Trip Panic - The Craziness

• By the time this is published, I should be back from our Texas trip. I don't post pre-trip because I don't want to expose my house to thieves who would be aware in advance of my travel plans.
• Firstly we had a nail in the right rear tire of the Buick. Kathee came home from shopping on Saturday 4/18 and the tire was low. We inflated it to 40 lbs. We went out to dinner that night and when we arrived at the restaurant it was down to 36. The next day as we went to church it was less. Looking ahead to leaving on Wednesday 4/22 at 6 am, we knew we had to get it repaired. I was able to get it into Tires Plus in Plymouth and they repaired it. It was a small nail. Cost ... about $ 30. 
• Monday and Tuesday were craziness at work. It can always be an frenzied environment but it was much crazier than normal. At 4:30 pm on Monday a lot of things came my way and was dumped on me at the last minute. Tuesday 4/21 was the same. 
• Then on Tuesday, Kathee who was working from home, discovered that a water valve in the basement was leaking. It was rapidly filling a bucket. Fortunately we have a good relationship with Weld and Sons Plumbing in Plymouth and they were able to make an emergency call to the house to repair it. 

Bodyguard for El Presidente Echeverría

In 1969, through a seemingly unusual sequence of events, in a jam-packed plaza, in an unruly crowd, at a Mexican presidential campaign event, I came face to face with Luis Echeverría. Concerned for his safety, I was enlisted to extricate the candidate to safety.

1. American Airlines campus sales representative - Not an typical student job
1. In my Junior and Senior year at University of Cincinnati
2. Paid $ 50 per month = approx. $ 300 per month in today’s dollars
3. What did I do?
1.  Booked charter flights for students to fly back to NYC for holidays
2. Worked with the athletic department for flights for the football team
3. Booked an “Arts” charter to NYC for Broadway & off-Broadway plays
4. The Student Union was my office
5. Also recruited (really “tried to recruit” candidates for stewardess) f. I can attest that “you would make a great American Airlines stewardess” is not an effective pickup line! 
6. An unusual benefit: 2 free 1st class passes annually … anywhere AA flew - my first trip was Christmas 1969 … to San Diego to scuba dive. I had a one day excursion to Tijuana
2. Tijuana – Not an ordinary American tourist destination
   1. For beaches: Acapulco, Cabo San Lucas, or Puerto Vallarta,
   2. For Aztec or Mayan ruins: Morelos
   3. For natural wonders: Mazatlán
   4. For Spanish colonial history: Mexico City.
   5. For Mexican traditions (of say tequila, mariachi music and charros): Guadalajara
   6. Tijuana:
      1. Tijuana Zebra: donkey painted like a zebra
      2. VW bugs as taxis
      3. The origin of Caesar salad @ Hotel Caesar’s
      4. Slums
      5. Denture clinics (more than 50)
      6. Bullfighting (Bullring by the Sea)
      7. Inspiration for Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (the Lonely Bull & Tijuana Taxi)
      8. Now also known for the Tijuana crime Cartel
   7. To Tijuana:
      1. Bus from San Diego
      2. Through the San Ysidro border crossing
         1. One of the busiest border crossings in the world
         2. On foot
         3. Over the Tijuana River
      3. And into the sprawling city of more than 1 Million people
3. Luis Echeverría – Not an uncommon Mexican politician
   1. The 50th President of Mexico
   2. From 1970-1976
   3. B 1922 … still alive / In 1969 he would have been 47 years old
   4. He was campaigning for President:
      1. PRI party - Institutional Revolutionary Party
      2. July 5th 1970
      3. 86% of vote
4. An unusual, fortuitous meeting
   1. Avenue of Revolution the main tourist route
   2. Running parallel the Avenue of the Constitution
   3. I ate in a genuine Mexican restaurant:
      1. My 2 year of HS Latin and 2 years of HS Spanish had not prepared me well for the immersion into Mexican culture
      2. Not seated at an individual table but with 2 mexicans
      3. Common bowl of salad w flat bread
   4. West of Avenue of the Constitution – the Parque Teniente Guerrero
   5. Parque Teniente Guerrero or Park warrior Lieutenant
      1. Oldest park in Tijauna
      2. Really the heart of the city
   6. Drawn there because a large assembled crowd
      1. Banners & placards
      2. And there Luis Echeverría was publically campaigning for President
   7. I worked a seam and pushed to the center of the activity and
   8. Came shoulder to shoulder with the next President of Mexico – cream colored guayabera – an embroidered linen shirt
   9. If ever been to a US campaign event … completely unlike that - Where the President or candidate is insulated from the public by a security detail
   10. Call it fortuitous, chance or luck, I was just left of center of the focus of activity
   11. The crowd became rambunctious and his security detail became secure and the enlisted me to rush El Presidente to safety
   12. I was joined to a phalanx of men:
       1. A row in front of the candidate
       2. And a row behind (I was in the rear)
       3. Who hurriedly moved him to a secure place

