We are taking my Dad on his FIRST African Safari!!!

[Just Gina]

I’m kind of a geography/miles traveled freak. How many miles from Texas to Minnesota? Thanks!

@CoElkHunter

Too stinking many!

I see Bob answered your question. We have made that trip so many times over the last year. It is a LOT of driving to add to the chaos and stress of moving, that’s for sure! And we are still not finished moving. We are still not moved in due to renovations.

We have started using the divide and conquer strategy and I will stay at home in TX where I belong with the sunshine and beautiful weather, painting and dealing with the renovations, and Bob makes equipment hauls to the wretched north and back with the snow or mosquitoes depending on the time of year…
He took Dad up north the week after he retired. They both love farm work. Then dad was home a week until we took him again on this trip. So far so good. We are sitting in the lounge in Paris waiting on the next flight.

 

[Just Gina]

Best of luck on your Safari, Gina! I’m sure it’ll be a blast to see Africa through your dad‘s eyes!
It’s funny how many people are retiring! I’m laying down this “veil of tears“ on Dec 31. 34 years with the same company and 47 years of continuous employment. It’s time to enjoy the fruits of my labor, as mentioned by several posters on this thread. My retirement gift to myself is a leopard hunt in Namibia in late April 25. I’m taking my son with me for his first safari, and of course I can’t do a safari without @Jeff505 , so he will be accompanying us.

Looking forward to reading your report!

@Doug3006

Thank you!
A HUGE congratulations to you on your upcoming retirement!! You certainly deserve it and yes, enjoy the fruits of your labor!
How exciting that you are going to Africa also and taking your son! That is awesome and it will be here before you know it.
You know, I retired from travel nursing and now work with Bob. Most don’t know it but Bob still works full+ time. I have been working on him to retire. Maybe in a few years we’ll be celebrating Bob’s retirement which will probably mean another trip to Africa. I should start planning it now and maybe that will speed things up.

 

[Just Gina]

@Just Gina - You absolutely “gush” Love for your Father and it is evident in every word of your Post…every Father should be a Hero to their Children and it sounds like your Dad is “your Hero”. What a wonderful gift you are giving him and I’m sure you will All enjoy the trip and the lasting memories it creates. All of my best hunts have been with my children — any hunt with them is a “great” hunt.
Wishing you ALL the best.

@HankBuck

Thank you, Good Sir for the kind words and well wishes! You know, I worked neuro trauma ICU and then when stupid covid hit, I was working 16 and 18 days straight, 13-14 hour shifts. My neuro trauma icu got turned into covid icu and I was one of the few nurses not terrified of covid and we were short staffed. I remember there being days I was so physically and mentally exhausted and did not think I could do another shift and then I thought of my Dad. I have seen that man go and work full days in a leg cast, worked for months in extreme pain from a tumor in his spinal column, his neck and shoulder surgeries and that man still worked in that non-climate controlled machine shop and was thankful he was able to put in a full days work. So yes, a wonderful example and definitely my hero. I will likely never be that tough but I did get my stubbornness from him!

 

[ActionBob]

@Doug3006

Thank you!
A HUGE congratulations to you on your upcoming retirement!! You certainly deserve it and yes, enjoy the fruits of your labor!
How exciting that you are going to Africa also and taking your son! That is awesome and it will be here before you know it.
You know, I retired from travel nursing and now work with Bob. Most don’t know it but Bob still works full+ time. I have been working on him to retire. Maybe in a few years we’ll be celebrating Bob’s retirement which will probably mean another trip to Africa. I should start planning it now and maybe that will speed things up.

Hey Babydoll, Northern Tanzania, Uganda and West/Central Africa are on my wish list

 

[Just Gina]

Hey Babydoll, Northern Tanzania, Uganda and West/Central Africa are on my wish list

Which will make you retire the fastest??

 

[Shootist43]

Gina, I was about to call you a few moments ago, but then I thought you might be on your way to Africa. Checking this post confirmed that thought. Maybe I didn't go back far enough to see if the answer to my question was already disclosed. What rifle(s) did you dad decide to use? The last time I talked to Bob, you guys were getting ready to go to his "Retirement" party. After which he was going to try out a couple of your larger caliber rifles.

