Larry's Sorta Fun Stories: Recent Episodes
Larry King
Most of what you will hear or read about actually happened somewhere in my life. Some time you will hear about my experience … my strengths … and my hope as I continue to grow as a person.You will discover that I have made mistakes along the way but trying one day at a time to live a better life and sharing a little of it as we go here.
Ever wondered how a spontaneous elopement on a secluded island could lead to a heartwarming road trip? Join us as Domenica and I share our journey from Denver to Bozeman, starting with the story of blending our families and meeting my son. Traveling through the scenic landscapes of Wyoming, we marvel at the hay fields, cattle, and oil derricks that define the region. Our stop in the charming town of Sheridan becomes a culinary delight at the Cowboy Cafe, where Domenica, with her rich background as a home economics teacher, brings unique insights on the art of meat cuts to the table.
Feel the weight of history as we visit the iconic Battle of Little Bighorn site, where the markers commemorating Custer's cavalry and Native American soldiers evoke a mix of emotions. Discover the intriguing story of Giovanni Martini, the last man to see Custer alive. Our adventure in Bozeman includes a heartfelt family reunion and a memorable meal at the Chop House, setting the tone for our exploration of the Museum of the Rockies. Venturing into Yellowstone National Park, we aim to catch the majestic Old Faithful geyser and reminisce about past stays at the historic Old Faithful Inn. Our Yellowstone journey is sprinkled with geothermal wonders, architectural marvels, and a hilarious encounter with a fiddle player that you won't want to miss. Join us for a tale brimming with scenic beauty, flavorful food, and touching family moments.
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Ever wondered how a love story unfolds when two hearts come together in the most unexpected places? Dominica and I invite you to join us as we recount the whimsical tale of our unique island wedding and the quirky tradition we've embraced of celebrating each month of marriage as if it were a year. Our latest escapade? A leap from sunny Orlando to the grandeur of Denver to visit my son, Josh. Picture this: a grand airport reunion, replete with a chauffeur-driven black car, a dozen red roses, and Josh's dazzling entrance. It's a heartwarming and hilarious saga of family introductions, new beginnings, and a sprinkle of unexpected twists.
But we don't stop there! Our journey takes you through the breathtaking wonders of Colorado—from indulging in various root beers to a nostalgic nod to Disney's Carousel of Progress. Feel the thrill with us as we reach the summit of Mount Blue Sky, where we stood in awe at 14,600 feet, and delight in the sight of mountain goats. Relive the excitement of our historic Georgetown Loop Railroad ride and reminisce about a memorable ski trip as we drive over Loveland Pass. Buckle up for more laughter and love as we gear up for our next adventure from Denver to Bozeman, Montana. This episode is packed with cherished memories and thrilling adventures you won't want to miss!
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Can a simple drive to the airport spark a lifetime of love and unforgettable memories? Join us as we welcome my extraordinary wife, Dominica, to Larry's Sorta Fun Stories, where we share the serendipitous journey that led to our whirlwind romance. From her nostalgic 2023 trip back to her Italian hometown to the thoughtful gestures that transformed our friendship, this episode is packed with heartwarming moments and personal anecdotes. Listen as we recount our romantic wedding on MSC's private island, complete with artificial peonies and the delightful reactions from our families.
In a nostalgic twist, we then travel to Grove City, Pennsylvania, where the beauty of Dogwoods lining my driveway stirs cherished memories. With stories of family warmth and personal reflections, this chapter adds another layer to our narrative tapestry. Tune in to celebrate these heartfelt experiences and stay with us for more delightful tales in future episodes of Larry's Sorta Fun Stories.
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I was on my way to Denver to see my son. I had decided to fly because he lives to far away to drive by myself.
Delta Flight 995: Atlanta to Denver is a three and half hour flight. I had just found Gate D10 In Atlanta after taking the underground train from Gate A31. I looked at my printed boarding pass and it said First Class 1C. This didn’t seem like the seat number I had booked in Comfort Plus. Maybe saving my Delta points on my credit card had paid off.
