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David Mitchell

The day after launch. The boat ("Traveller") at anchor - minus the mast.

The mast you see is on the 32-foot sailboat (monohull) docked behind Roger's boat - which belongs to Jacob (the Potter) who originally sailed across the Atlantic with Roger about 25 years go in Roger's 28 foot "Cutter" (sailboat). The dock belongs to George Heyward - the great, great, great, grandson of Thomas Heyward of 1776 fame as I mentioned earlier.

Second shot - Roger sitting in the step down to the pilot house - contemplating work yet to be done.

Note: The dock is on the May River here in Old Bluffton - (Johnny Mercer's inspiration for the words to  "Moon River" (composed by Henry Mancinni). Mercer was from Savannah and had a summer home here in Bluffton for many years. Johnny Mercer only managed to write about 1,600 songs, and only eight of them were nominated for awards. Moon River won the Oscar for best movie song (Breakfast at Tiffany's) of 1961, and the grammmy for best song in 1962. If you could sit on the dock in front of my house at night you would see where the idea "Moon River" came from. During those nights when the moon is to our south, the view with the reflection off the river surface is simply spectacular!

More shots at anchor. I posted the first shot on Facebook some years back with the caption,        "The distance from the Mekong to the May River is a million miles and 40 years."

I'll post a few interior shots in the next few days.

You're up Joe. Drive safely.

Joseph D. McCarthy

At approximately 4:30 A.M. my wife and I departed heading to Salt Lake City Utah, ariving approximately 7:45 P.M. Mountain time.. A nice drive of about 720 miles.  Along the way we saw mountain peaks west of Reno, Nevada that were covered with snow.  After Reno it was time for fuel.  I had filled up the day before we left at $3,54 a gallon.  East of Reno we payed $3.07 a gallon.  I don't want to bore you we the fact that my Navigator had her nose stuck in a map rather than paying attention to the road; it took us over an hour to return to I-80 because of road work.  Further down the road there were many more mountain tops covered with snow.  Our final city in Nevada ws Wendover, followed by East Wendover in Utah.  They are divided by a main street that is also the State line.

Next we immediately came upon the Bonneville Salt Flats; Salt as far as you can see in every direction.  Then on to Salt Lake City.

James Hamilton, M. D.

Joe,

Can't wait for the next installment of your journey!  This sort of reminds me of the old CBS  series "On  the Road with Charles Kuralt". Old folks driving cross country - a true adventure! Be safe and be sure to stop and "smell the roses" as well as find some good old greasy spoons to try. Maybe even cruise some backroads if you have time and can get off the interstates. Recall that opening line in my favorite John Denver song, Sweet Surrender, that goes "Lost and alone on some forgotten highway, traveled by many, remembered by few". 

Jim 

Mark Schweickart

Joe -- whenever my wife and I travel, she too is in charge of the maps, but prefers the term nagivator instead of navigator. 

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

For anyone who is living in and around Immaculate Conception parish, you are invited to join us to pray the rosary at 8 PM tonight at the Grotto for the intentions of all those whose lives were lost yesterday in Texas and Ohio, for their families, for all of the injured, for our nation and for our Holy Mother Church. We pray to her with belief that she continues in heaven to exercise her maternal role on behalf of the members of Christ.

Joseph Gentilini

Mary Ann Nolan, have a great birthday.  Joe

Joseph D. McCarthy

Yesterday I didn't finish adding a couple of Facts.

After leaving Wendover we came to Bonneville Salt Flats around 5:30P.M.  The outside temperature had dropped to 102 degrees.  No problem, covering myself with a blanket I was able to survive the 68 degrees that my NAVIGATOR put the air-conditioning.

The other situation was watching out for all the bears in Nevada; many of which wore their SMOKY hats.

Salt Lake City is preparing for a Mayoral election. Top item is the air quality, or lack there of.  We should ask China and Japan how to cope with the pollution.