We are leaving this Friday. Both "little" Art and Charlie told me that Trip is beyond being EXCITED about hunting Africa. Somehow, he managed to "purloin" a seldom used 300 Win Mag from my safe. Getting it back may prove difficult. LOL

Have fun hunting with your Dad, and please keep us posted.

 

[ActionBob]

Art we are at the Victoria Falls Hotel suffering some jet lag right now. We ran out of gas right after a late "High Tea" and went to sleep a bit to early apparently. LOL

Gina is busy on WhatsApp with her mother so I'm responding to the rifle questions.

Now you know the reality is that you're going to be very disappointed if you get that 300 Win Mag back

We have been extremely busy with many large projects going on at work and aligning things for us to be gone 4 weeks. That also weighed in our choice to hunt in South Africa where we can have decent access to wifi. And being able to stay in contact with Gina's mom

I'll let @Just Gina fill you in on the very successful albeit tear jerker retirement party. Gina was of course her usual Fantastic!!!

As you also know we are still moving and simultaneously making changes to the new to us house in Texas.

So Gina headed back to Texas to deal with contractors while Bob (Gina's Dad) and I went out to the Oklahoma land to shoot. Gina's son brought our Lilly and little grandson with I suppose the transportation doesn't make sense without the back story that I needed to take the skid loader back to MN for some work there so loaded that and the Jeep Wrangler on the gooseneck so we drove up with the one ton. Gina drove the Jeep back to TX and her dad actually rode up to MN with me to do a couple days worth of catch up before loading up 3 more of our tractor collection and heading back South.

I do believe the largest gun Gina's dad ownes is a 270 win as he has been a lifelong bow hunter until his several shoulder and hand surgeries plus he's developed some degenerative arthritis. Gina's 375 H&H double just didn't fit him. Neither did the 404 Jeffrey as we had it cut down to fit her. I wanted to let him try a couple others but after the above two he tried the Remington 798 that we recently acquired at DSC. The one with that special 3 piece laminated stock. I had mounted a nice Swarovski Z6i and he liked that combo and decided that was what he'd use for Cape Buffalo I think that really nice Monte Carlo stock really fim him well! He will be shooting 300 grain A Frames.

At that point we moved on to the Rigby Highland Stalkers and again the 9.3x62 just doesn't fit him as that was also cut to fit Gina..... which she is deadly with However he loved the 275 Rigby HS that has not been cut down, although we have two different thickness pads for it. The longer red pad was on it and he also just really took to that gun and shot it really well. Gina and I love hunting with these classy rifles so I was thrilled with that choice! As we will be taking that 375, we opted to leave the 9.3x62 home and Gina plans to use her 404 Jeffrey for the bigger critters she is pursuing.

In addition we have a Ruger 77/22 in 22 Hornet with a Swarovski Z5i and a Leica Calanox clip on thermal and a small lightweight titanium suppressor. BTW, Lilly loved shooting that Then I opted to bring my (so far it's still mine, until Gina shoots something with it) Hyme Drilling. And finally my William Evans 450NE no. 2, 3 1/2" hammer top lever double rifle.

 

[Just Gina]

Gina, I was about to call you a few moments ago, but then I thought you might be on your way to Africa. Checking this post confirmed that thought. Maybe I didn't go back far enough to see if the answer to my question was already disclosed. What rifle(s) did you dad decide to use? The last time I talked to Bob, you guys were getting ready to go to his "Retirement" party. After which he was going to try out a couple of your larger caliber rifles.

We are leaving this Friday. Both "little" Art and Charlie told me that Trip is beyond being EXCITED about hunting Africa. Somehow, he managed to "purloin" a seldom used 300 Win Mag from my safe. Getting it back may prove difficult. LOL

Have fun hunting with your Dad, and please keep us posted.

@Shootist43

Hi Art!!

Oh goodness, you should have called! If you recall we talked a couple of times when I was in Tanzania my last trip!

