Friday, June 5, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Dad's Last Flight
Today is a date that marks one of life's milestones for me. It was many years ago on this date that my life changed forever. Today is the date on which my father died; five days after he retired from twenty years service in the US Air Force. It really was pretty tragic. My mom 'sacrificed' moving around all those years to 'someday' have a nice home. His death was traumatic for a fifteen year old boy, too.
Dad retired as a Lt. Col. serving at his last station at Beale AFB in the Sierra foothills north of Sacramento, California. It was nice there. We were an hour-and-a-half from Lake Tahoe, little more than two hours to San Francisco and the Bay Area. That Air Force base was the home base of the SR-71 reconnaissance plane. It is nicknamed, 'Blackbird.' To this day it holds the speed record for any airplane; I believe somewhere around Mach 3. The plane could fly from LA to NYC in an hour-and-a-half. It was very cool to see.
I may have mentioned in an earlier post; I was a very lucky kid. I was in high school when we were there.
We left California; headed east. Mom and Dad liked Carson City, Nevada; just up-and-over the Sierras from where we lived. We spent two nights there in a casino hotel before we headed up to Reno, Interstate 80 for the long ride back east. It was Dad, Mom, and me. My sister was in her first year at Penn State University. My parents were both from PA and had always maintained legal residence there as we moved about the entire country.
Our first stop was nothing more than a spot of a town in Nevada called Elko. It was out in the middle of the desert. The scenery was beautiful as the air was clear; the sun was bright and the many local mountains were all capped with snow.
We were all very familiar with travelling long distances in the car. We had done it many times. Up until that time I had lived for some time in every region of the United States except New England. My dad liked to kill as many miles as he could in a day's time.
I will never forget one trip from Omaha to eastern PA in 22 hours down Interstate 80. We left at midnight that night and headed east across Iowa. Around 2AM he got pulled over for doing 80 mph. I don't know if he got a ticket or what; but we made it to PA by 10PM that night. That was a long drive for that many hours. It took us a day or two to recover.
On this trip we headed out from Elko, Nevada after breakfast that morning; again east on Interstate 80. We were headed to somewhere in the 'Bos-Wash' corridor for the new life we all had dreamed of; finally a place to call 'home.' We crossed some mountains and passed the last casino in Nevada before you enter the 'wasteland' of western Utah. We could see the snow-capped Wasatch Mountains in the distance but they never seemed to get any closer. It was kind of like watching a pot of water boil, ya know?
After some hours we finally passed through Salt Lake City and up the Wasatch Front. Again, it was very beautiful. Everything 'down-below' was green; the immense mountains capped with snow. We made our way through the mountains and into Wyoming. Dad began not feeling well. We stopped for the night at a motel in Green River, Wyoming. He complained of 'indigestion' and spent part of that night sleeping on the floor.
The following morning we got up and headed back on the road. We crossed Wyoming and into western Nebraska. That night we stopped in North Platte. I had a friend from California that was now living in Omaha; near where we used to live. We planned a brief stop there and then a detour from I-80 down to I-70 to go across Missouri.
My dad's brother worked for an aerospace company in St. Louis. My dad's mom; my grandma, was in a nursing home nearby. The plan was to get from North Platte to St. Louis the next day. We almost made it.
We left North Platte, headed east, stopped in Omaha, headed south from Bellevue, Nebraska, crossed a small part of Kansas and then crossed the Missouri River into Missouri. We headed south along the river to I-70 near Kansas City and headed east towards St. Louis. I remember passing the stadiums near the freeway.
An hour-or-so later the sun was going down, it had been a long day on-the-road and dad complained of pain in his left arm. He presumed it was from all the driving. Mom and dad decided to stop for the night at a Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge off I-70 at Columbia, Missouri. We would then make the short hour-or-so drive into St. Louis in the morning.
Until now I haven't mentioned that during this trip we were 'smuggling' our family pug into the pet-unfriendly hotels. The hotel-casino in Carson City was 'the best;' my mom had her wrapped in baby blanket as we quickly darted onto an empty elevator. At the Columbia, MO hotel we didn't trust that she wouldn't be heard crying or scratching at the door if we left her in the strange place. A family discussion took place for which I will always feel guilty.
The original plan was for me to go eat dinner alone while mom stayed with dad, who wasn't feeling well, and the dog. When I was done eating I would stay with the dog as they left the room to eat. I am sorry to say; I balked at that idea. I didn't want to eat alone.
The plan was changed to accommodate my whining.
Dad would take a hot bath as he wasn't feeling well. He would stay with the dog. Mom and I would go eat. Mom and I went to eat. During the meal I complained about chest pains. She advised I was eating 'too fast.' After our meal she dispatched me to the trunk of the car to fetch the laundry bag as she went back to the room and my dad.