Today it was on to North Platte, NE with a start, AFTER breakfast, at 8:00A.M..  We noticed more "Bears" on the road.  When leaving Salt Lake City you start up a winding road that leads to Park City.  The road squiggles and seems to turn on itself as it rises rapidly for about 20 miles.  Speed limit is 65 mph; many cars and pickups usually run five to ten miles faster.  Trucks are happy if they can do 30mph on the way up; conversely they hope to do the same descending.  Once past Park city the speed increases to 75mph for about twenty miles, then it becomes 80mph through the rest of Nevada.  Gas runs from $2.29 to $2.69 today.  

After we crossed into Wyoming we started noticing all the Parade routes that hadn't been cleared because of the weekend.  We saw one stretch of 5 miles, but most parade routes were ten to twenty miles long,  How did I knpw there must have been parades - the road was lined with Orange Barrels.  

We got through to Nebraska with citing only a few Antelope.  On the other hand, all the waterways were full.

We reached North Platte at approximately 7:30P.M.  Dinner now out of the way I'm going  to bed.

David Mitchell

As I have stated (ranted) before, I cannot agree with a single argument as to why any private citizens should be allowed to purhase and own any type of "semi-automatic" weapon.

My prayer would be that a few of my own spineless Repubilicans cowards would manage to pull their collective heads out of their collective rectums and pass legislation to curb this uttery stupid practice. And no one's rights under the 2nd ammendment (which I support) would be infringed - whatsoever! 

Their regular checks from the NRA may come to a halt, but they may then be able to actually face themselves in a mirror. And get somethting else - anythng else - done for a change.

I am not so ignorant as to beleive this is the whole solution. I doubt there is a 100% solution to any problem other than those in Sister Norbertine's Algebra class. But it could at least impede the "growth" of this national epidemic.   

Meanwhile, enjoying your trip updates Joe?

(ha, ha, posted this just a momment after yours and had to change that last sentence)

John Jackson

Amen, Dave.  We've already had a ten year ban on assault weapons which passed Constitutional muster but it was not renewed out of deference to the NRA.

Each time there is a mass shooting in this country, The Onion publishes the exact same piece that it has published for every mass shooting over the past five or more years.  The headline is always the same: “No Way To Prevent This, Says Only Nation in the World Where Mass Shootings Regularly Happen” and the only thing that changes in the article is the place of the carnage and the number killed.  The “man-in-the-street” quotes all reinforce the idea that nothing can be done and that this is the way it has to be.  Some of The Onion's stuff can be in spectacularly poor taste, but this article really nails it (make sure you scroll down to “Recommended Stories” which include the last dozen or so identical Onion pieces published after mass shootings):

https://www.theonion.com/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-nation-where-this-r-1836949580

Michael McLeod

Let's just find a way to blame the democrats and the mainstream media.

John Maxwell

James Hamilton, M. D.

I had my yearly eye exam today so, with dilated pupils making me appear like a Betazoid from Star Trek, my only useful vision for the next few hours is near vision. Thus checking my cell phone will be my entertainment.

Just to chime in on guns, it is my belief that military-style assult weapons should be limited to the military and law enforcement personnel. 

Now, ​​​​​​to drastically change the topic, in past posts we have discussed the usefulness of studying Latin. In my line of work it came in very handy. It is still taught at BWHS. I occasionally use the app Google Translate to check on an English to Latin (or vise-versa) word. It works well. Microsoft's Translate app, which my wife prefers, does not contain Latin but - now get this - lists Klingon! I wonder if that is offered at our old alma mater... 

Jim 

David Mitchell

I just lost a 30 typing effort before submitting - so you are all the beneficaries. In short;

In addition to a shockingly true comment from "Himself" today............

1) A lot of talk today about violent video games and their effect on these kids. Experts all denying "any link", but I completely disagree. We all learned to repeat and love much of the stuff we saw and heard on our own early form of "Social Media". You remember, we used to call it "Television".

We loved every Cowboy and Indian hero and wanted guns and horses and coonskin caps. We memorized hundreds of verses of commercial jingles and punch lines. ("where's the beef?" - or "it's Howdy Doodie time" - or  "Born on a mountan top in Tennessee!")

Need I go on?

Can somebody explain how hese ultra violent graphic "killing games" do not make any impression?

