45th High School Reunion - main event

Oh, what a night. With apologies to Frankie Valli, it was "a very special time for me" although this was many decades after "late December back in '63". Our class of 1965 had gathered for the main event, our 45th class reunion held in late August, 2010, in the Broad Ripple area of Indianapolis. The weekend featured an early get together on Friday night, a tour of the old high school Saturday morning (I declined), the dinner/dance at 7-11 PM Saturday, and a follow up "get out of town Brunch" from 11-2 PM on Sunday.

I took a few pictures, some of which actually came out. I've selected three, including a shot of the band featuring classmate C.E. Quandt, who is a high school Principal these days, and of the tables full of classmates and spouses, and a shot of my prior night hosts, Sarah and Dick with Sarah's fellow band-mate Marsha to her right. The deck outside the event hall was popular, as the heat of late August was winning over the air conditioning of the facility.

Roast beef was the meal, and it wasn't bad - I always fear those large event catering situations, but this was OK. We had the one "60's band", and then we were entertained by a quartet that sang a lot of MOTOWN favorites. Some dancing took place, perhaps some romancing as well - none apparent to me, but with many of our number on marriages numbers two, three and even four, I suspect some liaisons were to take place afterward. For me, I retired to my son's house nearby so I wouldn't disturb Dick and Sarah who planned early church on Sunday.

I did indeed do the brunch, at least from 11 AM to 1 PM, then decided I needed to get back home to St. Louis and left. Had a nice drive with the top down so picked up some sun that had successfully evaded me during the prior week in rainy Florida.

45th High School Reunion

All of my recent travels from St. Louis to Indianapolis, to Longboat Key, and return to St. Louis via Indianapolis were tiring, but fulfilling. I had a great time with my son, helping him move to Florida (where we'll be joining him in a month), and then having the chance to visit an air museum, the Corvette Museum, a private car collection, and a three day high school reunion weekend.

I will most likely post a number of photos from the reunion on my Face Book page, so for the Friday night get-together I chose a shot taken of yours truly, by my friend Sarah. Sarah and her new husband Dick were my gracious hosts on Friday night, and she and I go way back to P.S. 66 at 38th and Park Avenue in Indianapolis. We were to go through grade and high school, and kept in touch over the years. Our class has held reunions every five years since 1970, and we keep in touch a lot.

Friday was for folks who got into town early, and we met at a Mexican theme restaurant, so naturally I'm drinking a margarita. The pretty lady in the picture is Judy Barnes Stahl, who married her high school classmate Bob Stahl. Judy retired as a minister, and Bob continues a career as a financial consultant as I understand. The classic marriage of faith and the money changer, so I'm confused with the parable there. Judy offers one heck of a prayer, which she gave the following night as we remembered those of our class no longer with us. I'd quote statistics of my class, were it not for the fact I've already packed up and taped shut all my old high school annuals in anticipation of my own move to Florida later this month. We did have well over 30 people on Friday night, and would see five times that number the follow day, but that's the subject of another blog entry. By the way, the margarita tasted "damn fine", but I told Judy is was just "darn good". I guess I remain somewhat intimidated by ladies of the cloth.

The Private Museum

Once we got back from Bowling Green, I had some free time on Friday afternoon to visit a personal collection of cars, owned by the son of the Chevrolet dealer who had sold cars to my family for several generations. He asked of me only one favor, and that was not to display any of my pictures on the web. There was one car there, that had previously been on the Internet (via this blog) and that was my mothers 1990 Chevrolet station wagon with less than 30,000 miles on it. This gentleman had agreed to repurchase the car for restoration, as it was fully loaded with every option available. It also had sat in a garage in Sun City, Arizona, for five years without being driven. And when it had been driven, it was driven by a 70 year old woman who used it to haul her harp around.

The car now is awaiting minor body work, and the challenge is to find the "woody" side decals. Paint is in dramatically good condition (at least to me), and the upholstery is very good. The car has "returned home" to the man who sold it, and we wish him the best.

