As you may or may not know, my wife of 34 years and I have been separated for about 6 years. She lives in Sanford, Florida, just north of Orlando, and I live at the present, in Tennessee. Last year, on Dec. 17th, she flew to Chattanooga, where I picked her up, for a short visit before the holidays. She was here from that Friday until the following Tuesday, when I was going to drive her back to Sanford and spend a week in Florida. I had rented a Jeep Liberty for the trip, since she feels that my car has too many miles on it and needed a rest. I left the car in the garage and the keys on the counter so my brother Tom could start the car a few times and keep the battery juice flowing.
I had loaded the Jeep on Monday with everything Crystal wanted to take back to her place, so we put the suitcases in on Tuesday morning, and left M'boro around 8:30 for the 10 hour drive. The trip down was uneventful, and we arrived just at nightfall. We unloaded the car into her garage and went out for dinner, then came back for the night.
On Wednesday morning we went for breakfast, then shopped for the items that she needed in order for me to do some repairs for her. As we sat in her apartment planning the rest of the week, around 4:30, the phone rang, and caller ID showed it was my brother Tom.
"Hey, Sid, did you take your big TV down with you?"
"No, why do you ask?"
"It's gone."
This led to the conclusion that sometime over Tuesday night- Wednesday morning I had been robbed. The door to the deck had been popped open. I led Tom, over the phone, on a room by room search to see what else was missing. My guns were still there, my coin collections was OK, my passport was on the floor, all of my camera equipment was there, but when he got to the kitchen counter where I had left my car keys, they were missing, which led to the garage, where he saw my car was missing too.
After digesting all of this, we agreed he should immediately call the police, so I hung up. Having lived in Miami for almost 40 years, I was aware of what could happen to a stolen car. Down there, the first thing to consider would be that your auto is already in a container and on it's way to South America on a freighter. The second thing would be, that when the bad guys finished their joy ride, it would likely be driven into a lake or a canal, which are around every corner in South Florida. Or, it could be stripped and then set on fire. All of these possibilities were racing through my head. Then you start thinking of how will you replace it? It is 11 years old with 120,000 miles on it. How much would the insurance give you towards a replacement?
About 6PM, Tom called back and put Officer Parker on the phone. He asked me a few questions about what I thought was missing and told me I could add to the police report anything I found when I did an in-person inspection. He then asked for the VIN of the car. I informed him that a Lojack anti-theft device had been installed on the auto when I purchased it, and that I had just talked to the Lojack rep in Ma. and was told that as soon as the VIN is entered into the National Police Computer system, the Lojack would be turned on and begin transmitting the location of the car. He informed me that would be his next step. Tom saw him do this, Officer Parker left a police report and the name of a detective would be working on my case, then Tom locked up as best he could and all went about their business.
About 8:30pm, I received a call from Tom informing me that my car had been found. It had been left unlocked near a large apartment complex in Murfreesboro. He went to see it and reported damaged to the front bumper, but all else looked good. Since I had not told him where the spare keys were, it was towed to the wrecker driver's impound yard. This was a huge relief, to say the least. I told Tom that I would be leaving Sanford early the next morning, Thursday, and should be back in M'boro by 5PM to survey the damage.
Knowing that my car was OK made the drive back a lot easier, thinking about what could be missing was still on my mind. I arrived home at 4:30 and went inside. Every drawer in every piece of furniture was opened, and everything in them had been gone through. I was missing some cash that had been in the main desk, plus some watches and rings, and a digital camera: all small stuff that was quick and easy to thrown in a grocery bag. Along with the 40" Sony flat screen TV, they took every remote control (4) in sight, to make sure they got the right one, I guess. There was a lot of other small valuables around that they passed over. All in all, I was very lucky.
Friday morning, we called the impound yard to see about getting my car released. The bill for towing it about 2 miles, keeping it for 2 nights and opening the gate on Christmas Eve morning was $370. Cash, of course. As I drove it home, I noticed that the ABS warning light was on, but the brakes were functioning OK. The mirror had been adjusted for a short driver, and the radio was tuned to a Hip-Hop station. Were these clues? It didn't really matter- the police had better things to do than than look for Shorty. The car was in good condition, and I was happy about that.
We have had all of our insurance, home and auto, with Liberty Mutual for 35 years, or so. They are the best. They gave me the place to take my car for the repair of the body and the brakes. They paid for a new ignition key and remote fob thingy. They covered all of my house losses, minus the deductible, of course, and did it all fast. They covered my $370 impound fee. They are the best.
I rent this house, so I had to inform the property management company that there had been a break-in and my rear door was in need of attention, and that all of the locks needed to be replaced, since along with my car key, they had a house key that would open any door, since they were all keyed the same. Since I was reporting this on Christmas Eve, I didn't expect anyone to come, so I pushed my big leather couch up against the unsecured deck door. No one could possibly open that door from the outside now. I told the management that I was secure for now, but I would expect someone out on Monday after Christmas to see what needed to be done. A man named J.C. showed up and looked the situation over. His reaction was the same as mine- the door needed to be replaced. He took all sorts of measurements and said he would be in touch after he talked to the boss. Well, the boss, being cheap, said he wanted the door repaired. That's when J.C. discovered it really wasn't a door- it was a window that had been made into a door. It had no wood anywhere in it's frame. That's why it had been popped open so easily. J.C. put some wood in to the area of the locks and made it as strong as he could. He replaced all of the locks on all of the doors. I went to Lowe's and found 2 big strong deadbolts and installed them. Now, if some on wants in from the outside, they will have to bust all of the glass and squeeze through, because the door, she will not open unless I release the deadbolts.
All of the insurance claims have been paid, the door is as secure as it will ever be, I have install motion lights on the rear deck area, the guns are loaded and placed in strategic places around the house, and yet, I still wake up in the middle of the night at the slightest sound, wondering if they are back. As I reach over to the .38 Police Special, underneath the pillow on the other side of the bed, I think: I HOPE SO!!!!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Saturday, October 9, 2010
HURRICANE HUNTERS REUNION 2010
In the Beginning-
When I joined the US Navy in 1961, after taking the admission tests, I was offered several rating options. At the University of Florida, one of my dorm neighbors had been in the Navy as a Communications Technician. This involved having a Top Secret clearance, because you would be receiving and sending communications from high levels, and you could be stationed anywhere in the world. So I asked for this rate. Too bad, all filled at this time. My second choice was a position involving blimps, since I had ridden on the Goodyear blimp. I was told that blimps were being phased out and no jobs were offered in the blimp fleet. My recruiter asked what I had done in my brief working career, and I told him I had been building electronic panels for commercial aircraft. Thus, we decided that I would be an 'Aviation Electronics Technician', an AT for short. After 3 months at the Boot Camp at Waukegan, Il, all of us new boots grads were sent to the trade school of our rating. At this point in time, the Navy was very fair with the way they assigned your future. The better you did on all of the tests they were constantly giving everyone, the better your chances were of going to your choices of duty. The people who didn't make the grade, were assigned to ships in the various fleets around the world as soon as they graduated boot camp.The fortunate ones headed for school some where. We were all given 2 weeks leave so we could go home, say our goodbyes, then head for our new assignments. I was going to 'A' school in Millington, Tennessee, just north of Memphis. This would give me the training to become an Aviation Electronics Technician, and depending on your scores through the 9 months of training, would determine where your next station was. Another benefit of this location, was that I was only 2 hours away from all of my relatives in Central Arkansas. It would not be a bad life.
After graduating in the top 5 of my class, we were given a list of potential duty stations. When it was my turn to pick, my choices were several different ships and a couple of land bases, or, I could stay in Millington for 30 more days and attend a 'B' school for training as an airborne radio operator. This would involve becoming very proficient at sending and receiving Morse Code. The end results of this training would be assignment to an Early Warning Squadron, flying in EC121 aircraft, better known as a Super Constellation, the triple tail 4 engine aircraft built by Lockheed. So I elected to become a radioman.
In 30 days, again we were offered our choice of duty, again based on our performance. My choices were- 1. VW-1, located in Newfoundland, Canada (Very Cold), 2. VW-2, located on the island of Guam, in the Pacific(In the Middle of Nowhere). 3. VW-4, also known as the Hurricane Hunters, based in Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico (Palm Trees, Sand, Warm). It was not much of a decision since I was from Miam, and had experienced several hurricanes there. Before reporting to our squadrons, all graduates were sent to the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, a little south of Washington DC, in Maryland, for training and survival skills involving the aircraft we would be flying in. So away we went for several weeks of putting out fires and jumping into frigid water and being picked up by helicopters. Finally we were sent to Norfolk, Va, for eventual departure to Puerto Rico and duty in the tropics with the Hurricane Hunters. The Hurricane Hunter duty of 2+ years will be blogged later. Now for the reunion.
About 8 or so years ago, I discovered that there was an organization of former Hurricane Hunters who put out newsletters and held reunions every year. I made contact with several men I had ran with back on the Island and attempted to attend the reunions. Various reasons always came up while I was working in Miami that prevented me from going. However , when I found out that the reunion for 2010 was to be held in Pensacola I made definite plans to go. I always try to be in Houston for Bill's bash over the Labor Day weekend, so I had to find out if going to Pensacola one month later was possible, budget wise. It was, so I made plans. My automobile is 11 years old and has 120,000 miles on it, so my wife prefers that I rent something to save wear and tear on my old vehicle. Who am I to argue? So, on Sept 29th, I pointed my rented Hyundai Sonata south, and set the cruise control on 75 and let her roll.
From Murfreesboro, Tn to Pensacola, Fl is about 450 miles and a little less than 6 hours, if you travel with me. My pit stops are in the NASCAR time range. Gas and Go as fast as the fuel pumps. I arrived in Pensacola around 3:30 and checked into the Super 8, NAS Corry, about 3 miles from the Navy Lodge on base, where most of the others were staying. At 4:30, Bob Lakey called asking my location and condition. While waiting on the call, I had made my first Tullamore Dew with a splash, one of Irelands finest whiskys, and unloaded the automobile. He informed me that everyone that had arrived so far were gathering in Jay Bondgren's room to plan the evening dinner, and that I should proceed to there. He also told me that a drivers license would be required to be shown to the gate personnel in order to get onto the NAS Pensacola property. Upon these instructions, I proceeded to the designated meeting room, where I became re-acquainted Jay Bondgren, ATN-2, J.D.Manion, ATW, Jim (Artie) Safarik, ATW, Bob Lakey, ATN, and Don Cone, plus their respective wives. It had been decided that dinner would be at Landry's Seafood House, in the restaurant district of Pensacola. The dinner was spent renewing and reliving the sea stories that had lain dormant for these 40 something years. It was an enjoyable evening.
