Why all the smiling about Tiger's downfall?

I'm sorry but I sense a tinge of racial dishonesty when it comes to the public reaction to the destroyed persona of golfer Tiger Woods. I truly believe that if he WASN'T black, and having achieved what he has accomplished on the links by the age of 33, and that persona carefully crafted by his late father, the public's reaction wouldn't be so ... intense.
I sense a certain snickering by folks out there, especially by white conversatives to see how the mighty has fallen. This daily update on the contracs/endorsements being lost is NOT news - I mean who REALLY cares if Tag Heuer drops him as a sponsor. How many of YOU are wearing $5,000 watches????
And the admitted infidelity doesn't change the talent he possesses on the golf course. When he plays his best, NO ONE beats him. Period. Yet all these women are being paraded by agents/lawyers for 10-15 seconds/minutes of momentary fame and then ... to borrow the final line from "The Usual Suspects," "Poof, and then they're gone!"
Tiger Woods isn't the only superstar to have been unfaithful and many of them are stil prospering. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant to name two. Hell, Wade Boggs carried on a road trp affair with a woman - not his wife - and watzed into the Hall of Fame.
So why is THIS different?
Because he IS Tiger Woods (or WAS). That "Tiger" was a creation; Eldrick Woods is the real person and he needs to find out how he wishes to live his life with his family.

DART: doomed to failure

Poor Dallas Area Rapid Transit! The worst pun of the day (Monday) is how the public is throwing its light-rail passenger system “under the bus,” which is kinda funny since the bus people also operate a train schedule.
And not every well. It came to a head last Saturday when tens of thousands of fans tried to use the DART trains (and save a couple of bucks parking) to get back and forth from Fair Park and the Cotton Bowl for the annual Texas-Oklahoma football game.
First, people who operate buses should never oversee trains. Current DART people still haven’t got the hang of it and the board needs complete overhaul. But having said that, it was ridiculous for anyone to expect a light rail system to handle ALL those wishing to attend the Fair … and the game. Even in major cities with long history of light rail/subway/elevated systems who transport athletic event crowds (Boston, NYC, Washington, Chicago), it doesn’t happen quickly.
Sometimes it DOES take hours to clear out HUGE crowds (and remember, the Cotton Bowl holds twice as many people as venues like Wrigley Field or Fenway Park...). When my wife went to Washington, D.C. for the big women’s rally a few years ago, it took her many hours to leave the mall via its Metro system because you can only run so many people in so many passenger cars at a time – and do it safely!
DART, with just 80 cars, was doomed to failure from the start; it did its best to handle the overflow…and its best simply wasn’t adequate.
Besides, those DART riders would have been just as stuck in traffic, causing even MORE of a traffic delay in the Mixmaster and around Fair Park area (and would have been subject to the near-criminal method of parking at Fair Park).
In Atlanta, when the Braves play at Turner Field, you ride MARTA to an area called Underground Atlanta and (on the same MARTA ticket), get transferred to a shuttle bus which takes you directly to Turner Field. These shuttles run every minute or so and that’s ALL they do ... before the start of the game and afterwards.
Shuttle buses COULD have taken a large portion of the Green Line passengers to Fair Park on this instance and relieved much of the stress on the system. Certainly, there were more than 80 buses in the DART system, right?
DART should have had ALL Green Line users go to the West End Transit Center and the Green Line could have been initiated THERE! As it was, no Red or Blue Line users (coming from Plano, Richardosn, or Garland), trying to transfer at Pearl Street (the first place to get the Green Line but the line stop in downtown from Victory Station), could have gotten to the Green Line; ALL those trains were at (or beyond) capacity – a transit line design flaw for which DART must take blame.
At the West End Center, shuttle buses could have EASILY been dispatched. In fact, said buses COULD have been run from ALL DART transit centers, going directly to Fair Park and bypassing downtown altogether.
IF someone at DART had actually thought about it, or actually STUDIED other cities and their methods, all this hand-wringing could have been avoided. Now and in the future!
ALL IT TOOK WAS A LITTLE FORETHOUGHT AND PLANNING!!!!!!!!
As it happened, it was a doomed mission and the negative publicity will cost DART more than it could have ever gained … which is really sad for the city of Dallas as a whole.
P.S. – DART is its own entity; it is NOT run by the city of Dallas and does not have anything to do with its employees, who are becoming scapegoats for those who do not understand how this city operates. Since ignorance is often bliss, these must be very happy people.

A moment of silence for this sports icon!

Rest In Peace - Captain Lou Albano. A lonely nation lifts its eyes to you.

It's still noble to get the Nobel

In my mind, perhaps THE most undeserving Best Actor Oscar EVER present was in 1970 when John Wayne received the honor for his "performance" in "True Grit." It was a lifetime achievement award to be exact; that movie wasn't The Duke's 20th best performance (hell, his last movie, "The Shootist" was a better acting job and he should have won for his work in "The Searchers" or "The Quiet Man.").
But there was Big John, beaming with pride at his good fortune. Perhaps Wayne was the most surprised man in the room.
President Barack Obama was awoken - not to here that Ozzie Guillen had been fired as White Sox manager (THAT would have made Obama happy) or bin Laden had been captured (doubly happy) - but to be told that HE had been named Nobel Peace Prize winner for 2009. I guarantee you he was the most surprised man in America with the announcement.
Now, when you get such a prize, you do NOT say, "No thanks; I'm not deserving." You smile and prepare a good speech in a classy tuxedo for Oslo.
While people can debate Obama's merits to have gotten the honor, note that it was NOT an American decision; it was an international choice. No one campaigned for it or even contemplated his selection prior to the disclosure. The man has only been on the job for nine months which IS a reason for not choosing him but also not enough time to REALLY get many things accomplished. Since policy moves as slow as molasses in Maine in January, these things do not happen overnight.
Anyway, you cannot unring the bell; you move forward. All this nastiness from conservatives and Republicans and those who bitch about everything Obama says, does or thinks is sour grapes in my book. Nice that an American got the prize and let's just move on.
In fact, a timeout needs to be called on BOTH sides to let all this shit being spewed to settle and disappear.
At least until the World Series is over. Huh, guys?

U2 tickets for sale

Due to a problem in mobility, I must try to sell my seats for Monday's U2 concert at Cowboys Stadium.
If you want to go (seats are high up, but you WILL be there), I am selling them for face value plus a $30 parking pass CLOSE to the Death Star.
Contact me ASAP at chuckbloom@hotmail.com and we can do this.
I don't want them to go to waste. SO HURRY!

Possible U2 set list for Cowboys Stadium show

When U2 appears on Oct. 12 at Arlington's Cowboys Stadium (yours truly anad esposa in da crowd), this COULD be the set list:
“Breathe”
“Magnificent”
“Get On Your Boots”
“Mysterious Ways”
“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”
“She’s The One”/"Desire”
“Elevation”“Your Blue Room”
“Beautiful Day”
“No Line on the Horizon”
“New Year’s Day”
“Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of”
“The Unforgettable Fire”
“City Of Blinding Lights”
“Vertigo”
“I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight”
“Sunday Bloody Sunday”
“MLK”/”Walk On”
Encores:
“One”
“Amazing Grace”/”Where the Streets Have No Name”
“Ultraviolet (Light My Way)”
“With Or Without You”
“Moment of Surrender”

I do hope they end with "40" as usual for a U2 show, and I wish they'd add "Bad" and many others from older albums ("I Will Follow" as an example).

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees

Up for the class of 2010 are:
Iggy & the Stooges
the Red Hot Chili Peppers
LL Cool J
Kiss
Genesis
Donna Summer
ABBA
Darlene Love
Laura Nyro
the Chantels
the Hollies
Jimmy Cliff

I believe KISS is a natural, as is ABBA (one just cannot discount actual album/singles SALES). I'd also add the late Laura Nyro (as a songwriter, not performer), the Hollies and Jimmy Cliff. The Peppers will make it because they still tour and record.

Protecting our nation’s MVPs (most valuable parks)

The initial sight takes your breath away … literally! It doesn’t appear to be real; more like a master artist’s painting – with multiple layers of colors bombarding your senses. Move a few hundred feet to either side and you see a completely new revelation and many people simply stand there in jaw-dropping awe. Anyone unmoved by the eternal beauty of such a view will never generate reciprocal feelings for anything.
It is how one often reacts when seeing the Grand Canyon for the very first time - I felt that way this past summer. While this particular corner of the country is the crown jewel of the U.S. National Parks System, and the most symbolic natural formation, not every national park site is the Grand Canyon – some tell a different story and preserves a different lesson from our history. But each location is important to the American experience – from Civil War battlefields to the remnants of past occupants before anyone called this land a “nation.”
National Parks cut across the spectrum – they aren’t all mountains, valleys, caves, volcanic formations or forests. Some are made-made spectacles (the Statue of Liberty, Golden Gate Bridge, St. Louis Arch); some honor literary giants (Edgar Allen Poe, Eugene O’Neill, Carl Sandburg), American heroes (Clara Barton, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, Jr.) or heroes who helped keep our independence (Jean LaFitte). Some sites spotlight historical events (Little Rock Central High School, Brown v. Board of Education, the Wright Brothers) and some tell of the darker episodes in America (Manzanar, Little Big Horn, Oklahoma City and Flight 93 memorials).
Some parcels are dedicated to family pleasure and fun (national recreation areas), including two in Texas (Lake Amistad near Del Rio and Lake Meredith north of Amarillo) and one in Oklahoma (Chickasaw), just 2 ½ hours from the DFW area.
Texas, for its part, has 15 connections to the national system, and could easily include others. President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s birth place, in Denison, should join the six other birth sites to presidents protected by the NPS. And with Texas literally starving its own parks for funding, it might be wise to allow Palo Duro Canyon (the country’s second largest canyon) to be transferred under the NPS umbrella.
I’ve also believed The Alamo, one of the five most recognized American symbols of freedom, should join the other San Antonio missions as a national park site; coming under the peoples’ province and away from the highly secretive control of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. It should belong to ALL of America – not just a select few.
These treasures need our consideration, attention and support, including adequate funding for park expansion, facilities upgrade and maintenance and acquisition. Every individual and family can be several things to help preserve our national parks.
First, you should visit as many as possible – to educate yourselves and your children. Start in Texas with the awe-inspiring Big Bend National Park, within the Chisos Mountain region of west Texas. People say a picture of is worth a thousand words, but one glance at the area known as “The Window on the World,” will inspire a thousand pictures – especially at dawn and dusk.
You can join support groups, such as the National Parks Conservation Association (www.npca.org), dedicated to the preservation of the national parks and increasing public awareness of the need for NPS protection.
Come this Sunday, Sept. 27, you can learn more about our national parks on PBS when acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns premiers his new documentary, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” Burns, as he has so expertly done in the past on the Civil War, baseball and America during World War II, will examine the current state of the NPS, as well as tell the story of the people (such as John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt) whose visions led to the eventual preservation of these special sites.
Finally, you can pen a note to your congressman and U.S. Senator, stressing the need to maintain proper funding for the national parks system – because it IS important to pass along these symbols of our heritage and history to our children, grandchildren and future generations.
They deserve the chance to have their jaws drop at the Grand Canyon, too.

College hoops JUST around the corner

And ESPN is going whole hog with a marathon of its own (not involving "Law and Order").
It begins on Monday Nov. 16, technically on Nov. 17 in the Eastern time zone.
Here is the schedule (Dallas time since I'm living here):
11 p.m. (Monday, Nov. 16): Cal State Fullerton at UCLA, ESPN
1 a.m.: San Diego State at St. Mary's, ESPN
3 a.m.: Northern Colorado at Hawaii, ESPN6
5 a.m.: Monmouth at St. Peter's, ESPN
7 a.m.: Drexel at Niagara, ESPN
9 a.m.: Clemson at Liberty, ESPN
11 a.m.: Northeastern at Siena, ESPN
1 p.m: Arkansas Little-Rock at Tulsa, ESPN
3 p.m.: Temple at Georgetown, ESPN
4:30 p.m.: Bin.ghamton at Pittsburgh, ESPN2
5 p.m.: NIT from Durham, N.C., ESPN
6 p.m.: Tennessee vs. Texas Tech (women) in San Antonio, ESPNU
6:30: Arkansas vs. Louisville in St. Louis, ESPN2
7 p.m.: Gonzaga at Michigan State, ESPN
7 p.m.: Northern Illinois at Illinois, ESPN360.com
8 p.m.: Duquesne at Iowa, ESPNU
8:30 p.m.: Connecticut vs. Texas (women) in San Antonio, ESPN2
9 p.m.: Memphis vs. Kansas in St. Louis, ESPN
10:30 p.m.: NIT from Tempe, Ariz, ESPN

Happy hooping, y'all! Hope the World Series is over by then.

Five top Patrick Swayze movies

It's kind shocking to know that the late Patric Swayze, who died earlier this week from pancreatic cancer, was exactly ONE week YOUNGER than me (born Aug. 18, 1952 in Houston).
Ouch!
His five best movies were:
Ghost
The Outsiders (check out the cast in that flick)
Dirty Dancing
Point Break
Red Dawn.
RIP, Patrick.

One more thought...

As the 70th anniversary of WWII has started, which the REAL Adolf Hitler began, which resulted in the deaths of millions upon millions of people (not just exterminated Jews but Russians, English, French, Poles, Italians, etc.), any fool who even utters such a remark should be treated at the parasite that he or she is. Not to mention blindly ignorant.
It is SO sad that this rage is being stoked by certain TV/radio talkers, local people NOT excluded sadly, under the blanket of the First Amendment would make the Founding Fathers roll over in their graves, rise from the dead and shred the Constitution in public - all the while crying for the condition of the country that TRIED to establish.
And behind it all (this MUST be said), IS ... the spectre of blatant racism. Especially in the old Confederacy, which includes ... Texas.
As one commentator said when he asked why certain people still battle the Civil War in their minds, "It didn't end in 1865; it was just intermission."
For all the pride and joy many people felt last November about certain barriers being torn down, others are intent on destroying that person and rebuilding that American Berlin Wall higher than ever. All the proof you need is on any opinion blog today.
And local radio talk show host Mark Davis ain't helping matters with his ridiculous drivel. Of course, easy for him to say "Keep your kids home." No punishment agaisnt the parents; only the students for unexcused absences. Where is the superintendent who will stand up and say that any parent openly keeping their children out of school because of the Obama speech will be prosecuted for contributing to the delinquency of a minor?
Seriously. Make these people put their money and butts behind their silly threats!

