Backpacking through Europe in 1994
Day 103 • December 18, 1994
Home! Back in Omaha, Nebraska
With Kyle, at his parent’s Pam and John’s house, before we met up with the rest of the Dome Crew for the Omaha Christmas Symphony.
I made it home for the Christmas Symphony with the Dome Crew. The first thing I needed was a shower, shave and haircut!
Note from Todd in 2024:
Ever since Skratch introduced us and we became roommates at the Dome during our final two years at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Kyle has been a brother to me, and his Mom Pam and Stepdad John have been adopted parents to me.
The morning after my suicide attempt in August 1993, Kyle was the first one who noticed the bandages I had put on my wrists. Kyle was the one who immediately took me up to my parent’s house to talk with them about what had happened. Kyle was immediately supportive of my idea to go to Europe - one of the very few people who were. He took me to the camping outlet store in Omaha where I bought my backpack and sleeping bag. And, along with Skratch and my family, he wrote me letters while I was in Europe.
To this day, Kyle, Pam and John have been by my side and have my number one supporters through the good and not-so-good days I have had since 1993. Thankfully, there have been a lot more good days!
It is only fitting that Pam and John hosted me on my return from Europe, just as they did back on September 6, 1994, the night before I departed on this crazy adventure.
It is equally fitting that Kyle was there too, just as he had been the day before I took off to go Backpacking Through Europe.
*****
After I returned from Europe, and before they each got married, I lived with both Tim and Curt in an apartment building called, ironically enough for us, “The Quiet Living Zone Apartments”. Tim and I continued running our business T&T Photography.
More than 30 years after college, the Dome Crew is still together and as strong as ever. We communicate almost daily with each other through a variety of means. And every fall, we play fantasy football together, in our private league, the DFL (Dome Football League). We began our league in 1997, and we have played 27 consecutive years. Kyle is our all-time league commissioner and keeper of the official statistics.
We have all grown up together and gone through the trials and tribulations of life. There have been weddings and divorces, funerals and babies who have grown up, graduated from high school, some have graduated college while others are just beginning, some have even gotten married and have children of their own!
*****
Kyle and his now ex-wife went on to have three daughters. They did move to Florida, and he moved up with Ford Motor Credit. Ford paid for his master’s degree before they laid him off in 2005. After the divorce, Kyle found happiness again with a new wife and her three children. All six kids are grown. Kyle and his wife live near Omaha, Nebraska. I am still “Uncle Todd” to the three daughters he had with his first wife.
Curt has had a successful career in law enforcement spanning more than 25 years. I was a groomsman in his wedding, along with my Dome brothers. He and his wife have two grown sons, and I am still “Uncle Todd” to them. Curt and his family live in Kansas.
Doug served honorably in Operation Desert Storm as a commander of a Patriot missile battery. He got married in 2001 and the Dome Crew was all part of his wedding. They had two sons before getting divorced. Doug and his sons live in Houston, Texas.
Tim, AKA Skratch, married De in 1996. I was his Best Man, and of course our other Dome Crew brothers were all in the wedding too. Tim followed Kyle to South Florida and worked a short time for Ford Motor Credit before returning to photography - and Colorado - for good. He and De operate a successful photography studio in Colorado Springs and have raised two daughters who still call me “Uncle Todd”. The oldest is married – the Dome Crew all celebrated with Skratch and De, along with Tim’s parents Igor and Kathy, along with Kyle’s parents Pam and John - at their wedding. Now she and her husband have a baby daughter.
*****
Over in France, Olivier and Rachel got married and had a daughter Elise. Olivier returned to Kearney to visit in 1998, and Elise came for a visit in 2015.
In Finland, Siru reunited with her boyfriend Jussi, who had lent me some money at the party the night I arrived. They got married and had a daughter. Unfortunately, Jussi died a few years ago.
In Norway, Katrine and Per Christian are still married. Karoline is now 24.
In Denmark, Pernille is married and a pastor at a church.
My friend Gitte now lives in Lilongwe, Malawi, Africa.
*****
My sister Tracy’s roommate Julie lives in Ft. Worth, Texas, and they still get together frequently.
My buddy Jeff served his country honorably. Although he and Vicky divorced after a few years, he remarried and lives with his family in Dallas, Texas.
*****
I am so blessed. I have wonderful relationships that have endured decades, and I have made a successful life and a career out of my passions: traveling and taking pictures.
I thank God every day for my life and for my opportunities. A lot of doors have been opened to me, and I have been able to see and experience so much, all because of my passion for photography and my love of capturing priceless moments with pictures.
After returning from Europe, I continued working at Bob’s Superstore Camera Department and taking pictures with Tim, both for fun and for money. Tim had been working as a staff photographer at the Kearney Hub newspaper. When he got married in 1996 and moved to Florida, I took his position and became the new staff photographer at the Hub. Two years later I followed Kyle and Tim to South Florida. I earned a degree in Commercial Photography from the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale and was the studio manager for a highly successful South Florida commercial photographer for two years.
I then spent four years, 1999-2004, as a commercial photographer for the Kansas City Star. Then I started my own studio, Todd Rundstrom Photography. After trying one year in Denver, Colorado, I moved back to Kearney, Nebraska.
Between 1992 and 2015, I photographed more than 100 weddings and thousands of portraits, projects and commercial assignments with Tim. My experiences and memories with him operating T&T Photography, and for a short time with our friend Arlen, running AT&T Photography, have shaped and molded my life.
In 2016 I re-enrolled in college at the University of Nebraska-Kearney (UNK). On May 5, 2017, 23 years after I quit school and took off for Europe, I graduated!
I earned a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology with a minor in Media Production.
In 2018 I began working with News Link, based in Lincoln, Nebraska, and through News Link I now work with some of America’s top companies, including BNSF Railway, Union Pacific Railroad, Kellogg’s, Kellanova and Conagra. They send me all around the country to take pictures at their various locations. I take portraits of everyone from front-line employees to middle-managers, executive staff and plant managers.
In addition, I have a gallery of my favorite photographs of nature and the world, The Todd Rundstrom Gallery. My pictures are proudly hanging in public and private collections around the nation.
For nearly 20 years I have lived in Kearney, the town I once tried so hard to get out of. I love my town and am proud to represent Kearney and Nebraska every time I am traveling.
As my movie hero Ferris Bueller always said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
I agree one hundred percent, and I like to add on “and while you’re taking a look around, take a picture too so you can remember the moment and share it with others.”
*****
Thank you for taking this journey through Europe with me. I hope you have enjoyed looking at my pictures and learning about my adventures as much as I have enjoyed sharing them with you!