His museum has a number of cars, many are GM vehicles, logically. I had two favorites, one of which was a Ferrari 255 "custom" convertible. I say custom because it has no top, and the seats have been moved back 20 inches, which required moving the gas tank to the front of this rear engined car. The seat has an "S" in the shape of the old Superman logo stitched in the headrest. Prior owner was an NBA player whose name also began with the letter "S". It had 90,000 miles, but could only be driven in the sun, since the custom work eliminated any chance of a power top (no room - but when you're seven foot one inch, you've got to make adjustments to legroom and pedals).

Also in the museum was the Corvette Pace Car driven by Emerson Fittipaldi in 2007, and autographed by the two time Indy 500 winner (1989, 1993). Emerson signed the underside of the hood on this 2006 Atomic Orange convertible. As the primary dealer for 500 pace cars, this one came home to the dealership and was put into the private collection.

There was also a 1994 Pontiac Fiero 500 Pace Car, which holds the distinction of being the only mid-engine car to ever pace the race. The pace car model exceeded the normal 4 cylinder 2.5 litre 92 horsepower version - it was bored out to 2.7 litres and produced 232 horses, and could turn a lap over 135 MPH.

One other favorite was a 1964 Corvair Monza Spyder, which pulled 140 horses from an air cooled "flat 6" (cylinders were horizontally opposed). The Corvair inspired another sporty Chevrolet, the Chevelle, and Ford the Mustang in 1964. Ralph Nadar's book came out a year later, and while the original plan was to retire the Corvair model in 1966, Chevrolet kept it alive through 67,68 and 69 in order to disprove his book. In 1972, the NHTSA exonerated Chevrolet on all charges leveled by Nader's "Unsafe at any Speed", concluding it was no more prone to accidents and rollovers than any comparable car of the period. If we want to talk about crappy Chevrolets - let's go to the Vega, of which there are NONE in this private collection.

A final car of note was the 1963 "Split Window Coupe" Sting Ray Corvette. This was also the year of the model name Sting Ray, spelled in two words (a later incarnation was to spell it "Stingray" as one word). It was also the lead year of the second generation (C-2) Corvette, which would last until the 1967, when the third gen (C-3) came upon the scene and lasted until 1982.

All in all, a great collection of cars, all quietly hidden away in buildings of a former car dealership. My thanks to the owner (and my brother who introduced us) for letting me see his treasures.

The Corvette Museum

On August 27th, after spending the night in Bowling Green, my son and I visited the second museum on the trip from Florida to Indianapolis. The National Corvette Museum opens at 8 AM, and we were there bright and early. I think J.B. enjoyed this place a bit more than the previous day's air museum in Georgia, and perhaps the hardest part of this blog entry was to be selecting the appropriate photos to post.


I selected one shot of the inside, where I stood outside the Cafe and took in the expansive gift shop on the left side and the entry into the museum (admission ticket part) itself. Another picture is of an original 1953 car (one of the first off the production line) and the 1,500,000th Corvette to be built (2010). The third photo is of the new Grand Sport, which is primarily a Z-06 with an automatic transmission. Should I ever be so lucky as to sell both condos (one now on the market, the other soon to be) I'd love one of these.

If you're planning to visit, bring $25 as an adult admission. Or, join the museum with a $50 family membership (tax deductible as it's a 501(c)(3) organization) and have unlimited visits. A lot to see, and exhibits change from time to time. One of my favorites were the Corvette pace cars from all the Indy 500's, and another was the C-6 Corvette driven up the Alaskan highway, complete with roof rack for spares.

I hope to post many of the photo's to my Face Book page, for both the Corvette museum and the Air Force museum as Warner Robbins AFB I had visited on the day prior to Bowling Green. Having spent five years of driving back and forth without digressions, I really enjoyed this time with my son, and my camera.