I can just imagine how excited Trip is! More so, how excited YOU are to be going with him on his first Safari. I hate to be the bearer of bad news (or maybe not so bad ) but you aren’t getting that rifle back And I don’t think you’ll be that tore up about it lol! I am very excited about hearing all about your trip and the amazing time you are all going to have!

I see Bob answered the rifle questions, so I’ll fill you in on what we’ve been up to here. We went on a cruise on the Zambezi river as soon as we arrived at the Vic Falls hotel. Literally. There was a mix up with rifles and ammo in MN (big surprise) so we were delayed trying to find a bag that had ammo in it that was labeled as weapons when we arrived in JoBerg. The Famous Mr. X got it sorted out straight away when I showed him where it was in the airport thanks to AirTags! Got to the boarding gate in JoBerg to catch the flight to Zim but not before there was a blackout at the airport and thus, our checked bags to bring to Zim didn’t make it. We discovered this once we landed here and once again, thanks to AirTags, it got sorted out. We carry a change of clothes or two in our carry ons, so we had a change of clothes at least. Our bags arrived today.

Went on the river cruise and had a great time. Dad got to see lots of hippo, crocs, and elephant. Some pretty cool birds too!

Today, we went on a walking tour of Vic Falls and that was amazing. Then, came back after lunch at the overlook cafe. We took Dad on the flight of Angels over Vic Falls. It was a half hour helicopter ride and we saw elephant and Cape buffalo which was a great addition to the spectacular views above the falls!

We got back in time for high tea and were all too tired and full to go to supper so we all went to shower and go to bed. Except I woke up wide awake and here it is nearly 2am on Thursday and we leave out at 7:30 to go on a game drive in Botswana at Chobe national park. We have a cruise also on the Chobe river and will be having lunch at one of the lodges in between. We will get back to the hotel around supper time and then Friday is tiger fishing all day I think on the upper Zambezi. Saturday we fly back to JoBerg to Afton and will be collected by Bossie to go start hunting!

More to come and can’t wait to talk to you and catch up! That is always a treat!

If I don’t talk to you before, safe travels and keep good records for the report!!

 

[Shootist43]

Gina, we will be at the Afton House Saturday night as well. Hopefully we can spend a little time together. I think you are right about the rifle. The folks at Frontier Safaris, asked Art II if Trip would like to use one of their suppressed 300 Win Mags. He told them "that wouldn't be necessary, since Trip has been shooting a 300 WM for months." They were quite happy about that.

 

[Just Gina]

Gina, we will be at the Afton House Saturday night as well. Hopefully we can spend a little time together. I think you are right about the rifle. The folks at Frontier Safaris, asked Art II if Trip would like to use one of their suppressed 300 Win Mags. He told them "that wouldn't be necessary, since Trip has been shooting a 300 WM for months." They were quite happy about that.

Art, I would love this! What time do you land and arrive at Alton? I’d love for you all to meet Dad and Bob would love to show you all his trophies displayed at Afton!

I am sure Trip is quite proficient with just about any firearm. He has had great teachers!

 

[Shootist43]

Our plane lands at 7:00 P.M. so it will be 8:30 or 9:00 before we get to the Afton House. Our Departure time for Pt. Elisabeth is 10:10 A.M. Sunday morning. We are looking forward to seeing "old" friends, a steak supper and a cold beer.

 

[Art Lambart II]

Gina, we land in JoBurg at 6:30 pm Saturday night we should be at the Afton house by 8:30 hopefully. I arranged for the 3 of us to have a steak dinner before we turn in. We will see you Saturday night.

 

[sjones42347]

Thats awesome!! Im taking my dad July 2025. He took me when I was 14 and my young, stupid self told him Id take him some day, and that time has finally come.

 

[Just Gina]

Well we are still in Africa and have been hunting since Sunday night, after our week of touring around Vic Falls. Dad has a permanent smile on his face and I am loving it! Dad got the first kill of the hunt on the first night. A nice bush pig. I will put all the details in my hunt report. I am just beyond thrilled to see him having so much fun and enjoying Africa!!

We were fortunate to be able to meet up with @Shootist43, @Art Lambart II, and Trip at Afton and introduce them to Dad.

Dad is having the best time and I am blessed enough to be here to see it!

More updates to come…

Gina