2) Also a lot of talk about the "DARK WEB" - a deeply secure bit of the internet that we hear about but know little (some of you maybe). A commentator on PBS News last night explaining how these groups hang around on these sites, sharing "how to do it", cheering each other on, and keeping score when each incident happens. Seveal groups are preparing large numbers of memers for the "coming Race War". One of the sites ("8chan") even admitted last night that their site contained too much of this evil and agreed to shut down. Commendable!  

David Mitchell

JIm,

I'd be elated if my grandkids could just be taught longhand. 

Janie Albright (Blank)

I just sent out an email with all the details about our class trip to the Henry Ford Museum/Greenfield Village in Detroit Sept. 9. I may have messed up the dates. Jack and I seem to have a mental block on this but Clare has it right! Of course she does! Don’t pass up this opportunity to be with your oldest friends! 

Monday September 9 Tuesday September 10  

Life is short! Take the trip! 

James Hamilton, M. D.

I do not want this to be political because the problems are not. I do not blame any politician for the crimes of El Paso or Dayton. The blame lays on the shooters. I do not know what was in their deranged minds, nor do any of you. Manifestos may or may not state what they actually believed or believe. In fact, they may have been written to merely create chaos within society. Do I think that social media or violent movies and video games played a role in these killings? I don't know. Could they have been a factor in other mass murders? Very likely. Are these individuals mentally unstable? Definitely. Would stricter gun laws have prevented these crimes? Doubtful, since cities (Chicago) with some very strict gun laws have the highest gun related violence and death rates. Can Congress solve this problem? No. Can they help? Maybe. Can this problem be solved? Probably not. Can it be minimized? Hopefully. By whom or what? Federal government? Doubtful. Money? Hasn't helped many things before. Families? I think so. Education? If done correctly. Churches? If started early enough. Role models? Only the good ones. The list goes on and we all have our biases. 

As for the mental health aspect, this is what I think/know:

There are​​​ not enough mental health ​professionals/providers in the country to meet our needs. 

Politicians ​​​​and the laws of America often inhibit the ability of mental health workers from preventing dangerous patients from being sequestered from society for evaluation and treatment prior to them committing crimes. 

A person with a severe mental illness (psychosis) cannot be treated/cured as if he/she had a strep throat and just needed a shot of penicillin. That treatment is often long terrm, perhaps lifetime, and needs medication, psychotherapy, other measures and many resources.

In a free society such as ours, there are no easy answers. Will it be necessary to suspend constitutional rights for those who are a threat to our society before they commit crimes? That could certainly lead to abuse and a "slippery slope" scenario. 

I​​​ don't see any one solution to this complex problem and the "blame game" is not helping. It is just a distraction. 

Jim 

John Jackson

Jim, you’re absolutely right that the underlying causes are complex and to solve the problem at the source requires long and difficult effort across among many fronts.  But until we make that investment can't we get an awful lot of symptomatic relief simply by reforming our insane and permissive gun laws?

Other countries have crazy people too but we’re the only one that empowers our crazies to perform unspeakable acts by glorifying gun culture and making military-style guns cheap and easy to get.

And, sorry, while I accept that our Divider-in-Chief did not himself pull the trigger, he has risen to power by demonizing and stoking fear of “the other”, a tactic that only encourages, (and in their minds, provides cover for) the fevered crazies to act out their worst fantasies.  

James Hamilton, M. D.

John, your last sentence is interesting. It seems to me that many of those on the left who are "rising to power" are attempting to do so by vilifying conservatives as racists, white supremacists and several other "-ists" monikers which, in your way of thinking, could and may have already incited others to commit mass murders. Maybe you do but as I said, I do not know what is in their deranged minds.

Jim 

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

More food for thought:

There have always been guns in America, and the same can be said for mental illness, racism and ideological extremism.  If this were simply a problem of mentally unstable people with guns, or racists with guns, or ideological extremists with guns, we should have observed a relatively consistent rate of mass shootings.  But we do not, what we can observe is an eruption of mass shootings in the past 12 years.  The rise of social media, the internet, and video gaming have created a cyberspace obsession which has had the effect of  increasingly detaching us from the physical world and each other…..ironically, our "connectedness" has made us "disconnected".  The reality is that we have become a nation littered with numb, detached, desensitized people.  Mass shootings are the manifestation of that reality.

