A few weeks ago there was some rumor that nuclear missiles disappeared from a military base. At the same time Senator Lindsey Graham made some curious remarks about a missile strike in South Carolina. Fascinatingly curious. What the heck are these missile launcers doing in Tennessee?
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Our latest adventure was a train ride through the Verde River Valley near Cottonwood, Arizona. We drove the hill climbing 3000 feet in altitude from the valley to Chambers, Arizona. During our scoot from the I-17 toward Cottonwood on AZ-269 I related to Peg the last time I was in this part of the country. It was 1987, and I attended The League of American Wheelmen’s national rally in Flagstaff. It was my second week-long bicycle tour.
My goal at the time was to maximize the adventure by using the train to get to the rally. I arrived at the train depot in Joliet, IL at 4:00 p.m. for a 5:00 p.m. departure. The station was empty and dead. The train I awaited began it’s run in Chicago a mere forty miles away, but didn’t arrive until 8:00 p.m. Gee this will be interesting, the train is already three hours behind schedule before I start, and that is the way it ended too.
Once at the rally city I bussed to the Grand Canyon and joined the tour group which rode back to Flagstaff on bicycles. It took us three days to make that trip. At the rally there were daily bike trips offered in each direction. These trips averaged from 30 to 100 miles each. All were scenic and went to destinations of interest. I chose the one which followed scenic Oak Creek Canyon to Sedona (all down hill) and then across the valley to Cottonwood and finally to the Tuzigoot National Monument. A bus awaited there to haul us back up the hill to Flagstaff.
As Peggy and I approached Cottonwood, the amount of traffic picked up considerably, and the number of shopping malls exploded. I couldn’t get over the amount of development that had occurred since my last visit. My first visit to Cottonwood was a joy as we pedaled through 105 degrees through a sleepy little village. The town which chartered in 1960 consisted of a typical Main street with quaint shops along either side of a three block stretch. On this day, Peg and I passed through several stop lights passing a Home Depot, Walmart, Papa Joe’s and more before we even came close to Historic Cottonwood. I put all my trust in the slave lady who resides in the box on my dash and gives me instructions about where and when to turn. Eventually, we reached a street that looked like the Cottonwood I remembered. A short distance from the old town we passed the entrance to Tuzigoot.
For the umpteenth time the amount of development that occurred in the USA in the past 30-40 years has amazed me. Where did all the people come from to make every town in America grow so large? The time we visited Santa Fé, New Mexico is the first instance when I suffered population growth shock similar to that which I experienced this week in Cottonwood. Each time, I have gone back to these cities expecting to see the same quaint cute little burgs they were when I first saw them. As Thomas Wolfe wrote “you can never go back home again,” and then re-quoted by John Steinbeck in “Travels with Charlie,” I begin to understand what it means.
Peg and I boarded the Verde Valley Railroad car named Tucson at 12:45 and sat watching the amazing topography of the Verde River Canyon pass us by at a snoozy twelve miles per hour. I dreamed about doing this same tour on my bicycle at the same speed. The problem is that the railroad is the only road that travels this section of paradise. Very few people inhabit the scenic volcanic landscape.
The run down the hill was more fun than climbing in the morning. We chased a sunset all the way at 80 miles per hour. I achieved another goal along the way, I the exited the I-17 correctly to find the Rock Springs Pie Company. There, in the sparsely populated Arizona mountains, is a business consisting of a gas station, bed and breakfast, flea market, café, saloon, and the best home-made pies in the world. We bought a cherry pie to bring home.
Filed under: Biography, family, Memories, Travel | Tagged: Bicycle, Cottonwood, Flagstaff, John Steinbeck, League of American Bicyclists, League of American Wheelmen, RailroadsGrand Canyon, Rock Springs Pie Company, Sedona, Thomas Wolfe, Tuzigoot, Verde Valley | Leave a comment »
A shut down of the US power grid has been a National concern of late. Where is the new grid Obama promised with his trillion dollar stimulus and his 900 billion dollar shovel ready stimulus? I’d say it is in union pockets.
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One advantage of living in a retirement community is the amount of activities that are available. Yesterday evening, Peggy and I went to the movies at the Stardust Theater on the corner of Stardust Boulevard and R.H. Johnson Boulevard. The film being shown “The Court Martial Of Billy Mitchell” is from 1955. I was a Junior in High School when it came out. I never saw it then, but I am glad I got to see it now. There is a line-up of major stars in this film, most of which you young uns will not recognize like Gary Cooper, Ralph Belamy, Jack Lord, Elizabeth Montgomery, Gavin McLeod, Rod Steiger, Jack Clark, and directed by Otto Preminger. All of them were un-recognizably young, but today they are all dead.
The story is about the life of William “Billy” Mitchell who served in the army before there was an air force. He had an amazing vision for how air power would be used to win wars.
I read a few articles about his life and have decided that this film could be classified as a documentary. It follows his career and life that closely. At the beginning of the film, I thought the acting a bit amateurish, but as it progressed the acting became more convincing. Having lived my life with a passion for airplanes I had trouble visualizing a time when the US Military did not recognize airplanes as an implement of war. More specifically, a pig headed navy would not believe a ship could be sunk by an airplane.
Billy Mitchell wrote many letters to his superiors with recommendations for what he thought the military should do. After serving a stint in Hawaii he outlined how the island was vulnerable. They read his letter into the record at his court-martial as a way to humiliate him. The attack he described was exactly what happened at Pearl Harbor. Hi made this prediction nineteen years before WWII. When asked which country would use this plan he answered “Japan.” In retrospect, his description of the way Pearl Harbor could be taken was so accurate I believe the Japanese managed to steal it from our country.
The movie cost us two bucks apiece to see, and we are still talking about it today. This will be a regular Thursday night activity from now on.
Filed under: family, Government, Movie Review | Tagged: Billy Mitchell, Gary Cooper, Otto Preminger, Ralph Bellamy, Retirement Community, US Army, US Military, US Navy | 2 Comments »
Congressman Trey Gowdy from South Carolina is one of my favorites because he delivers with passion. My own Congressman delivers what ever the party line tells him to. For that he collects a sizable salary. So instead of listening to my representative’s speeches, I listen to those who can make a point and deliver with conviction.
Filed under: Conservative, family, Government, politics | Tagged: Faithful, Obama, Procedure, Rule of Law, SOuth CArolina, Supreme Court, Trey Gowdy | 1 Comment »
Death Of the Shining City
