Our summer this year was focused on celebrating the lives of two folks…one gone way too young, and one who enjoyed every inning, and even a few extra! First, we headed to Minneapolis for the Memorial Service we executed for my Dad, based on his very explicit instructions.
Dad was 96 when he passed, and in the years leading up to his ultimate demise, he contemplated his departure for the next frontier, and helped his friends and kids thru the event by carefully crafting every aspect of the memorial he wanted.
• He wrote his own obituary and eulogy.
• He specified the details of the place for the memorial (Temple Israel, with Rabbi Zimmerman officiating).
• He MAY have organized the weather, as he claimed to be able to do
He wanted a celebration – focused on his accomplishments, friends and family. We tried to honor that by adding only a small amount to his specific instructions:
• A couple of Grandkids read some of the most influential tomes in Dad’s Life (“IF” by Rudyard Kipling and “Uncommon Man” by Dean Alfange); words he wanted read
• A dear friend and Actor found favorite and exceptional vocalists for the songs Dad asked for (“Impossible Dream” and “Never Walk Alone”); songs he wanted sung
• We asked a couple of his friends and colleagues to share their feelings. He did not ask for this, specifically, but his life and vision and force was so influential on so many that we thought he wouldn’t mind…
• And we worked with the City and Park Board to plant trees near a several of the most exceptional developments Dad left behind for the betterment of ALL of the City of Minneapolis, its 2 and 4-legged residents.
If anyone is interested, there is an online recording of his memorial service. CLick here
And, here is a link to my thoughts, given at the memorial as the newest Harris Family Patriarch, the mantle having been passed despite my readiness (or not) to receive it.
Our next destination was Boise, Id, where we were to attend the Celebration of Life for a college friend. Tyra Stubbs, who passed last fall after a long journey through the after-effects of a severe head injury incurred in the bicycle-phase of an Iron-Man triathalon a decade or so ago. She overcame the injury itself, but struggled with the increasing cognitive impairment that resulted. We went to Boise along with a large cadre of college friends to honor her memory, and to support her husband, Dick, who’s extraordinary, compassionate stewardship of Tyra’s last years was inspiring, to say the least.
The weekend in Boise included a LOT of memories, pictures, laughs, and even a field trip to McCall to support our friend (one of the Cadre), Keith Cambre, in a mile swim. Keith, being a man of a certain age (as we all are), underestimated the effects of altitude (he worked out in Minnesota in preparation), and as a result, swam to the finish absolutely dead last among the participants. He arrived with an escort from the Sherriffs dept. and his own guardian angel – a young women on a Paddle Board…both to make sure he didn’t drown, no doubt.
No dishonor in that, but as the event’s organizers allocated prizes and medals to the winners in each age group, it became clear they had not intended an acknowledgement of Keith’s epic feat. I took it on myself to “discuss” this oversight with the organizers. How could they NOT recognize the very last swimmer, who could have easily given up. Or drowned. Realizing the wrong that was being committed, they did the right thing, and organized a grab-bag of chachkis, and Keith’s guardian angel (she who followed him the whole way on the paddleboard) presented it.
We even celebrated Dickie’s birthday in style!
I never actually made it to the celebration of Tyra’s life, tho…because on the morning of the event, I was distracted by the erroneous (as it turns out) alert of my Chinese-knockoff Smartwatch. I noted several instances of a heartrate of 40BPM. That is not supposed to happen…my new pacemaker kicks in at 70. Until this very week, I had never seen a rate less than 70. I was having no symptoms, but we were a long way from my docs, and about to head up to Canada… we decided to be prudent and headed to the ER. Where we waited, after they did an EKG and Cardiac Enzyme test to verify I was not about to drop dead.
Eventually, they called in the Medtronics tech, who queried the device and ascertained that it was working perfectly. After about 8 hours, they kicked me out. In the end, what we learned was: My heart was occasionally engaging in Premature Ventricular Contractions…which is TOTALLY NORMAL and experienced by everyone. The issue was, these beats are “soft” and followed by an extra-strong catch-up beat. My cheap-ass Chinese watch was not catching the weak beat, so it was reporting a rate of 40BPM instead of the actual rate of 80BPM.
Meanwhile, we missed the memorial.
There is about as much to report from those states as this one sentence conveys
On the way to Boise, we transited both North Dakota and Montana. There is about as much to report from those states as this one sentence conveys. Although, to be fair, in Montana we stopped to see Terry Sue and Mike Gagnet. These folks have an almost identical Bluebird to our first bus, and we stumbled on them accidentally in Fairhope Alabama. (Described here) Turns out Mike works near Bozeman for the summer, and so we stopped. Had a gr8 couple meals and associated conversation before moving onwards.
Also on the way to Boise, we stopped for a night in the Craters of the Moon National Monument. We’ve stopped b4…it’s a very strange place and landscape…very worthwhile for a short visit, a couple hikes and an overnight.
While in Boise, we also experienced a COSMIC ALIGNMENT of the first order. Through several music festivals, online playlists, etc., I became aware of a Blues Artist name of Samantha Fish. Impressed by her work…and always on the lookout for music options on the road…when Dickie sent a link to her CONCERT IN BOISE a few days after Tyra’s memorial, I felt like no way should the opportunity be missed!!!
I put my name on a waiting list for seats at private tables up front, and on the day of the concert, when none were yet available, I went online to book General Admission. THESE WERE HALF PRICE!!! And not only that, we got to the venue early, and there were a few tables right up front that were NOT reserved, and were FCFS. Needless to say, we had a FABULOUS time!!!