The Air Museum

After any number of trips up and down I-75, I finally got the chance to visit an excellent air museum at Warner-Robbins Air Force Base, near Macon, Georgia. Driving north with my son, I asked if he'd mind a side trip to check out this air museum, and he was OK with the idea. It turned out to be worth the 20 mile detour on our drive, and while it put us into Atlanta rush hour, it was the back side of the rush hour and not all that costly in time.

I was really enjoying the two hour diversion from driving (scattered showers followed me from my five days in Florida), and took lots of pictures. There were three large buildings, and a vast wrap-around field with great aircraft from the post war (WW II) period. The rain held off and it was actually a nice day, albeit hot. My son wandered off and I later learned that his enthusiasm wasn't nearly as great as mine - he told my wife I was acting like "a kid in a candy store". Well, I was. He did agree to snap the picture of me as we left. I had taken quite a few of the aircraft, but couldn't decide which one to post, so you get me.

There were some really neat aircraft there, including the KC-135 command plan of General Schwarzkopf during the 1991 gulf war, and a C-130 that participated in the ill-fated Desert One raid during the Carter administration. World War II aircraft included a P-40, P-51, B-25, A-26, C-46 and C-47, all inside the hangers. More modern aircraft inside included an SR-71, U-2, F-15, F-16, and the CH-46. I think I may have impressed my son (of course, you never really know with your kids) with my knowledge of the various types, or maybe he was just humoring me. I think he may have liked the A-10, the B-1B, or perhaps the BUFF (B-52) outside. My favorite outside exhibit was the massive C-124, a Korean war period transport alternatively known as "Old Shakey" or "2 million rivets flying in loose formation".

I would recommend this as a great place to visit, but start before 3 PM as it closes at five in the afternoon and two hours is just not enough time.

Remodeling

A short entry, for those following the deconstruction and reconstruction of our new home on the island. During the week my son and I traveled south, we stopped by and checked on the progress of the remodeling of our recently purchased home. Gone is the popcorn ceiling, and the white tile floor. The popcorn is now history, and the tradesman who did the skip troweled ceiling did a fantastic job. Removing that popcorn erased one more sign of the original 1988 construction.

Now starting to arrive is the wood flooring, and after that the new tile in the bathrooms and laundry. On the day I left (August 27th) the wood flooring had been installed in the master bedroom, where some living room furniture was already delivered and stored. The fireplace had been stripped of the old tile, awaiting the new. And the kitchen might best be described as a work in progress.

The picture does reflect the amount of light which can enter the room from the sliding glass doors onto the screened lanai. We both look forward to having that large deck area, which can be accessed from both the master bedroom (shown) or the living room. This home is all on one level, and will replace the two condominium homes we currently have, both on multiple levels. I'm looking forward to the life of fewer steps, and greater space.

Road Trip

How much can you cram into a Jeep Liberty? Depends on who's doing the packing. In the past ten or twelve days, I've driven to Florida by way of Indianapolis, and carried down items which the moving vans would not take. That includes my son, who has also decided to move to Florida and pursue his career in the hospitality industry.

That's his Jeep, which is crammed to the top with my stuff and his. We took the picture in my garage after a straight through drive where we took turns trying to keep from having an accident without the use of a rear view mirror.

Of course, for me the trip started in St. Louis, loading up one of my wife's cars with stuff, then transferring it to his Jeep, so he could add a 42 inch television, a bicycle, an X-Box 360, a huge Rubbermaid bin full of shoes (must have gotten that habit from his mother) and other stuff crammed into nooks and crannies. Upon arrival, we offloaded the stuff and spent the next four days dodging rain showers before returning north. He did confirm his new position, and will return to Florida next week with his Jeep and a rented trailer in tow. In two months, my wife and I will move full time to Florida, and my son will live only 40 minutes away, instead of four hours. The trip back north was much more interesting.........read on.