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GOLD IN THEM THAR HILLS – part 2
GOLD IN THEM THAR HILLS – part 2 part 1 The first two of the five years I worked on the river we made more than our expenses. I kept a record of our trips and the amount of gold we found. We averaged three trips a month from April through November and…
GOLD IN THEM THAR HILLS – part 1
GOLD IN THEM THAR HILLS – part 1 The big nuggets and easy pickings are gone. You have to move a lot of dirt and rock. It is physically demanding, but there still is gold in them thar hills, and plenty of it. Over a lot of time, the gold will eventually work its…
SUMMERTIME, AND LIVIN’ WAS EASY
SUMMERTIME, AND LIVIN’ WAS EASY Before calling it a day, usually in the wee hours of the morning, I’d go to the Club’s kitchen and get a cantaloupe-sized loaf of bread, baked fresh that evening for whatever occasion was going on, and an RC Cola. Then I headed over to the marina, out to…
IT IS A SMALL WORLD
IT IS A SMALL WORLD The takeaway from this story is – When you come across someone with the same last name as yours, look into it further. You never know where it might lead, and you could miss out on what might come of it. It is a small world. The first of…
A HANK WILLIAMS STORY – ON THE BAYOU – part 4
Our Story continues with Hank calling Jim to come over to provide a drumbeat, and a young girl, Lonnie shows up with her flute asking if she can play. John returns in mid song. – – part 1, part 2, part 3 A Hank Williams Story – part 4 – – “I Saw…
A HANK WILLIAMS STORY – ON THE BAYOU – part 3
Our Story continues with John doing another song. He departs saying he’ll be back, and Anna Louise arrives with her fiddle, followed shortly thereafter by her brother, Tommy, with his banjo and guitar – – part 1, part 2 A HANK WILLIAMS STORY – part 3 – – “I Won’t Be Home No…
A HANK WILLIAMS STORY – ON THE BAYOU – part 2
Our Story continues with John after having joined Hank and George on the dock – part 1 A HANK WILLIAMS STORY – part 2 – – “Lost Highway” 1949 John spoke first. “I just got to go now. It’s been a pleasure.” “Same here!” answered Hank, and George. “Be…
A HANK WILLIAMS STORY – ON THE BAYOU – part 1
“A Hank Williams Story – On the Bayou” takes place in Southwest Louisiana, early November, 1952. Sixteen “Hank” songs, in one hour. There is an ongoing narration between each track. It starts with just Hank and his guitar, and builds, an instrument at a time, as others join in. For a brief time, Hank…
ALONG THE CAPE COD NATIONAL SEASHORE
ALONG THE CAPE COD NATIONAL SEASHORE For a while, when I lived on Cape Cod, I lived in the small town of Eastham, at the southern end of the Cape Cod National Seashore. We had scored a year-round rental, which wasn’t easy. Being the tourist destination that it is, most rentals had one price…
RUNNING BEYOND THE MARATHON
RUNNING BEYOND THE MARATHON Besides making a habit of your running, discovering how to train for running 100 miles, how to avoid being over-trained and under-recovered, how when it comes to nutrition, less is more, and best in liquid form, and knowing the difference between being hurt, or being tired and aching, and…
THE LAKE MERRITT LODGE IN OAKLAND, CA.
THE LAKE MERRITT LODGE IN OAKLAND, CA. The Lake Merritt Lodge in Oakland, CA., overlooking Lake Merritt, is now the Historic Lake Merritt Lodge. For over a hundred years, it has housed thousands, from all walks of life, and from all over the world. It was once a dormitory for the Y.W.C.A., and is…
ROSCOE – RIP
ROSCOE – RIP Roscoe, my wife Shino’s best friend and devotee (I’m not jealous), and my co-pilot for fourteen years, has gone to Heaven. He was healthy, fit and trim, eager to please, and always ready to chase the squirrels in the park. It was “his thing”. Up until his last few weeks. One…
TRAINS, TREES, AND ARROWS
TRAINS, TREES, AND ARROWS I would save my broken arrows if they were still long enough to get a decent draw on my bow. Then I’d carve my name along the shaft and put on another point. I’d save them for when I went up to visit my grandmother. No, not for my grandmother,…
MONTANA RANCHER ELLEN COTTON
We were on a van trip from Cape Cod to California via Yellowstone, back the southern route to Louisiana, and north through the Appalachians returning to the Cape. Along the way, we met Montana rancher Ellen Cotton. West of Chicago, we picked up three hitchhikers going to St. Paul, Minnesota. One of them told…
4 CORNERS OF THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST -part 3
4 CORNERS OF THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST – part 3 At the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, the lush forest stops abruptly giving way to the eroded canyons with pinyon pine and juniper, and a multitude of vistas as it descends to the Colorado. It is unlike the South Rim with its steep cliff…
4 CORNERS OF THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST – part 2
4 CORNERS OF THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST – part 2 Comes the morning, and after taking advantage of the truckstop’s facilities, coffee, and food, we made our way to Hwy 191 and turned south to The Canyonlands and The Arches. In The Canyonlands, more high desert mesas fall away to a landscape of colorful…
4 CORNERS OF THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST
4 CORNERS OF THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST My wife to be, Shino (pronounced She-no, short for Shinobu,) and I, left Oakland on my 500cc Honda motorcycle, for the 4 Corners of the American Southwest. The 4 Corners consist of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, where their borders intersect. It is the only such place…
55 RIDES TO CROSS THE COUNTRY – part 2
55 RIDES – part 2 It was an easy walk getting back to the freeway from where we stayed over. I got rides to Indianapolis, on Interstate 70, then a good ride past Columbus Ohio, to Zanesville, almost to Interstate 77, where I planned to go south. I was pretty close to my grandparent’s…
55 RIDES TO CROSS THE COUNTRY
It took me 55 rides to cross the country from the San Fernando Valley, just north of L.A., to Chatham, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, a peninsula reaching into the Atlantic Ocean. Going to the Cape wasn’t my goal. I was just headed east. The New England area sounded good, and if it happened that I…
THE TRAIN TO MARRAKESH
Departing from Algeciras on the train, we took the train-ferry to Ceuta, a Spanish colony on the Moroccan coast of Africa, where I would board another train to Marrakesh. It took just over an hour, past the Strait of Gibraltar and across the meeting of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. BTW, the trains…
INDIANS AT THE LAKE AT CAMP EDGEWOOD
The Scouts would arrive on Sunday morning and depart the following Saturday morning, all working on merit badges through the courses provided. There were, give or take, a hundred and twenty-five per week. We had a six-week camping schedule*. On Tuesday evenings, the families of the Scouts were invited to come up for a visit, which…