All Down The Line

Lovely day in the mid west today. Instead of watching football on TV, I decided to as my mother would say, "go outside and get the stink blowed off me."

The nice thing about Sedalia is the access to the Katy trail. I decided to go south west today for a leisurely ride toward Green Ridge which is about 12 miles down the trail. In the above picture I approached some spot on the trail named "Campbell." If you look closely in the distance there is the marker to people coming the other way with absolutely nothing in between

My view today. The Katy is well taken care of and well maintained, a true jewel in the Mo. State Parks system

These things are deadly and dangerous. Glad I looked up when I did.

Nice spur off the trail right outside Sedalia

So, there it is. I haven't played basketball in awhile, I'm about 30 pounds overweight but I can still do this, Sedalia to Green Ridge and back. Lovely afternoon on the trail.

Are You Sirius?

This is just about the only thing I have that proves Ann and I were at Abbey Road studios in January of 1994.
An incredulous serendipity that never happened. Picture wise.
After introductions, Alan was indeed impressed I was from KSHE as he knew KSHE was one of the very first stations to play his music in America.
I have pictures of him, Ann and I standing under the Abbey Road sign at the front door. Pictures of Alan, myself and Ann having tea later in the day.
Damn. I can't find them.
Sure, I can find pictures of me 60 year ago that mean nothing but I can't find ANY of these.
Alan, Ann and I got along fabulously.

Nine months later, Alan is touring America and stops in St. Louis.
He leaves a message and I call him back.

We have dinner later and he proceeds to tell me we were not alone at Abbey Road.
Apparently, in the penthouse studio after we leave to go downstairs, on that particular Saturday morning, George, Paul and Ringo were putting the final touches on the "Anthology" project.

What?

"It would have funny as hell if you would have seen one of them in the loo."
"Yes, Alan, I would have pissed all over myself."
"Couldn't tell you about it then, mate. Sorry."

Yeah, the three surviving Beatles in one place and apparently, so was I.

And I have no pictures of any of it.

Paperback Writer

Getting settled 382 miles away from hell.
Morris did not/does not exist.
I wasn't there and none of those terrible things happened to me.
It was all an ambien induced bad dream.

My ex wife texted me a few days ago about some items left behind in the divorce. One was a box full of pictures I attempted to digitize a number of years ago over the Christmas holiday. It was great to start with, but seeing all those dead people kinda wore on me. It just sent me back to a place when everyone was still alive.
That time seems like hundreds of years ago.

One of the things I found was my writing journal when I took a class at St. Louis Community College at Meramec in Kirkwood. I lived literally across the street and I thought being 40 was a good time to keep the brain cells stimulated. I took a course in non verbal communications and also the study of Native American Indians along with this Humor in American History class taught by Dr. Michalski, a jovial, wonderful teacher.

My final exam in that class was to do the George Carlin "Wonderful Wino" radio broadcast by memory in front of the class.
It was awesome.

A very young George Carlin doing the bit.

I will post some things I found in the journal because he thought they were very good (his words, not mine).

I wrote two limericks:

4/10/96

There was a young girl from Alquipper,
She had trouble with the boyfriend's zipper.
She tried and plied
He sighed and cried
What hit the floor was then known as Nipper.

Then came a man from Kirkwood,
Who saw more really than Dirk could.
The young miss was pleasing,
And obviously teasing
Would Doug done more than Kirk would?

Pretty cheesy but I'll publish some of this stuff over the next few days.

About four years after I got out of his class, I found out Dr. Michalski died a horrible death from cancer. Of all the people I knew that have died that way, he probably deserved it the least.
Incredibly supporting and kind, we became kindred spirits and as what usually happens, our communications became more sparse until I read the news that day.
Lessons apparently not learned.