Only the idiotic would call it indoctrination

To anyone who stupidly thinks teh proposed Sept. 8 address by Prtesident Obama to the nation's schoolchildre, about the virtues of getting a good education, is some form of "Manchurian Candidate" brainwashing or indoctrination or some other "evil" plot to control children:
If you are SO adamant about keeping "politics" out of the classroom, then stand up with ME and DEMAND that religion be kept OUT OF THE CLASSROOM IN ANY FORM! Including prayer, distribution of religious related material and other forms of possible "brainwashing." Because THAT does NOT belong in the public schools, either.You can't have one and NOT the other. Religion belongs in the church and the home - NOT in SCHOOL!
Right???????
I am SOOOOOOOOO ashamed to even be living in such a jelly-fished, spineless, suck-ass administrative-directed school district as Plano, Texas, which is NOT going to show the speech to ITS children. God fucking forbid!
And to think we pay such enormous salaries (a quarter of a million per year for the idiot superintendent) to this sheep-ple who "educate" our children. It is shameful beyond words!!!!!

Texan of the Year

Since it is September and the process for a decision about the Dallas Morning News' Texan of the Year will probably begin, I suggest a nominee:The unemployed professional.
Since January of this year, many of those included in the ever-increasing ranks of Texas' unemployed residents are the so-called SOFT COLLAR workers - the degreed professionals who, after several years at many of Texas' biggest companies (such as Texas Instruments, Bell Helicopter, other tech-computer-telecom companies, etc.) have come to learn the newest three letter addition to the business lexicon - RIF (reduction in force).
In fact, it is now a verb - to be riffed means, "you're fired!"
And those job fairs, with hundreds upon hundreds of people lined up for hours seeking a precious few job openings in their respective professional fields, are being held in the unlikeliest of places - such here in Collin County, the state's wealthiest area and home of many of those companies doing the RIFfing.
As the recession strikes at Texas like a Level 3 hurricane, as the unemployment number climbs to 10 percent, the people standing in the unemployment line are NOT the usual suspects; they are the former professionals who have been purchasing the "homes inthe 300s," driving the cars from the high-end dealers and supporting the "non-Walmart" retail stores where sales are crumbling. It isn't a pretty sight and it isn't business as usual. After the housing buble burst, now it is THEIR homes being foreclosed; their lives being deconstructed; their income missing in the national economy.
When economists state the demand is not matching the supply, this is the sector not doing the demanding.
These people, the backbone and ribs and lifeblood of the American consumer-based economy, are the face of the recession.
And truly are the Texans of the Year 2009.

Another Michigan football first

The controversary surrounding Cowboys Stadium and the low-hanging video board is interesting and cute but it is not a new thing. The problem dates back to the 1920s!!!!!!! And there was a common sense solution ...
The answer to the following trivia question: What was the FIRST indoor football facility built in the U.S.? is ...Yost Fieldhouse on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (you can look it up).
It opened in November of 1923 after ground was broken in 1922. It was the vision of a legendary coach, Fielding H. Yost, who coached at UM from 1900-27. Yost wanted a place for his players to practice during the harsh winter months. After ground was broken, Yost summonsed all parties involved (buildings, engineers, architects) along with his punter.
The men watched as the kicker booted three punts into the air, after which Yost said he didn't want any kick to touch the ceiling of his facility .. and the building was constructed accordingly. The roof was pitched at a crown higher than usual to allow a FULL game practice, including the punting game, to be held inside.
For years, Yost Fieldhouse housed men's basketball and track before its conversion to an 8,000-seat ice hockey arena in 1973-74 (for which it continues as the home of Wolverine hockey today - a fine example of recycling historic buildings into modern use).
Had Jerry Jones wanted to avoid any problems at his billion dollar palace, the solution was simple...and totally avoidable.
As history teaches us.
Just thought you'd like to know.

“Uncle Teddy and Me”

It wasn’t until late in the night – after watching all the remembrances of the late Senator Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy, after seeing that he had played football at Harvard in the mid-1950s – when I remembered of a conversation I had with him in 1971.
At that moment of life, I was part of the Michigan Daily, the student newspaper at the University of Michigan, a member of the sports department. During the Wolverine football season, the paper published a contest – Gridde Picks – where students, or readers of any kind, would select the winners from among 10 games (tiebreaker included), all vying for a free pizza from a greasy spoon called Omega Pizza (we later upgraded the pie to be from the Cottage Inn; a substantial improvement in quality to be sure and it was just around the corner from the paper offices).
For each week, we also had someone affiliated with that Saturday’s opponent make his choices, which would be published as a means of comparison … and much humor. It was our chance to pen some ridiculous prose in that small box and for the folks in the sports department to actually make rudimentary political comments outside the lines – so to speak.
The 1971 home opener was a weak Virginia squad (who was summarily dispatched 56-0 en route to an undefeated regular season for Michigan). But finding a famous UVA alumnus at that time was a tad difficult.
Until one of us remembered that Sen. Kennedy went there for law school. BINGO! That was connection enough and I took it upon my shoulders, and big mouth, to try and reach him to make that week’s picks.
A series of phone calls made their way through the Boston and then Washington offices, a gaggle of aides and assistants, until … without warning; “Uncle Teddy” was the next voice I heard.
I explained the situation with as straight a face as I could muster, and as he listened, I could heard his tongue becoming fastened firmly into his cheek.
“You ARE serious, son?” he said in his best BAH-Stan accent. I assured him I was.
“What does the winner get?” he asked and was told of the piping hot pizza awaiting that week’s victor.
“If I win, will I get one?”
“Positively,” I said. “We’ll arrange for it to be delivered.”
“I want a fresh one, you know,” he said sternly. “With toppings?”
He was told it would be cheese since it was just a student paper and not the Boston Globe’s budget.
“Sure, why not; I love a good pizza,” and with that, he promptly picked all 10 games and gave a big margin of victory for Michigan over the Cavaliers.
“They don’t really play good football down there; I have no idea why they are playing you,” he astutely said.
And with that, he thanked me and gave his office address in case he emerged as victorious as he believed a Kennedy should.
Fortunately, he failed to win that week, but it might have been one of the few times he didn’t.
For the record, three weeks later, I yanked Cmdr. Lloyd Bucher, he of the infamous USS Pueblo (the ship captured by the North Koreans in one of the testier international incidents in 1968), out of a “boring staff meeting” to do the same thing.
The captain was not upset; he seemed rather amused that I had the nerve to do something like that. When informed Sen. Kennedy had participated three weeks earlier that seemed to clinch the deal.
“I hope I can do better than he did,” Bucher said.
He got close, but no cigar … or pizza.
And it took his death to remember all that.
Damn, I wish I could raise a greasy cheesy slice to the memory of both men. But the diet says no. It’ll have to be part of my memories.

Woodstock: 40 Years and a Long Time Gone

I am of that Woodstock generation (although I wasn't there) and I view for what it was - an outstanding concert that became a brilliant movie and betetr soundtrack. In fact, it could be best viewed as the soundtrack of that generation - seeing the future and some endings.
It was Jimi Hendrix' last great performance (in many minds) as well as Janis Joplin, the beginning of the new funk as presented by Sly and the Family Stone, the transformation of music into opera (by The Who), the beginning of the "super group" concept (Crosby, Stills and Nash), the last grasp of the folk protest wave (Joan Baez) and the ultimate expression of flower music (Arlo, Sebastian, Havens). We discovered the greatness of Joe Cocker and Carlos Santana.
Until Woodstock, most music festivals of that kind were more controlled affairs (like Monterrey), but this was open, unpredictable and wild; it wasn't planned to be that way - it just turned out that way.
Woodstock became symbolic because of it size and the desire for others to have a sense of romance. But it was just one weekend, just like Studio 21 was just one club and not a complete metaphor for 70s hedonism.
One day soon, I will slap the movie DVD on the player, get the newly-released 6CD box set and play it completely through.
In the end, for me, it was ALL about the music.
As it really should have been.

Epilogue: Been there, seen a whole bunch

When you take a trip that covers more than 4,500 miles (so said the odometer but it was actually more when you factor walking and driving in other vehicles), you get to see plenty of sights unable to envision at the place you call “home.” There are no mountains or oceans anywhere near Plano, Texas, on the vast plains of North Texas; there are no sights that take your breath away or make you pause for an eternity to burn an impression into your brains.
You either forge that momentary memory into your mind and store it for permanent recall … or you take a photo to remind you of that frozen image. Between the two of us, we took photos totally more than a gigabyte of storage on our laptop. Perhaps close to 1,000 photos – give or take the hundred or so that were dumped along the way (out of focus, insufficient light, someone didn’t want her picture taken, etc.).
It’s like that on every trip we take and our files are growing with burned CD images of where we’ve been and what we’ve seen.
Well, almost…
There are some things that you just cannot forget; moments that WILL live forever inside your soul: seeing the Statue of Liberty in New York City, the Liberty Bell and Constitution Hall in Philadelphia or the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor; the magnificence of the Mackinac Bridge, the lush green rolling grounds of central Kentucky (where the champion thoroughbreds are nurtured) and the silent lands in Virginia and Tennessee where brother fought brother during the Civil War; the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. and the sound of the creeks along the roads leading to that shrine.
Here are some of the things we saw, and heard, and did, (and will remember) – often odd, but always unique:
seeing wildlife, such as elk, prairie dogs and a herd of bison;
finding orange trees located (and growing) in a city’s downtown plaza (Riverside, Calif.);
locating the world’s tallest thermometer (in Baker, Calif., and it read over 100 degrees that MORNING) next to a store selling “Alien Jerky;”
getting passed by a Smart car, on an Arizona freeway, doing OVER 75 miles per hour;
watching several $250,000 Lamborghinis zoom past us on Los Angeles roadways (along with the stray Aston-Martin or two);
seeing HOV lanes … on freeway entrance ramps?!?! (of course, it was in California);
facing police check points for traffic going over Hoover Dam;
two-cent slot machines … at a high-class joint like The Bellagio;
noticing traffic warning signs for elk, ram/sheep, mule and horse crossings, as well as one warning people NOT to step close to the edge of a cliff for fear of falling;
seeing traffic stop lights SOLELY for the purpose of allowing pedestrians to cross busy streets (in Tucson);
drinking mango margaritas or eating salads topped with pomegranate dressing;
viewing two rainbows over the right-field fences in different ballparks (Albuquerque and Las Vegas);
visiting a minor league ballpark situated within a residential development (instead of a municipal park in most other cases);
seeing two-time Olympic gold medalist Jennie Finch (as stunning as she is talented) sitting 20 feet from me in Oklahoma City and then watching Manny Ramirez during his rehab assignments in Albuquerque;
watching a full (one hour) local evening newscast … without a sportscaster (ask yourself when was the last time YOU saw that!);
looking at the sun set over the San Bernardino Mountains and mule teams train down in the Grand Canyon.
There are more of those memories and they will flash before our eyes with the mere mention of a word, song or thought. It’s how vacations should be for everyone.
---
Things are back to “normal” at home; the dog chases the cat, the cat doesn’t like it and we both look at each other and shrug our shoulders. Jodie has to get up earlier to start her commute to Dallas City Hall for work, and I have to join her as chauffeur to the DART light rail station (to and from).
There are upcoming birthdays to remember, bills to be paid, problems around the house to be fixed and friends with whom to be reacquainted. We’ll complain about the heat, the roller-coaster cost of gasoline (please make up your damn minds on the price) and why a watermelon costs more than a steak.
In other words, life is back and we knew before the trip. But ... aha, for a brief second (or two or 10), we can flick the mouse on a folder containing photographic memories and for the shortest time, simply flash to that scene in the Grand Canyon or Isoptope Park or to a roadside along Route 66. It means we can “vacate” the present and go back to the “vacate-ion” ... and just smile.
For the final time … until we meet again … shalom!

YOU supply the words

As comedian Robert Wuhl says, "I shit you not."

Found in the Saguaro National Park, this obviously male cactus ...