Comment: Outline of my Toastmaster's speech from 2 weeks ago and also tonight

College Station TX trip

We returned yesterday from our brief trip to Texas. We flew to Dallas on Friday and rented a car to drive to Bryan / College Station, TX. We attended a rehearsal dinner Friday night, a wedding and reception on Saturday, and then drove to Mansfield TX on Sunday. Sunday night we celebrated my Mother's 90th birthday.

• Our rental car was a new Nissan Altima. Although it is considered a mid-sized car, it had a lot of interior room. And although it only had a 4 cylinder engine, it had a lot of power.
  
• Saturday morning we visited the George Bush Museum on the campus of Texas A & M University
  
• This was our first time being South of Dallas by car. The country side is beautiful.
  

Back to the reality of work today!

Oregon trip

Kathee and I returned last night from our Oregon trip. Some photos and brief comments.

We flew into San Francisco last Wednesday. We rented a Mustang. Turns out it was a brand new 2008 coupe with only 43 miles on it. When we returned it, it has 1250 miles on it.

We drove through downtown San Fran and across the Golden Gate:



Up the California coast ...



Into Crescent City:



The funeral service for Kathee's brother Ed was at Eagle Point National Cemetery (Oregon)





On Saturday we drove up to Crater Lake (Oregon):












Sunday we drove down I-5 from Medford, past Mount Shasta and into San Francisco.

We stopped at this gas station in Weed California. Mount Shasta in the background:



Comments:

1. The Mustang is not nearly as nice as my Impala and it has no back seat to speak of. But it looks good.
   
2. Gas was $ 4.799 per gallon up in California and Oregon. There is no self-serve gas in Oregon. Men come out and fill up the car and wash the windshield (like the '60s). Gas was $ 3.819 when we returned to Plymouth!
   
3. After dinner in San Fran, the skies were smokey. And just to our N was a fire on San Bruno Mountain
   
4. Northwest charged me $ 25. to upgrade to an aisle seat for the return trip. This is despite the fact that my profile in Orbitz specifies aisle as my preference (I would be hard pressed to get into a middle or window seat).
   
5. On the flight out, I used my IPod for the first time. I did not know how to turn it on, an 8th grader in the seat next to me helped me through the menu!
   
6. At a funeral one ponders his mortality. I did and I'm glad I'm saved!
   

Back to work today. No pictures (it would be depressing!)

The coward John Wilkes Booth

Comment: Lincoln Museum, Springfield, IL, 3/8/08

Springfield IL trip

Tomorrow Kathee and I will be leaving at 6:30 a.m. to drive to Springfield, IL. Our express purpose is to visit the Lincoln Presidential library & museum. We've been to Springfield before (a previous "week of Lincoln" trip where we read about 5 books about Lincoln plus visited Lincoln locations in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois). We will be staying at the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel

New generation of "Do Not Disturb"

Do not disturb these winners

Excerpt:

Five winners have been chosen from more than 7,000 entries, and the signs are due to be in Embassy Suites nationwide by next week.