On Thursday morning, I had been invited to play golf in the annual Lakey-Manion Tournament at the Perdido Bay Golf Club. Artie rounded out the 4-some. The less said about my golfing skills that day, the better. J.D. edged Bob for the annual bragging rights. After the golf match, we all went back to the Navy Lodge to check in at the VW-4 'Ready Room'. Here we received our reunion packages, with our name card, schedule and various other little goodies. We also picked up our official Hurricane Hunter shirts,if we had ordered any. There were 30-40 Hunters there, drinking beer or sodas and checking name tags to see if they remembered you. That afternoon, a wine and cheese party had been planned at the Officers Club on base. So at 4:30, that's where we all went. This affair consisted of people at tables seating 10, lining up for free beer or wine, and doing the same at the cheese table. We seemed to have formed our group of AT's, since we all seemed to be found at the same table. Dinner that night was to be at Carabas, and it was a fine dinner. About 15 of us ended up doing the dinner thing together every time.
As Friday appeared through my window, I had no early plans. The other guys were going to play golf again, this time on the base, and I had paid extra to attend a 'Beach Party' at 11 AM, somewhere on the base. It was to feature BBQ and Beer, but I had trouble finding it. I was given wrong directions several times, so eventually, I just wrote it off. I decided to head over to Pensacola Beach to see how the white powdery sand was doing with the oil spill. We had seen cleanup crews on the beaches of the base, in their yellow gooney suits, filtering buckets of sand, so I assumed the tourist beaches would share the same fate. I parked myself at the Margaritaville Hotel, ordered oysters and beer, and surveyed the beach. It was perfectly groomed, and not a trace of cleanup anywhere. Only lot's of tourists covered with oil of the suntan variety. You have to admire Jimmy Buffett for taking his beach party philosophy and making Jillions out of it. The hotel was very nice and right on the beach, with his Landshark Landing night club connected next door. I was not missing the VW-4 BBQ at all.
The plan for Friday night dinner was to meet at 6:30 at McGuires Irish Pub, back in the district. I have never seen a pub as large as this one. It was as big inside as a city block, with a lot of little rooms and some big rooms and $1.2 million in one dollar bills stapled to the ceiling throughout the place. It was packed, but they found room for our crew with no waiting. Again, dinner was excellent and everyone had a good time.
The schedule for Saturday called for a Official Hurricane Hunter business meeting at 10 AM at the Nation Museum of Naval Aviation, for the election of officers and deciding where the reunion would be. After the officers were taken care of, and the next reunion site chosen to be held at Branson, Mo., the meeting was adjourned. Our little group had chosen to see the I-Max movie, The Hubble Repair film, so we went across the lobby for that. When the movie was over, we split up. I was going to have lunch, then go on a scheduled tour of the museum. The others had done this before, so they passed on it. When the tour started, the guide was really going into detail about each aircraft, which was well and good if you had several days, but I didn't, so I broke away and did my own tour, taking 100 pictures or so. We had to be at the Museum in our dinner clothes for group pictures at 4:30, dinner and drinks at 5:30, so I had to go back to the Super 8, change, and get back to the Museum. The picture was taken and offered for sale at $50 each. I guess some folks knew enough of the people in the photo to spring for that, but not me. All of the people did not look like they did 40 years ago, well maybe a few, but not enough for me to recognize them in a group picture.
Next came a cash bar and the ever present 10 person tables. We were dining under the static display of the 4 Blue Angel jets, an impressive sight above us. The dinner was OK for catered food, but not what we had been having the previous nights. I had found out very early, that most of my old buddies no longer drank alcohol, or wanted to hear about the good old days in front of their wives, so I bit my tongue and drank alone, with all of them. I had my 62-63 yearbook with me, we passed it around and commented on all of the people who could not comment back. After our goodbyes, we went to our rooms, and most got up early and headed back home.
Some thoughts-
1. Reunions are not what I thought they would be.
2. They should have places that aircrews could sign in
3. Like wise for the different ratings
4. They should distribute a list of all who have checked in. Your best pal could be there, and you might miss him, unless you knew he was going to be there.
5. The scheduled activities were kind of lame, no effort was made to involve people. In fact, if you didn't pay extra, the activities were not for you.
6. The HH Association should make a members list WITH e-mail addresses available if possible. And post on the HH website, so non-members could contact people and maybe get involved.
But, all in all, I had a good time seeing some people that were good buddies at one time. Too many of them weren't there, though.
When I joined the US Navy in 1961, after taking the admission tests, I was offered several rating options. At the University of Florida, one of my dorm neighbors had been in the Navy as a Communications Technician. This involved having a Top Secret clearance, because you would be receiving and sending communications from high levels, and you could be stationed anywhere in the world. So I asked for this rate. Too bad, all filled at this time. My second choice was a position involving blimps, since I had ridden on the Goodyear blimp. I was told that blimps were being phased out and no jobs were offered in the blimp fleet. My recruiter asked what I had done in my brief working career, and I told him I had been building electronic panels for commercial aircraft. Thus, we decided that I would be an 'Aviation Electronics Technician', an AT for short. After 3 months at the Boot Camp at Waukegan, Il, all of us new boots grads were sent to the trade school of our rating. At this point in time, the Navy was very fair with the way they assigned your future. The better you did on all of the tests they were constantly giving everyone, the better your chances were of going to your choices of duty. The people who didn't make the grade, were assigned to ships in the various fleets around the world as soon as they graduated boot camp.The fortunate ones headed for school some where. We were all given 2 weeks leave so we could go home, say our goodbyes, then head for our new assignments. I was going to 'A' school in Millington, Tennessee, just north of Memphis. This would give me the training to become an Aviation Electronics Technician, and depending on your scores through the 9 months of training, would determine where your next station was. Another benefit of this location, was that I was only 2 hours away from all of my relatives in Central Arkansas. It would not be a bad life.
After graduating in the top 5 of my class, we were given a list of potential duty stations. When it was my turn to pick, my choices were several different ships and a couple of land bases, or, I could stay in Millington for 30 more days and attend a 'B' school for training as an airborne radio operator. This would involve becoming very proficient at sending and receiving Morse Code. The end results of this training would be assignment to an Early Warning Squadron, flying in EC121 aircraft, better known as a Super Constellation, the triple tail 4 engine aircraft built by Lockheed. So I elected to become a radioman.
In 30 days, again we were offered our choice of duty, again based on our performance. My choices were- 1. VW-1, located in Newfoundland, Canada (Very Cold), 2. VW-2, located on the island of Guam, in the Pacific(In the Middle of Nowhere). 3. VW-4, also known as the Hurricane Hunters, based in Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico (Palm Trees, Sand, Warm). It was not much of a decision since I was from Miam, and had experienced several hurricanes there. Before reporting to our squadrons, all graduates were sent to the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, a little south of Washington DC, in Maryland, for training and survival skills involving the aircraft we would be flying in. So away we went for several weeks of putting out fires and jumping into frigid water and being picked up by helicopters. Finally we were sent to Norfolk, Va, for eventual departure to Puerto Rico and duty in the tropics with the Hurricane Hunters. The Hurricane Hunter duty of 2+ years will be blogged later. Now for the reunion.
About 8 or so years ago, I discovered that there was an organization of former Hurricane Hunters who put out newsletters and held reunions every year. I made contact with several men I had ran with back on the Island and attempted to attend the reunions. Various reasons always came up while I was working in Miami that prevented me from going. However , when I found out that the reunion for 2010 was to be held in Pensacola I made definite plans to go. I always try to be in Houston for Bill's bash over the Labor Day weekend, so I had to find out if going to Pensacola one month later was possible, budget wise. It was, so I made plans. My automobile is 11 years old and has 120,000 miles on it, so my wife prefers that I rent something to save wear and tear on my old vehicle. Who am I to argue? So, on Sept 29th, I pointed my rented Hyundai Sonata south, and set the cruise control on 75 and let her roll.
From Murfreesboro, Tn to Pensacola, Fl is about 450 miles and a little less than 6 hours, if you travel with me. My pit stops are in the NASCAR time range. Gas and Go as fast as the fuel pumps. I arrived in Pensacola around 3:30 and checked into the Super 8, NAS Corry, about 3 miles from the Navy Lodge on base, where most of the others were staying. At 4:30, Bob Lakey called asking my location and condition. While waiting on the call, I had made my first Tullamore Dew with a splash, one of Irelands finest whiskys, and unloaded the automobile. He informed me that everyone that had arrived so far were gathering in Jay Bondgren's room to plan the evening dinner, and that I should proceed to there. He also told me that a drivers license would be required to be shown to the gate personnel in order to get onto the NAS Pensacola property. Upon these instructions, I proceeded to the designated meeting room, where I became re-acquainted Jay Bondgren, ATN-2, J.D.Manion, ATW, Jim (Artie) Safarik, ATW, Bob Lakey, ATN, and Don Cone, plus their respective wives. It had been decided that dinner would be at Landry's Seafood House, in the restaurant district of Pensacola. The dinner was spent renewing and reliving the sea stories that had lain dormant for these 40 something years. It was an enjoyable evening.
On Thursday morning, I had been invited to play golf in the annual Lakey-Manion Tournament at the Perdido Bay Golf Club. Artie rounded out the 4-some. The less said about my golfing skills that day, the better. J.D. edged Bob for the annual bragging rights. After the golf match, we all went back to the Navy Lodge to check in at the VW-4 'Ready Room'. Here we received our reunion packages, with our name card, schedule and various other little goodies. We also picked up our official Hurricane Hunter shirts,if we had ordered any. There were 30-40 Hunters there, drinking beer or sodas and checking name tags to see if they remembered you. That afternoon, a wine and cheese party had been planned at the Officers Club on base. So at 4:30, that's where we all went. This affair consisted of people at tables seating 10, lining up for free beer or wine, and doing the same at the cheese table. We seemed to have formed our group of AT's, since we all seemed to be found at the same table. Dinner that night was to be at Carabas, and it was a fine dinner. About 15 of us ended up doing the dinner thing together every time.