Day 20 – Plano: home is where the La-Z-Boy is

When one writes these vacation travel blogs, perhaps it is a great idea to take a cleansing shower before hitting the keyboard. The water, rushing down your body, washing away the grim of the road, or from a scorching summer day, will also clean one’s thoughts before committing to eternity.
I WAS going to rant and rave about what we learned about hotels and motels, secretly hoping to communicate directly with the various hotel/motel owners on how to improve our stays with them.
I was going to admonish the lower-end entities (ones with numbers in their titles or whose rooms were slightly bigger than the normal closet at home) about making guests use postage stamp-sized towels with the consistency of sandpaper; or putting handicapped people on the second floor of a two-story property when there is NO elevator employed; or ignoring calls to the front desk seeking plungers for stopped-up commodes and never getting a response after 45 minutes; or making sure that plenty of signage and directions exist to point the weary traveler in the proper direction (both on the highway and online through websites); or making one wait to register for 10 minutes while the front desk girl ate pizza in the back with the tattooed boyfriend.
I’m NOT going to do that; it just spoils the magnificent memories of a splendid two weeks on the road – seeing the Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree and Saguaro National Parks, lots of baseball, two rainbows over right-field fences during game action, spending time with family, sampling terrific cuisine and never-before-sampled menus; gazing at sunsets over purple mountains and their majesty; enjoying a great tribute to The Beatles in Las Vegas and simply being together in a mode of total discovery.
But I am here to tell you “it’s good to be home.” And in a few days, life will return to its state of normal craziness. However, when things go slightly south, and the heat is making all of us nuttier than Corsicana fruit cake from Collin Street Bakery, we now possess new thoughts to cool us down – of oceans of sands and visions of tumbleweeds rolling past the highways.
We can remember seeing an elk foraging along the roadside as we slowly drove the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We can remember the collective beauty of huge Dale Chihuly blown glass orchids, by the score, on the ceiling of The Bellagio main entrance.
We can remember having the best Chinese meal of our lives in The Mirage in Las Vegas or the best burrito in an old hotel (The Weatherford) in downtown Flagstaff.
We can remember laughing and crying (with joy at how mature my youngest daughter, Kelsey, has become) and standing with our mouths wide open at the first sight of the Grand Canyon.
We can remember all the good times over the past two weeks … and it should help deal with whatever happens from this point forward.
Yes, it’s always good to take a refreshing shower …
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We made three longer-than-a-fill-up stops during the 14-hour drive from Albuquerque to Plano. A sidenote: you need to have your brains checked thoroughly to make that lengthy of a drive in one single day. My checkup revealed nothing … which is the amount of cranial wattage I possessed most of the way …
First, we visited one of the nation’s top souvenir stands at Cline’s Corner, New Mexico (an hour east of Albuquerque). Once upon a time, anything and everything Route 66 was available there, but times have changed like every place else and visitors want different articles of cheap value.
Still, it was one final moment to enrich the New Mexico economy and take a photo beside a cigar store wooden Indian (we gladly resisted). Others did not.
Second, we visited the famous (and completely unmarked) Cadillac Ranch, along Interstate-40 in Amarillo. Despite not a single sign, marker or notation on any map, people by the hundreds appear daily on the frontage road on the city’s west side to see where millionaire Stanley Marsh 3 buried 10 used Cadillacs in the Panhandle ground.
They’ve been there since 1974 (although the original site is two miles from the current spot), at the same angle as the Cheops pyramids, Marsh once said, and honored the golden age of American automotive making (from 1949-63).
Not only do people take thousands of photos, but many of them come with cans of spray paint to add their marks to the cars. Marsh doesn’t seem to mind; in fact, he probably encourages public participation in creating “public art.”
At least one person was slightly disturbed by the defacing – Jodie!
“It’s upsetting,” she said after walking back to the car. “Why would people do that?!? They wouldn’t do it to their OWN cars.”
Finally, I had promises Jodie a special dinner on her birthday but since it was a few hours away, I decided to keep the promise – in spirit. We turned the Escape off Interstate-20, west of Fort Worth into the tiny, tiny town of Strawn – where they play a mean brand of six-man football.
However, Strawn is BEST known for Mary’s Café, home of what many regard as the best chicken fried steak in Texas. Period. And since Jodie had New Mexico’s version a few nights before and found it seriously lacking in quality, it was time to make up.
In this one intersection town, with two other competitors, trucks and cars were three-deep in the parking lot on a hot Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. When we entered, you could hear the sounds of laughter and love – the kind of love that comes from silverware clanking against dinner plates and appetites being severely satisfied.
I am here to report that Mary’s serves up one outstanding chicken fried steak; the batter clings just right to the solid piece of quality meat. Instead of potatoes (both mashed and fried are made from fresh cut spuds, not frozen), I had a side order of nicely prepared pinto beans (not overcooked). The cream gravy was made from scratch because it was thick (you COULD eat it with a fork) and just the right touch of lumpy – the sign of a well-delivered covering.
The “medium” steak, “listed” at 8 ounces, covered most of the platter. Melinda, the waitress, said the large would have overlapped the plate. When I glanced at those who went with the grande size, I knew I had made the correct selection. My stomach could NOT have challenged such a meal.
Finally, on something akin to autopilot, we pulled into our alley and slowly eased our vehicle into the garage – some 4,800 after the initial start.
We immediately ran (not walked) to our respective sleep units and hit the hay as they say. I awoke 11 hours later; Jodie rose after 14 hours of sleep.
Today is her 49th birthday and it will be an impromptu birthday celebration with a few of her former work colleagues. Tomorrow will be a day for laundry, grabbing a few groceries, retrieving the boarded dog and cat (individually, of course) and one final night’s sleep before resuming life in North Texas when it is 104 degrees in the shade (the Sonora Desert has nothing on the plains of North Texas).
And as I wrote before, somewhere in the back of my demented mind, I will begin planning for another vacation: perhaps back to New Mexico to see the OTHER sites (Carlsbad, Las Cruses, Roswell, Los Alamos, Farmington, Silver City); perhaps to Colorado and Utah to see more national parks; perhaps to Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee to see Civil War battlefields.
But life without future prospects (for fun and love and family) is simply not much of a life worth living. Don’t you agree?
Until then … when we decide to visit America on one of its different routes … love, peace and happiness (where ARE the Chambers Brothers anyway?) … and shalom!

Day 19 – Santa Fe: Running on empty

In Homer’s “Odyssey,” the hero, Ulysses hears the songs of the sirens as he tries to bring his crew back home. I heard something almost like that and it convinced me that it was time for both of us to go home – no passing “go” (Amarillo and Palo Duro Canyon in this case) and no spending an extra $400.
Every part of my body was signing the same tune – “Hurt So Bad” (an old Little Anthony and the Imperials ditty as compared to the John Mellencamp number, “Hurts So Good.” Nothing feels good right now – my back is killing me, my right foot is still throbbing, my head aches, my butt is sore from sitting for more than 3,700 miles of driving and my eyes are red from all the Southwest sunshine. I’ve even got a sunburn on my bald head.
Collectively, they sang the same chorus, courtesy of Grand Funk Railroad: “I’m getting closer to my home.”
Normally, a couple of pain pills and some Tylenol quick release silence those voices. But it won’t work anymore. The voices have cracked the sound/medication barrier, and are threatening to go on a “non-work” strike if not heard loud and clear.
Hey, I’m no dummy. And when I broached the subject to Jodie, she raised her eyes to the skies, and said, “Thank you, Lord. You finally delivered the message to him.” Seems as if she was ready to return two days ago, but waited until we visited Santa Fe.
On paper, it all looked doable, but when the rubber met THAT much road, and a dozen sunsets came and went, it was more than just a “bridge too far.” It was a museum, national park, restaurant, jewelry-gift shop, hotel, motel, staircase, mountain top and canyon … too far.
“We can come back and do what didn’t get to see next time,” Jodie added.
I’ll start planning on Monday.
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We spent our final day of vacation in the artistic nirvana known as Santa Fe. Except I spent it on a bench outside the public library. My legs literally refused to move, or walk, more than a few feet, let alone several blocks.
So Jodie went and saw the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum – one of the items on her personal bucket list (although the ONE painting she wished to view was not on display). Still, it more than satisfied her passion for her favorite artist (mine is a tie between Peter Max, Jackson Pollock and George Rodrigue, who paints the famous “Blue Dog” series in Louisiana).
I passed the time doing a little people watching and in Santa Fe, that apparently could be a full-time piece of recreation. You see the entire spectrum walking the streets of the Santa Fe plaza.
Lots of street people carrying their own bedrolls; many of them with dogs. Lots of girls in their summer clothes and sundresses (like Bruce has sung) and other women draped from head to toe in turquoise. Lots of skinny old men in shorts with spindly legs. Lots of skater boys dodging unsuspecting tourists.
I kept an eye on four young people (perhaps college age) who were backpacking more stuff than any Marine or Army infantry soldier could carry. They parked themselves next to a pay phone and did a little dumpster diving for smokes.
What was worse was using the public library for its restroom facilities to do whatever (I dare not imagine for fear of losing all contents from dinnertime).
I also noticed something else: businessmen carry backpacks instead of briefcases. Times have certainly changed…
On the way out of town, we spotted a small shopping area with a needlecraft store and I finally bought something for myself – two Native American inspired needlepoint canvasses for future enjoyment. It doesn’t quite rank with the two bracelets for Jodie on her birthday (it’s Sunday and she remains a nifty Jack Benny age) … but it will do.
Besides, I’m a tough guy to buy for. Most of what I want I have. I just want to spend time with my granddaughter and my children.
I’m such a simple man to please.
We ended the day at the Sandia Peak Tramway, having dinner at Sandiago’s. We went TO the tram, but thought discretion would be the better part of valor and nixed the ride to the top of the 13,000-foot peak.
“It’s basically a tin can of death hanging on piano wire,” Jodie announced; I agreed, noting my prominent case of “slipapohbia” in full bloom.
Others did not agree; the line was long to reach the top and enjoy a dinner at a high-tone establishment.
But I looked to the west, saw a massive dust and rainstorm approaching, and decided that when it rains mud, it is not a good thing.
Besides, with MY luck, we’d be on the national news for being stuck in a storm 10,000 feet above the ground and swinging like a carnival ride. No, sir; I covered the news and rule number one was “never become the news.”
So this is it until we get home. The final blog will come on Sunday after a long night’s, and morning’s, sleep. Finally…
Until then … when each mile rolled on the odometer brings us one step closer to home and our own beds … shalom!

Day 17 – Albuquerque: Sight for sore eyes

I’d like to stand up (actually sit UP since my foot still throbs) and place a vote for New Mexico as one of America’s hidden gems. It certainly lives up to its slogan and license plate tagline as the “Land of Enchantment.”
Being in this state of mind is certainly enchanting – from the majestic peaks that encircle Albuquerque to the clear waters of the many mountain lakes. Instead of desolation, the open space that accounts for most of the New Mexico terrain is inspiring.
The roads wind over canyons of volcanic rocks and forests; they pass by some of the best national wildlife refuges in the nation. And there is nary a speck of trash on the shoulders.
New Mexico has its share of national parks and monuments, telling a story of the inhabitants from centuries past – through petroglyphs drawn by Native Americans and the remnants of their dwellings. Modern history is found in the white sands of southern New Mexico where the atomic era was ushered into be.
Culturally, “New” “Mexico” embodies both of its names; it is undoubtedly the most Hispanic state among the American 50 without having the largest Spanish-speaking population. It has successfully blended the Hispanic and Native American influences into almost all factors – from its architecture to its music.
You can see it everywhere, especially when it comes to public art. It isn’t forced upon you; it appears as naturally as the clouds in the sky or the winds blowing through the canyons. Instead of the forced eyesores that dot the landscape of places like Frisco, the artistic renderings, especially in the largest city (Albuquerque), blend into the surroundings.
It also comes in the most unlikely places. Bus stops aren’t mere benches but thoughtful and pleasing places for waiting. Highway overpasses are not masses of concrete and fencing but a place for artistic expression of New Mexican heritage. Sound walls along the interstate become stone carving murals in eye-pleasing desert colors.
Even fast food restaurants and hospitals coordinate in gentle pastel sandstones.
Aside from Hawai’i and Oregon, this is one of the most beautiful states in America. Obviously, it has its share of commonly-held problems – unemployment, crime, poverty and a big problem with drunk driving fatalities (which has become a cause célèbre among the citizenry searching for some legislative answers).
But it is a state where you can have fun (skiing in Taos, horse racing in Ruidoso), festive celebrations (ballooning in Albuquerque), inspiration (the art of Georgia O’Keeffe in Santa Fe), exploration (searching through Carlsbad Caverns), advance your education (in Las Cruses and Albuquerque) or simply admire (everywhere you look).
Hopefully, Jodie and I will experience almost all of that tomorrow when we drive one hour north to Santa Fe. To paraphrase Billy Joel, we’ll be in a turquoise state of mind.
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Here is a recommendation for dinner while in Albuquerque – the famed El Pinto in the northwest part of town. Reasonably priced, especially when compared to Tex-Mex joints in Dallas, the service was excellent, the ambience was relaxing and the food was outstanding.
Jodie found the pestole to be near perfect and the restaurant’s famous Hatch red chile sauce is worth bringing home by the jar.
And here was a nice twist: instead of serving flour or corn tortillas with the meal, El Pinto offers … soppapillas, piping hot and ready for either butter or honey to be poured inside.
Jodie said her house margarita was as strong as any she’s had in the DFW area; her happy disposition for the next few hours was testament to its quality – for just $6.50!
So when was the last time you made your significant other happy for only $6.50??? Beats the cost of jewelry or Godiva chocolate…
Until then … when we have completed the “Twins” celebrity tour of Santa Fe (Arnold was here???) … shalom!