"Shh! I'm hatching a plan to bust some little soaps out of here" won Marty Mintman of St. Louis a trip to Embassy Suites Waikiki Beach Walk in Honolulu.

"Pillow Fight In Progress" earned Susan Suarez of University City, Mo., a stay at any Embassy Suites in the USA.

Other winning slogans and authors: "There are days when I wish I could wear this around my neck" from Sandra Parcher, Milpitas, Calif.; "I've built a pillow fort and I am not opening the door for anybody!" from Amy Forgette, Streamwood, Ill.; "Aww, Mom. Just five more minutes. Please?" from Brian White, Chicago.

Comment: I'd like to have one of these: "There are days when I wish I could wear this around my neck". Link to winners.

Home from Dallas

Kathee and I arrived home at 3 today. Uneventful travel. We left Mom's at 7:15 a.m. and were at the airport and checked in by 8:15. We had breakfast at the airport. I read several chapters of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. The author (Jack Weatherford) is a professor at Macalester College.

We had good customer service from Hertz. The check in guy, drove us to the terminal (skipping the bus!). Less walking and very helpful.

As we spent time with family yesterday, Friday was less mournful: My Sister took Kathee out to Coldwater Creek to do some clothes shopping for Kathee for Christmas. My Brother and went out to Frys, the giant electronics store in Arlington. In the afternoon, Mother, Kathee, Roger and I went out to see the movie Enchanted.

Tonight, Roger is making dinner for us. We are glad to be home!

Dallas aquarium

Dallas aquarium

Today Mom, Nancy, Roger, Kathee and I visited the Dallas aquarium which was very interesting. Hertz upgraded me to a GMC Acadia (the first SUV I've ever driven). This has turned out to be handy as we have made multiple runs to the airport and then today we all rode in the Acadia to Dallas.

Rachel and Roger's wife both arrived safely home to Minneapolis.

William Thomas Gilbert III - 1946 - 2007

William Thomas "Tom" Gilbert III, a former regional manager with Monsanto Chemicals, passed away Saturday, Dec. 8, 2007, after a short but courageous battle with cancer.

Memorial service: 10 a.m. Wednesday at First United Methodist Church of Mansfield, 777 N. Walnut Creek, Mansfield.

Born Nov. 26, 1946, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to William and Shirley Steele Gilbert, Tom graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a bachelor's in business administration. After earning his degree, he worked over 20 years for Monsanto Chemical Co., based in St. Louis. His career took the family to Chicago, St. Louis, Laguna Hills and then to Texas. Texas then became "home" 25 years ago.

Tom married Nancy Marie Peet on May 6, 1967, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Tom and Nancy had three wonderful children. Tom loved to golf with his weekly golf group, enjoyed theater, movies and classical music as well as jazz. He retired 10 years ago and was a gourmet cook. He loved having his children and grandchildren around him. He had a soft spot for animals and adored his furry buddies, Pantoufle and Hermione.

Preceding him in death were Bill and Shirley Gilbert, Tate and Leta Steele and Alvah Peet.

Survivors: His wife, Nancy of Arlington; son and daughter-in-law, Tom and Trisha Gilbert of Mansfield; son, Christopher Gilbert of Fort Worth; daughter, Michelle Gilbert of Arlington; sweet granddaughters, Jessica Marie and Carys Cleone; sister, Carole Campbell (Bob); brother, Charlie Gilbert (Kathy); brother-in-law, Jim Peet (Kathee); brother-in-law, Roger Peet (Kathy); "mother," Cleone Hayward Peet; and special niece and nephews, Nathan, Roger and Rachel Peet.

Comment: Kathee and I safely arrived in Dallas.

Nancy's first date with Tom was March 18, 1965. They went out to see "My Fair Lady". Tom was 18 and my Sister was 19. I've know Tom for these past 42 years. He was a super Brother-in-Law and I will deeply miss him!

Preparing for Dallas trip

Both Kathee and I worked late as we wrapped up things at work.

Our managers have been very supportive and we had no issue getting 4 days off. But both of us had hectic days (I think Kathee more so than I).