When I got back into the hallway of the hotel from the car I found mom standing outside the door of our room. Her hands were flattened against her lips and cheeks. She was aghast. I asked, 'Mom, what's wrong?' She said, 'Your father's dead. I need to call someone.'
I advised her to call from the room. She dashed off to the office.
Dad was dead in the bath tub.
The ambulance arrived from the nearby medical school; a VERY GOOD facility. Very sorry to say; they got there too late and he was gone. I really don't remember much more than that from that night. That part of our trip is still all a blur. I do remember they moved us to another room and they forgave us for smuggling the sweet dog.
Those are the details of THIS NIGHT so many years ago that changed my life forever. I'm sure that event; more than any other, shaped who-and-what I am today. I would like to think that is a good thing. I learned a lot about life that night; and in the days, weeks, months and years that followed. It took many years to realize, despite the tragedy of my father's untimely death; he provided me with many 'gifts.'
I'm proud to say his legacy of intelligence and strong values lives on; in some way, with me.
I'm a very lucky man in many ways, indeed.
Dad retired as a Lt. Col. serving at his last station at Beale AFB in the Sierra foothills north of Sacramento, California. It was nice there. We were an hour-and-a-half from Lake Tahoe, little more than two hours to San Francisco and the Bay Area. That Air Force base was the home base of the SR-71 reconnaissance plane. It is nicknamed, 'Blackbird.' To this day it holds the speed record for any airplane; I believe somewhere around Mach 3. The plane could fly from LA to NYC in an hour-and-a-half. It was very cool to see.
I may have mentioned in an earlier post; I was a very lucky kid. I was in high school when we were there.
We left California; headed east. Mom and Dad liked Carson City, Nevada; just up-and-over the Sierras from where we lived. We spent two nights there in a casino hotel before we headed up to Reno, Interstate 80 for the long ride back east. It was Dad, Mom, and me. My sister was in her first year at Penn State University. My parents were both from PA and had always maintained legal residence there as we moved about the entire country.
Our first stop was nothing more than a spot of a town in Nevada called Elko. It was out in the middle of the desert. The scenery was beautiful as the air was clear; the sun was bright and the many local mountains were all capped with snow.
We were all very familiar with travelling long distances in the car. We had done it many times. Up until that time I had lived for some time in every region of the United States except New England. My dad liked to kill as many miles as he could in a day's time.
I will never forget one trip from Omaha to eastern PA in 22 hours down Interstate 80. We left at midnight that night and headed east across Iowa. Around 2AM he got pulled over for doing 80 mph. I don't know if he got a ticket or what; but we made it to PA by 10PM that night. That was a long drive for that many hours. It took us a day or two to recover.
On this trip we headed out from Elko, Nevada after breakfast that morning; again east on Interstate 80. We were headed to somewhere in the 'Bos-Wash' corridor for the new life we all had dreamed of; finally a place to call 'home.' We crossed some mountains and passed the last casino in Nevada before you enter the 'wasteland' of western Utah. We could see the snow-capped Wasatch Mountains in the distance but they never seemed to get any closer. It was kind of like watching a pot of water boil, ya know?
After some hours we finally passed through Salt Lake City and up the Wasatch Front. Again, it was very beautiful. Everything 'down-below' was green; the immense mountains capped with snow. We made our way through the mountains and into Wyoming. Dad began not feeling well. We stopped for the night at a motel in Green River, Wyoming. He complained of 'indigestion' and spent part of that night sleeping on the floor.
The following morning we got up and headed back on the road. We crossed Wyoming and into western Nebraska. That night we stopped in North Platte. I had a friend from California that was now living in Omaha; near where we used to live. We planned a brief stop there and then a detour from I-80 down to I-70 to go across Missouri.
My dad's brother worked for an aerospace company in St. Louis. My dad's mom; my grandma, was in a nursing home nearby. The plan was to get from North Platte to St. Louis the next day. We almost made it.
We left North Platte, headed east, stopped in Omaha, headed south from Bellevue, Nebraska, crossed a small part of Kansas and then crossed the Missouri River into Missouri. We headed south along the river to I-70 near Kansas City and headed east towards St. Louis. I remember passing the stadiums near the freeway.
An hour-or-so later the sun was going down, it had been a long day on-the-road and dad complained of pain in his left arm. He presumed it was from all the driving. Mom and dad decided to stop for the night at a Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge off I-70 at Columbia, Missouri. We would then make the short hour-or-so drive into St. Louis in the morning.