Days 15 & 16 – Albuquerque: Pep(to) talk

When a marathon runner competes, he or she faces something known as “The Wall” – the point of physical exhaustion that a competitor must crash through in order to finish the race. Any student who has pulled an all-nighter to study for a final exam also knows this hurdle well.
In the middle of last night, I hit the vacation “wall” – the point where all those miles I have driven (almost 3,000 to this point), all the mountains I’ve driven past, over and around, all the road food I’ve consumed (from yummy In-and-Out Burgers to the worst pastrami sandwich in the middle of nowhere Arizona), all the orange construction cones I’ve had to dodge and 18-wheelers I’ve had to pass … all converged in my head and stomach.
And I knew exactly what road kill felt like. I was exhausted, yawning every 10 seconds, but unable to close my eyes and sleep. I was in pain from head to heel, but no amount of medication could relieve it. I tossed and turned on the bed (a rarity for a sleep location these days) and on the Hyatt Place couch (no couch in ANY hotel can be labeled as comfortable) like a rotisserie chicken.
My heel throbbed for the sixth straight day, ever since I stepped on a litter trap in my sister’s bathroom in the dark of night (where she keeps the litter box for her feline, Cleo). I not only stomped on it once in the blackness of night, I did it the next day despite taking great pains to avoid it.
It was exactly what resulted – great PAIN! Apparently, upon closer examination by my wife, Jodie, the heel is nicely bruised and there’s no way you can avoid NOT using it.
I also felt nauseous after the last supper consumed, at a place called the Standard Diner, which was discovered totally by accident. It turned out the eatery had been featured on The Food Network by chef-host Guy Fiori on his show, “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.”
This was NOT anyone’s standard diner; it was far too upscale for that simple definition (any place that serves aioli is NOT a blue plate special joint). The first thing received – ice water – told me that; it had a slice of … cucumber in it (not lemon or lime). It was a first for me.
The meal was good, although the house dressing of oil, vinaigrette and pomegranate was a little too heavy and the New Mexican burger, complete with Hatch green chiles and a homemade bun with rosemary in it, wound up sitting in the old tummy like a hockey puck lodged behind Marty Turco.
And around 2 a.m. (with all the changing within time zones and who is or isn’t on daylight time, my internal clock is totally out of whack), all of it simply crashed with a thud.
Or should I say a burp. I immediately reached for a fistful of Pepto-Bismol tablets and simply sat there for Lord knows how long … waiting … and waiting … for something, or rather for nothing (hopefully) to happen.
I spent most of the time wondering on which side of the “wall” I’d land – either on all fours in front of the porcelain throne or watching to sun peek through the drawn curtains, still not knowing the time of day (or early morning in that situation).
Luckily, Pepto-Bismol worked as advertised (and it is one of the most disgusting jingles/slogans out there). Everything settled “down” to a relative state of normal so that I will leave this blog, take a shower, and proceed to find a “light” lunch and tour the Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque and the Old Town section for a possible jewelry/pottery purchase.
But, as Jodie is now fond of saying, after all the fun and sight-seeing, home, sweet, home, is sounding more and more like Heaven.
Who would ever have believed that we’d actually WANT to get back to Plano?
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In our search for dinner, we “toured” the Nob Hill section of Albuquerque, which runs along E. Central Avenue, also known as Route 66. Our fruitless search for a simple Chinese restaurant (sorry, Vietnamese and Thai are NOT suitable substitutes for a good Cantonese menu) did reveal some interesting observations.
Of all the states that comprise the ancient (and legendary) highway, New Mexico might be the one with the most pride about the road’s past history. There is a magazine and organization devoted solely to the promotion of Route 66 history and legacy. There are events held annually to highlight what a simple two-lane ribbon of asphalt meant in post-World War II America.
And if you visit the burgh of Clime’s Corner, N.M., out in the middle of nowhere east of Albuquerque, you will find one of THE largest gift shops dedicated to Route 66 memorabilia in the country (if you’ve ever been to Honolulu and know of Hilo Hattie’s, this place is on the same level as that store). It will be a “must-see” on Saturday when we head to Amarillo.
However, the old girl ain’t what she used to be – at least not in the Nob Hill section of town. Central Avenue runs through the center of Albuquerque and is where the University of New Mexico is located. Those blocks of Route 66 surrounding the campus resemble any other university area (think Austin’s Guadalupe in the 1970s or Ann Arbor’s State Street at that same time period).
There are lots of coffee houses, book stores, sandwich shops and exotic eateries featuring international cuisine (heavy on Mediterranean and countries like Egypt and Turkey). Tattoo shops have replaced the 70s head shops although one or two of those relics still exist.
There are still signs (literally) of the old Route 66, with the names of former hotels still hanging over the roadway. Sadly, most of them are rotten corpses of the past. They stand along in empty lots where the grass grows untended among concrete forms, inside fenced off barriers.
Others oversee piles of garbage and mounds of debris from bulldozed structures. Out of 10 old hotels, perhaps one or two still exist as active businesses, none of which seem to be acceptable places for the well-worn Route 66 traveler to visit (most appear to be long-term residences for the downtrodden and poor).
“Closed for business” signs appear far too often among the storefronts, surrounded by lots of national fast food eateries and the occasional high-end Italian bistros or steakhouses.
The drive along Route 66, on our visit, is interrupted by the thunderous roar of motorcyclists, scores of them, revving their machines as they pull into one old-time restaurant for what must have been a pre-planned soiree. Yes, there IS a Route 66 biker club, as well.
When Tod and Buzz drove their Corvette in the famed TV show, “Route 66,” it was definitely a different nation to visit. When the American interstate highway system was constructed, people’s travel plans, habits and methods changed; it was more of a direct assault on your destination rather than a journey of means of exploration.
Part of our trip has been a small attempt to explore places we had not seen before; to taste things not tried in the past; and make long lists of places to visit in the future, based on mere glances out our window. It is (and was) the whole purpose of driving, rather than flying. It allows us to say, “Hey let’s look over there,” and doing an emotional u-turn to see something new.
I only wish Route 66 looked more like its past than its present state; we’d be diverting even more to see what would be offered.
It is really how one’s life should be lived, don’t you agree?
Until then …waiting for my senses to clear and head tomorrow to Santa Fe … shalom!

Day 14 – Tucson: hot enough for ya?

I have a specific number at which I reach me own “boiling point” – 98.6. Anytime the temperature exceeds my body temp, then it’s too damn hot!!!!!
Others might revel in it, but I cannot take it – only in small bits and pieces. Hence, we only spent as couple of hours (all of them inside the air conditioned Ford Escape) driving around Saguaro National Park in west Tucson, smack dab in the middle of the Sonora Desert.
All bank thermometers read 100 degrees or more at 1 p.m. and were heading higher at the clock ticked down. In the coming days, it would be “muy caliente” with higher highs and higher low temperatures.
And, ladies and gentlemen, Tucson is 10 degrees cooler than … Phoenix – truly America’s hottest major city (hot as in caliente, not hipness). When we watched the 9 p.m. news last night, Phoenix had YET to drop below 100 degrees (even with the sun having set) and hit 110 as a high.
Is THAT hot enough for you? Because the forecast intimated that Phoenix would see even HIGHER figures heading to the weekend – 115 would not be unusual in the next few days.
Folks, that’s NUTS! If heat is your thing, central and southern Arizona is the place for you! And Phoenix, along with Las Vegas, was among the fastest growing metro populations in the past decade … so misery (in the heat) must love company.
But not me. Dallas is bad enough but at least it tends to stop being an inferno at some point in September. When I last visited Phoenix, it came on a September day and it was 105.
I was raised in the cold and a little nip in the air doesn’t faze me at all. I continue to wear short sleeve shirts even when its 45 degrees … because, to me, that IS NOT cold. Below freezing (32 degrees) begins to become COLD.
Where is it that the weather never really changes and is considered perfect climate? The answer is …
Hawai’i. It seldom gets below 82 degrees at daytime and 68-70 at night. The ocean breeze gently washes over you and … well, it’s simply paradise. But it’s kinda hard to drive to Honolulu, and airlines have yet to make themselves “Chuck-friendly” in order for me to return for a luau.
I have resolved to re-visit Arizona at a more appropriate time – in February for Major League baseball spring training. It will be a heavenly 70-80 degrees and games will be played throughout the Phoenix metro area and in Tucson.
Until then, you can keep your heat!
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We purposely avoided watching any coverage (or the actual event) of the Michael Jackson memorial service in Los Angeles. The lead-up to this service, while we were in California, drowned out all other news event, including the state’s dire fiscal problems or even the return of suspended Dodger outfielder Manny Ramirez.
And that was hard to do.
Sitting in The Bellagio in Las Vegas reminded me of a scene from the recent “Ocean’s 13” movie. When the crew triggered an earthquake inside the Bank hotel, all gamblers suddenly stopped in stunned silence … for about five seconds. Then someone at the craps table shouted, “Give me a winner!” (or some such line of encouragement) and the noise inside the casino returned to its perfect pitch.
I can imagine how much of that city stopped, for just an instant, to contemplate the death of entertainer Michael Jackson last week at the age of 50. After the briefest moments of silence, things returned to normal, with roulette wheels spinning, dice crashing on the ends of craps tables and hollering filling the air when big slot machines rang out winners.
Life marched forward. I was somewhere between Show Low, Ariz. and Who Know Where, N.M. when I heard the news. I had ejected my Best of Joe Walsh CD burn and got the only AM station within range that didn’t speak Navajo. Jackson’s death notice instantly obliterated the other real news of the day, including gubernatorial infidelity, the national health care debate and Congressional action of President Obama’s climate bill.
Oddly, conservative radio talkers downgraded his talent and impact upon modern culture and focused, like a laser beam, on his troubled personal life, legal battles and family background. And just like the public’s reaction when O.J. Simpson was acquitted of his ex-wife’s murder, support and adoration for Jackson split heavily along racial lines – a sad truth about our society. African-Americans mostly saw him as an iconic performer who broke barriers; white folks saw him as a perverted man-child freak.
The truth is probably located somewhere in the middle.
Unlike Elvis Presley, to whom Jackson will now be compared, Jackson wrote much of his own material (Elvis sang other people’s songs), including many that became important forces to change people’s thinking. MJ was the driving force behind “We Are the World,” which raised millions for starving children around the world.
I had wished that his former wife, Lisa Marie Presley, would have been the executor of his estate because she has first-hand experience at the process of canonizing an iconic entertainer’s image – her father, Elvis. Presley had his own peccadilloes and myriad of destructive behavioral habits, including drug and weight abuse. Elvis, in his later years, became a shell and a caricature of his former self, but today, he is almost revered like a saint.
It CAN happen for Jackson, despite all of the harsh negative press of the past; despite the unfulfilled charges of child molestation, which never could be proven in a court of law by a jury (even after years of multiple investigations).
My suggestion would be a conversion of Jackson’s California home, Neverland, in the west coast version of Graceland (in Memphis). The estate could control all exhibits and presentations to the smallest degree. The man’s legacy would then slowly turn in the family’s direction – away from the bad into only memories of the stage personality.
And decades from now, a long stream of visitors will keep Jackson’s memory alive. His music will still sell (as does Presley’s efforts … into the hundreds of thousands annually; it just isn’t recorded on the Billboard charts) and the legacy will love on and on.
We just didn’t want to hear about all of it today.
Until tomorrow … and the start of a long line of New Mexican cuisine samplings (yes, we have plenty of Pepto-Bismol and Imodium) … shalom!

Day 13 – Tucson: Getting to know family again

Visiting relatives while on a trip is an iffy proposition, especially if you are inconveniencing them by plopping down for a multi-day stay. Normally, relatives (or in-laws), like fish, stink after three days – both in odor and temperament.
But staying with family is different. And by “family,” I mean direct blood – brother, sister, your children, grandparent, mother, father. And “different” means you take them in – few questions asked. At least, it is how it should be and it is the manner I believe it should exist. You care for your own unless it is physically or medically impossible; or they request otherwise (in no uncertain terms).
My family is quite small; both my parents passed away some time ago (my mother while I was in college and my father in 1993). When my father was alive, he chose to retire from Detroit, Mich., to Montgomery, Ala., and live on his own. Whenever I asked him to move to South Texas to be closer to his grandchildren, he politely but stubbornly refused. Sadly, he died without seeing either of his granddaughters, and only saw his grandson (Robert) twice.
My divorce drove a wedge through the father-son communications, but he was already in the grip of what probably was a form of Alzheimer’s (he often did not know or recognize my voice over the phone). That final year went without a word exchanged until I was notified of his death – oddly on my 41th birthday. My final act as his son was to sign a document permitting his remains to be cremated in Alabama (state law apparently demanded it from the oldest living relative).
I have only one sister, Vicki, who has been in Riverside, Calif. for the last 15 years or so as a librarian in the UC-Riverside system. To say our past relationship was volatile is an understatement; years went by without speaking to each other. Anger was replaced by resentment and stubbornness and each of us did our damnest to erect a wall that neither Ronald Reagan nor Mikhail Gorbechov could tear down.
But the sands of time DID wither away those bricks. Time does try to heal all wounds; it doesn’t always succeed and there are still some scabs that need more time to disintegrate). Stubbornness flows out of the body like waste and is eventually replaced with kernels of wisdom that should have been elevated long before. On both ends.
I have changed drastically since I remarried and underwent a major open-heart surgical procedure (and subsequent heart attacks a year ago). Vicki changed shortly after my operation when she adopted a daughter, Alissa Marie (5 at that time, I think).
It’s funny how life-changing experienced DO alter one’s perspective on life its ownself (to quote the great B.J. Puckett in “Semi-Tough”). The little crap that was SOOOOOO annoying just isn’t so freaking important anymore. Goals are different; priorities are altered in different directions; “I” is replaced by “we.” There’s less “me” and more “you.”
You begin to see the values and talents of others and how you can utilize your experiences and talents to help others. Perhaps it explains how retired people can bring a needed perspective to various charities; they have been there and seen it all and have less needs for themselves and a stronger desire to help others.
While in Riverside, I got my first real up-close and personal observation of Vicki’s life as a single mother. Like every parent, raising a child is a balancing act; not having a spouse just makes that juggle more difficult (just from a logistics point of view). And, at times, she and Alissa have engaged in a heavyweight battle of wills, which can be emotionally draining as anything imaginable.
It probably stems from their individual creative abilities. As I discovered, each woman is VERY talented in various fields – neither of which I was fully aware.
Alissa is a potential starring athlete; in volleyball, perhaps tennis, basketball, or anything else she puts her mind to. And she LOVES music and could be outstanding in that field as well.
Best of all, she LOVES to read (which should be expected as the daughter of a librarian but isn’t taken for granted). A young person who devours books like our dog devours pillows has a thirst for knowledge and will never be satisfied with any particular answer until she has fully read and researched all pertinent information.
That will do her well for her future. She will only accept that which she can prove herself and discover as fact/truth. Hopefully, her journey of discovery will only take her down safe paths; the steering is in the hands of her mother, Vicki.
Meanwhile, it was a total revelation to me that my sister was a magnificent artist. Hell, the last thing I remember in terms of her artwork involved crayons. I knew she studied art history in college (at The University of Michigan), but, honestly, I had never seen any of her work since then … until this past week.
I was literally stunned. There was enough sitting on her walls at home to do justice to a galleried one-woman shop anywhere and she seemed more than proficient in all mediums (watercolors, oils, pastels, charcoal). I was actually jealous of her ability; it made my forays into needlepoint seem small in comparison. She was able to express her emotions, expectations, insight and dreams through a canvas – something I could only dream about in the recesses of my mind.
She was also an effective parent; making mistakes just like everyone but having a complete, long-term game plan for Alissa’s future, rather than just a week-to-week activity calendar. Everything is done, purchased and said (even when disciplining) with the eventual goal of producing the best functioning adult possible when it is time to cast the girl into the real world as an adult.
Sometimes you need to open your eyes completely in order to see the completeness of people around you. It could happen during a five-day vacation on their couch and recliner; it could happen during a phone conversation; it could happen merely by imagining yourself in their shoes.
Despite the miles (and I felt everyone of them on my backside from Plano to Riverside), I am hoping this relationship grows closer over the years – that our family doesn’t stay so “small.” Perhaps alternating visits to Plano and Riverside (they came to our home last year) will become a steady and regular happening.
Personally, I’d like that. I would enjoy charting Alissa’s progress and imparting any slight knowledge that would be beneficial to her.
I might even get to teach her what Motown sounded like BEFORE Michael Jackson.
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I thought driving the route from Las Vegas to Riverside involved desolation and solitude; it has nothing on the trip from Riverside to Tucson. We ducked off Interstate-10 on U.S. 95, through the Yuma Proving Grounds, to Yuma itself and then eastward on I-8 (it just sounded cool to say I-8) along the southern Arizona-Mexico border. Man, talk about miles and miles of nowhere!
All the eye could see from hundreds of miles were rotting cactuses, scores of dust devils and wind spouts, splashing the Ford Escape with gusts of sand and searing heat. A massive high pressure center is hunkered down in the Desert Southwest and temperatures reached triple digits before noon.
Along the 8, towns were as infrequent as clouds in the clear blue sky. Gila Bend is the biggest population center between Yuma and the I-10 intersection (between Phoenix and Tucson), so any chance for bathroom breaks were strictly hit and miss.
My bladder held out until we reached the Tucson hotel; Jodie was not as lucky. But each time we pulled off the 8 to accommodate her need, the truck stop or café looked like Norman Bates was the proprietor.
Finally, she could wait no more and some hole in the wall desert way station was the winner! Sort of. Restrooms were only available to “paying” customers (two Cokes and two waters became the toll) and the rest room itself had its own “rules.”
Basically, since the commode tank was attached to a septic system, the management politely requested that ALL paper utilized in the visit, regardless of condition of said paper, be deposited in a basket next to the commode.
YUCK! The mind boggles at the mere thought of the disposal method for THAT!
Even worse, the person preceding Jodie into that women’s unit (four stalls; two out-of-order) failed to follow the direction, found the bottom of the commode and did not flush … double, triple, and quadruple YUCK!
“I’d never seen such a sign except for Mexico,” she sheepishly said upon returning to the Escape. “I guess we’re close enough.”
Ah, the advantage of a larger-than-usual bladder.
Last night’s dinner hunt was a success as we found a hole-in-the-wall, Italian family-operated place (Mamma Luisa’s) with excellent veal scaloppini and handmade linguine. It was better food, atmosphere and service than a chain restaurant, which is the dream of every traveler (I would think).
Tonight is a dinner with a former business colleague of Jodie’s at a classic Tucson Mexican restaurant and back on the road to Albuquerque. We’ll brave the heat this afternoon to visit Saguaro National Park and see lots of cacti, indigenous only to the Sonoran Desert
Until then …waiting for the image in that rest room to disappear … shalom!

