So I did, and I found a ticket for $20 that I didn’t have to validate if I had any university ID. I did have a blast. The game was a nail-biter, but as you may have heard, the Buffs won. I was screaming and shouting the whole game. Everybody was jumping on top of each other and hugging and high-fiving after each touchdown. It was about how you described ASU games. We did the Chers, “Fuck ‘em up, Fuck ‘em up, GO CU!” and so on. You know how it goes. I had an absolute blast, and the whole way bak I cursed my decision to go to UNK. Heck, I’d still transfer if I thought I could (and if I wasn’t so sick of school that I could puke!) I bought a new CU sweatshirt to replace the one that got stolen at our last volleyball tournament.

So far the dorm party ball total is at 15. Just kidding. I haven’t had any. Partially because I work so much, but still can’t afford it. Also my suite mates. They both work a lot. One is a total dork that works back at IBP packing plant in Lexington (his hometown). I found out later that he got some girl in Lincoln pregnant and he’s paying support. He’s 19. He joined the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity and thinks it’s the godliest fraternity on the earth so he always parties over there. The other suite mate is really cool, but he has an Amigo’s scholarship so he has to work his butt off for them including almost every weekend, which is the only time I could possibly drink some beer. It’s probably for the best, my funny tummy isn’t getting any smaller and beer wouldn’t exactly help.

Kyle was in town last weekend for the heck of it. He got a job in Omaha with Ford. He’s going to be a customer service rep on the phone or something like that. He hadn’t started yet, so he didn’t have all the details. He said it pays about $18,000 and includes medical insurance. etc. and they would also pay him to go to grad school. He’s thinking about doing that since that will increase his salary automatically when he gets his masters and it increases his upward mobility in the company, possibly with the option of moving to the ad department. That’s what he’s hoping anyway. I guess he’ll also get discounts on cars the way his brother does.

Christmas Symphony is December 18, with the possibility of going to an Omaha Lancer’s Hockey game the night before. Kyle and Jen should have an apartment by then. They are signed up for one, but it’s not built yet.

Dorm life is ok. It’s really nice to be so close to campus for the Antelope. That’s the major benefit. I also have rent, electricity, water, phone, food, gas, etc. all paid so I can keep my paychecks for other bills. If I find a better option next semester, I’ll take it, but I don’t know who I’d room with. Curt and BK seem locked into their place, plus it’d be like moving back into the Dome for cleanliness. Oh well. Maybe I can move in with Collin and Amie (ha ha). Way the by, they are unofficially engaged now, but they won’t announce it for the parental units until the holidays. I told Collin to pay up on our bet (ha ha), but the wedding isn’t until 1996, so anything can happen.

T&T [Photography, our business] is winding down. I have all but one of the wedding orders in, but the other proofbook just came in for the Oct. 1 wedding. I can’t wait to just forget about it for a while. I’m so busy with school that I can’t give it the time it deserves. I’m extremely fired up to do it with you and Arlen when the time comes, though. I’m still uneasy about Houston as a location, although I can live with it for a while. I just don’t want to lock into a location that I’m not happy with, or I can’t move from, since I still want to travel. Arlen is extremely anxious to get it going too. The great minds of AT&T will have to have a pow-wow at Fajita Flats [our favorite restaurant in Houston, home of the world’s best margaritas] when you get back.

I’m a little closer to graduation (if I don’t fail everything this semester). But I’m still unsure as to when. It looks like December ‘95 at the earliest. If I get a good internship opportunity in the meantime, I’d dump the Hub and school for a while too just for a change of scenery. I think the main source of my depression is the fact that I am still in Kearney, NE, and most all of my friends ar out, heck, even my parents are! I’m not really depressed, just listless, I’ve got a lot of energy and nothing here is giving me the inspiration to use it or do anything. I’m just chugging along and it seems like I’m getting nowhere. The rush I got from being in the mountains and driving around Denver was indescribable. That’s how I know that it’s this place that’s getting me down. If I can just hang on a little longer and put my energy into what I’m doing now, that’s what I need to do.

Well, man, that’s about all I have to say. It’s Friday afternoon, and I have to go into the Hub pretty soon. I’m excited about the NU-CU game tomorrow. Stein and I will watch it together and dance naked in the streets when CU wins big. Enclosed is the best AP photo of Colorado I could find. It’s from the game I went to. If you look closely, you can see me in the background, about 12 rows up in the bottom section. I’m kinda blurry though. I’m sure there will be a million from the NU-CU game, and I will have them all. If hockey season ever starts, I’ll grab a few more there too.

