The Adventures of Me & My Shadow #41 in FL,LA,MS,LA &
TX 1/8/00
842 miles this trip, odometer now 53,792 total miles this year
842.
From , near Terrell, TX, Hi Everyone!
After the spectacular shuttle launch, I left the area in
heavy traffic and headed back to Sarasota were I had another short
visit and loaded up with about $100 worth (in comparison to the
price I was paying in MD) of oranges and grapefruit and headed
north. I finally have these FL interstate interchanges figured
out. When my navigator says go west on I10, no where on the exit
sign does it tell me if I’m going to go east or west. The
same thing happens at the exit on I4 to I75, it don’t give
me a hint if I’m going to go north or south, it just lists
two cities, I’m not going to either one, my navigator said
go south. I found out the hard way that this is the only exit,
after I take the exit, it splits and they have the signs telling
me witch way is north or south. Florida is the only place I find
these single exit interchanges. I made it to my sister Marilyn’s
place in Niceville with no problems. The only problem after I
got here was the temperature, on Christmas day the water in the
bird bath had ice on it. I suppose if I went to Key West the temperature
there would drop below freezing.
My brother-in-law Bill Kilburg got a new computer for Christmas
and is like a kid with a new toy. He did take time to make a trip
to the Naval Aircraft Museum in Pensacola, it had been several
years since any of us had been there. I enjoyed reliving the past
when looking at some of the aircraft I had worked on a long time
ago.
Bill had been to a big Kilburg family reunion in Germany
last summer and met a lot of cousins he had never known. The Genealogy
bug bit him real bad and it has even infected me. I had to re-order
two prescriptions and I had to stay here till they were delivered
so I have been working on my neglected genealogy files. It is
a good way to look at the millennium about to end as some of my
ancestors date back to the 1200s. I have decided to see how many
cousins I have among the readers of my adventure stories. I have
told some of you that we may be cousins as your surname was in
my files. I will list the surnames I have with the number of times
they appear in my data base, if you are interested you can e-mail
me and if we find a match we can exchange information. I have
179 with given names only, with a blank space where the surname
should be, maybe I can shave some off of that number. If you have
a distant graveyard or courthouse that could be a source for the
answers you need, I just might be headed that way. If you would
want me to stop by to exchange information, just put the coffee
pot on and tell me where it is. I’ll give the information
to my navigator and I may be able to work it in. Maybe you could
bring the information to a rally we both attend. If we can find
a compatible format we might exchange it directly via e-mail.
I use the Ultimate Family Tree Program and can convert most of
it to .rtf format.
Now, as I look into the next millennium I see a big problem
coming for genealogy. I learned a long time ago that every one
sees things from a different point of view. We make decisions,
form opinions, assign priorities and take actions based on what
we see. Let me tell you about an opinion adventure I had a log
time ago. I was arguing with another sailor about something that
we had different opinions about. We could not agree on anything.
He finally told me that opinions are like ass holes, everybody
has one and sometimes it stinks, he thought my opinion stunk.
I thought about his vivid, valid description of an opinion and
we finally had something we agreed on. It was a good description
of an opinion, it fit then and it still fits today. I will tell
it as I see it, you may see it differently. First I’ll talk
about a child born out of wedlock, this has happened from the
beginning of time. Pre-marital sex also has been around from the
time of Adam & Eve. As I was gathering genealogy files, I
happened to see marriages dated in Jan. & Feb. in the 1600s
in the New-England states and I wondered, why would anyone pick
a cold day in Jan. or Feb. to get married ? When I typed in the
date (in June & July) of the first born I could see why they
picked a cold day to tie the knot. It was a shotgun wedding. I
have entered data for a few children of unwed parents in my data
base in the last millennium, and my program keeps asking me if
I want to enter a marriage event for the parents, what’s
it going to be like in this millennium? There will be a lot fewer
weddings, and about that many divorces, same sex couples, what
surname will the child be given? In my book it was called “shacking
up”, in seven years you were, by common law, same as married.
Some, who were closer to God than me, called it “living in
sin”. Now it’s called “a relationship” and
it is perfectly acceptable. I hope my defibrillator doesn’t
take me too far into this mess that I see on the horizon. I could
blame the degradation of morals on Lawyers but won’t do it
because of my New Years Resolution and I just learned that they
now bury Lawyers 12 feet deep instead of 6 feet because deep down,
lawyers are OK.
Now for my New Years resolution. As I observe other drivers
and listen to people talk I have come to the conclusion that something
we all need is more tolerance of others. My New Years Resolution
is: To be more tolerant of others and live one day at a time.
Midnight of Dec. 31st brought in a new millennium, a new century,
a new year, a new month and most important of all, it brought
in a new day. I’m glad that I made it. I’ve been enjoying
good food and lots of computer time to work on my genealogy files.
I have 11,829 names in it and some of them were put in a long
time ago. I started out with Roots III, up-graded to Roots IV,
V and finally to Ultimate Family Tree. It is a very good program,
the older files should have been up-graded also. Now when my computer
prints out a report it gets messed up on some things that were
not entered correctly. I’m trying to find all the problems
and correct them. I finished up-grading the files on the same
day that the prescriptions I ordered arrived so I have cranked
up the old GMC and headed west, I enjoy my stops but it always
feels good to get on the road again, I want to log a few miles
and have a few adventures before I send this adventure story.
First stop was the Pensacola Naval Air museum to take some pictures,
didn’t have my camera when I came over with Bill & Marilyn.
I wanted a picture of each of the planes that I worked on while
in the Navy. I got them all but the F3H-2 Demon, I asked one
of the volunteers if they had one loaned out like the F2H-3 Banshee
was the last time I was here. He informed me they had one but
it was not yet put back together since they had acquired it from
an Army artillery range, I could see the pile of parts if I took
the bus tour to the flight line. I told the bus driver when I
got on that I wanted to get a picture of the Demon, He said OK
and when we got to the flight line he stopped the bus, pointed
to where it was and said he would pick me up when he came over
that way, so I got a picture of the parts up close and personal.
Looks like I may have to volunteer to put it back together.
Next I stopped in Lillian, AL and enjoyed a short visit
and lunch with my friends Bob & Hunter McCarthy. He showed
me some projects he had going on his GMC. I then headed west looking
for warmer weather, it didn’t happen. The next morning I
woke up at a rest area headed north on I94 in LA and there was
that dreaded frost that I have been trying to get away from. And
a little further up the road I stopped out in the boondocks to
visit with Bob & Betty Moore, my Iron Angel Navy friends near
Converse, LA. They took me to a buffet for dinner where there
was live Bluegrass Music, That’s my kind of music & eating
and I again ate too much.
I then crossed the border and headed west in TX to mooch
a few meals off my cousin the old ex-county commissioner Rod Kinkaid
& his wife Roseann. I’m out of room so:
Till next time, Dallas or Dad if it fits.
Me & My Shadow, with Gertrude, Gus & Keith on the road.