Day 11 – Celebrating the 4th of July

This Saturday felt like a Sunday because of the 4^th of July holiday and not much was happening. Everyone in my sister’s house, here in Riverside, slept late and breakfast morphed into brunch.

My sister, Vicki, had dug out two boxes of old photos of my late father and I spent some time examining them. Most of them I remembered; a few I had never seen (including one of my grandfather from 1907) and others of my son, Robert, sent to Dad when Robert was a small child.

Tucked in between the Kodachrome prints were old newspaper clippings of my early works as sports editor in Conroe, Texas (for the Conroe Daily Courier), which began in June, 1976. I must have arranged for a subscription of the paper to be sent to him, although 33 years is a long time to remember small details like that. The fact that he kept certain articles was pretty startling and I will never know why he chose what he chose.

I had been on the new job for about three weeks and my daily offering of opinions were simply called “column.” Imagine the marketing time it took to derive that name. They used the photo shot of me after the 36-hour bus ride from Detroit to Conroe, which was equivalent to a deer in the crosshairs.

In 1976, the 4^th of July fell on a Sunday and I penned a piece about America based on one of the few subjects I knew well: baseball. I have returned to that topic often over the ensuing 33 years in Texas, even though things and circumstances of employment have changed. I am retired and the hair I had on top of my head back then has retreated to oblivion.

On this 4^th of July, I also returned to my favorite subject, attending a sold-out California League Class A game at San Bernardino between the Lancaster JetHawks (who had Roger Clemens’ son, Koby, playing at catcher) and the hometown Inland Empire 66ers.

The game lasted three hours and was won by the Sixers on a two-out drag bunt with the winning run on third for a 4-3 victory. We then sat back and enjoyed a rousing fireworks display in the cool High Desert night, with Sousa marches and other patriotic music blaring over the public address system.

It WAS a feel good night as it should be every Independence Day holiday – fireworks, family and baseball.

So when I found this particular “column,” I wanted to share it with people reading this blog; something my father found worthy of keeping. This is what I wrote 33 years ago (my writing needed much polishing and I was a tad naïve about the world):

“In 1967, many people gathered in the streets of Detroit. The flames of destruction leaped higher into the sky as the nights wore on. The city and its reputation burned beyond recognition.

In 1968, people again gathered in the streets of Detroit. This time, flames were replaced by a joyful spirit which grew higher in the night. Blacks and whites were not at each other’s throats as before. Instead they roamed arm-in-arm; the Detroit Tigers had won the 1968 World Series. A baseball team had united a battle-torn city like never before.

I guess there are more patriotic people than me. I have rather deep convictions about what can be done to make the United States better. Many involve changes that some people may not want. But I’m proud to be an American. Not better than anyone else, but proud, nevertheless.

I feel American sports are unlike any others in the world. Perhaps other countries have surpassed the U.S. in talent but the type of games played here are unique. Nowhere on this earth can you find the enthusiasm generated by football, basketball and most of all, the American pastime – baseball.

Football symbolizes the ruggedness of the nation. I hear in Texas it is an experience all its own. The beauty of movement, which is the essence of basketball, is also American. Basketball appeals to the underdog spirit, as a poor man can become a success overnight with nothing but sneakers and talent.

But everything this country is, was or will be is wrapped up in the game of baseball. Nothing can set a city on fire like a pennant contender, or a single player, as when 50,000 fans showed up in Detroit’s Tiger Stadium to see gangling 21-year-old Mark Fidrych, nicknamed “The Bird,” pitch. Only in such a country can the imagination and hearts of the people be captured by an individual.

So much of the language which is truly American is baseball-oriented. Think about it. He who fails “strikes out,” yet a “pitch” that a salesman uses hopefully will “hit.” A fellow under a handicap has “two strikes against him,” but someone who cooperates is “willing to play ball.”

A screwball, blooper, caught in a squeeze play, touching all the bases, teamwork … all can be associated with an institution in the U.S. other than baseball, which originated them all.

Culturally, baseball has meant more to great American authors than any other sport. Men like Damon Runyon, William Faulkner and Mark Twain all wrote about the game. Great literary critics like Alexander Woolcott could often be found with celebrities like Groucho Marx at a Yankee or Dodger game.

A place like Brooklyn became immortal because of Ebbets Field and “Da Darlin’ Bums.” Every World War II picture has someone who dreamed of the centerfield bleachers in the New York borough. The hot dog, the staple of the baseball fun, became an American institution. As Peanuts’ creator Charles Schulz said, “A hot dog doesn’t taste the same without a ball game in front of it.”

History has recorded the names in its Hall of Fame like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. And what sport had, until a short time ago, the President of the United States officially open its season?

Youth. The key to this country and the key to baseball. Kids playing the game in all forms. They play stickball, sewerball, hardball, T-ball, slowpitch, fastpitch, Little League, American Legion, Babe Ruth, Pony and Pee Wee. It’s all the same game.

It is an intellectual game full of “ifs” for the armchair manager to dwell upon. It is a team game; it is an individual game; it is man against man; it is man against himself.

It is America.

As I said, my work needed lots of Turtle Wax; but I was just 24 and still reeling from finding my first professional writing job. I was eager and easy to please.

Oddly, the last game I saw in Detroit involved Mark Fidrych, who, like my father, is enjoying his favorite pastime in heaven.

But for some reason, my father chose to keep this particular piece of fading newsprint with him until he passed away. So I carried thoughts of my Dad to the game in San Bernardino.

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Much to the satisfaction of my wife, Jodie, Sunday night will be the last ballgame for me/us. In fact, she isn’t going to Lake Elsinore to see the Storm face the Quakes from Rancho Cucamonga in the dreaded cross I-215/15/10/5 rivalry (honestly, the huge number of freeways and names would drive most traffic reporters nuts and certainly can’t be good for the sanity of Southern California motorists who rival Texans in their display of poor driving habits).

I will be the adult chaperone for Alissa (our niece) and two of her male-type friends. And it will be lots of loud AC/DC to and from the ballpark. It will demonstrate that I am hip and relevant; of which I am neither (but I DO like my rock and roll).

Until then … after the “Storm” and when we arrive Monday in Tuscon … Shalom!

Days 9-10 – Down by the Riverside, Calif.

Today is a day of doing nothing for me. My sister, Vicki, her daughter, Alissa, and Jodie have headed westward to the Pacific Ocean for some beach time (Laguna Beach like the old Beach Boys, “Surfin’ USA”). I have chosen to remain behind, away from that warm California sun (I’ve got a thousand song lyrics applicable to all that is happening around me).

After nine days on driving and sight-seeing, it’s just good to do nothing for a few hours. Adjusting to the constant change of altitudes and changing of attitudes (and latitudes) can be taxing upon one’s body and soul. My eating habits, in terms of time and substance, have long since gone by the wayside. I’ve tried hard to stick to the diet (no pasta, no starches, no rice, no potatoes) but on the West Coast, that is difficult. Almost everything involves French fried potatoes (In-and-Out makes the best, cut from fresh spuds), or pasta (it seems as if breakfast cereal has pasta in it in the Golden State). And people here order everything imaginable on a pizza, from sushi to salad. I don’t get it, I don’t order it … but to each his own.

Riverside is a very pleasant community, in the High Desert region of California, about an hour or so east of Los Angeles. In fact, it is as close to San Diego as it is to L.A. and if I had my druthers, I’d go to San Diego all the time – one of America’s hidden gems.

The downtown area centers around an old mission and the restored Mission Inn (where we will have dinner tonight). Workers continue to convert many of the streets into a walking plaza between quaint shops with names like Mrs. TiddyWinkles or a sandwich shop called Simple Simon. As you stroll past the shops, you need to watch out for falling fruit from the many orange trees populating the community. My sister has lemon and apricot trees in her yard, which is wonderfully convenient for canning preserves or just plain snacking. The neighborhoods appear to be clean and green.

The city also houses a state university (UC-Riverside) and a handful of private schools, a state citrus park and great scenery (mountains, a river and bright stars at night). A philharmonic orchestra performs on a regular basis and among the festivals held here one those featuring jazz and the works of Charles Dickens. Heck, the mail service is actually door-to-door instead of street side mailboxes.

Of course, this IS California – not the land of kooks and weirdoes but the state of faltering economy and massive debt in the state budget. Things have gotten so dire, so divided, that IOUs have now been issued to debtors in lieu or payment and state employees are being forced to take unpaid furloughs, running into weeks instead of a handful of days.

The voters can change the party affiliation of the lawmakers in Sacramento all they want but the situation runs deeper than campaign promises. It’s fine and dandy to make pronouncements in speech after speech, but when push comes to shove, reality speaks a cruel truth – whether it applies to California or Texas or the city of Dallas or Washington, D.C.

The real problem lies in the fact that people want the other guy to do the sacrificing in terms of jobs, services, taxes and entitlements. We want our complete freedom to act as we wish yet pay as little as possible for that privilege. And when the waiter delivers the bill, we look around for someone – anyone – to take care of it. Nowadays, there is no one else to flash an American Express card; it is now our debt and our responsibility.

California isn’t alone – most major cities and states face similar fiscal time bombs. California, because of its size (stand alone, it is the seventh largest economy in the world), is just the biggest problem outside of the federal deficit.

Texas talks and walks big about its surplus (which is true), but it comes at the expense of being last in terms of health care provided to its children, near the bottom in percentage of population below the poverty level and almost last in every other social service. Texas’ funding of public education remains a joke and the funding of highway repair and future construction (on a course for all new roads to be tolled) causes every Texan to be upset.

It’s become a time of “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” in our country. No choice is wrong and no choice is right. All we can do is pray and hope it all works out in the end.

Until then??????? Let’s PLAY BALL!

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Last night was spent in the confines of the Epicenter (cute nickname for a minor league ballpark) in Rancho Cucamonga to see the hometown Quakes fall to the High Desert Mavericks in a California League clash.

The scenery with beautiful, with the mountains majestic over the left field wall, and the weather was absolutely perfect – cool breeze, temperature in the low 80s and a few fluffy clouds against a blue sky giving way to an orange sunset.

At this level, you see future MLB stars (perhaps 3-4 years away from the Show) and a majority of young men unsuccessfully attempting to live out their major league dreams. Some plays ranked at the big league level and some mistakes were as high school as it got.

It was a good night’s entertainment for the family at a nice affordable price (our seats behind the plate cost just $10 apiece). There were silly games between innings and the usual minor league presentation, which means light-hearted and family-friendly.

At each minor league stadium, there is a mascot; in Frisco, it is Deuce the Prairie Dog and in Rancho Cucamonga, it (he/she???) is a dinosaur named Tremor. The job of a good, quality mascot is to entertain and make people laugh, while getting them to root, root, root for the home team.

When they are among the best – the Phillie Fanatic or the San Diego Chicken – they are as much part of the game presentation attraction as the players themselves. The Chicken (Ted Giannoulus) should be up for Hall of Fame consideration; he has been THAT critical to baseball (along with the legendary Max Pipkin). The Cooperstown people should seriously ponder adding a mascot wing to the Hall and add one mascot per year in the same manner as the HOF does for sportswriters and broadcasters.

Meteor, however, won’t be there for some time. It needs to work on its game a tad. Among the rules of mascoting include making between-inning schtick be funny when involving umpires and children and (most important) when you “air-gun” souvenir T-shirts to the crowd, they actually REACH the crowd. Poor Tremor fired its first T-shirt over the stadium wall, into the parking lot, and couldn’t clear the home plate screen on its second effort.

But as the game proceeded, Tremor showed its true form through dancing on the dugout. This was the first mascot I’ve seen that danced to “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (Harry Carey would roll over in his grave if he knew).

And here is another rule that parents need to follow: Mascots do NOT (and should NOT) sign autographs. Kids should not seek it because that “X” won’t be remembered years later and since when do dinosaurs carry Sharpies?

Please, be realistic. Crayons at best.