As Friday appeared through my window, I had no early plans. The other guys were going to play golf again, this time on the base, and I had paid extra to attend a 'Beach Party' at 11 AM, somewhere on the base. It was to feature BBQ and Beer, but I had trouble finding it. I was given wrong directions several times, so eventually, I just wrote it off. I decided to head over to Pensacola Beach to see how the white powdery sand was doing with the oil spill. We had seen cleanup crews on the beaches of the base, in their yellow gooney suits, filtering buckets of sand, so I assumed the tourist beaches would share the same fate. I parked myself at the Margaritaville Hotel, ordered oysters and beer, and surveyed the beach. It was perfectly groomed, and not a trace of cleanup anywhere. Only lot's of tourists covered with oil of the suntan variety. You have to admire Jimmy Buffett for taking his beach party philosophy and making Jillions out of it. The hotel was very nice and right on the beach, with his Landshark Landing night club connected next door. I was not missing the VW-4 BBQ at all.
The plan for Friday night dinner was to meet at 6:30 at McGuires Irish Pub, back in the district. I have never seen a pub as large as this one. It was as big inside as a city block, with a lot of little rooms and some big rooms and $1.2 million in one dollar bills stapled to the ceiling throughout the place. It was packed, but they found room for our crew with no waiting. Again, dinner was excellent and everyone had a good time.
The schedule for Saturday called for a Official Hurricane Hunter business meeting at 10 AM at the Nation Museum of Naval Aviation, for the election of officers and deciding where the reunion would be. After the officers were taken care of, and the next reunion site chosen to be held at Branson, Mo., the meeting was adjourned. Our little group had chosen to see the I-Max movie, The Hubble Repair film, so we went across the lobby for that. When the movie was over, we split up. I was going to have lunch, then go on a scheduled tour of the museum. The others had done this before, so they passed on it. When the tour started, the guide was really going into detail about each aircraft, which was well and good if you had several days, but I didn't, so I broke away and did my own tour, taking 100 pictures or so. We had to be at the Museum in our dinner clothes for group pictures at 4:30, dinner and drinks at 5:30, so I had to go back to the Super 8, change, and get back to the Museum. The picture was taken and offered for sale at $50 each. I guess some folks knew enough of the people in the photo to spring for that, but not me. All of the people did not look like they did 40 years ago, well maybe a few, but not enough for me to recognize them in a group picture.
Next came a cash bar and the ever present 10 person tables. We were dining under the static display of the 4 Blue Angel jets, an impressive sight above us. The dinner was OK for catered food, but not what we had been having the previous nights. I had found out very early, that most of my old buddies no longer drank alcohol, or wanted to hear about the good old days in front of their wives, so I bit my tongue and drank alone, with all of them. I had my 62-63 yearbook with me, we passed it around and commented on all of the people who could not comment back. After our goodbyes, we went to our rooms, and most got up early and headed back home.
Some thoughts-
1. Reunions are not what I thought they would be.
2. They should have places that aircrews could sign in
3. Like wise for the different ratings
4. They should distribute a list of all who have checked in. Your best pal could be there, and you might miss him, unless you knew he was going to be there.
5. The scheduled activities were kind of lame, no effort was made to involve people. In fact, if you didn't pay extra, the activities were not for you.
6. The HH Association should make a members list WITH e-mail addresses available if possible. And post on the HH website, so non-members could contact people and maybe get involved.
But, all in all, I had a good time seeing some people that were good buddies at one time. Too many of them weren't there, though.
Friday, September 17, 2010
PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES AND MORE
TRANSPORTATION I HAVE OWNED
1948 Studebaker Starlite Coupe
1953 Mercury Hardtop
1959 Triumph TR-10 4 Door English Sedan
1965 Honda CB-150 Motorcycle
1963 Jaguar 3.8L MKII Sedan
1966 Corvette Convertible, 327cid/350HP
1965 Chevrolet Impala 4 Speed Hardtop
1970 Ford Econoline Van
1978 Chevrolet Custom Van By Doran
1983 Lincoln Continental
1987 Toyota Camry 5 Door, 5 Speed
1991 Mercury Topaz
1994 Toyota Corolla
1999.5 Infiniti QX-4
THINGS I HAVE DRIVEN
The Original 'African Queen' Motor Launch, based in Key Largo, Fl
NASCAR 600HP Ford at Homestead Motor Speedway, 142 MPH Top Speed
1st Time- Richard Petty Driving Experience, 2nd Time- Skip Barber Racing
GMC Cyclone Pickup in Tennessee
Honda 750cc Motorcycle in the hills of Tennessee
55 Ft Sailing Sloop on Long Island Sound, NY
40 Ft Houseboat in the Everglades
Go-Carts in Virginia
Dirt Bikes in Miami
Ford Van with Bad Steering, Over the Old Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys
Same Ford Van, with a Bad Carb Float from Orlando to Miami, 8 Plus Hours
Red Mustang Convertible in Honolulu, Hawaii
1954 Cadillac Hearse in Puerto Rico
A 2- Mule Team, Fred and Nell, on my Grandfathers Farm in Arkansas
A Snowmobile at the Playboy Club Hotel in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
A Forklift at Life Medical Equipment in Miami
THINGS I HAVE RIDDEN ON OR IN
The Goodyear Blimp
Boeing 707, 727, 737, 747, 757, 767, 777
Lockheed L1011
McDonnell Douglas DC-6, DC-8, DC-9, DC-10, MD-87
Airbus A-320
Embraer EMB-120
Canadian Dash-8
Funicular Railway in Hong Kong to the top of Victoria Peak
Cog Railway to the top of Mt Rigi, in Switzerland
High Speed Ferry, Hong Kong to Macau
The Kat, a High Speed Catamaran (60 MPH) Miami to Nassau, Bahamas
The Queen Elizabeth II, Ocean Liner
The USS Intrepid, CVA 11, US Aircraft Carrier
The USS Francis Scott Key, a Polaris Nuclear Missile Submarine
A US Navy Rescue Helicopter, Chesapeake Bay
A Lockheed Super Constellation Hurricane Hunter Plane
A Grumman S2F Submarine Hunter Plane, with a Carrier Landing on the Intrepid
A High Speed Mexican Taxi Cab in the Yucatan
Various Buses, Jitneys, and Publicos around the Caribbean Islands
An Everglades Airboat
A Swamp Buggy in Naples, Fl
Subways in London, Paris, Singapore, Hong Kong
A Slow Ferry from Cape Cod to Martha's Vineyard
A Stella-Link Ferry from Scotland to Northern Ireland
A Hovercraft across the English Channel, Dover to Calais
A Cable Car in San Francisco
The Matterhorn at Disneyland
Space Mountain at Disneyworld
A Double-Decker Bus in London
An Elevator in the Eiffel Tower, Paris and LasVegas
A Circular Escalator in San Francisco
A Grumman Mallard 'Chalks Airline' Seaplane, Miami to Bimini
A 1 Mile High Ride on a Cable Car in Switzerland
A Mechanical Bull in Houston, Texas
A Hot Air Balloon in Arkansas Piloted by Gene Carr
A Cessna Citation Over the Rockies, Denver to Montrose, Colorado
A Boat on Loch Lomond, Scotland
A Boat on Lake Windermere, UK
A Boat on Lake Wolfgang, Austria
A Boat on Lake Okeechobee, Florida
A Boat to Alcatraz Island, San Francisco
A Glass Bottom Boat to the Reefs, Key West, Florida
A Glass Bottom Boat to John Pennecamp State Park, Key Largo, Florida
A Boat on the Rhine River, Germany, from Boppard to St Goar
A 45 Ft Deep Sea Fishing Boat, 'Sump'n Special' Islamorado, Florida
A Star Ferry from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island
The Catano Ferry, San Juan, Puerto Rico
A Ferry across the Mississippi, Mo. to Tenn.
A Boat on the Thames to Windsor Castle
A Gondola in Venice, Italy
A Chinese Junk in Singapore
A Train from London Paddington to Cardiff, Wakes
A Train from Gatwick Airport to Victoria Station, London
A Train from Waukegan, Il to Chicago
A Green Subaru from Melbourne to Prince William Island, Aus, to see the Fairey Penguins come ashore.
