Bidding a Fond Farewell (Pt. 2)
RB and I have visited all 48 of the contiguous United States. I even took her to the Atlantic Ocean’s Newfoundland, the easternmost point of North America. We’ve been to Key West, Florida, seen the Pacific Ocean in Washington State, the Golden Gate Bridge shrouded in fog. My mother even dared to boldly go with me on one of my adventures. I’ve posted most of the stories here, but there are some that I’ve chosen to keep to myself. One particular story would have distressed my family–especially my mother–but I’m going to share it now because after six years, it’s finally funny and a great example of how things happened with RB and me. As posted at the time, I was on Day 15 of a 16-day marathon from Iowa to Fargo (North Dakota) to Seattle (Washington State), down to San Francisco (California) and back to Grinnell. Since I was…
Bidding a Fond Farewell (Pt. 1)
My 2006 Food 500, which I’ve dubbed the Red Barron (or RB for short) because of the way she handled herself on the road and anywhere I deigned to take her, and I have been through a lot since I bought her in 2009. I’ve noted many of our road adventures on this site and its predecessor at https://singin1.wordpress.com. I’d hoped we would have many more road trips still to experience, but then it turned that RB was in the wrong place at the wrong time during a drecho that hit Iowa on Monday morning, August 10. This New York Times article described the extensive damage throughout the area. I was blessed to be at home inside a structure that provided plenty of protection from the storm’s destructive forces. Other than the experience of being without power for four days, I was just fine. RB was not so fortunate.…
Duck Touring Hot Springs
Wednesday continued the run of beautiful, sunny days. Hot, though, but I generally am fairly comfortable in hot weather. Gerry and I decided to take the Duck Tour, which would give us a chance to see parts of the town and sites around nearby Lake Hamilton. Once we got started, I found the “captain” of the boat entertaining and informative. He talked about the houses of the famous and infamous that lined the lake shore and their histories. I’m going to let the pictures below speak for themselves. As usual, the rest of the photos are available on my Flickr page. Since Gerry wanted to leave town very early Thursday morning, we had dinner at the condo and watched the DVD on the music studio in Muscle Shoals. I’m not normally a big fan of biographic documentaries, but this one was surprisingly entertaining. It was interesting to hear back stories…
Last Days in Hot Springs–The National Park
We got an early start Thursday. Gerry was heading back east that morning, so I got up and fixed breakfast so that we could have a final chat before he left. After he left, I cleaned up and got down to work. Or at least that was the plan. I’m under deadline to finish my first published book, and I’ve hit a wall. As the day passed, I had brief moments of typing, but mostly I stared at the computer screen or out of the condo’s patio door at the lake beyond. Well after the sun went down, I finally gave up and packed up my belongings in preparation for departure Friday morning. Writer’s block is a terrible thing to have. And this is a crappy time to have it. Before I’d gone to bed Thursday night, I got an announcement that the area would be under a flash flood…
A Presidential Visit… Sort of
When I visited Little Rock in 2016, I had to settle for a drive-by of the Clinton Presidential Library. So, when Gerry told me he planned to drive to Little Rock to visit the library, I jumped at the opportunity to finally see it. We got an early start on Tuesday morning with the thought of reaching town after its morning rush hour and with the hope that the library wouldn’t be crowded. Our timing was excellent. Other than a busload of seniors, the attendance seemed light. We saw the replica of the Oval Office and the limo on loan from the Secret Service. The library had also just opened an exhibition of American crafts the Clintons had commissioned back in 1993. We also saw a series of displays profiling many of the programs developed or continued by the Clinton administration, celebrities and leaders of the era, the replica of…
Hot Springs,… Finally! And a Special Birthday
Since my 2016 trip to southeastern US, I’ve hoped to visit Hot Springs, Arkansas; however, I simply ran out of time to add it to that trip. My birthday approached, and I wanted to get out of town for a few days. Hot Springs came up again because it was far enough south to get to warmer weather but not so far that I need a whole day to drive it. The celebration had started early when I visited family back East, and they decided to surprise me with the early presentation of a German Chocolate Cake decorated with six candles. Then, my eldest sister informed me that she and my brother-in-law would treat me to a week in their timeshare! Finally, my youngest brother accepted my invitation to spend that week enjoying the facilities and activities along with me!! I left home the Friday before my b-day very concerned…
Random Thoughts, Post South Dakota Trip
I’ve lived in Iowa for more than a decade as I write this post. It’s a long ways from family and the friends I have back East, and I feel that detachment very keenly sometimes. Yet, my time here has not been lost time. I’ve met people who have enhanced my life, both personally and professionally. And I’ve had the opportunity to see the country of my birth in a way that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. I’ve become a “collector of national parks,” having so far visited Badlands, Grand Canyon, Great Smoky, Mount Rainier, Olympic, Redwood, Rocky Mountain, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Zion, and other sites managed by the National Park Service, such as Mount Rushmore National Memorial, North Cascades Scenic Highway, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Big Cypress National Preserve and Effigy Mounds National Monument.
Home, Home from the Range
The night’s storm died away, but that Tuesday morning afterwards began still cloudy and was the coolest of the extended holiday weekend. Fortunately, it wasn’t so cool that I changed my mind about visiting Evans Plunge Mineral Springs in Hot Springs. I entered the small town around 7:30 a.m. and was able to get enough of a Wi-fi signal from my phone to find the direct route to the facilities. My timing was perfect because there weren’t many people there. I actually had the sauna to myself for several minutes. There were also few swimmers using the indoor swimming pool as I approached. I again reminded myself as I slowly walked down the steps into the shallow end that it had been decades since I swam, and what my body could do then was not the same as where things stood now. Those words of warning faded as…
A Day in the Black Hills of South Dakota
Memorial Day started partly sunny and cooler after the heavy thunderstorms of the night before. The forecast was for more stormy weather; the question was whether it would come during the day or later in the evening. The down side of a mostly outdoors activity is that one is affected by weather conditions. Fortunately, the sun came out, and daylight hours warmed up enough where folks were able to shed their jackets by mid-morning. My niece and I went on this same bus tour ten years ago. I wanted to go again because I’d very much enjoyed the tour and appreciated not having to drive myself from one stop to another. The Fort Hays Mount Rushmore Sightseeing Tour began with breakfast of pancakes and sausage, wound through the mountainous roadways of the Black Hills from Mount Rushmore to Crazy Horse. Most of my pictures are, as usual, available on my…
Oh, the Rocks and the Mountains
Ten years ago, I decided to bypass the Badlands National Park. Bad decision, but fortunately, I had the opportunity to see it this time. The route along I-90 regularly passes by several South Dakota historical sites. I made a quick drive through of this one: I got off to an early Sunday morning start because I know popular national parks fill quickly, especially during holiday weekends. Although I had about a half tank of gas, I also had learned from past experience that stations were rarely available once one entered the park. So when I saw a sign reminding me of this, I decided to stop at the station and add more gas to RB’s tank. (BTW, gas prices are, not surprisingly, higher because of the station’s isolated location, so fill up beforehand.) For a second day, the weather was wonderful, cooler than yesterday, although I wasn’t sure it would…