The final two games of the vacation will happen in San Bernardino (for the 4^th of July) and Lake Elsinore. After that, it will be museums, canyons, shows, dinners and national parks. The trip meter, which cannot move about 999.9 miles has flown past 2,400 miles – and today, I am trying to recharge my batteries after seeing every ONE of them.

Until then … when we celebrate America’s birthday in the proper manner (baseball, fireworks, overcooked hot dogs and tennis from England) … Shalom!

Day 8 – The middle of nowhere

We’ve settled for the next five days at my sister’s home in Riverside, Calif., located in the High Desert region, at the very edge of the Los Angeles metro area. On a clear day, you can see the heavy haze descend upon the citizenry like a toxic fog.

It will be a LONG weekend of fireworks, baseball (mostly for my benefit), a little sightseeing and mostly relaxing. The evenings are much milder than in Vegas where it had difficulty getting below 88.

Frankly, we’d had enough of long waits, crowds and too many people who forgot their manners at the front desk. People just cannot move in a proper manner at casinos or hotels – choosing often to meander around and always in front of me as I choose to move forward.

And they do NOT want to move. I quickly discovered that the words, “Excuse me!” – the universal comment to mean, “Hey dude, scoot over; you’re in my way,” is meaningless when the recipient doesn’t speak English.

Which in Vegas now applies to a growing number of visitors. I heard dialects from all over the globe – from Spanish to Chinese to Japanese to German to Eastern European. And none of them know that in America, we walk and drive on the RIGHT side.

Such is NOT the problem when driving in the Mojave Desert. Traveling through the Mojave Natural Preserve, from Baker, Calif. (home of the World’s Largest Thermometer and usually topping well past 100 degrees at noontime) to Kelso, and eventually Yucca Valley (outside Joshua Tree National Park), there are 200 miles of solitude in all directions.

The starkness of the scenery is striking. Sand dunes are shaped by centuries of desert winds; salt beds glisten against the burning glaze of the sun; and scruffy vegetation strains to grow through the cracks of dried lake beds. When you think of the middle of nowhere, this is it!

Which brings me to one of the hypothetical questions that can only be contemplated when you been on the road for what seems to be an eternity: would you rather live in an urban setting, among people, with just the bare minimum of living standards (no extras, no perks, no bells or whistles) … OR would you live in the middle of the desert without a soul around BUT in a mansion with all the amenities of life (cable/satellite, endless food, pool, games, etc.)???

Which one would you pick?

OK, that’s a little too deep to contemplate while chewing on some Alien Beef Jerky from Baker, but when the CD player is knocking out U2’s “The Joshua Tree,” as you see endless rows of this growth unique to the desert region, it helps put things into perspective.

By the way, I am the type of person that actually coordinates music to the place he visits – Frede Grofe’s “Grand Canyon Suite” was heard as we drove along the South Rim and there will be some Beach Boys heard in California.

Yes, I AM strange…

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In a city of more than 1 million people, where sports betting is one of the major outlets for the gaming industry, and where the NBA is seriously thinking of establishing a franchise, you’d think that the Triple-A baseball team could draw more than 3,820 people for a warm summer evening.

You’d think that an event which provided three hours of family entertainment, for around $10 a ticket – making it the absolutely cheapest thing in town to do (including a movie at the Vegas Cineplex) – would draw more than that!

Yet the Cashman Center was more than half empty for the contest between the local 51s (named for the mythical Area 51 in southern Nevada) and the Sacramento River Cats. In fact, there was very little energy provided by the home fans and it had nothing to do with the 100-degree temperatures.

Basketball MIGHT work in Vegas as a franchise; after all, the NBA is in Oklahoma City and one would have to classify that as a “reach” as a pro sports market. But the “regulars” in Las Vegas aren’t necessarily season-ticket holders or walkup buyers. It has always been the argument by the NFL against a franchise being located in San Antonio – too transient of a population. And with Las Vegas being one of the three cities most affected by housing foreclosures, it doesn’t make for a rosy outlook.

Besides, one All-Star Game is NOT enough of a launching pad and any past success at UNLV means nothing.

Until then … from sunny California where the state legislature will do everything it can to tax the sunshine to alleviate its dismal fiscal condition … Shalom!

Day 7 – Cleavage city

If you are easily offended by a little frank sexual discussion, read elsewhere, but the following is based on keen observations from the male point of view. Hey, I might be married, but I ain’t blind.
The marketing slogan, “What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas” might suggest a certain level of naughtiness, perhaps a wink at infidelity and promiscuity, underlining the word “SIN” in Sin City. But, in truth, it is really Cleavage City, USA because what you see here, more than ANY other major American metropolis is …
Tits! Boobs! Breasts! Knockers! Melons! “Major League Yah-bows” (from “Animal House”)!
They are freaking everywhere and too many of those are displayed by those of the female persuasion who really should not be advertising when Mother Nature (or Dr. Feelgood) has provided. It must be something in the southern Nevada desert air or in the disappearing water in Lake Mead or in the free flowing scotches and waters; whatever it is causes women, who would never reveal as much as the average nun, to follow the “limbo” – how LOW can you go (neckline that is).
And it isn’t merely the hot looking 20-somethings, with their tanned bodies honed by 24 Fitness – it is damn near every female. The result is often less appealing than appalling.
Far too often seen are the 50-something yentas, dying to return to their youth but stuck in that sagging tissue called flesh. The anti-wrinkle cream isn’t working and the nip-and-tucks require heavy duty bars of steel to work. But there they go, romping through the casino passages, oozing botox from numerous pores and wearing tank tops or plunging necklines to their pupik.
The employment of botox on such females should be outlawed. If you inject SO much of that material, and your lips resemble those of a platypus, well that’s TOO damn much.
Stood there; saw too much of that. It hurt the eyeballs and male sensory outlets.
Women, who normally shop at the plus-size stores, choose Vegas to unveil dresses with little neckline and even less material below the waist. Add 5-inch heels to the ensemble (skinny women wear stilettos and bigger girls wear cork heels) and it’s time to party at Pure.
What often troubles me is not the outfit; I understand the burning desire to locate one’s past burning desire. But if a woman wears such an outfit, the SOLE purpose is to be noticed – by the opposite sex (otherwise why wear it?). When men begin to notice, with that naked deer in the headlights glazed-over visage, why do women that automatically begin to cover themselves up? It defeats the purpose of the display in the first place.
And like the old movie, “The Only Come Out at Night,” they are seen in all forms, implanted shapes and pushed-up-to-the-point-of-bursting sizes. They can be viewed around the elevators, trying to slip past the guy checking on room keys (I guess it’s the hooker check to keep some working girls away from the innocent guests; the old geezers with the young pre-arranged escorts are prepared like Boy Scouts), or leaning against boyfriends at the crap tables (with their ASS-ets hanging out so far you can play Texas Hold ‘Em),
On the distaff side, to be fair, the most consistent thing about men in Vegas is the lack of consistency. Those dressed in expensive suits tend to be older; younger 20-somethings tend to look like beach bums by day and hip-hoppers at night. Men seem to enjoy dressing like dogs while their women look like divas.
And in each restroom I’ve made pits stops, the younger males do the “Snow White” thing, almost begging the man in the mirror to answer, “Who is the fairest of them all?” They preen for several minutes to ensure the spikey hairdo has the perfect … crease through the middle of their forehead. Or they wear a pork-pie hat and measure the perfect tilt to their brim while patting down the sideburns (didn’t they go passé with mutton chops???).
For sure, no one will ever mistake me for the late Mister Blackwell, And my attendance in the old school way of life renders me incapable of appreciation for such matters.
But, as noted earlier, I ain’t dead and I do the same type of window looking (not shopping) as almost every guest in this hotel passing by the Fendi, Armani, Tiffany and other high-brow shops.
I already saw the Grand Canyon; don’t need to see the not-so-grand canyons on two legs.
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Last night’s entertainment, Cirque de Soleil’s “LOVE: The Beatles” was everything it was advertised to be and MORE! It was 90 minutes of complete kinetic energy, channeled through the greatest soundtrack of the 20th century – the Beatles.
Awesome. Breathtaking. Mind-numbing. Extraordinary. Pick a word; it would fit. Not only was the presentation beyond words, but the actual music itself is so brilliantly presented – the sound so definitively crisp (there were speakers in the back of each seat), the Liverpool Lads never sounded as good on any single, album or CD.
In addition, because Beatles producer Sir George Martin (and his son) produced the soundtrack for the show, he had direct access to everything that happened in the studio – including outtakes, banter among the group and alternative takes. The audience gets to hear some of the chatter between the Beatles (in between production numbers) and the pre-show music is the actual instrumental tracks to their hits.
What you don’t hear are the melodies, which were, so the most part, provided by the lyrics and vocals. You get to hear how the tunes got constructed and how deftly George Harrison’s lead guitar and John Lennon’s underestimated rhythm guitar licks applied perfectly to the compositions.
The ticket price is steep (in excess of $150) but that’s the new price of poker in Vegas. For the pleasure received, it’s worth every damn penny.
By the way, there ARE penny slot machines in The Bellagio! What’s up with that?!?
And I realized last night one of the essential old sounds of Vegas is missing. No longer can one hear the clanging of metallic coins in slot machine baskets when someone wins. It’s ALL done with paper tickets and is quite sterile if you think about it. You no longer see the coin buckets being carried from machine to machine by little old women; they simply do not exist. To be honest, I cannot recall (at this moment) whether actual COIN slots are located on the machines – only paper money feeders.
Without that unique sound, it just doesn’t SOUND like the Las Vegas I knew. But what else is new? Some further investigation is warranted so long as my wallet permits.
Until then … waiting to see the cheapest form of three-hour entertainment in Las Vegas – the Fightin’ 51s face the Sacramento River Cats spectacular … Shalom!

Day 6 – Las Vegas: The city of standing in line

If I could collar the executive director of the Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Bureau, I’d make the following suggestion.
Change your advertising slogans to reflect the real truth. What happens in Vegas might want to stay in Vegas, but in reality, “what happens in Vegas WAITS in Vegas.”
Las Vegas could be the city that never sleeps and where time is irrelevant (except for dinner reservations and show times), but it should, for the foreseeable future, be known as the “city of standing in line.” Because that is almost ALL that you do these days in Sin City – stand in line to check-in, waiting for the buffet (an hour’s wait Sunday at The Bellagio), to see any major show at any hotel, to check-out, to catch a cab, ride a bus, and even to collect your winnings at the cashier.
It has become all about “hurry up and wait” when one visits Las Vegas. And it grates on one’s nerves enough to make you think HARD about future visits. I believe I’m NOT alone in that assessment and conclusion – not a good sign for Vegas’ future. The longer you are forced to wait, the longer it stews in your brain, “why am I putting up with this?”
The problem (for us) starts some 90 miles away, in Kingman, Ariz. (of all places), and is symbolic of who things have changed in southern Nevada.
The shortest and most direct route to get to Las Vegas, coming east on Interstate-40 is along U.S. Highway 93 in Kingman. That road goes OVER Hoover Dam and through Boulder City into Henderson/Vegas. It was always a treat to see the dam AND that most unique of observations – the two towers on the dam that showed Arizona and Nevada clocks. Sadly, since Arizona does not observe daylight savings time, the clocks hold no more mystique; it’s the same time on both sides of the state line.
Since 9/11, Hoover Dam has been seen as one of the most sensitive sites for possible terrorist attacks (and hence, heightened security) in the nation. Fair enough, but after almost eight years, I believe it borders on paranoia, and the ensuing problem it causes to thousands of others seems a bit much.
When you turn north in Kingman onto U.S. 93, there begins a series of signs, clearly marked, telling drivers that NO commercial trucks, trailers, etc. will be allowed to pass over Hoover Dam. None! No buses, no rental trucks – just cars and some campers (although the signs also prohibit them but I saw plenty of evidenced to the contrary).
Again, fair enough. But nowhere along the 60 miles you drive before reaching Hoover Dam is ANYONE told about the real traffic problem. Two miles from the actual dam site, we were stopped by a police checkpoint, with law enforcement representatives inspecting each vehicle before allowing it to pass. On the northbound side, we first encountered the backup a full two miles before the actual checkpoint and we NEVER reached more than 5 miles per hour for the next two hours!
Once past the checkpoint, traffic remained at a crawling standstill, snaking through the twisty, winding two-lane path until passing the visitors center when suddenly the heavens parted and the traffic evaporated.
Sitting in such a parking lot for so long, when the sun simply pounded you like an anvil, could have been totally avoided had someone in charge used their brains. Along U.S. 93, there are half a dozen overhead message boards, whose sole purpose in life is to tell motorists of problems ahead. Sadly, no one considered this to be out of the ordinary (which is a problem of itself).
Had someone, or something, told us of the two-hour delay, and offered the alternate route (going to Bullhead City and Laughlin and taking U.S. 95 into Vegas), we would have been on it like white on rice. But we had NO warning whatsoever … as well as hundreds, perhaps thousands of others in that 5-6 mile logjam.
All the while, we looked at what will eventually be a major bypass over Hoover Dam, including a huge suspension bridge towering hundreds of feet over the dam itself – yet another marvel of engineering in conjunction with the nation’s foremost engineering feat. When this will be completed is anybody’s guess; it could happen late into the next decade … who knows? But the purpose is to move traffic away from Hoover Dam in a more timely fashion.
Or will it close off Hoover Dam to the public? After 9/11, all tours on the inner workings of the dam (which cost all of $1 back in the day and was the greatest tour of its kind) were halted for fear of terrorism. Nothing was the same yet people still flock there; the danger still exists (if you see such happenings around every corner).
I guess the following opinion is mine alone but if we are THAT scared, as a nation, to act as if you are entering a foreign country merely to get into Nevada, then take the next step – stop ALL traffic from traveling on U.S. 93. Permit NO one to use that roadway and keep ALL people away from Hoover Dam. Then it will be COMPLETELY safe from strangers.
Otherwise, tell the motoring public of what is happening WELL in advance, with full disclosure of the problems, so more intelligent and timely decisions can be rendered. As taxpayers, we deserve nothing less.
And when the Bellagio bellman agreed with me, almost word-for-word, without me having to say a single word in my defense, I knew I was spot on.
But this isn’t your father’s Las Vegas or even your older brother’s town. Everything costs more than any other planet in the nation. Sandwiches that cost $6 are sold for $10 and you are grateful it was THAT cheap. Shows average nearly $100 per ticket and the era of the free lounge act, serving as apprenticeships for rising singers and comics, have disappeared.
That was a time when inexpensive food and low priced big-name entertainers were the draws to get people to stay and gamble. No more, sadly; that time has been demolished with the like of the Dunes (The Bellagio occupies its former space), Sands (now the Venetian), Desert Inn (now The Wynn), Frontier, Stardust, Marina, Aladdin, Hacienda (now the Mandalay Bay), Maxim, Bourbon Street and many others. The ax will eventually fall on the Tropicana, Riviera and Sahara.
Once upon a time not so long ago, one could stand on the Strip and see the surrounding mountain range without much eye clutter. One could stand at one end of Las Vegas Blvd. and clearly see the neon lights of each hotel from the Hacienda down to the Sahara. Now there is so much iron and steel and glass shoehorned into precious open space, you cannot see around the corner.
There are fewer headliner stars and more and more shows, led by Cirque de Soleil’s numerous different offerings. Even the long-running Follies Bergere has exited the Tropicana in favor of “Sopranos Last Supper” and some hypnotist. The high-end hotels offer 7-8 wildly expensive restaurants, each once tagged to some celebrity chef, and costing at least $150 for a dinner for two.
And, of course, you have to wait in line to get in.
If it is causing developers to cut back or re-assess, you cannot tell by the crowds. Sidewalks are jammed and it is impossible to navigate a CPS (concierge personal system).
That … and plenty of money (to gamble, to tip, to purchase). Some things about Las Vegas NEVER change.
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“Upon further review” might be the three words no NFL fan wants to hear, but for our own use concerning tomorrow’s plans, it is exactly the right phrase to employ.
Originally, we were going westward to see Death Valley National Park, the hottest place in America (as in scorching heat, not hip activity). My quest to see as many national parks as possible has run into the unmovable barrier – personal energy. Simply put, we are too damn ass-dragging tired to expose ourselves to temperatures over 110 degrees. Only a fool would think that to be a wise move and I stopped being a fool somewhere along Route 66 in New Mexico.
And traffic around the Strip is horrendous, adding 30 minutes extra to any planned excursion away from the city. Since we are on a strict show schedule tomorrow night, there’s no use screwing around with clock management. We will probably have lunch up at the Mount Charleston Inn where it should be 20 degrees cooler than the triple-digits on the valley floor.
Besides, this is one of the finest hotels in America and even if the cost is almost 70 percent off the normal rack rate, we should enjoy the numerous amenities offered.
Wise choice, Chuck. Your body will thank you later.
However, I must skip a day in posting blogs until we reach Riverside. The Bellagio (as do all the major hotels on the Strip) charges $14.99 PER DAY for 24 hours of internet service. That is what we pay Verizon PER MONTH at home – which reinforces my point about the cost of coming here becoming out of reach for most people.
However, I can’t tell if there is any slowdown in the number of visitors; everything remains jammed packed.
Until then … waiting to see the Cirque de Soleil’s “LOVE: The Beatles” spectacular … without waiting all night … Shalom!