A White Van, Driven by Mr Silver, From Mo Bay to Negril, Jamaica for jerk pork and cliff diving
A Gray Van Around the Volcanoes on the Big Island of Hawaii
A Blue Bus from Ocho Rios, Jamaica to the Blue Mountains for some coffee beans
A Black Taxi in London
A Yellow Taxi in New York City
A Purple Taxi in Paris
A Pink Taxi in Key West
A Red Trolley in Honolulu, Sydney, and Washington, DC
A Limo Taxi to the Miraflores Locks, Panama Canal, Panama
A Horse Drawn Carriage Ride around Nassau, Bahamas
A 4-Horse Stage Coach in Ballarat, Australia
The Monorails at all the Disney Parks
A Greyhound Bus Trip from Miami to Los Angeles
A Trafalgar Tour Bus through 7 European Countries
A Frames-Rickart Tour Bus Around Southern England
An 18 Wheeler from Little Rock Arkansas to Miami Florida
1948 Studebaker Starlite Coupe
1953 Mercury Hardtop
1959 Triumph TR-10 4 Door English Sedan
1965 Honda CB-150 Motorcycle
1963 Jaguar 3.8L MKII Sedan
1966 Corvette Convertible, 327cid/350HP
1965 Chevrolet Impala 4 Speed Hardtop
1970 Ford Econoline Van
1978 Chevrolet Custom Van By Doran
1983 Lincoln Continental
1987 Toyota Camry 5 Door, 5 Speed
1991 Mercury Topaz
1994 Toyota Corolla
1999.5 Infiniti QX-4
THINGS I HAVE DRIVEN
The Original 'African Queen' Motor Launch, based in Key Largo, Fl
NASCAR 600HP Ford at Homestead Motor Speedway, 142 MPH Top Speed
1st Time- Richard Petty Driving Experience, 2nd Time- Skip Barber Racing
GMC Cyclone Pickup in Tennessee
Honda 750cc Motorcycle in the hills of Tennessee
55 Ft Sailing Sloop on Long Island Sound, NY
40 Ft Houseboat in the Everglades
Go-Carts in Virginia
Dirt Bikes in Miami
Ford Van with Bad Steering, Over the Old Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys
Same Ford Van, with a Bad Carb Float from Orlando to Miami, 8 Plus Hours
Red Mustang Convertible in Honolulu, Hawaii
1954 Cadillac Hearse in Puerto Rico
A 2- Mule Team, Fred and Nell, on my Grandfathers Farm in Arkansas
A Snowmobile at the Playboy Club Hotel in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
A Forklift at Life Medical Equipment in Miami
THINGS I HAVE RIDDEN ON OR IN
The Goodyear Blimp
Boeing 707, 727, 737, 747, 757, 767, 777
Lockheed L1011
McDonnell Douglas DC-6, DC-8, DC-9, DC-10, MD-87
Airbus A-320
Embraer EMB-120
Canadian Dash-8
Funicular Railway in Hong Kong to the top of Victoria Peak
Cog Railway to the top of Mt Rigi, in Switzerland
High Speed Ferry, Hong Kong to Macau
The Kat, a High Speed Catamaran (60 MPH) Miami to Nassau, Bahamas
The Queen Elizabeth II, Ocean Liner
The USS Intrepid, CVA 11, US Aircraft Carrier
The USS Francis Scott Key, a Polaris Nuclear Missile Submarine
A US Navy Rescue Helicopter, Chesapeake Bay
A Lockheed Super Constellation Hurricane Hunter Plane
A Grumman S2F Submarine Hunter Plane, with a Carrier Landing on the Intrepid
A High Speed Mexican Taxi Cab in the Yucatan
Various Buses, Jitneys, and Publicos around the Caribbean Islands
An Everglades Airboat
A Swamp Buggy in Naples, Fl
Subways in London, Paris, Singapore, Hong Kong
A Slow Ferry from Cape Cod to Martha's Vineyard
A Stella-Link Ferry from Scotland to Northern Ireland
A Hovercraft across the English Channel, Dover to Calais
A Cable Car in San Francisco
The Matterhorn at Disneyland
Space Mountain at Disneyworld
A Double-Decker Bus in London
An Elevator in the Eiffel Tower, Paris and LasVegas
A Circular Escalator in San Francisco
A Grumman Mallard 'Chalks Airline' Seaplane, Miami to Bimini
A 1 Mile High Ride on a Cable Car in Switzerland
A Mechanical Bull in Houston, Texas
A Hot Air Balloon in Arkansas Piloted by Gene Carr
A Cessna Citation Over the Rockies, Denver to Montrose, Colorado
A Boat on Loch Lomond, Scotland
A Boat on Lake Windermere, UK
A Boat on Lake Wolfgang, Austria
A Boat on Lake Okeechobee, Florida
A Boat to Alcatraz Island, San Francisco
A Glass Bottom Boat to the Reefs, Key West, Florida
A Glass Bottom Boat to John Pennecamp State Park, Key Largo, Florida
A Boat on the Rhine River, Germany, from Boppard to St Goar
A 45 Ft Deep Sea Fishing Boat, 'Sump'n Special' Islamorado, Florida
A Star Ferry from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island
The Catano Ferry, San Juan, Puerto Rico
A Ferry across the Mississippi, Mo. to Tenn.
A Boat on the Thames to Windsor Castle
A Gondola in Venice, Italy
A Chinese Junk in Singapore
A Train from London Paddington to Cardiff, Wakes
A Train from Gatwick Airport to Victoria Station, London
A Train from Waukegan, Il to Chicago
A Green Subaru from Melbourne to Prince William Island, Aus, to see the Fairey Penguins come ashore.
A White Van, Driven by Mr Silver, From Mo Bay to Negril, Jamaica for jerk pork and cliff diving
A Gray Van Around the Volcanoes on the Big Island of Hawaii
A Blue Bus from Ocho Rios, Jamaica to the Blue Mountains for some coffee beans
A Black Taxi in London
A Yellow Taxi in New York City
A Purple Taxi in Paris
A Pink Taxi in Key West
A Red Trolley in Honolulu, Sydney, and Washington, DC
A Limo Taxi to the Miraflores Locks, Panama Canal, Panama
A Horse Drawn Carriage Ride around Nassau, Bahamas
A 4-Horse Stage Coach in Ballarat, Australia
The Monorails at all the Disney Parks
A Greyhound Bus Trip from Miami to Los Angeles
A Trafalgar Tour Bus through 7 European Countries
A Frames-Rickart Tour Bus Around Southern England
An 18 Wheeler from Little Rock Arkansas to Miami Florida
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
BEER AND BRISKET- TEXAS STYLE
Every year on the last Saturday before Labor Day, my friends Bill & Nancy, in Spring, Texas, host a big BBQ for friends and relatives from all over. Depending on what the air-fares are vs. the price of gasoline, I'll either fly or drive to their place just north of Houston, in Spring. This year it was on a Continental Connection small jet, that I arrived at the George Bush International Airport. From Nashville, the flight is only 90 minutes, which means flying has a 3 day time advantage over driving round trip. Before I retired, time was an important factor, now, not so much. When I land, and have collected my luggage from the baggage merry-go-round, I call Bill on the cell thingy, and he picks me up right away.
This year I arrive at 1:30 in the afternoon, on Wednesday the 1st of September. The BBQ is on Saturday, the 4th. Nancy has to work today, so I won't see her until later. First stop is at an H-E-B supermarket so Bill can replenish the beer stock. Then we go to Spec's Liquors so I can get some bourbon for myself. I have been in a lot of retail liquor outlets, all over the country, even all over the world, and I must say that the stores in the Spec's chain in Texas are by far the most well stocked, complete stores I have ever been in. This year I found some bourbon from the Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky that was only $14.99 for a 1.75 liter bottle. That is an exceptional price for a quality bourbon. We were now equipped to go to Bill's home and began our pre-cookout rituals. This involves sitting on the patio and drinking, warming up our arms and shoulders for the task ahead. We will be up on Saturday at 5:30 AM to start the fire in the huge smoker on Bill's patio. After years of experience, we have found that since the festivities could last into Sunday morning, it is best not to start drinking until 11 AM on Saturday. By that time, all of the meat has been seasoned, rubbed, and placed into the cooker, and that it is time to start replacing all of the precious bodily fluids lost while tending the fire and the accompanying smoke.
When Nancy arrives home from work, it is decided that dinner that night will be at Capt. Benny's Seafood Boat, just off of I-45 at Rankin Rd. On past visits, the raw oysters at the Boat were large and priced right. A few years back, we sat there one afternoon and had several dozen with Bill's daughter, Elaine. At that time, I think we paid $2.99 a dozen as the afternoon special. This year, they were up to $9.99 a dozen, and the size was not so big. This was due to the BP oil rig disaster out in the Gulf. I passed on them since it was my first day, and more opportunities would come up. I had the special of stuffed shrimp, which was very good.
Thursday was an easy day, as planned. Nancy went to work, and Bill and I went to Denny's for breakfast.The waiter working the counter had to have been hired from the Clover Grill, in New Orleans. He was a most 'happy' fellow, and a big hit with the construction workers sitting in his area. When Nancy arrived after work, it was off to a place called 'Wings & More' in the Woodlands. I had wings, of course, and what they advertised as a 'Big Willie', which was a 32oz Shiner Bock, a Texas beer, in a big mug. The wings and the willie hit the spot.
On Friday, we awoke to a rainy day. We ran some errands, picked up some last minute things for tomorrows party, and had dinner at home. Nancy fixed some good Mexican food. The rain finally stopped and we were hoping it would dry up by tomorrow.
Saturday morning at 5:30 finds Bill and I on the patio awaiting the arrival of Nancy's son, Slugger, who lives next door. He is the fire starter today. He brings over a propane tank and a weed burner and has the fire started in just a few minutes. Where there is fire, in this case there was a lot of smoke. My eyes took a beating for a while. Bill's smoker is probably 10 feet long with a huge fire box.After about an hour, the fire was under control, and it was time to throw the briskets on. Bill has 2 big briskets, about 10 lb each, all ready rubbed with his secret ingredients, so on they went. Twelve racks of ribs went on at 10 AM, and 6 lbs of sausage at 11. It was now beer time, so we began.
Around 12:30, folks started arriving. I knew a lot of them from my days in Houston some 38 years ago, having seen them on visits I had made since then. This year was relatively peaceful, since there were no kids playing in the pool. A little after midnight, it was over. It had been a day of good drink, good food, and good company, a success by any measure.
Sunday had nothing planned, so we would just let it happen. After some coffee, we decided to drive up to Lake Conroe and see what was going on. It was a holiday weekend, so we knew that the boaters would be out in full force, proving some excitement on the water for our viewing pleasure. We arrived at 'Wolfies' on the lake, around 1 PM. They had Guinness on tap, so we were off to a good start. Sitting at the bar near us was a group of 4 young men, semi intoxicated, we thought. They were playing one of the electronic trivia game that are found in some bars, where you can play against other people in the bar, or, other bars. They weren't doing very good. So we started giving one of them the answers, behind his buddies backs. It was fun to see him getting the right answers from us, and ragging on his buddies. They never figured out how he got so smart, so quick.
After a couple of rounds at Wolfies, we drove to the other side of the cove to a place called 'Papa's'. They had a live band that was decent, and a singer that was not. We found a table in the back where it was not too loud. The high light of this place is that we had a very good view of the water, and were able to see the comedy provided by 2 'brothers' who were obviously impaired, as they tried to both get back on a jet ski It took them 45 minutes and help from some who swam out, to mount the thing again. From Papa's, we went to the Woodlands for dinner at an English pub, Baker Street. After a good dinner of fish and chips with Guinness, we called it a day.
As we turned on the morning news, we found out that a tropical storm, Hermine, had developed in the Gulf overnight. It was down close to the Texas-Mexico border, and expected to come ashore Monday night, and head due north, affecting San Antonio and Austin on Tuesday. We were planning a trip towards that area tomorrow, so we would have to pay attention and see what developed. The outer bands were supposed to cause some rain in Houston later in the afternoon on Monday, but we weren't going far that day. We went to Papadeaux's Seafood for lunch, where I got my oysters, along with some good catfish. The rain began as we drove home, and when we went out for a Mexican dinner, it was falling at a steady rate.