It was time to board the plane. I jumped from the crowded seating area as the horde of eager passengers were wanting to get on the plane. The gate agent announced First Class passengers to board. But in the back of my mind, I was thinking there had been a mistake somewhere and I was going to be shuffled back to my Comfort Plus seat that I had originally booked.
Seat 1C. Row one. It was the first row. The first seat on this Airbus A320 aircraft. As I walked onto the plane I was still expecting to be moved further back in the plane. No, I was in the first row of First Class and my seat was on the isle.
Ok, I had received an email requesting what I wanted to eat a week before travel, but I thought Delta was really going all out for its Comfort Plus passengers. A flight attendant approached with an arm full of white linen towels. She motioned for me to pull my tray table up out of the seat pocket on the side of my seat. The 1C seat is in front against the bulkhead and does not have a pull-down-tray. These trays are beside you neatly folded into the armrest that holds your bottle of water that was waiting for me.
I got my tray table set up and the flight attendant covers the tray with one of those pristine white towels. I had chosen a meal of beef tips, mixed vegetables, salad, and dessert. Could this really be happening?
This had to be a dream. I really enjoyed it. I was going to see my son and I was sitting in First Class.
On the first leg of the flight from Orlando there were several movie options for me, and I chose a very funny movie with crusty old Robert De Niro called About My Father. It was about a father and son relationship. And I was going to be with my son. I related to much of the movie, but the plane landed in Atlanta before I could finish the movie.
But, now I am sitting in First Class section of Flight 995 from Atlanta to Denver, and I was able finish watching the movie About My Father. So, I had about two more hours in the flight, and I pursued the selection of movies. Not many titles were of my liking, but I chose a movie I had seen before. It starred Tom Hanks. The movie was
A Man Called Otto.
A reviewer said the movie was a heartwarming story about love, loss, and life. The main character Otto, played by Tom Hanks, had loss his wife six months prior and he wanted to end his life to join his wife.
In the movie, I wasn’t identifying with wanting to end my life, I was identifying with the major flashbacks of how he met his wife and what their relationship had been. I was openly crying with big tears running down my cheeks. It was a love story that I wanted to be a part of.
The movie was just half over, and I had to use the restroom. Being in seat 1C, I was just a few steps away, so I paused the movie.
As I got up, I looked at the flight attendant who was sitting on her jump seat. She had noticed that I was watching A Man Called Otto and, she said, “I had the same reaction when I saw that movie a couple of days ago.” She had watched it on one of her deadhead flights.
With six steps I got to the bathroom and could hardly squeeze into the space. If you have ever fantasized of
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Here I was traveling again. I’m not on an exotic cruise or an adventure in Antarctica, no I was on another road trip to my home town of Chillicothe, Illinois. I was averaging thirty five miles per gallon and thirty semi-trucks per mile.
Chillicothe is a small town just outside of Peoria, Illinois on the Illinois River. It has two railroad lines. One is the old Rocket Island Line with a spur-track from Peoria to Chicago. The second is the main line for the Santa Fe which is now the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway.
Before Amtrak took over the railroad passenger business, there used to be great passenger service on Santa Fe Railroad. You could get on a train in the morning and go shopping in Chicago for the day and then come home the same evening on another Santa Fe train.
When I was younger in the summer time, entertainment in the evening was for families to get in their car and head to the train station. The excitement was watching the trains come in, it was fun fantasizing what it would be like to get on one of those luxury trains and head west.
The Santa Fe Railroad Depot used to be a wonderful place to see many celebrities like Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and some remember seeing Walt Disney coming from Chicago heading to Hollywood on The Super Chief. There were other famous trains like The El Capitan, The Chief, and The Grand Canyon. Great classic trains of that era all came though Chillicothe every evening of train watching.
Several of my friend’s parents either worked for the Santa Fe or they commuted to East Peoria and worked at Great Yellow Father: Caterpillar Tractor Company.