Day 5 – The first name says it all … GRAND

There are many symbols that automatically identify their location as synonymous with the United States of America.
The Statue of Liberty.
The Alamo.
The St. Louis Arch.
Fenway Park.
But those are man-made. There are a few natural symbols that are unique to this nation, and first and foremost on the list, is the Grand Canyon, in northern Arizona. A place of unimaginable beauty, bordering on breathtaking, it speaks volume about our country and its immense capacity to be spectacular.
Jodie thinks she was here when she was 3 but possesses no memory of that trip (other than revealing her fear of heights). This was one of a few “must see” trips she wanted to experience (Yosemite was another) and I am delirious that I was the one who delivered for her.
I loved the place but my growing problem of “slipaphobia” prevented me from taking an up close and person examination of everything. If acrophobia is the fear of heights, I have slipaphobia – the fear of somehow falling off the edge and tumbling over and over and over to who knows what. I do not enjoy driving along winging mountain roads and peeking to the side, imaging replicating the opening car chase in the latest James Bond movie “Quantum of Solace.”
And with the thinness of the atmosphere (after all, you ARE 7,000 feet above sea level … slightly higher than north Texas), I was questioning my balance after driving such a distance in one seated position. I wasn’t taking ANY chances of being the old duck, caught on someone’s digital camera and being the next YouTube sensation as I roll from cliff to cliff to the endless bottom below.
However, such an ailment did not lessen the pleasure and enjoyment of seeing that place. As we slowly drove around the South Rim area, it was difficult to maintain a steady route, because you just saw a different angle and viewpoint, each producing gasps from both of us.
And while I had gotten “photoed” out at other venues, there wasn’t a moment during which I saw, “I’ve seen enough.” Those words never pass over your lips.
Everyone should visit the Grand Canyon in their lifetime and bring their family for the educational experience and for the sheer magnificence. Yesterday, the park was packed with several thousand people from ALL over the world (I heard at least 10 different dialects). There were license plates from most of the states in the union (minus Alaska and Hawaii) so our car game of seeing all 50 state plates was nearly completed with this one stop.
The entrance fee is a little stiff at $25 per car BUT the price tag to go to Six Flags is almost twice as much and it isn’t nearly as satisfying.
The Grand Canyon is among the biggest and most important of America’s natural national parks (along with Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Glacier) and frankly, we are doing a lousy job of stewardship for all our parks. Not enough funds have gone into preservation and maintenance (many of the facilities need physical upgrades, including access to disabled people and expanded visitors centers with adequate restrooms). It’s a crime against nature, against humanity and against our citizenry.
It’s fine and dandy to rescue the auto industry (if we must) and bankers who were more interested in their own finances over their patrons (if we had to). But for future Americans, as well as other who come here and become inspired by what they see, we need to properly maintain, and INCREASE, our natural resources like the Grand Canyon.
The most frightening thought would be for someone to discover an oil supply underneath the floor of the canyon and listening to the ridiculous debate that WOULD occur concerning preserving vs. drilling.
You can ALWAYS find alternative fuels and different sources of energy. There is only ONE Grand Canyon and we should be everything to keep it that way.
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We are on the road today, just a couple hundred miles from Flagstaff to Las Vegas (and a hotel with decent towels that aren’t the size of tea towels and don’t feel like sandpaper). It will be three days and three nights of a varied schedule – the Cirque show “Love: The Beatles,” a baseball game (don’t laugh but for the length of entertainment, it is the cheapest ticket in Vegas), a side trip to Death Valley National Park (just to say I’ve been there), either a second side trip to Zion National Park in Utah OR a lunch drive to Mt. Charleston outside of Vegas.
I don’t plan to spend more than a few minutes in any casino (been there, lost that), but we will explore The Bellagio and notably the fountains in front (which dance to selections ranging from Pavarotti to Sinatra). Perhaps we will run into Terry Benedict …
Mainly, the sight we wish to see is Kelsey, my youngest daughter, who is living in Vegas and studying to be a hair stylist. One of her first “victims” will be me – I need a little work on my ponytail. Seriously, she loves the idea of doing this – and has since she was a young teen.
Until then … from the city of Danny Ocean and my daughter (no, they’re NOT together) … Shalom!

Day 4 – Remembering Farrah

Thursday must have been one of the biggest days EVER for the website TMZ.com – the number of online hits might have equaled the federal debt.
I also imagine most of the inquiries were for the sudden death of a TMZ regular – Michael Jackson, at the improbable age of 50 (didn’t it seem like yesterday that he was a pre-teener making number one hits for Motown?). The “King of Pop” will never again be hounded by the press and public over what was (charitably) a strange adult life. However, his music (in the Jackson 5 and in his early solo days, culminating with one of the biggest selling albums of all-time, “Thriller”) will stand the test of time. Perhaps he will finally get to duet with his former father-in-law, Elvis, and maybe, just maybe, he will find some peace.
But earlier in the day, it was announced that actress and 1970s icon Farrah Fawcett lost her battle with cancer at the age of 62. In her days, the late 1970s, there was NO bigger TV star or celebrity in our society. From the second biggest poster of ALL time to “Charlie’s Angels” to her marriage to Lee Majors, the “Six Million Dollar Man,” the American public couldn’t get enough of this gorgeous Texan. She was so famous, people just used a single name to ID her – Farrah. You said it and everyone else knew immediately who it was.
And she WAS Texas through and through. Raised in Corpus Christi and as a student at the University of Texas (she was runner-up in a Miss UT pageant yet no one knows who finished ahead of her), Farrah was the shiniest star of the Super State. Her first major (albeit) small movie role was in “Logan’s Run,” which was filmed at Houston’s Greenspoint Mall as it was under construction.
As unlikely as it would seen, I had a personal connection with Farrah. In 1977, I was sports editor for the Conroe Daily Courier, a small paper just outside of Houston. While it was a small position (compared to the two Houston dailies), that part of Texas was undergoing explosive growth and change – much of it happening at Lake Conroe and residential developments.
The two biggest were April Sound and Walden on Lake Conroe and much of the promotions centered on sports. At April Sound, the golf pro was former PGA champion Dave Marr (who designed the course and owned a townhome on site) while the tennis facility was led by two of the sport’s all-time greats, Australians Roy Emerson and Rod Laver.
Walden, not to be outdone, had its golf course designed by Aussie Bruce Devlin and it is still regarded as one of the top 20 courses in the state.
But Walden added a second component to its portfolio – show business because its general manager (the late Merv Siegel) used to manage musical groups like the Fifth Dimension. He used his connections to bring performers to a cabaret setting in the Walden clubhouse (including comedian Jack Carter, saxophonist Boots Randolph and singer Lou Rawls).
In June, 1977, Merv pulled off the biggest coup of all. He had Walden host the first Jack Benny Memorial Tennis Tournament to benefit Juvenile Diabetes. On the star-studded roster were the likes of Dan Rowan, George Peppard, Robert Stack, Mike Connors, Dick Van Patten, Dina Merrill and a young actress whose parents (Jim and Pauline) and sister (Diane Walls) lived on the local property.
The invitations went out months, perhaps as long as a year before, so no one knew what to expect. When the event came around on the calendar, Farrah was already a superstar. Yet the event was being held in a facility unaccustomed to superstars. The place was only expected to hold 500 fans yet 5,000 tickets were sold to see Farrah play tennis (which she did fairly well).
She needed a five-man (as in BIG, LARGE men) police escort everywhere she went and the Saturday night banquet required an outdoor tent twice the original size to hold the throng. It was a sight to see and I was there to see it all. In fact, I had the honor to play in a doubles match (with TV sports anchor Ron Franklin) against her and an amateur partner. The round-robin format allowed for one set matches (which I lost because I had no business out there in my jeans and horrible backhand). Still it was the thrill of a lifetime.
However, it was not THAT I remember. On Sunday, toward the end of the event, Siegel granted my long-standing request and I had a five-minute one-on-one interview with the hottest woman on the planet.
The professional journalist I pretended to be was AWOL that afternoon. The awe-struck male, sitting in front of Charlie’s favorite angel (in my book at least), could barely mumble intelligent questions. She didn’t seem to mind; I believe she had seen it and heard it before.
This is what I remember: her teeth. Farrah Fawcett, along with striking blonde hair, an athletic body and bubbly personality, had the whitest teeth I had EVER seen (before or since). They radiated and when she smiled, it was like a Halogen lamp at full blast. They were beautiful and she was beautiful; it is a tragedy that an insidious disease like cancer literally destroyed her beauty from within.
On the wall of my back room, where I have my Hall of Fame baseball collection and signed photos of Drew Pearson, Willie Nelson and others, hangs an autographed picture of Farrah at a Bill Cosby charity tennis event in Los Angeles the month before she appeared at Walden. It is the only print and I showed to it her to sign.
“Wow! Where did you get that?” she asked, and I explained the picture’s background. She seemed intrigued and genuinely moved.
“You aren’t going to sell this, are you?” she inquired.
“Are you kidding?” I said. “I’ll take this to my grave.”
Sadly, she has gone first. So when I return home from my vacation, I will find that photo, put it in a proper place in the foyer, light a candle in mourning and say a little prayer for one of the brightest stars (and teeth) in the Texas sky.