We were up at 6:30 to see if our trip was still possible. The storm was soaking the hill country, but Houston was clearing. We decided to chance it and head west. First stop would be at the Shiner Brewery. It's really the Spoetzel Brewery, but since it in Shiner, that is how everyone calls it.The first tour was a 11 AM, so we left Spring a little early to avoid the Houston traffic, by taking back roads. About an hour into the trip, the skies opened and we were in some serious rain, with scary looking black clouds all around. We found as we went on, that we were in the bands, and the rain would come and go. When we arrived at the brewery, it was just a light drizzle. The tour was pretty good. Only 66 people total work for the Shiner beer company, but they can put out a couple of hundred thousand bottles of beer a day if necessary. They are very generous with their free samples, so you can taste as many as 4 different brews if you want. I did, and they were all good.
Next up on the trip was some good national award winning BBQ in Luling, Texas. Unfortunately, the place we wanted to go to was closed. Fortunately, there was another place just down the street that was open. We got a sampling of ribs, brisket and sausage that was excellent. It was served Texas style, by the pound, and on butchers paper. Going back to Houston, we ran into some Oz clouds, that looked like a tornado was around somewhere.But we made it back safely. That night we went to a good Chinese buffet for my last meal with my hosts.
Bill dropped me at the Bushport at 10 AM, and I was back in Murfreesboro, Tn by 4 that afternoon.It was an excellent trip, with not much wasted time. But that is how Bill and Nancy and I plan our trips and adventures. We have done things that mortal men merely dream of. I will save those for another time.
This year I arrive at 1:30 in the afternoon, on Wednesday the 1st of September. The BBQ is on Saturday, the 4th. Nancy has to work today, so I won't see her until later. First stop is at an H-E-B supermarket so Bill can replenish the beer stock. Then we go to Spec's Liquors so I can get some bourbon for myself. I have been in a lot of retail liquor outlets, all over the country, even all over the world, and I must say that the stores in the Spec's chain in Texas are by far the most well stocked, complete stores I have ever been in. This year I found some bourbon from the Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky that was only $14.99 for a 1.75 liter bottle. That is an exceptional price for a quality bourbon. We were now equipped to go to Bill's home and began our pre-cookout rituals. This involves sitting on the patio and drinking, warming up our arms and shoulders for the task ahead. We will be up on Saturday at 5:30 AM to start the fire in the huge smoker on Bill's patio. After years of experience, we have found that since the festivities could last into Sunday morning, it is best not to start drinking until 11 AM on Saturday. By that time, all of the meat has been seasoned, rubbed, and placed into the cooker, and that it is time to start replacing all of the precious bodily fluids lost while tending the fire and the accompanying smoke.
When Nancy arrives home from work, it is decided that dinner that night will be at Capt. Benny's Seafood Boat, just off of I-45 at Rankin Rd. On past visits, the raw oysters at the Boat were large and priced right. A few years back, we sat there one afternoon and had several dozen with Bill's daughter, Elaine. At that time, I think we paid $2.99 a dozen as the afternoon special. This year, they were up to $9.99 a dozen, and the size was not so big. This was due to the BP oil rig disaster out in the Gulf. I passed on them since it was my first day, and more opportunities would come up. I had the special of stuffed shrimp, which was very good.
Thursday was an easy day, as planned. Nancy went to work, and Bill and I went to Denny's for breakfast.The waiter working the counter had to have been hired from the Clover Grill, in New Orleans. He was a most 'happy' fellow, and a big hit with the construction workers sitting in his area. When Nancy arrived after work, it was off to a place called 'Wings & More' in the Woodlands. I had wings, of course, and what they advertised as a 'Big Willie', which was a 32oz Shiner Bock, a Texas beer, in a big mug. The wings and the willie hit the spot.
On Friday, we awoke to a rainy day. We ran some errands, picked up some last minute things for tomorrows party, and had dinner at home. Nancy fixed some good Mexican food. The rain finally stopped and we were hoping it would dry up by tomorrow.
Saturday morning at 5:30 finds Bill and I on the patio awaiting the arrival of Nancy's son, Slugger, who lives next door. He is the fire starter today. He brings over a propane tank and a weed burner and has the fire started in just a few minutes. Where there is fire, in this case there was a lot of smoke. My eyes took a beating for a while. Bill's smoker is probably 10 feet long with a huge fire box.After about an hour, the fire was under control, and it was time to throw the briskets on. Bill has 2 big briskets, about 10 lb each, all ready rubbed with his secret ingredients, so on they went. Twelve racks of ribs went on at 10 AM, and 6 lbs of sausage at 11. It was now beer time, so we began.
Around 12:30, folks started arriving. I knew a lot of them from my days in Houston some 38 years ago, having seen them on visits I had made since then. This year was relatively peaceful, since there were no kids playing in the pool. A little after midnight, it was over. It had been a day of good drink, good food, and good company, a success by any measure.
Sunday had nothing planned, so we would just let it happen. After some coffee, we decided to drive up to Lake Conroe and see what was going on. It was a holiday weekend, so we knew that the boaters would be out in full force, proving some excitement on the water for our viewing pleasure. We arrived at 'Wolfies' on the lake, around 1 PM. They had Guinness on tap, so we were off to a good start. Sitting at the bar near us was a group of 4 young men, semi intoxicated, we thought. They were playing one of the electronic trivia game that are found in some bars, where you can play against other people in the bar, or, other bars. They weren't doing very good. So we started giving one of them the answers, behind his buddies backs. It was fun to see him getting the right answers from us, and ragging on his buddies. They never figured out how he got so smart, so quick.
After a couple of rounds at Wolfies, we drove to the other side of the cove to a place called 'Papa's'. They had a live band that was decent, and a singer that was not. We found a table in the back where it was not too loud. The high light of this place is that we had a very good view of the water, and were able to see the comedy provided by 2 'brothers' who were obviously impaired, as they tried to both get back on a jet ski It took them 45 minutes and help from some who swam out, to mount the thing again. From Papa's, we went to the Woodlands for dinner at an English pub, Baker Street. After a good dinner of fish and chips with Guinness, we called it a day.
As we turned on the morning news, we found out that a tropical storm, Hermine, had developed in the Gulf overnight. It was down close to the Texas-Mexico border, and expected to come ashore Monday night, and head due north, affecting San Antonio and Austin on Tuesday. We were planning a trip towards that area tomorrow, so we would have to pay attention and see what developed. The outer bands were supposed to cause some rain in Houston later in the afternoon on Monday, but we weren't going far that day. We went to Papadeaux's Seafood for lunch, where I got my oysters, along with some good catfish. The rain began as we drove home, and when we went out for a Mexican dinner, it was falling at a steady rate.
We were up at 6:30 to see if our trip was still possible. The storm was soaking the hill country, but Houston was clearing. We decided to chance it and head west. First stop would be at the Shiner Brewery. It's really the Spoetzel Brewery, but since it in Shiner, that is how everyone calls it.The first tour was a 11 AM, so we left Spring a little early to avoid the Houston traffic, by taking back roads. About an hour into the trip, the skies opened and we were in some serious rain, with scary looking black clouds all around. We found as we went on, that we were in the bands, and the rain would come and go. When we arrived at the brewery, it was just a light drizzle. The tour was pretty good. Only 66 people total work for the Shiner beer company, but they can put out a couple of hundred thousand bottles of beer a day if necessary. They are very generous with their free samples, so you can taste as many as 4 different brews if you want. I did, and they were all good.
Next up on the trip was some good national award winning BBQ in Luling, Texas. Unfortunately, the place we wanted to go to was closed. Fortunately, there was another place just down the street that was open. We got a sampling of ribs, brisket and sausage that was excellent. It was served Texas style, by the pound, and on butchers paper. Going back to Houston, we ran into some Oz clouds, that looked like a tornado was around somewhere.But we made it back safely. That night we went to a good Chinese buffet for my last meal with my hosts.
Bill dropped me at the Bushport at 10 AM, and I was back in Murfreesboro, Tn by 4 that afternoon.It was an excellent trip, with not much wasted time. But that is how Bill and Nancy and I plan our trips and adventures. We have done things that mortal men merely dream of. I will save those for another time.
