GATHERING GROUND:
Dave O'Leary, Bill Wills, Norm Lapointe, and Chet Biernat,
deep in thought about how to solve the world's great mysteries
(also present, but missing from this month's pictures: Jerry Kimble)
When Chet and I entered the restaurant space, Bill was
sitting at the table. Not like Bill to be the first at Breakfast.
Norm followed shortly and then Dave O joined us for a 1/2 cup and Blueberry
muffin. Next to us in our somewhat private room, the
Engineers formed for their weekly breakfast. They soon numbered a similar
five (5) at their table.
Since I was on the cusp of taking off for the wild west with my RV situation, Norm and I shared some RVing stories. Not about destinations and the scenic National Parks that are Nature's Wonders but of all of the things that can go wrong with a mobile house traveling around the states over bumpy roads. Norms story after story of things not going well quickly justified his dumping of his RV when he only had his Class A a short time. His list of issues abounded on almost every trip.
Chet brought up deer strikes on the highway. Both he and I have had the misfortune of hitting a deer or a deer hitting us while driving. I did trump the story of strikes when remembering my early years growing up in Pennsylvania(home of the whitetail deer), when my brother hit a deer and before he was able to make the auto repair appointment to fix that strike, hit another deer. Lots of deer in the state of Pa.
JoAnn and Jim's trip on the AT was mixed with the other stories about the AT hikes including Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods". I don't remember Bryson's walk being nearly as wet as Jo and Jim's hike. They are still at it and it can't be real fun some days with the constant wet. BEST from the B'fast crew!!!
I'll relay one story of hiking that Bill Wills had
taken. Back in the Vietnam era, Bill was in the bush during monsoon
season, so it never stopped raining for days. Many inches of rainfuall to
the point of it was either walking in water or mud up to your ankles as you
were hiking through the jungle. Most GI's wanted to get back to the
states to enjoy a night out or a hot home cooked meal, Bill was dreaming about
dry socks on dry feet!!
Norm remembered a train ride from Florida to his home in Massachusetts. Of course provisioning for the multi day trip was a priority so Norm procured a full case of beer and some chips. That first day Norm was sitting next to one of the Florida Magistrates of the court(and an alcoholic) so the provisioning didn't last as long as expected. Good news, the train added a club car about the same time the beer ran out so the rest of the trip was as good as the first.
Some talk of skiing this winter, Covid did change who and when people would hit the slopes. One of the more significant changes in downhill skiing was the concept of Skinning. This is something that Gil had done his last few years on skiis and many of our younger skiers are taking up this technique of skiing. Here is a link to show the concept HERE.
See all next month
Your Scribe
Jerry
| Dave, Bill, Norm, Chet, now smiling: nothing like a hearty breakfast with friends to solve all of those world's great mysteries! |