There was a big event taking place in the small town that I grew up in. The weekend of September 22 and 23rd 2023 was Homecoming for the High School.
I graduated, yes, I did graduate from Chillicothe Township High School, but now they constructed a new high school building, and moved it out into the country, renaming it Illinois Valley Central High, known as called IVC.
I would not be attending many of the homecoming festivities, the real reason I am traveling is attend to my Class of 1963 small reunion. There was a meal at one of the new bistros in town on Friday night after the annual homecoming parade and Saturday night we met at the old Grecian Gardens where we had full blown reunion twenty years ago.
The reason for the smaller reunion was not many of us are left and I am not sure how many had said they would try to attend.
We were a class of one hundred students in 1963. I would have to say, everybody knew each other. Bob Cusac was the son of the grade school principal, Larry Mills was an all-star pitcher on the baseball team, JoAnn Viloa was Miss Teen for Illinois as a senior, and Kathy Shepard always had at hard time adjusting her reeds on her oboe. We weren’t all the best of friends, but we knew each other. And our parents knew each other as well, keeping us in line as we grew up.
I hung around the band because the band was one hundred players strong from all the four grades in the school. We prided ourselves on the band’s performance every time we were in a parade or on the football field.
My baritone saxophone was too heavy to march with and it didn’t really help the sound of the marching band so; I took up the bass drum.
Amazing thing, band director Marlin McCutchen discovered new wooden mallets that would make a better thump on the bass drum. I really got into keeping the beat and my thumping went through two different bass drum heads. Yes, I broke the bass drum twice. I loved marching onto the football field every year in high sc
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So, I have lived in the Clermont, Florida area since 1998.
(I know I live in Trilogy or is it Cascades of Groveland, but I still say I live in Clermont. Old habits never die.)
But before that I lived in Melbourne, Florida for two years and I worked in Cocoa, Florida from 1982 – 1984. Then my wife Meg, my son Josh and I moved to the Chicago area for fourteen years awaiting my final call to come back to Florida in 1998.
I know too many dates. On with the story!
Has a number ever saved you money?
Well, this story saved me some money when I needed it.
When I first moved to Florida in 1982, I was freshly married to my bride Meg. She stayed in Lincoln, Nebraska to finish her college work. I drove the used Honda Civic which we called the Blue Bomber from Lincoln, Nebraska to Cocoa Beach, Florida. I was to take a new job at the National Christian Network which was called NCN based in Cocoa, Florida and set up the house.
Now I have to tell you about the National Christian Network. It was a great place to work. Television production was at its finest with all the very latest expensive production equipment. It was located in an old bowling alley on King Street in Cocoa, Florida.
I have to borrow this from Wikipedia, “The NCN was founded by Ray A. Kassis in 1975, and he was a great character. (I had never seen a guy on the phone being hounded by bill collectors and smiling as he was being harassed. It seemed that Mr. Kassis owed a lot of money for this satellite transponder to RCA and they were always threating to pull him off of the transponder and his answer was, pull me off and I have no way of making the payments) He just smiled when he was saying it.
The network was the fourth satellite-fed Christian network to be launched, and was a competitor to the Trinity Broadcasting Network, the PTL Satellite Network, and the Christian Broadcasting Network.
Now here is the unique thing about NCN. NCN shared the same satellite transponder with the Playboy channel.”
It was Christian programing from 6 am – 6 pm and then the Playboy Channel took control of the satellite for the next 12 hours.
As the story was told to me by Ray Kassis, he had fought for another satellite transponder and lost his bid several years earlier to a guy in Georgia named Ted Turner. Allegedly President Jimmy Carter favored Turner, a Georgia native as well, and the transponder was awarded to Turner, and he created CNN.
So Kassis had to settle on this RCA Satcom 1 satellite and be the fourth Christian Network and find other avenues of revenue to support NCN besides sharing a transponder with Playboy.