Monday, August 30, 2010
JOBS AND PLACES- A LOT OF BOTH
1941-1956 GROWING UP IN
SHERWOOD, ARKANSAS
1956-1959 SOUTHWEST MIAMI HIGH SCHOOL
MIAMI, FL
1959-1960 RYAN RADIO & TV
CORAL GABLES, FL
1960-1961 UNVERSITY OF FLORIDA
GAINESVILLE, FL
1961-1965 UNITED STATES NAVY
GREAT LAKES/WAUGEGAN, IL
MEMPHIS, TN
PAUTUXENT RIVER, MD
ROOSEVELT ROADS, PUERTO RICO
NORFOLK, VA
1965-1967 INTERSTATE ELECTRONICS
ANAHEIM, CA
NEWPORT NEWS/HAMPTON, VA
GROTON/MYSTIC, CT
1967-1969 INFOTRONICS
HOUSTON/BELLAIRE, TX
NEWARK, DE
ROCKVILLE, MD/WASHINGTON, DC
1969-1969 DELTRONICS
RAMAPO, NY
1969-1970 NEWPORT NEWS SHIPBUILDING
NEWPORT NEWS, VA
1969-1970 COULTER ELECTRONICS
HIALEAH, FL
1970-1971 THE EXPRESSWAY (TOURING BAND)
MIAMI, FL
DAYTONA BEACH, FL
NEWBURGH, NY
LAKE GENEVA, WI
INDIANAPOLIS, IN
BOSTON, MA
1971-1972 BAY HILL MOTOR INN
BUZZARDS BAY/CAPE COD, MA
1972-1972 THE GOODTIMERS (COUNTRY BAND)
PANAMA CITY, FL
1972-1974 U-TOTEM CONVIENENCE STORES
HOUSTON, TX
1974-1974 LUMS RESTAURANTS
MIAMI, FL
1974- 1986 ALL-RITE TV REPAIR
CORAL GABLES, FL
MIAMI SPRINGS, FL
1986-1994 PARKER ELECTRONICS
FT LAUDERDALE, FL
1994-1994 SEH ELECTRONICS
N. MIAMI, FL
1994-1995 THORGUARD LIGHTNING DETECTORS
MEDLEY, FL
1995-1996 THE INCREDIBLE UNIVERSE
MIAMI, FL
1996-2002 LIFE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT
MIAMI, FL
2002-2008 MEDEQUIP BIOMEDICAL
DORAL, FL
2008 RETIRE TO MURFREESBORO,TENNESSEE
2009 US CENSUS BUREAU (TEMPORARY)
UNDER THE BRIDGES OF M'BORO
SHERWOOD, ARKANSAS
1956-1959 SOUTHWEST MIAMI HIGH SCHOOL
MIAMI, FL
1959-1960 RYAN RADIO & TV
CORAL GABLES, FL
1960-1961 UNVERSITY OF FLORIDA
GAINESVILLE, FL
1961-1965 UNITED STATES NAVY
GREAT LAKES/WAUGEGAN, IL
MEMPHIS, TN
PAUTUXENT RIVER, MD
ROOSEVELT ROADS, PUERTO RICO
NORFOLK, VA
1965-1967 INTERSTATE ELECTRONICS
ANAHEIM, CA
NEWPORT NEWS/HAMPTON, VA
GROTON/MYSTIC, CT
1967-1969 INFOTRONICS
HOUSTON/BELLAIRE, TX
NEWARK, DE
ROCKVILLE, MD/WASHINGTON, DC
1969-1969 DELTRONICS
RAMAPO, NY
1969-1970 NEWPORT NEWS SHIPBUILDING
NEWPORT NEWS, VA
1969-1970 COULTER ELECTRONICS
HIALEAH, FL
1970-1971 THE EXPRESSWAY (TOURING BAND)
MIAMI, FL
DAYTONA BEACH, FL
NEWBURGH, NY
LAKE GENEVA, WI
INDIANAPOLIS, IN
BOSTON, MA
1971-1972 BAY HILL MOTOR INN
BUZZARDS BAY/CAPE COD, MA
1972-1972 THE GOODTIMERS (COUNTRY BAND)
PANAMA CITY, FL
1972-1974 U-TOTEM CONVIENENCE STORES
HOUSTON, TX
1974-1974 LUMS RESTAURANTS
MIAMI, FL
1974- 1986 ALL-RITE TV REPAIR
CORAL GABLES, FL
MIAMI SPRINGS, FL
1986-1994 PARKER ELECTRONICS
FT LAUDERDALE, FL
1994-1994 SEH ELECTRONICS
N. MIAMI, FL
1994-1995 THORGUARD LIGHTNING DETECTORS
MEDLEY, FL
1995-1996 THE INCREDIBLE UNIVERSE
MIAMI, FL
1996-2002 LIFE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT
MIAMI, FL
2002-2008 MEDEQUIP BIOMEDICAL
DORAL, FL
2008 RETIRE TO MURFREESBORO,TENNESSEE
2009 US CENSUS BUREAU (TEMPORARY)
UNDER THE BRIDGES OF M'BORO
Monday, August 23, 2010
A Mexican Quickie
Having been bitten by the travel bug, beginning with our trip last year, in 1987, Crystal, Lyz and I had planned a trip to the Yucatan, in Mexico. This had been planned before my 2 business trips to the Far East took place. So, on July 24 we flew from Miami to Merida, Mexico on an Aero Mexico Boeing 727. We arrived around 4:30 that afternoon, The rain was coming down so hard when we approached the terminal. we had to sit on the plane for 45 minutes, waiting for it to let up.To leave the aircraft, you had to walk down stairs to the tarmac,since the airport had none of the ramps that were driven up to the front door. This meant trying to stay dry under an umbrella while dashing to the terminal. When the rain slacked up a bit we ran from the plane, in the rain, and everyone got soaked to some degree. Our luggage was sitting out in the rain under sheets of plastic in the area of the aircraft. In about an hour we were finally reunited with our suitcases and formed into lines to go through the customs inspections. Of course the gentleman in front of us had a gun in his suitcase, which caused a mild panic among the airport workers, which then caused Spanish to be filling the air from 100 different directions and as many volumes levels.The guy was still in line trying to explain the gun, instead of them taking him to a secure area for questioning. Eventually we were shifted to another line and finally processed out into the night. We went to the taxi stand and were placed into an automobile of undetermined age and origin for the trip in to Merida. As I sat in the front seat before takeoff, I noticed that the wipers were not working, even though the rain was still coming down at monsoon force. I also noticed that directly ahead, the windshield was cracked in a large circular circle, as if the previous passenger has tried to exit the auto through the windshield. The driver finished placing our luggage into the trunk, took his position behind the wheel, and we began our trip. Of course, there were no seat belts in the car to calm us down a little. As the driver drove towards town, he would mostly stick his head out of the window to sure we were still on the pavement, and when his face became to wet, he would bring his head in, wipe his face with a towel, wipe the windshield in front of him, proceed on this way for a while, then pop his head outside and repeat the process. After 30 minutes of this, we finally saw the Holiday Inn sign ahead and a collective sigh of relief was heard.
Back in its day, Merida was called the Paris of Mexico, for its wide boulevards and palatial homes and estates. Its money was made from the hemp and sisal business, of which every sailing ship used in their ropes and lines. The Holiday Inn was at one end of the largest of the beautiful avenues in town. At the other end was the main 'plaza' of the town. Even though it was a Holiday Inn, it was one of the 5 star places in Merida. The night we arrived, we checked in, went to the room to freshen up a little, then went to the main restauranr for dinner. The meal was excellent, with the Caesar Salad being made the correct way right at the table.
We went down for breakfast the next morning, and found 2 buffet lines, one American and one Mexican, plus the usual omelet and waffle stations. The Mexican side had many interest items, so I picked my meal from that line. After eating, we took a taxi, with good glass in it, down town to the main Plaza. Around the square were the Governors Palace, the main church in town, the art museum, and many little shops. While we were walking, we were approached by a young guy who 'latched 'on to us and told us he would be our guide for a few dollars. Of course he slowly guided us over to the local native market, where his family had a stall selling clothing, particularly, 'guayaberas', sometimes called Mexican Wedding Shirts. They are quite popular throughout the Caribbean area, and due to the fact that they cool, comfortable, and dressy, they are worn by businessmen in place of a suit and tie during hot weather. In Miami, they are popular with the Cubans, so, since I didn't have one, I bought a nice one for just a few dollars, after the required haggling. Since the market was on the way back to the hotel, we decided to walk back up the ' Paseo de Montejo', the main drag. When we arrived back at the hotel, we visited the on-site tour office and booked a few trips
At 7 PM, a taxi picked us up and delivered us to a club for dinner and a show.The first part of the evening began in an undergrounds grotto, with a stream flowing through it. A group of Mayan actors and dancer re-enacted a Mayan sacrifice. Except for the part where they cut someone open and rip out the still beating heart, it was very authentic. We then returned upstairs to the restaurant area where we were served a very good Mexican feast. Finally, we were treated to a floor show with native dancing and singing. All in all, an excellent night.
After a bean and burrito breakfast the next morning, we were picked up, along with another couple, for a tour of the ruins of Chichen Itza.. What a ride that was- 60 mile in 60 minutes, including a stop at a real Mayan village. The ruins were magnificent. Our driver turned out to be the tour guide, so we got a grade A tour of the place. It seemed to me the place was built based on the Mayan mathematics, numbers were involved everywhere. Lyz and I climbed to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, where I discovered that the Mayans of that period had very small feet. The steps going to the top were quite narrow and if it had not been for a chain running from the top to the bottom, I might still be up there, or on U-Tube as I tumbled to the bottom.
It was a very good quick trip. I especially liked sitting at the pool bar, or the inside lounge, listening to the Mariachi bands.and drinking fine, smooth Tequila. I highly recommend a trip to Merida as an alternative to the commercialism of Cancun and Cozumel.
Back in its day, Merida was called the Paris of Mexico, for its wide boulevards and palatial homes and estates. Its money was made from the hemp and sisal business, of which every sailing ship used in their ropes and lines. The Holiday Inn was at one end of the largest of the beautiful avenues in town. At the other end was the main 'plaza' of the town. Even though it was a Holiday Inn, it was one of the 5 star places in Merida. The night we arrived, we checked in, went to the room to freshen up a little, then went to the main restauranr for dinner. The meal was excellent, with the Caesar Salad being made the correct way right at the table.
We went down for breakfast the next morning, and found 2 buffet lines, one American and one Mexican, plus the usual omelet and waffle stations. The Mexican side had many interest items, so I picked my meal from that line. After eating, we took a taxi, with good glass in it, down town to the main Plaza. Around the square were the Governors Palace, the main church in town, the art museum, and many little shops. While we were walking, we were approached by a young guy who 'latched 'on to us and told us he would be our guide for a few dollars. Of course he slowly guided us over to the local native market, where his family had a stall selling clothing, particularly, 'guayaberas', sometimes called Mexican Wedding Shirts. They are quite popular throughout the Caribbean area, and due to the fact that they cool, comfortable, and dressy, they are worn by businessmen in place of a suit and tie during hot weather. In Miami, they are popular with the Cubans, so, since I didn't have one, I bought a nice one for just a few dollars, after the required haggling. Since the market was on the way back to the hotel, we decided to walk back up the ' Paseo de Montejo', the main drag. When we arrived back at the hotel, we visited the on-site tour office and booked a few trips
At 7 PM, a taxi picked us up and delivered us to a club for dinner and a show.The first part of the evening began in an undergrounds grotto, with a stream flowing through it. A group of Mayan actors and dancer re-enacted a Mayan sacrifice. Except for the part where they cut someone open and rip out the still beating heart, it was very authentic. We then returned upstairs to the restaurant area where we were served a very good Mexican feast. Finally, we were treated to a floor show with native dancing and singing. All in all, an excellent night.
After a bean and burrito breakfast the next morning, we were picked up, along with another couple, for a tour of the ruins of Chichen Itza.. What a ride that was- 60 mile in 60 minutes, including a stop at a real Mayan village. The ruins were magnificent. Our driver turned out to be the tour guide, so we got a grade A tour of the place. It seemed to me the place was built based on the Mayan mathematics, numbers were involved everywhere. Lyz and I climbed to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, where I discovered that the Mayans of that period had very small feet. The steps going to the top were quite narrow and if it had not been for a chain running from the top to the bottom, I might still be up there, or on U-Tube as I tumbled to the bottom.
