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David Mitchell

In other news,,,,,,

I owe you all an aplology. I meant to post this important information a few years ago. I forgot that I had this from a previous trip to Columbus for Peggy Southworth's great party about 3 yrs ago.  Anyway, here it is.

For any of you who may have inadvertantly lost or forgotten the Vietnamese area code for Columbus, Ohio - this is it.

(Just half a block north of Henderson on High Street - near OLP)

Michael McLeod

love it!

Michael McLeod

I wish Donald Trump was a singer with an all girl backup group because they could call themselves Donald and the Strumpettes.

These are the kind of things that go thru a writers mind.Be afraid. Be very afraid.

James Hamilton, M. D.

Mike,

Your don't want to know what goes through a physician's mind on just about anything!

Jim 

Joseph D. McCarthy

Before I attempt to finally provide my travelogue for this years trip I need to respond to a burning question a few of you had; the rest of you will have to sit their and read about it, or fast forward (page down key).

Before I can answer the question as to why I drive to Columbus when they finally have reliable planes flying across the country, I need to explain what happened to three of our classmates.

First was Sheila McCarthy, no relation (Lucky Sheila).  Shelia was asked if she wanted to take an assignment for one of the (nameless) airline to do a feature on air travel in this "post" covid period.  So they started her trip from Gardenville via a crop duster plane to Reno; her bage were put on an Amtrack train for Detroit.  From Reno she had a decent flight to Dallas.  From Dallas the next portion of the flight was to Salt Lake City, then on to Orlando.  From Orlando they flew her to Detroit to claim her luggage, somhow it went to Boston.  So they sent her to Boston whereshe finally found what was left of her luggage; the rest they said went to Canada where iot was last seen being put on a flight to Hong Kong.  Thankfully they did fly her to Columbus, eventually.

Then there is Dr Jim.  He was asked to try out a special top secret camera for the FAA and NASA.  They provided a special jet only for Jim and his wife and told Jim he was to do Wildlife photography while on the plane.  Jim thought it odd, but maybe the camera was able to take pictures through any conditions and had a special lense to take telescopic shots.  After he arrived in Columbus the pilots said they had forogt to give him the parachutes to be used after the birds got sucked into the engines and the plane crashed.  The camera was built to see if it could withstand a crash landing.

Then there was Dave.  Many of you don't know that Dave has been learning how to fly a different type of craft.  Glad to see that you made in back to South Carolina.  It was great that Mike B. taught a now Executive with Worthington Steel so that they helped you obtain enogh gas for that hot air ballon you used to return hime.

Now a quick thank you to Dave D.  He borrowed a forklift from the Fair grounds so that I could get my wifes suitcase into our vehicle for the return trip.  And Dave I was able to rent one when we got home.  

Which brings me to the main reason I may not return to Columbus, at least with my wife, I'm getting to old or weak.  And why we don't fly; the airlines puts a limit on the weight of a suitcase and my wife always packs at least 375 pounds worth of clothes that she nevwer wears in that one suitcase.

More later

Michael McLeod

Jim: I'll try not to think of that remark when I go in for my checkup this month.

Joe: LOL.

As for me I feel like such a fool. I voted for Biden and now the country has gone to pot.

Sheila McCarthy (Gardner)

Dear Joe: That is a pretty accurate account of my pre- and post-COVID travelogs... You have turned out to be the humor writer in the family! While may not be officially related, we are nearly neighbors out here by the Left Coast. If you ever have excess baggage to offload, I'll happily retrieve and store it for you... Cheers and many more safe travels ... 

Joseph D. McCarthy

Dr. Jim, photographer extraordinary,

Read an interesting story on the fron page of today's Wall Street Journal; normally I just look at the pictures. Anyway, I wanted you to be very careful when out taking those beautiful nature photos.  Do NOT under any circumstances go into the wildernes when driving any new fangled vehicle, such as the Hyundai Elentra the women in the article rented from Zipcar, Inc. (Owned by Avis).  It seems that these vehicle are equipped withRadio-Frequency Identification (RFID) and Bluetooth technology.  The woman locked the car before they started a walk in the mountains in Washington state.  When they returned they were unable to unlock the vehichle because there were without a signal from the fob to unlock the vehichle.