One of the ways of producing additional revenue was the production side of the operation and that is where I came in.
I was introduced to two very famous individuals while managing and directing the production work.
One was Al Gannaway. He was a film director, producer, and screenwriter. In the 1950s he had filmed a television series call Stars of the Grand Ole Opry. The unique thing was he had filmed it in color way before color television was fully developed. So, Mr. Gannaway had the film transferred to video tape to preserve the quality of the programs. At NCN we edited new shows just by rearranging the artist in a different order. You my have seen one of those news shows. (Someime I do with one of my shows called From Stateside.)
The sec
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Rose Secretan completes her story about being an entertainer in Buffalo, NY.
Doc was the owner of the venue and a close friend.
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Thanks for sharing with me, this year and I will have more fun stories next year.
Check out Larry's Sorta Fun Stories for more episodes.
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Robert Stuber came into the studio and shared a Christmas Story about harvesting a Christmas tree with a tradition that stared in 1982. You might be a redneck if ... enjoy.
Larry reminisces about getting his hair cut my his barber in his small town that he grew up in. Chillicothe, Illinois.
Rose has another story to tell about her days singing in clubs around the Niagara Falls area in the early eighties.
She is writing a book and with each chapter she includes a recipe. This story has a recipe from DeCamillo's Bakery.
Rustic Pizza
DiCamillo’s Bakery
2 lb. Italian bread dough
2 12 oz. jars roasted sweet peppers
3 8oz. Packages frozen Spinach
1 can pitted black olives drained
1 jar green salad olives drained ¼ lb. thin sliced capicola ham
¼ lb. Parmesan, grated
¼ lb. Romano, grated
¼ lb. shredded fontinella cheese
1 small chopped green onion
1 clove garlic-chop
2 T. olive oil (I use more)
1 egg, beaten-mix with 1 T. water
Sesame seeds
Defrost spinach, drain well, mix with some olive oil. Puree in processor with garlic and onion, some salt, pepper. Drain peppers, place in small bowl with 1 T. olive oil. Roll out one pound of dough very thinly on lightly floured surface. Place dough in bottom of greased 8 in. spring form pan so that bottom and sides are covered with an overhanging lip of dough. Cover bottom of pan with a layer of capicola. Layer roasted peppers on top of ham. Sprinkle with Romano and parmesan. Spread part of spinach mixture on top of cheese. Make certain you are using about ½ of mix. Save rest for other layer. Put in a layer of fontanelle. Then green and black olives. Repeat layers. Roll other dough until thin. Top the pizza with this. Cut excess dough. Make a braid (I made a bow--cause I did not have enough dough) Use egg wash to top pizza. Sprinkle sesame seeds over top. Slit top for steam. 400 degrees. Until browned. Remove from spring form pan. You can stick back into oven with rest of egg wash if you like to brown sides. (If you do this, cover top with foil)
I have a friend on Facebook that I have known for forty-three years. Another of the young talent that I recruited and gave a job in radio back in Lincoln, Nebraska when he was fresh out of college. He has been drafting great essays on Facebook about his ordeal with his wife who is stuck in Ukraine. She is Ukrainian. It seems Jim and his wife have been trying to legally get her out of the country. Only the United States is demanding a lot of paper work, but her paper work has been lost or destroyed because of the Russians are bombing the country
You will also hear the chilling story of how he went from Disk Jockey to radio station management, foreign correspondent, to living in Russia and landed up living in Ukraine.
I’m 14 years old and it’s Saturday just about noon time and my dad’s car needed washing.
Of course, the reason I wanted to wash the car was because I could turn the car radio on and listen as I was washing the car. It wasn’t the music I wanted to hear. It was Paul Harvey, News and Commentary at noon time. My mind was focusing on being behind the microphone and communicating the day’s events that happened in my life just like Paul Harvey.