Day 3 – Scottsdale: Born to wander

Ever get too cute for your own good? Ever think some idea is beyond brilliant but in actual execution, it fell as flat as a cheap crepe?
I resemble all of the above when doing the solo vacation drive and today was no different. Despite the wise words of wisdom from my spouse, “You’re tired; go the safe route,” I wanted some adventure from Albuquerque to Phoenix.
So I convinced myself that taking the interstate route through Gallup to Flagstaff and south to Phoenix (a trip of almost 500 miles – the second in as many days) was too much and there was a much shorter route, as the crow flies.
Of course, crows don’t have to follow 18-wheelers or endless highway construction projects. They just fly straight to their destination. I wish I was as lucky.
No, I turned off I-40 just before Grants, N.M., and went to see El Malpais National Recreation Area as part of my ongoing quest to visit as many national parks as possible. It was beautiful is its starkness and tremendous sandstone formations.
An aside: I must say New Mexico is one of the most beautiful landscaped states in the union, ranking just behind Oregon in my estimation. Sorry, but too much of Texas can’t hold a candle to its western neighbor.
And it seems so damn clean everywhere; New Mexicans must care enough not to dirty their precious landscape. Wish Texans would follow that example.
Back on point: Instead of backtracking to the interstate, I pointed the Ford Escape southward and headed to Phoenix.
Eventually.
I had weaved through endless construction zones along I-40 (New Mexico seems to be working on every inch in the state … at the same time) so the prospect of avoiding that traffic was more than appealing; I was an easy sale.
With the CD player roaring out old 1960s psychedelic tunes (followed by solo best from Mark Knopfler), I was flying with the cool wind in my radiator.
I reached a tiny town (Quemado) and headed to Springerville, Ariz. where I was shocked to see a McDonald’s and plenty of other signs of civilization. Hell, after two hours of silence, it actually had full cell service.
Thirty minutes later, I hit the town of Show Low (which could be renamed High Up since it sits more than 8,000 feet above sea level). It was, to my surprise, a major population area in northeast Arizona, and looked like a place one could call home …provided you could handle the altitude (sorry, not me).
Show Low sits in a thick forest that makes one appreciative of Tennessee or parts of Michigan, except these trees were growing in a border state with tall mountains. Very beautiful, I imagine, in the wintertime.
Confident in my decision and after consulting my handy AAA map (old school GPS), I continued down U.S. Highway 60 to the Valley of the Sun.
Second aside: When mapmakers print their products, they should make them more informative. Just because you THINK a road looks to be a better choice, full disclosure is needed to the motorist. He or she needs to be told that certain roads, humorously called “scenic highways,” are squiggly ribbons of asphalt explored at one’s own peril. The 78-mile stretch from Show Low to Globe took almost two hours to cover and that was a little quick to me.
The road was as straight as a plate of cooked spaghetti and took you down an altitude of more than two miles, most of which were covered between 25-40 miles per hour.
Unless you were following a school bus, dump truck or a driver who insisted on staying a quarter-mile behind the closest vehicle. Since the opportunities to pass were infrequent, at best, it made for a frustrating time that no amount of great music could soothe.
This drive scared the living crap out of me as my eyes tried NOT to see the huge drop into places like the Salt River Canyon and when you speak the word “canyon” in Arizona, it DOES mean big and deep. It doesn’t take much for me to envision careening over the edge and flying helplessly into the bottom of who-knows-what.
I should have known but I should have been told by the map. It should clearly state that “scenic highway” means lots of twisted roads and dangerous hairpin turns overlooking miles of bottomless pits.
How BAD was it? My dashboard compass stopped pointing north-south-east-west. Like me, it had no clue as to what direction we were headed.
It just pointed up or down before exploding in the first known case of directional suicide.
Globe, Arizona (combined with Miami) is a copper and gold mining town and U.S. 60 is the main artery. When that artery is blocked by construction (a highway bypass???), no amount of traffic Plavix will help. You sit there and you wait to move and then only at a snail’s pace.
Eventually I made it to the Phoenix area, a few hours later than planned only to hear that a “cooling trend” had lowered the temperature to 97.
Thank the Lord for small favors and ask the Lord for better maps. Next time, I’ll listen to smarter people than I.
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No driving Friday UNTIL Jodie arrives in Phoenix aboard American Airlines; I’ll have to find some place to kill five hours before the plane lands (a movie maybe?). Then it’s just 140 miles to Flagstaff in advance of the first anticipated great shared experiences – the Grand Canyon.
While we just have one day to see as much as we can, it won’t be like Chevy Chase in “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” when he was in a hurry to leave (had just ripped off a cash register when the front desk refused to cash a check without ID which had been stolen …). He gathered the family to see the wonderful scenery and, in three seconds, yelled “Time to go!”
We’ll savor each moment and enjoy saving the $50 park entrance fee, having exchanged out Golden Age Pass for the NPS Access Pass. It’s one of the best bargains imaginable if you’re of significant age or disabled (I resemble both remarks). I am guessing we will save in the neighborhood of $150 for all that we anticipate visiting. It is NO crime to do whatever you need to tamp down the vacation costs.
Oh yeah, having from cable service to Verizon two months ago, we will use the $168 VISA gift card for 4-5 of our meals. It’s like eating on house money.
Until then … waiting for my best travel companion to arrive … Shalom!

Day 2 – Albuquerque: The rainbow connection

What a difference a day and cold front makes. Twenty-four hours before, I felt like I was in a steam bath (with clothes) in Oklahoma City, as it was over 100 degrees.
But in Isotope Park in south Albuquerque, on the campus of the University of New Mexico, it was a gorgeous 73 degrees, with a breeze and cool, intermittent summer rain – Mother’s Nature air conditioning.
Day 2 had been planned as a long drive and a reward to myself with a visit to this ballpark to see a team named (in 2003) for an episode of “The Simpsons.”
But when baseball slugger Manny Ramirez decided to begin his rehab assignment here (coming off his 50-game suspension for using a banned substance), it became … AN EVENT! And, as a retired journalist, how I LOVE events!
I have seen minor league contests all over the nation – from Durham, N.C. to Fishkill, N.Y. to Lansing, Mich. to Corpus Christi, Little Rock, Oklahoma City and San Antonio; each possessing its little bit of uniqueness about it. This stopover was quite special because of the background view – the towering Sandia Mountains past the right field area. To me, it provided an aura of peacefulness that was MORE than easy on the eyes.
Fans could enjoy excellent seats in the concrete and steel sections or lay on the cool grass in the right field section – complete with children’s rides and a carousel.
The game was nicely presented by the organization, with plenty of between inning frivolity, giveaways and spirit (as it should be on the Minor League level). The lower deck reserve seats cost just $11 – FAR, FAR, FAR lower than Class AA Frisco at $18, which should serve as a lesson in the tight economic market. You shouldn’t overcharge based on what you could in the past.
As for the game itself, Manny went 0-for-1 and a walk, which made the sellout crowd of over 13,000 (the local Isotopes only average 7,700) more than restless. Just how many of those spectators remained in the 15th inning, when the Sounds (a franchise once owned by country star Conway Twitty) “edged” the ‘Topes 8-3 was problematical. I wasn’t among them. After three hours and nine innings (including a nice two-run rally in the bottom of the ninth), I called it a night. In my old age, the concept of “it ain’t over until it’s over” gets lost when the body is screaming to sleep.
As said, the game had a little of everything, including a slightly intoxicated fan (a woman), who ran onto the field and just sprinted across the outfield from right field to left) because security and the Albuquerque police “collared” her. In truth, she just ran out of gas but that didn’t prevent six burly men from escorting her to the pokie with a painful WWE arm bar (not sure it was necessary; she seemed willing and too tired to resist).
Thankfully, she kept her clothes ON. However, if she was trying to find Manny, he had long since departed Isotope Park (nicknamed “The Lab”) – not wanting to get hurt in the slick, wet field conditions.
During the middle innings, the heavens opened up and rain cascaded off the mountains, sending the fans scurrying for cover – meaning most of them were standing right behind me in that most claustrophobic manner. It offered me a chance to make social behavioral comments to the guy next to me – a retired dairy deliveryman named … Charlie.
I couldn’t help but notice that the women with the largest chests also held the larger cups of beer – including the arrested female. My observations hold no scientific basis; it just seemed to be that way on this night.
While the crowd was a blessing for the Isotopes management, the onslaught overwhelmed the facilities in many ways. The concourse resembled a New York subway station at rush hour and the concessions were not prepared.
I stood in line and ordered a diet cola in a “souvenir” cup – I made my order in plain English – but the man serving me returned with a large all-white Styrofoam cup.
“That’s not a souvenir cup,” I noted.
“It is tonight,” he responded with a clear “deer in the headlights” look. He then fumbled around trying to execute a simple credit transaction (I refuse the cola).
“You haven’t done this before I take it,” I asked, with a sympathetic tone. People who are completely unfamiliar with retail tasks hurt the process more than help. The “warm body” theory often reveals the Peter Principle in full bloom – you rise to the level of your own incompetency.
“How could you?” he said, with an upward glance which said to me, “Get me the hell out of here.”
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Charlie and I could not think of any current baseball player who could draw such a crowd to Albuquerque, a city steeped in deep Los Angeles Dodger tradition, going back decades to when the Dukes were the team (and San Antonio was the AA squad). Perhaps if Barry Bonds were to stage such an event, it would be comparable. It WAS that way in 2006 when Roger Clemens came to Corpus Christi for a rehab start and so many people flooded the ballpark, the fire marshals had to step in and limit the capacity.
Manny will play tonight and then go to Lake Elsinore to join the Inland Empire 66ers for a contest and a weekend series in San Bernardino – two eventual stops on MY minor league journey. My rehab is ongoing, however.
So Manny plays four innings, decides not to risk a slip and a hamstring pull (he is susceptible to that injury) and heads out in the fifth inning. But then, a funny thing happened…
It stopped raining.
The breeze settled into a gentle wisp.
The sun peeked through the low-hanging clouds and revealed a perfect blue sky through the holes.
And … a rainbow appeared over the right field stands.
It was something I had never seen before at a baseball game. And the beauty of the sport is this: you never know WHAT you will see at a game and it could be something you’ve never seen before … or since.
So it was a beautiful night after all.

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The longest portion of the entire trip has been completed and I felt every one of the 500-plus miles.
One immediately knows when New Mexico begins as you see the mesas on the horizons after the only stretch of I-40 in Texas with expansive beauty – west of Amarillo and following the world’s largest feed lot and (consequently) biggest collection of … methane. In that June 100-degree heat, the smell alone can knock you dizzy while driving.
Today (actually it’s early in the A.M.), I will make one of those coin-flip decisions between taking the safe Eisenhower Interstate routes down to Phoenix/Scottsdale and go … wandering for something different. Route A is a “been there, seen that” situation but I AM quite tired …
Too bad I don’t have an online poll for the “readers” to decide. Perhaps a visit to one or two national park sites will be the answer.
Until then … with more rainbows to see … Shalom!

Seen in da (OKC) house!

Yes, it WAS Jennie Finch, the country's most famous softball player and two-time gold medalist.
She was a few rows over in the section, watching and waiting for her husband, pitcher Casey Daigle of the Round Rock Express, to appear in a dull 2-0 game (he didn't).
She was there with her toddler son and other relatives.
And YES, she is as good looking as advertised - athletic, TALL, very blonde, stunning white teeth, and gorgeous even without makeup.
She was gracious with the fans that did approach for photos and autographs (although she wasn't exactly flooded in the city that HOSTS the NCAA Women's Softball Tournament, which she won).
Nice way to escape a boring contest in the humidity of AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.

Day 1 – Oklahoma City

Author’s Note: For the interest of anyone out in the vast blogosphere, I will attempt to report various “interesting” (as subjective a word as can exist in the English language) aspects of this almost 20-day road trip (for me at least).
The first obvious thing one notices when driving from Dallas to Oklahoma City is the cleanliness … on the Oklahoma side. There are clean lines of sight, without the Texas distraction of porn houses, mobile home lots, trash and other unsightly monstrosities that litter Interstate-35 North.
One can only wonder this: If Oklahoma can maintain its interstate highways in a pleasing manner, why can’t its big neighbor to the south?
Even Oklahoma City’s well-traveled center city highways appear FAR more neat and crisp than anything around Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, Austin or San Antonio. I didn’t see anyone tossing out cigarette butts (which would be quite dangerous given the extreme heat and dryness of the surrounding grasslands). No Oklahoma pickup was seen with loose trash flying out of the back beds onto the roads.
I’ve written this before and will continue to do so until the situation is remedied. I-35 and I-45 are two of the WORST drives for any motorist (going from DFW to Houston, Austin or San Antonio) in America! I would be hard pressed for anyone to trump them for the vast collection of sheer scenic ugliness AND optic trashiness. In those two areas, we ARE number 1!
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You also notice one more thing, beginning at the state lines between Oklahoma and Texas – the signs and symbols of economic development that Texas refuses to engage. There are perhaps a dozen casinos just on that 135-mile portion of I-35 to Oklahoma City and each one seems to be a potential job creator and business magnet for many small communities – not just the capital area.
They look clean, well-tended (unlike some of the roadside joints I remember seeing in rural Louisiana a few years ago) and even on a sweltering Tuesday morning/noon, there were cars at each ONE of them. I’d bet the Thackerville casino, better known as WinStar, had scores of Texas license plates in those lots.
WinStar, for the record, has also become a fairly big entertainment center with weekend concerts drawing fairly big name stars (true, some of them might be a tad past their prime but the Gipsy Kings went from the Meyerson Symphony Center one night to WinStar the next).
Many of the casinos (operated by Native American tribes) looked like ultra-modern shopping centers or movie theaters while WinStar has unveiled a sectional appearance where a different country/culture is represented (English, French, Italian, etc.). Hell, Vegas has entire hotels doing the exact same thing and they consume most of the Strip.
Each casino, as said, represents revenue for the tribes AND for the state of Oklahoma. This isn’t a new tax, a new fee, a new charge, a new add-on and no one is forcing ANYONE to be there. They get their revenue and provide a little amusement, enjoyment and fun in the process.
They also create jobs – not just for the Native Americans (Lord knows they need them) but for everyone. In turn, there are satellite business surrounding these places (hotels, restaurants, shops, gas stations, etc.), which help expand the local economies.
The ridiculous, and now unnatural, resistance, in Texas is beyond comprehension; it is bordering on madness. In a time when our state budget, and local school and municipal budgets, are being squeezed dry, like lemons for a Route 44 drink at Sonic, to simply sweep this viable revenue source off the table, for some mythical “morality” argument is just plain old Stone Age thinking. Our legislators in Austin would rather open their arms and hearts to massive polluters and unscrupulous businesses before considering admission into the 21st century and allowing Texas to approve casino gambling.
If such approval were to happen, you’d see one of the biggest and explosive expansions of construction and job manufacturing ANYWHERE in the U.S. and, perhaps, not seen since the late 1970s oil boom when Texas was labeled a SuperState.
All it takes is a little guts and a dash of courage – neither of which can be found in Austin (especially with that coward governor, “Helmethair” Perry, possessing the veto pen).
All it takes is for the voters to make it perfectly clear that incumbents are being tossed out of their offices because of their opposition ot THIS issue. Then things WILL change.
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The shortest drive of the entire trip has been completed and, hopefully, tomorrow, the longest stretch of highway 540 miles of I-40 in around 8-9 hours (resembling nothing of the fabled old Route 66), will be tolerable in the 100-plus degree heat that has engulfed Texas and Oklahoma.
The Escape feels a tad claustrophobic with luggage and boxes everywhere within eyesight.
Tomorrow’s highlight will be seeing the Albuquerque Isotopes play Nashville with the latest steroid abuser, Manny Ramirez, in the ABQ lineup as part of his “rehab” assignment. Tuesday’s game was sold out in advance and this game might be as well … but my ticket is bought and paid at the advanced will call window.
I AM the world’s biggest proponent of planning ahead for spontaneity.
Until then … with hopefully a better Wi-Fi connection … Shalom!