Underlying all of this is our diminished sense of  the transcendent…a rejection that there is any higher purpose to human life.  As our nation has grown increasingly secular and as God, the very source of morality, virtues and life itself, has been purged from all of our institutions, we see darkness, chaos, evil, violence and human suffering grow to fill in the gap.

While I certainly do not condone the vitriol of current political personas....there is quite enough evidence of enmity emanating from all sides of the political spectrum. 

https://youtu.be/nw9kyYEwg2A

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/08/06/dayton-ohio-shooting-governor-mike-dewine-gun-changes/1930220001/

Frank Ganley

In this world there are great tragedies, some of nature, some are accidents and others are man made. Getting rid of the guns ,impossible ! There are too many ! That barn door has been open since we were American. Where there mass shootings then , no. Guns took too long to load for one but the main reason for no mass murders is they had God in their lives. I know some will scoff at that thought but let us look at just our lives as these are the only lives we’ve lived. This won’t be a oh back in the old days, no it is a question as to what is different or missing in today society. For most of us we went to a catholic grade school and prayed everyday and were taught how important it was to have, to quote Dylan” with God on our side”. We looked forward to our First Holy Communion, Confirmation and all that went with it. Most people regardless of their faith went to Church on Sunday! Why? Everyone has some contact with God, They renewed their faith and prayed for whatever their intentions. Christmas season everyone had a crib, every government building agorned with stables, Wise Men surrounding the Christ. Easter was almost as big with everyone going to their religions customs. The world for the most part was peaceful except for those damned Russians! What happened God was sued and he lost. Like Jackie Paper he came no more. Something must takes it place, something must take people away from the light. Video killing games, call of duty, and the like. We had cowboy guns and rifles, we had army guns and rifles but because they weren’t real we knew it was fake with no consequences except from the argument”i got you, did not” . Though some may not believe any longer but explain, since we have kicked God to the curb. Expelled from our schools how much has this effected our lives. 10 Commandants , are you kidding we don’t need them, Fear of the Lord and the loss of our soul are gone, there is nothing after this life. It is almost to the point where some think Groundhog day is real and tommirow we start all fresh. God needs to be reinvited and included in our lives before these events will stop     

James Hamilton, M. D.

MM and Frank, 

By all means a lack of God in the lives of particularly the young has had a negative effect on the morals of our nation. Although we were raised in a more fearing than loving Church that is today, it provided - and still does - a basis of behavior in a civilized society. Those basics seem to have stayed with us whether we have stayed with the Church or not. Combine the lack of this influence with the other factors I mentioned above and the stage is set for major problems. 

Jim 

​

Michael McLeod

Call me selfish but I am just so grateful I no longer have to cover these events or even the ones that are more or less commonplace and with fewer fatalities.Some writers can continue to do it. I don't know how they managed it and I never asked. I just know I reached my limit. The peculiar thing -- I guess it's not peculiar, it's just what sticks with me -- is that there is no difference between someone who was married to a astronaut who died when the shuttle blew up and someone who only lived because they left a gay nightclub a few minutes before their lover did. Grief is just grief. A broken heart is a broken heart. The closer you get to them the less you think about politics or belief systems.

Joseph D. McCarthy

I tried to send a memo/ravelogue last nite when I reached Bloomington, IL but the hotel computer kept logging me out after just minutes saying I was timed out.

I have been providing start/departure and stop/arrival times each day.The only problem was that I was using LOCAL time, and the first two days I entered a new time zone that added an hour to arrival times.  Monday Ideparted North Platte, NE just prior to 8:00A.M. and arrived at Bloomington,IL at approximately 7:30P.M.; withno time zone change.  Today I departed Bloomington, IL around 7:50A.M. and arrived in the Hilliard area around: 3:25P.M., WITH a time zone change. I don;t worry about the lost time; when I return to California I will re-gain those three hours of youth.