Be forewarned,  Isn't automation a wonderful improvement over unlocking with a key.

Joseph D. McCarthy

Dear Sheila,

Is that an invitaation to leave my wife at your place????   Just kidding.

James Hamilton, M. D.

Joe McC.,

Good advice!

But, not to worry, our two older SUVs are totally unconnected from such technology. Just our keys and our close range fobs. Also, no distracted driving gizmos like big screens, Bluetooth, self parking, etc.

And forget those EVs which would probably catch fire as I drive across streams and creeks, or through deep puddles. To say nothing about finding a charging station on a rocky road in the middle of a forest. 

Yes, I am  dinosaur 🦖 in my driving habits also!

Jim 

Michael McLeod

get your covid booster and your flu shot. Ask for the formulation for 65 and older. 

David Mitchell

Oh Dear!

My landlord recently replaced my 40 year old gas (propane) heater with a new electric heat pump that costs me so much less money, I can hardly believe how much I am saving. But Miss Margorie, the little lady from Georgia, claims I am "emasculating" my house.

And she knows every little thing about every little thing. 

Bless her heart.

David Mitchell

Joe,

Do you think we could put your cross country travel post to music?

Sheila McCarthy (Gardner)

Dear Joe: You two work that out and let me know what you decide .... 

Michael McLeod

Dave: you mentioning Dee Brown's iconic wounded knee book got me thinking. We don't want our kids reading that book because it will make them feel guilty about how we treated native americans. Kinda wondering why there hasn't been an uproar along those lines. Maybe that's next up from the critical race gang

David Mitchell

Mike,

I have been wondering the same thing for the past few years. I think the European mistreatment of native Americans started back before slavery even began. Or, even going back furthre to the abuses of how Columbus and his brother Barthomomew treated the native islanders. (Of course we never heard that in school anyway)

And how will they treat President Roosevelt and (then) Governor Warren's seizure of property and forced internment camps for the west coast Japanese Americans? Nobody ever mentions that anymore. One of our best family friends, a George Shinowara, spent part of his teenage years with his family in one of those camps - I believe in Arizona. 

Michael McLeod

oh yea. and george takie. sulu on star trek. saw him talk once. he was a kid in an internment camp. when he would go out to pee in the night a spotlight from the guards would follow him. he thought in his innocence they were lighting his way to keep him from being scared. i'm not so sure.

Joseph D. McCarthy

Jim and Mike,  my wife and I received our Booster (covid 94 or thereabouts for the new variants) just before 11:00 A.M. on Tuesday.  That night I felt a little soreness by the injection sight so I took two Tylenol (Walmart generic) around 7:30 P.M. and slept like a baby, err an old man.  Wendesday morning I took two more "Tylenol" just to be safe and never had anymore reaction.  

Dave, have you by chance an extra forty million to purchase all the unsold records from the tune that would never make the bottom ten records?

David Mitchell

Joe,

If you could just find some way to montetize you travelogues, I'm sure you could riase it.

Or perhaps you could "weaponize" it.

Maybe we could sell baseball caps with a big MMSA (Make 'Merica Sane Again) on the front. 

Janie Albright (Blank)

Dave, seeing you write 'Merica makes me miss our great buddy, Tim. How can we get him back on here? Enough of a break already!

And speaking of slavery. It's in the Bible. Nothing new here unfortunately. Man's inhumanity to man is consistent if nothing else. 

David Mitchell

Been wondering the same thing about Tim for the past year.

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

An essay by Ayn Rand from 1963,,,,,,a present day deja vu,

https://courses.aynrand.org/works/extremism-or-the-art-of-smearing/

John Maxwell

Michael McLeod

Jack: now you know why we don't like the idea of you going out in public without mature adult accompaniment. Goofy is an anthropomorphic dog. As far as I am concerned he is more anthropomorphic than you are.

John Maxwell