It was a very good quick trip. I especially liked sitting at the pool bar, or the inside lounge, listening to the Mariachi bands.and drinking fine, smooth Tequila. I highly recommend a trip to Merida as an alternative to the commercialism of Cancun and Cozumel.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Chinese Adventure- Part 2.1
It seemed to me that women had very little status on the face of life in Hong Kong. It might have been different behind the closed doors of their home,but on the surface I noticed several things. Each morning when we hit the streets to go to Longreen, if it was early, we found an army of little old ladies with pushcarts, brooms and dust pans patiently sweeping and cleaning the major streets in Kowloon. I have to assume that the same was happening across the bay on Hong Kong Island. I never saw any little old men doing this. An incident had occurred on one of our many subway trips a few days earlier. Lowell considers himself to be a son of the South and a true gentleman, which, him being from Texas, may be true. It was during the afternoon rush hour, that we boarded the subway at the Longreens stop. That stop was the next to last stop at the north end of the line, so we had no problem finding a seat, heading south. As we proceeded south, making a stop every 5 minutes or so, the cars quickly filled up, enough to mean there was standing room only. About half way to our stop , a middle aged Chinese lady with several packages in her arms boarded the train. As it so happened, she stopped right in front of Lowell and was holding on to one of the grab bars overhead. Lowell stood and offered his seat to the lady. She understood no English and didn't understand what he was doing. Chinese men do not do that.As he gestured for her to sit down, she was shaking her head no, and motioning him to resume his seat; the interplay, serious as it was, began to attract the attention of the other passengers in the area, who seemed to be amused at what was taking place. After a minute or two of this pantomime show, a young Chinese gentleman in a nice suit, slid into the seat and began to read a newspaper. The lady was made so uncomfortable by Lowell's actions, she got off at the next stop, which might not have been the one she wanted. Lowell had to stand for the rest of our trip, and was still not sure what had happened until I explained the caste system involving men and women in public places. We had no problems after that staying in our seats on the subway, if we were fortunate enough to get one.
That Friday night we went back to the Temple Street Market. There must have been 20,000 people there that night. It was hot and muggy and strange odors drifted in the air, at times. As we learned later, this market is a major attraction for tourists to visit when in Hong Kong. Bargaining is the name of the game here. The vendors usually have someone available to speak English if you indicate that you might be serious about making a purchase. Amid all of the junk, are some good values worth checking out, like pearls and jade and leather goods from the mainland. Lowell and I were in search of food tonight. We visited several of the food stalls found at each intersection of Temple Street. Seafood is the big draw here. You will see every kind of shrimp, prawn, clam, oyster, crab, lobster, and things that look like large centipedes with their legs waving in the breeze. Each intersection had at least one table specializing in snails, at least 25 varieties on the table. Since we had samples the snails on another occasion, tonight we got a big plate of steamed prawns and found a table.We waved the beer boy over, to bring us two big bottles of San Miguel and we sat back to watch the people parade and eat shrimp. It was an excellent way to go native for a while.
All over this market, in every hotel, and in hundreds of little shops are the famous Hong Kong tailors. They will beg, grovel, threaten and use what ever tactic they think will work in order to get you to let them make you a suit. The prices are very reasonable and the work is seemingly done over night. In fact, as we looked from our room window at the Ritz, across the street was a large building where every night, we could see 40 or 50 men sewing away all night, to make the suits I guess. I'm sure that scene was repeated in a hundred other buildings all over the city. I hated suits and ties, and always had, so the last thing I was going to do was spend money on one.
Saturday, we worked at Longreen until 4 PM, then returned to the hotel to get ready for feast night with Celius. We walked down Nathan Road to the Star Ferry terminal, bought our .10 cent first class tickets and rode across the bay to meet Celius. He informed us when we were picked up, that we would be dining with some of the biggies of Longreen and 2 of his relatives, about 10 people in all. As we drove to Aberdeen harbor, I began to recognize some of the things we were passing. When we went through the tunnel. I was sure I was back at the scene of my 'snipe' hunt for the oscilloscope. When I saw the street sign for Yip Fat Street, I told Celius I was very familiar with this area, and explained how and why I had been here. He thought it was Funny Too.
Shortly, we arrived at the harbor and were amazed to see 5 or 6 huge barges anchored out in the bay, with neon lights announcing that they were floating restaurants. They were at least 3 stories tall, and lit up like Christmas trees, with what seemed to be thousands of lights on each one. We boarded a motor launch and were ferried to the largest one, the famous Jumbo's. When we arrived, it was like stepping into another world. It appeared that we were guests of honor, walking into an emperors palace. We were seated at a large circular table, with a big lazy susan in the middle of it. Since it felt like we were emperors, at the front of the room was a throne, where a guy would put you in to an emperors robe and crown and take your picture. The Chinese at our table thought it would be 'fun' to see me do that, so, not one to let the opportunity to be Emperor of China pass me by, I went up and ruled for a few minutes. The pictures are great. Lowell decided to follow me, since it was rather painless. Ken had his beer, so he declined. I don't think he was Emperor material anyhow.
All of the other Chinese meals had been mere rehearsals for this one. We were fed many dishes that were placed on the lazy susan, with our hosts telling us what each one was. Each place setting had many little bowls and dishes holding sauces and appetizers. As the susan spun and the dishes passed by, we were slowly beginning to fill up. But then Celius announced that the highlight of the dinner, a Peking Duck, was on it's way from the kitchen. A Peking Duck is ordered several days in advance of the meal. The duck has been force fed for a few weeks to prepare it for preparation. Two days before the meal, it is killed, and hung so that all body fat drains away. The fat is collected and made into a special sauce. As the duck is slow roasted, it is basted in this special sauce. It is a great honor to be served a Peking Duck by your hosts. We were honored, At least Lowell and I were.The wait staff made a big production of this duck.The head chef comes to the table and spends about 15 minutes, very carefully carving the duck. On one platter, he carefully sliced off the skin and arranged it on the dish. On another platter, he placed the duck pieces he had carved. Each person was given a small dish with some little pancakes and sliced up scallion on it. With a flourish, the head chef placed the platter with the duck skin in the middle of the lazy susan, and departed with the platter of duck parts for the kitchen. The purpose of the duck is to give up it's skin. The rest of it goes into the stock pot in the kitchen. This was not what we had expected, so we watched our Chinese friends to see how this part was to be handled. They would take a piece of skin, place it on the little pancake with some scallion, roll it up then dip it in the special sauce provided. So that is what we did, and it was delicious. But it sure seemed to be a lot of time and trouble for a piece of duck skin. Maybe we missed something.
As Celius dropped us back at our hotel, he said he would meet us in the morning for breakfast at the New World Center. Personally, I was hoping to see the Seven Dragons march right thru the hotel on their way to the bay. ( See Part 2.0) Since our time to depart Hong Kong was drawing near, he drove us through the tunnel for a Celius tour of Hong Kong Island. We visited the top of Victoria Peak, where the view covered the entire bay and way back up in to the New Territories. The port of Hong Kong is one of the busiest in the world, so the ship traffic on the bay approached the rush hour traffic on the roads. ( Little Known Fact- There are more Rolls-Royce's, per capita, in Hong Kong than any other city on Earth). He dropped us off at one of the fanciest malls in Hong Kong. We found a place in the food court that had beer and sat down for lunch. On an earlier outing, Tobias had asked if there was anything special in Hong Kong that I would like to see. I jokingly replied, How about a Chinese fire drill? It went over his head, so nothing more was said. If I'm Lying, I'm Dying, as we sat in this mall having a beer and a sandwich, before our eyes, the fire department rushed in for a fire drill! About 15 firemen in bright yellow fire gear were running everywhere. The escalator wasn't working and this did not fit into their plans to get to the next floor. It couldn't have been anymore like what I had expected than if I had wrote them a script. Confusion reigned supreme! It was wonderful. I could leave with a happy heart. I had seen it all.
Monday morning, I feel like I'm coming down with something, so I stay at the hotel and rest all of Monday. Tuesday I feel really awful. Must be the Hong Kong flu, so when Ken and Lowell go back to the Oxygen plant, I stay at the hotel. I think about going back to the China Resources Store for some snake bile wine, or something else that might help me recover. But I find a drug store that sells Contact. I'm not sure that Contact is any better than ground up monkey paws, but I'm more familiar with it.
That evening, Lowell and Ken return from the Oxygen plant with good news. They had tuned up the 75 HP unit and it was performing to every ones satisfaction. Derek Mo had accompanied them back to the city, and a big dinner celebration , paid for by Mr Mo, was in order. My medicine had kicked in enough for me to go with them. Mr Mo knows a place in the 'hood that he wants to take us. so away we go. The restaurant is on the second floor as usual. We are seated at a table with a big hole in the middle of it. They light a burner in the hole and bring a big pot of some kind of liquid in it, and place it over the fire in the hole. So now, we have a big gurgling cauldron of something, bubbling away in front of us. How Cool, I thought. We are brought plates, bowls, chop sticks, and we each get a little wire basket on the end of a stick. It seems that we will be placing our food in the wire basket and cooking it in the bubbling broth, which turns out to be chicken broth. How much better for a guy with a cold can it get? Ken asks about beer, and it seems that it is not served, but we can bring our own. Mr Mo volunteers to go get some beer, since he is familiar with the area. Mr Mo is not a beer drinker so he does not know that beer is best served cold. So when he brings Ken back a six pack of warm beer, Ken does not complain too much. Lowell and I are happy with the tea. When the pot begins to come to a rolling boil, the waiter brings the starters. Eventually we indulge in shrimp, lobster, clams, fish, Kobe beef, scallops, and a large platter of veggies' to dunk into the broth. You took whatever combination sounded right, put it into your basket and put it in to the broth until it was cooked to your
liking. Eventually this chicken broth assumed the taste of all of the things you had cooked in it, and became quite tasty in it's own right. Mr Mo went out for some more warm beer, which we all consumed. along with the broth. It was one of those night that just seems to fall together in all of the right places with all of the right people. Even Ken fit in that night.