I called my Sister this morning to check in on her and she is doing well.

Tonight, we stopped by Byerlies in Golden Valley for dinner and were home by 7:30 p.m.

I had ordered a new pair of casual shoes last week and they arrived today - just in time for our trip.

Now relaxing. We hope to leave for the airport at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow.

(I bought our cats 6 catnip-filled knit mice. The package arrived today. Since they were wrapped in plastic, I thought it would be safe to put them under the tree. Blue's sensitive little nose soon found them out and he ripped at the package to try to open it. Kathee had to hide it away until Christmas)

Bizarre Travel Insurance Claims

The 25 Most Bizarre Travel Insurance Claims Ever

Here's some of the highlights:

1. One thing you don’t expect when you go on holiday is to be harassed by a monkey. One British traveller in Gibraltar, however, was so besieged by the attentions of an over-friendly primate that he asked his insurer to refund the cost of his trip. The insurer refused but did pay out for his camera, which the monkey had run off with one evening.
   
2. Monkeys also blighted the romantic getaway of a couple in Malaysia, who foolishly left the window to their chalet open during the day. They returned to find their underwear, clothing and belongings strewn across the resort and neighbouring rainforest. Luckily for the clothes-less couple, their insurer paid the claim.
   
3. It is a good idea to keep your wallet secure at all times when you are away, as one careless Briton discovered to his cost in Israel. The holidaymaker accidentally dropped his wallet down a drain in Natanya. However, his claim wasn’t for his lost credit cards or cash. It was for hospital treatment after being stung by a poisonous scorpion while reaching down into the drain to get his possessions back. Thankfully, his travel insurance covered the cost of treatment.
   
4. A chilled-out traveller in Sri Lanka needed £400 worth of hospital treatment after a large, ripe coconut fell from a tree and landed squarely on her head while she was peacefully reading below. She was knocked out cold, which is hardly surprising. Fresh coconuts weigh roughly 2 kilograms, and the trees grow up to 30 metres tall. The coconut would have been falling at 53 miles per hour when it hit the poor woman on the skull. Her insurer covered her medical expenses.
   

Comment: Sent to me by my daughter.

Travel delayed

We hope to fly back to Minneapolis today but our flight (American Airlines # 327) has been canceled because of weather (here in Dallas).

Kathee and I have contacted American to see what kind of resolution may be worked out.

UPDATE:

We got ticketed on a 12:50 flight that was delayed for an hour and a half. Finally home at 6:10 p.m.

Lake Tawakoni State Park

Kathee, Mother, and I drove out to Lake Tawakoni State Park to see the massive webs of the long-jawed orb weavers. Previously mentioned in August here, the massive webs are a sight to behold. It was a 75 mile drive from my Mother's house in Arlington, TX. We arrived at 11:30 and walked the quarter mile trail back to the web sites. I took some photos that I will post when I return to Minneapolis. My Mother was a good sport and permitted me to take photos of her by the webs. Kathee demurred. When we arrived back at the car, I had a 8" strand of web hanging from the cuff of my left crutch. Creepy!

Afterwards, we stopped at the rustic Blue Bird Cafe in Wills Point, TX. The spider image is from the Wikipedia article.

Daughter arrives home today

I'm not going to be very productive at work today because the one thing on my mind today is Rachel's arrival from Europe.

She is expected to be in Minneapolis at about 7 p.m. Kathee and I plan to leave work and grab dinner at the Subway downtown and then wait for her at baggage claim!

JPG is a snapshot from Flightexplorer.com

Lake Superior’s North Shore

Minnesota’s ‘Freshwater Ocean’ Attracts a New Generation

Havens | Lake Superior’s North Shore
Minnesota’s ‘Freshwater Ocean’ Attracts a New Generation
By FINN-OLAF JONES
Published: June 1, 2007
Four generations of vacationers have now been regaled with tales of the larger-than-life figures of the north, from American Indians to fishermen and trappers to lumbermen.

Comment: I recommend the Naniboujou Lodge