Now for a little bit of the things I wanted to say but ran out of tijme each night.  For those who have never traveled much of this country by driving I say you are missing so much, and I've done it round trip att leastthirty or forty times (use to take different routes). Coming out of Park City, Utah you start through some beautiful canyons of Red cliffs that are about 100 feet high.  In Wyoming I started to see many Fields of Wind Generators, with "blades" that are each about 100 foot long.  Also I started seeing row after row of 8 foot high snow fencing.  The rows of fencing went on for miles. Cheyenne,Wyoming is a definite place that is worth stopping atfor the history.  The rivers, such as the PlatteS, because there is more than one, are pretty full.  Speaking of more than one, We crossed the continental divide multiple times while driving straight East on I-80.

Gasoline has gone from the $3.59 to fill the tank before we left California, to a low of around $1.99. Thankfully my Ford Expedition can work on cornpower, err I mean that stupid additive that is destroying gasoline engines.  Yes, the lowest price was for 85 octane, I usually using 87 Octane.

Yesterday we went through Omaha and I had hoped to stop and lunch with an old acquintance "W.B.", but couldn't locate him inthesort time we had.  Wait, you didn;t think Imeant the Oracle of Omaha.  I was refering to "Waylaid Billy".  After Omaha we drove around (northern route) Des Moines, Iowa. For years when we returned from or trip to Columbus we always stopped at an Eastern suburb of Des Moines called Ankenny.  About a mile from the hotel was one of the best seafood restaraunts we have eaten at.  It is afamily operationwithtwo spotsaround Des Moines.

Tonight we decided to just go a block away to the Skyline Chilli on Fishinger by I-270.  The waitress made the mistake of asing how everything was. So in my best face,Dave taugght me that, I said is wasworth the drive.  Her second mistake was saying "Oh did you drivefar?"  My serios reply was " just about 2,500 miles"   She calmly asked where from I said North of San Francisco.  She said "are you here for any particular reason?"  Drum Beat,Just wanted to have some Skyline Chilli.  Then we bothstarted laughing. 

Enough for now, I do needsome sleep.

Frank Ganley

There is no difference in the grief borne to the relatives of anyone who passes. Whether it our dearest old Grandpart or the parents of someone who was killed in the commission of a crime. It is a loss a great loss but that is not the premise of my thoughts . With no God and children or adults who are consummed by these violent video games. To win you mustkill and with every kill the player is more immune to to the remorse it become to them a norm. Having these games rule their lives may not be the cause but it sure adds to the lack of morals . Bring back discilpine in school and if a parent complains about how their little johnnie was so unjustly treated, they are then senrenced to be a classroom monitor for a month

David Mitchell

I agree with those of you who say there are other contributing factors to the violence, from violent games influences, lack of moral guidnace, growing loneliness in society, and the (not mentioned) argument about "toxic masculinity" (recall the Gillette Ad controversy a few months ago). 

But I am also intrigued by answers to what I specifically did NOT say.

I did not say "take away guns". I said I thought there was "No reason for a private person to own a "semi-automatic" weapon. (unless you are a paranoid coward, or a really lousy shot)

I also heard that "would not solve the problem". I did say it would NOT solve the Whole problem. But it wuld mitigate some of the violence. If partial results are not helpful then so be it. By that reasoning, why not allow "fully automtic" weapons? There seems to be a fundamental misunderstandning as to what the difference is. Simply put, if you can shoot faster, you can kill more in a given period of time. If that sounds condescending or too elementary for some to grasp, then I'm sorry.

But consider this;

Recall back in about 2011 U.S. Rep Gabby Giffords was shot by a young (yes, white male) gunman who used a "semi-automatic" pistol (with extra large 33-round clips - another item I advocate restricting). At the time, there were two (private carry) armed young men in the crowd hiding behind planters in the parking lot who could have taken the shooter down sooner, but could not get along enough break to get up and open fire because the rapid fire and extra long clips made it impossible.  

My point is NOT a political one - it is a meerely a logistical one. Faster killing power equals more killing power.

IS THAT SO HARD TO GRASP?

* And one more point that makes no sense at all. In Mary Margaret's quoted piece from Matt Walsh, in Mr. Walsh's second paragraph he says,  "mass shootings are exceedingly rare".

Who the hell is he kidding?  Or what the hell is he drinking?