Until now I haven't mentioned that during this trip we were 'smuggling' our family pug into the pet-unfriendly hotels. The hotel-casino in Carson City was 'the best;' my mom had her wrapped in baby blanket as we quickly darted onto an empty elevator. At the Columbia, MO hotel we didn't trust that she wouldn't be heard crying or scratching at the door if we left her in the strange place. A family discussion took place for which I will always feel guilty.
The original plan was for me to go eat dinner alone while mom stayed with dad, who wasn't feeling well, and the dog. When I was done eating I would stay with the dog as they left the room to eat. I am sorry to say; I balked at that idea. I didn't want to eat alone.
The plan was changed to accommodate my whining.
Dad would take a hot bath as he wasn't feeling well. He would stay with the dog. Mom and I would go eat. Mom and I went to eat. During the meal I complained about chest pains. She advised I was eating 'too fast.' After our meal she dispatched me to the trunk of the car to fetch the laundry bag as she went back to the room and my dad.
When I got back into the hallway of the hotel from the car I found mom standing outside the door of our room. Her hands were flattened against her lips and cheeks. She was aghast. I asked, 'Mom, what's wrong?' She said, 'Your father's dead. I need to call someone.'
I advised her to call from the room. She dashed off to the office.
Dad was dead in the bath tub.
The ambulance arrived from the nearby medical school; a VERY GOOD facility. Very sorry to say; they got there too late and he was gone. I really don't remember much more than that from that night. That part of our trip is still all a blur. I do remember they moved us to another room and they forgave us for smuggling the sweet dog.
Those are the details of THIS NIGHT so many years ago that changed my life forever. I'm sure that event; more than any other, shaped who-and-what I am today. I would like to think that is a good thing. I learned a lot about life that night; and in the days, weeks, months and years that followed. It took many years to realize, despite the tragedy of my father's untimely death; he provided me with many 'gifts.'
I'm proud to say his legacy of intelligence and strong values lives on; in some way, with me.
I'm a very lucky man in many ways, indeed.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
UP, Michigan/Mackinac Island 08
Just some random pictures from last Fall's trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Mackinac Island in Lake Huron. Lake Michigan ends underneath the bridge; Lake Huron is to the east. The picture of me on the beach is up at Whitefish Point on Lake Superior. The first picture was taken at Ste. Saint Marie; Canada is on the other side of the channel. As you can see was a very nice trip.
Hope you all enjoyed your Spring weekend. More like summer here; got up to 90 degrees here today. Thank God low humidity and bright sunshine.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Savannah/Tybee Island 08
Just some random pictures from last year's trip to Savannah, Georgia and nearby Tybee Island. I liked it very much.
It was a beautiful very warm spring day here in the Northeast. Locally, we broke the record high temperature for this date. I was on the water in the canoe by 10:30 AM. I pulled back in around 4 PM. It was a great day to be out there; nice breeze and 'diffuse' sunlight from some high-level clouds.
Hope you all are enjoying a warm relaxing weekend, too.
Take care, have fun.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Another day's travels...
Today was a classic April day here in the Northeast. It was not cold; not warm. It was sunny one minute; raining the next. Our forecast is pretty wild as it is supposed to hit the mid-80's for the weekend. Some may like that, for me that is too much heat too fast. I like my days sunny and 69, ya know?
I spent a large part of my morning in an un-informative meeting at the office about a new service our company is launching. The guy that gave the meeting was good; but more questions were raised than were answered. At one point he asked for a piece of paper to note our collective concerns. My company has a tendency to put-the-cart-before-the-horse. To quote the guy seated next to me during the meeting, 'READY, SHOOT, then AIM.' The gun analogy must be part of the huntin'-lovin' PA culture. wink
After the meeting I was headed out into 'the field' for the day. I was headed towards the heart of Amishland. The spring-time countryside is very beautiful. Many flowers and flowering trees are in full bloom now; everything is very green.
As usual I never know what I am going to find when I set out in the morning. Today was no different. As you can see from the pictures above the front walk into the home was very cool. From the road it just appeared to be a very nice ranch house; split level on one end. It was set back from the road by a couple hundred feet. I pulled into the driveway, got out of my van and approached the door. I saw the walk and thought, 'how cool is that?' The moat ran the length of the first part of the front of the house. It was invisible from the road and most of the driveway; a very cool surprise, indeed. Sorry to say there were no fish in the moat. When I asked about that, the guy told me the koi pond was out back. The guy wasn't real friendly so I didn't want to ask to see. I only asked if it would be okay for me to take a couple pictures of the front of the house. It really was very cool.
One of the 'collateral perks' of my job is seeing how other people live. Seeing the creative things that they do. Everyday really is a new adventure.
Hope you all had a good day.
More from me soon.
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