When Mr Mo left to go back home near Junk Bay, Ken took Lowell and I to a new place he had found. I was coasting, still under the influence of warm beer and massive amounts of chicken broth. This place had good cold beer, and a dart board over in the corner. Now it was Lowell's turn to be an expert. A little Chinese girl was tossing darts and seemingly not doing so well. Lowell , being the dart expert. went over to show her the finer points of dart playing. One thing led to another, and before you know it, she had convinced him to bet a little moolah on the game. In his warm beer fog, and her being so helpless, he agreed. The Texas gentleman was losing his Texas ass to that little girl, when I decided to go back to the hotel, leaving him and Ken on their own. I don't think I ever heard the true results of that night.
The next day, I was no better, and no worse. Ken and Lowell were going to Longreens to wrap things up. I was truly not needed for this process. I had made the Chinese laugh enough. I called United and found space on the afternoon flight, all the way back to Miami. I packed up and was at the airport for the 1 PM flight with time to spare. Twenty-six hours later, I was back in Miami, recovering in my own bed. It was a very good trip and the Chinese are a very interesting people. I'm sure they found me just as interesting.
That Friday night we went back to the Temple Street Market. There must have been 20,000 people there that night. It was hot and muggy and strange odors drifted in the air, at times. As we learned later, this market is a major attraction for tourists to visit when in Hong Kong. Bargaining is the name of the game here. The vendors usually have someone available to speak English if you indicate that you might be serious about making a purchase. Amid all of the junk, are some good values worth checking out, like pearls and jade and leather goods from the mainland. Lowell and I were in search of food tonight. We visited several of the food stalls found at each intersection of Temple Street. Seafood is the big draw here. You will see every kind of shrimp, prawn, clam, oyster, crab, lobster, and things that look like large centipedes with their legs waving in the breeze. Each intersection had at least one table specializing in snails, at least 25 varieties on the table. Since we had samples the snails on another occasion, tonight we got a big plate of steamed prawns and found a table.We waved the beer boy over, to bring us two big bottles of San Miguel and we sat back to watch the people parade and eat shrimp. It was an excellent way to go native for a while.
All over this market, in every hotel, and in hundreds of little shops are the famous Hong Kong tailors. They will beg, grovel, threaten and use what ever tactic they think will work in order to get you to let them make you a suit. The prices are very reasonable and the work is seemingly done over night. In fact, as we looked from our room window at the Ritz, across the street was a large building where every night, we could see 40 or 50 men sewing away all night, to make the suits I guess. I'm sure that scene was repeated in a hundred other buildings all over the city. I hated suits and ties, and always had, so the last thing I was going to do was spend money on one.
Saturday, we worked at Longreen until 4 PM, then returned to the hotel to get ready for feast night with Celius. We walked down Nathan Road to the Star Ferry terminal, bought our .10 cent first class tickets and rode across the bay to meet Celius. He informed us when we were picked up, that we would be dining with some of the biggies of Longreen and 2 of his relatives, about 10 people in all. As we drove to Aberdeen harbor, I began to recognize some of the things we were passing. When we went through the tunnel. I was sure I was back at the scene of my 'snipe' hunt for the oscilloscope. When I saw the street sign for Yip Fat Street, I told Celius I was very familiar with this area, and explained how and why I had been here. He thought it was Funny Too.
Shortly, we arrived at the harbor and were amazed to see 5 or 6 huge barges anchored out in the bay, with neon lights announcing that they were floating restaurants. They were at least 3 stories tall, and lit up like Christmas trees, with what seemed to be thousands of lights on each one. We boarded a motor launch and were ferried to the largest one, the famous Jumbo's. When we arrived, it was like stepping into another world. It appeared that we were guests of honor, walking into an emperors palace. We were seated at a large circular table, with a big lazy susan in the middle of it. Since it felt like we were emperors, at the front of the room was a throne, where a guy would put you in to an emperors robe and crown and take your picture. The Chinese at our table thought it would be 'fun' to see me do that, so, not one to let the opportunity to be Emperor of China pass me by, I went up and ruled for a few minutes. The pictures are great. Lowell decided to follow me, since it was rather painless. Ken had his beer, so he declined. I don't think he was Emperor material anyhow.
All of the other Chinese meals had been mere rehearsals for this one. We were fed many dishes that were placed on the lazy susan, with our hosts telling us what each one was. Each place setting had many little bowls and dishes holding sauces and appetizers. As the susan spun and the dishes passed by, we were slowly beginning to fill up. But then Celius announced that the highlight of the dinner, a Peking Duck, was on it's way from the kitchen. A Peking Duck is ordered several days in advance of the meal. The duck has been force fed for a few weeks to prepare it for preparation. Two days before the meal, it is killed, and hung so that all body fat drains away. The fat is collected and made into a special sauce. As the duck is slow roasted, it is basted in this special sauce. It is a great honor to be served a Peking Duck by your hosts. We were honored, At least Lowell and I were.The wait staff made a big production of this duck.The head chef comes to the table and spends about 15 minutes, very carefully carving the duck. On one platter, he carefully sliced off the skin and arranged it on the dish. On another platter, he placed the duck pieces he had carved. Each person was given a small dish with some little pancakes and sliced up scallion on it. With a flourish, the head chef placed the platter with the duck skin in the middle of the lazy susan, and departed with the platter of duck parts for the kitchen. The purpose of the duck is to give up it's skin. The rest of it goes into the stock pot in the kitchen. This was not what we had expected, so we watched our Chinese friends to see how this part was to be handled. They would take a piece of skin, place it on the little pancake with some scallion, roll it up then dip it in the special sauce provided. So that is what we did, and it was delicious. But it sure seemed to be a lot of time and trouble for a piece of duck skin. Maybe we missed something.
As Celius dropped us back at our hotel, he said he would meet us in the morning for breakfast at the New World Center. Personally, I was hoping to see the Seven Dragons march right thru the hotel on their way to the bay. ( See Part 2.0) Since our time to depart Hong Kong was drawing near, he drove us through the tunnel for a Celius tour of Hong Kong Island. We visited the top of Victoria Peak, where the view covered the entire bay and way back up in to the New Territories. The port of Hong Kong is one of the busiest in the world, so the ship traffic on the bay approached the rush hour traffic on the roads. ( Little Known Fact- There are more Rolls-Royce's, per capita, in Hong Kong than any other city on Earth). He dropped us off at one of the fanciest malls in Hong Kong. We found a place in the food court that had beer and sat down for lunch. On an earlier outing, Tobias had asked if there was anything special in Hong Kong that I would like to see. I jokingly replied, How about a Chinese fire drill? It went over his head, so nothing more was said. If I'm Lying, I'm Dying, as we sat in this mall having a beer and a sandwich, before our eyes, the fire department rushed in for a fire drill! About 15 firemen in bright yellow fire gear were running everywhere. The escalator wasn't working and this did not fit into their plans to get to the next floor. It couldn't have been anymore like what I had expected than if I had wrote them a script. Confusion reigned supreme! It was wonderful. I could leave with a happy heart. I had seen it all.
Monday morning, I feel like I'm coming down with something, so I stay at the hotel and rest all of Monday. Tuesday I feel really awful. Must be the Hong Kong flu, so when Ken and Lowell go back to the Oxygen plant, I stay at the hotel. I think about going back to the China Resources Store for some snake bile wine, or something else that might help me recover. But I find a drug store that sells Contact. I'm not sure that Contact is any better than ground up monkey paws, but I'm more familiar with it.
That evening, Lowell and Ken return from the Oxygen plant with good news. They had tuned up the 75 HP unit and it was performing to every ones satisfaction. Derek Mo had accompanied them back to the city, and a big dinner celebration , paid for by Mr Mo, was in order. My medicine had kicked in enough for me to go with them. Mr Mo knows a place in the 'hood that he wants to take us. so away we go. The restaurant is on the second floor as usual. We are seated at a table with a big hole in the middle of it. They light a burner in the hole and bring a big pot of some kind of liquid in it, and place it over the fire in the hole. So now, we have a big gurgling cauldron of something, bubbling away in front of us. How Cool, I thought. We are brought plates, bowls, chop sticks, and we each get a little wire basket on the end of a stick. It seems that we will be placing our food in the wire basket and cooking it in the bubbling broth, which turns out to be chicken broth. How much better for a guy with a cold can it get? Ken asks about beer, and it seems that it is not served, but we can bring our own. Mr Mo volunteers to go get some beer, since he is familiar with the area. Mr Mo is not a beer drinker so he does not know that beer is best served cold. So when he brings Ken back a six pack of warm beer, Ken does not complain too much. Lowell and I are happy with the tea. When the pot begins to come to a rolling boil, the waiter brings the starters. Eventually we indulge in shrimp, lobster, clams, fish, Kobe beef, scallops, and a large platter of veggies' to dunk into the broth. You took whatever combination sounded right, put it into your basket and put it in to the broth until it was cooked to your
liking. Eventually this chicken broth assumed the taste of all of the things you had cooked in it, and became quite tasty in it's own right. Mr Mo went out for some more warm beer, which we all consumed. along with the broth. It was one of those night that just seems to fall together in all of the right places with all of the right people. Even Ken fit in that night.
When Mr Mo left to go back home near Junk Bay, Ken took Lowell and I to a new place he had found. I was coasting, still under the influence of warm beer and massive amounts of chicken broth. This place had good cold beer, and a dart board over in the corner. Now it was Lowell's turn to be an expert. A little Chinese girl was tossing darts and seemingly not doing so well. Lowell , being the dart expert. went over to show her the finer points of dart playing. One thing led to another, and before you know it, she had convinced him to bet a little moolah on the game. In his warm beer fog, and her being so helpless, he agreed. The Texas gentleman was losing his Texas ass to that little girl, when I decided to go back to the hotel, leaving him and Ken on their own. I don't think I ever heard the true results of that night.
The next day, I was no better, and no worse. Ken and Lowell were going to Longreens to wrap things up. I was truly not needed for this process. I had made the Chinese laugh enough. I called United and found space on the afternoon flight, all the way back to Miami. I packed up and was at the airport for the 1 PM flight with time to spare. Twenty-six hours later, I was back in Miami, recovering in my own bed. It was a very good trip and the Chinese are a very interesting people. I'm sure they found me just as interesting.
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