At the concert venue, there was an unexpected display of tolerance and understanding, considering Idaho’s reputation…
Before the concert, we attended a HUGE Basque Festival near the venue. Who knew that Boise/Idaho has a HUGE population of Basque?
In Boise, I was able to finalize my search for a GAS BBQ GRILL that would fit in the bay of the bus. My goal was to replace the crappy gas grill we had AND the miniscule (too small to be useful) egg-style grill with one unit that would perform a range of cooking activity…from Smoking to searing.
As usual, the options have to be carefully evaluated for SIZE (has to fit in the bay!). I found ONE brand/model that would work well, and in another COSMIC ALIGNMENT, I found one on Craigslist … IN BOISE … that was available for $0!!!! Problem was, although the “seller” set it aside for us, it was “stolen” out of his yard the day before we could get there!!! ☹. HOWEVER, I found another model that would fit, also on sale, also in Boise. This one I had to pay for (a good deal, tho).
Finally, In Boise we had a moment of the kind of happiness you can ONLY experience when you drive a Vintage Bluebird and realize the LARGE oil spot under your bus is NOT FROM your bus!!! Euphoric, it was time to move on!!!
Leaving Boise, we headed through Oregon, making several stops. First was a visit to friends Cindy and Paul Kremser, who live on a beautiful bend in the Umpqua River. They offered us self-caught fish and fantastic wine…the latter so much so that we visited the Winery responsible. We purchased a half a case, not remembering at the time that we were about to cross the border to Canada – and were already substantially over the liquor quota. We decided to send a couple bottles to friends Nancy and Sid in Chicago, which turns out to be less than straightforward because UPS stores won’t accept Liquor for shipment.
After visiting Cindy and Paul, we headed north to see friends Rhoda and Brian Gibler. Fellow Bluebirders, the Giblers and their family own/run a U-Pick Blueberry farm, and the timing was at PEAK HARVEST!!! So we visited and ate Blueberries in many forms, including Sauce on Ice Cream, infused vodka, pancakes and Mickey Mouse Waffles . We left with 10 lbs of fresh-frozen berries, so we are STILL eating muffins, cobbler and cereal rich with the fruit. YUM!!!!
While on the farm, I installed the BBQ Grill I had purchased, along with a “Smoke Generator.” I then decided to try my hand with a Brisket. This worked out VERY, VERY WELL. Still some changes and enhancements needed on the new grill…I could not keep the temp low enuf, so I have since installed a couple vents that will help with that. All in all, tho, a gr8 first effort!!!
Also while in Oregon, I got a nasty-gram from Verizon. As I may have mentioned before, we have been using Verizon 5G “Home” Internet for the past 3 years. We signed up in Chicago, where this service is offered, and Verizon has not seemed to mind for the past several years that our “Home” has moved VERY FAR and VERY FREQUENTLY from Chicago. But, I got an email: “We have noticed your device is NOT at your service address. Please provide us your new service address…” OBVIOUSLY, they have gotten wise to us, and were about to cut us off (or raise our price…we have heard both rumors). So, we bit the bullet and installed StarLink on the roof of the bus.
Normally, I keep politics off these pages, but I have a bit of a moral crisis with this, because of Elon Musk’s bat-shit-recent-craziness. I cant really reconcile this conflict, so instead, I inscribed the following on our dish: “We know he’s an A**hole, but we need Internet…”
Leaving Captain Blueberry, we decided to head up the Oregon and Washington Coasts en route to Canada. Our ultimate plan was to spend a couple weeks with friends Gera and Chuck Chandler on Vancouver Island, preceded by visiting a gaggle of friends in Vancouver Proper. More on Canada in a bit…first on our route and activity along the way.
Our first stop was at the little village of Netarts, where we stayed right on the coast. This park offered GR8 Seafood/Oysters at a nearby restaurant. We also got to talking to Marlin, another fella in the park. We learned that he went Clamming EVERY DAY (and Crabbing some days). He offered to take us the next morning at Low Tide…we accepted.
Not knowing much about Clamming, we went to a sports store to acquire the stuff google said we needed. This included shovels that cost like $60. OH, HECK NO!!! Instead we bought little plastic ones for $5.
When we turned up for Clamming the next day, Marlin laughed at us! He said you ONLY need a bucket (and he gave us each one), because you walk barefoot on the mudflats, feeling for clams with your feet in the squishy mud. When you feel one, you reach down with your fingers and extricate it from the mud and deposit in the bucket!!! We decided to carry ONE of the shovels anyway, but Marlin was absolutely right, and we looked sooooo ridiculous!!!
While in Netarts, we visited nearby Tillamook, including the world-famous Creamery (Ice Cream!!!) and the Tillamook Air Museum. The latter was really cool…a former Dirigible Base in WWII.
Then, we moved on, over the Astoria Bridge, to Long Beach, Washington. This bridge offers hair-raising transit in times of wind and fog – it’s WAY up there and pretty narrow. The day we crossed, it was sunny and flat-calm. Good thing, because I have no hair to raise!!!
While in Long beach, we had the chance to add something uniquely PNW to our resume: we endured an atmospheric river! Just a small one…for a day or so!!!
And, All up the coast, we made an effort to enjoy as much Clam and Seafood Chowder as we possibly could., including cooking the Clams we Clammed in Netarts. It was ALL excellent, but I need to mention one particular version we discovered in Long Beach: Tom Yum Clam Chowder, served at a small, Formosan storefront Restaurant!!
Next, it was time for our sojourn into Canada. The following post covers all that!!!