By the way, how able are you to keep up with news there? Would you like me to send you a USA Today or something? Or maybe just the sports section? If you can’t keep up with it, you and I are in about the same boat. I don’t even have the time to take to watch NFL on Sunday. Too darn busy. When will this end? Aiiiihhhhhh!!!!

Have fun in Europe, we’re all jealous!

Skratch

PS: Tell Jeff hey for me

Here is the note from my sister Tammy, folded up of course - she didn’t want anyone else to read it!

Dear Todd –

                  Hi How are you? I’m good. I got your postcard and it was great to hear from you again. Have you been to Italy yet? If so, how was Julie? If not, tell her hi for me please. The reason I’m asking you this is because I don’t know where we’re going to send your package and this letter to.

                  How’s all of your friends? Were they glad to see you? I’m so ready for you to come home. In about a month aren’t you going back to France?

                  Oh, when you are in Spain tell Jeff “Hi” for me please.

                  Everyone here is good. Jordan [our two-year old cousin] can say my name & when I walk in her house she says right away “Hi Mammy” (Mammy’s how she says my name).

                  I sing her songs that Tracy taught me from the camp she worked at & Jordan loves them. After I’m done she sings them (in her own language) and tries to do the actions that I do. It’s so cute. Nicole [another cousin who was one] is getting big and cute. She can crawl and pull herself up on the couch.

                  Let’s see, what else is going on in Kearney. They’re building a SuperMart here. It’s huge. It’s going to be a Walmart with groceries, clothes, and everyday kinds of things that you get at a Walmart. I think they’re moving Herberger’s [a clothing store] into the old Wal-Mart but I’m not sure what they’ll put in Herberger’s.

                  I’m getting contacts. My appointment was last Thursday & they said my contacts would be in in a couple of weeks. So I’m excited about that.

I don’t have a boyfriend. Do you have a girlfriend?

Brandy [our dog] is still alive. I’m happy but you’re probably not. He has an infection so we have to give him a pill twice a day.

Last Thursday & Friday we got out of school for Parent-Teacher conferences. My grades were: Geometry – B+; APS – B+; Speech – B; French – A; Keyboarding – A; Clothing – A; English – A. I was happy with those grades.

Well, not too much else going on. WBS (Write Back Soon). I miss you a lot!

Love Always,

Tams

Write Back

Miss you

S-O-S

Sorry

So

Sloppy

PS – I’ll give you a Christmas present even if you’re not home by Christmas. In fact, I’ve already gotten it.

My birthday card from John and Leola, Jeff’s parents.

Todd,

Hope your birthday is great!

What better way to celebrate than to be with a buddy in Rota, Spain!

Sincerely,

John & Leola

Madden ‘94 was one of my all time favorite video games. When I lived in the Dome, we had actual Madden tournaments, and I spent countless hours playing this game with my friends. It was great to be able to play it with Jeff in Spain!

Speed is a 1994 American action thriller film starring Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock and Jeff Daniels.

The plot centers on a city bus rigged by a vengeful extortionist (Hopper) to explode if its speed drops below 50 miles per hour. Reeves plays an LAPD officer tasked with preventing the disaster, with Bullock portraying a passenger who becomes unexpectedly involved in the mission.

Ruthless People is a 1986 American black comedy film directed by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker and written by Dale Launer. It stars Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Judge Reinhold, Anita Morris, and Helen Slater, with Bill Pullman in a supporting role in his film debut.

The film is the story of a couple who kidnap their ex-boss's wife to get revenge and extort money from him. They soon realize he does not want her back and was planning to kill her himself. Meanwhile, the boss's mistress plans a blackmail attempt on him, which also fails to go as planned.

Rush Limbaugh, also known as the “Doctor of Democracy” and “America’s Anchorman” was known as the pioneer of AM radio. For three hours a day, five days a week, for more than thirty years, Limbaugh revolutionized the media and political landscape with his unprecedented combination of serious discussion of political, cultural and social issues along with satirical and biting humor, which parodies previously “untouchable” personalities and topics.

In 1988, Rush launched his phenomenally successful radio broadcast, The Rush Limbaugh Show, into national syndication with 56 radio stations. 31 years later, the show was heard on more than 600 stations by up to 27 million people each week and was the highest-rated national radio talk show in America. On February 5, 2020, at the State of the Union Address, President Donald Trump awarded Rush the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian honor. Rush has also received the Marconi Radio Award five times, and has been inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians, the Radio Hall of Fame and the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

His passion inspired millions of Americans to be the best they can be and keeps the country on course to a bright future.

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