Senior year in high school, Speech Class was my favorite class. The assignment was to create a radio commercial and then perform it on a microphone in a closet that the speech teacher had created to emulate a radio broadcast booth. My Paul Harvey influence was in full gear. I created a commercial for my father’s dry-cleaning business. Of course, the copy started with “Page two.” It was to be a 60 second commercial. I nailed it. Perfect timing. Paul Harvey would have been proud. Thank you, Paul Harvey.
After high school and a couple tries at college, I still wanted to be in the broadcast business, I had become a TV director when I discovered that my reading skills were not what the program directors wanted. But after spending two years at the local tv station in Lincoln, Nebraska the radio bug was still in me. There was a chance I could create a radio station with a format that would stimulate the young and growing Christian music enthusiasts of the 1970s. KBHL-FM 95.3 Lincoln, Nebraska went on the air io March 6th, 1975, fulfilling that vision.
For my lunch break, I would go to the parking lot of Toco Bell in Lincoln, Nebraska. I spend a lot of my noon times there. I had learned to love Taco Bell’s tocos and the important thing was I was away from the office. I could be alone in my car and listen to the Paul Harvey’s, News and Commentary on another local radio station.
After finishing my meal of tacos and hearing Paul Harvey’s sign off INSERT “Paul Harvey – good day!” It was time to get back to the office on north 48th street in the old library building that was the broadcast studio for KBHL. I had an appointment to meet with a young enthusiastic guy from the University of Nebraska. He wanted to get into radio. His enthusiasm was so infectious that I hired him. The interview turned out to be very good for both of us.
My influencer was Paul Harvey who had inspired millions of radio listeners. He motivated me to look for and give opportunities to dedicated people.
The interview was with Tracy Johnson who loved radio like I did. He went on to understand the radio audiences in Kansas City, Jacksonville, and San Diego and was named Best Programmer in American by Radio Ink magazine.
Today, Tracy Johnson has inspired hundreds of stations and thousands of personalities in all radio formats worldwide. If it hadn’t been for this teenager being enamored by Paul Harvey, I would have never met a true leader of today’s broadcast industry. Tracy did a great job for KBHL and I’m glad that I was able to give him a step into his broadcast career.
Each month I anticipate a webinar from Tracy Johnson, who continues to inspire radio personalities around the world. I have been in and around this business of broadcasting for over 60 years and I am still learning. Thanks Tracy.
And as Paul Harvey would end his signature afternoon broadcast,
INSERT
‘And now you know, the rest of the story.
Collage Travel Radio streaming on the internet 24/7. Music you can sing to ...
Chillicothe, Illinois. 2:16 AM – Tuesday Morning 1962
I was sleeping in my bed in the back bedroom and heard the sound of wooden front door open. It was so quiet at that time at night. You knew when the door opened and when it closed. It had that certain memorable sound. It was my father dragging in . . . sneaking in from his Monday night rehearsal with the Orpheus Club in Peoria. The Orpheus Club was a group of all male singers, and the most notable member was United States Congressman Bob Michel of Peoria. Illinois.
Of course, if you believe a rehearsal lasted so late in the morning you got to be kidding! My mother didn’t believe it either. She had put up with it too long as it was, and she had had enough. It was time to confront my father. They had been sleeping in separate beds and she was ready to meet him head on.
“Where have you been? I know practice certainly didn’t last this long!” my mother cried out in anger, “What’s her name?” Big silence!
I don’t remember all the words that were spoken or shouted, but I do remember finally my father was very combative. They argued throughout the house and finally ended up in front of my bedroom door. From my bed I heard my father shout out, “I will kill you!” That ended it.
My mother backed off and somehow, they stayed married for over fifty years. Years later, I got married and moved away and to his day I remember hearing those awful words laying in my bed.
Bed Number Two
Wheaton, Illinois. 3:16 AM - 1988
My wife, Meg, and I were sleeping on the waterbed that she had hauled from Laramie, Wyoming to Lincoln, Nebraska. After we got married, we carted it to Melbourne, Florida and then up to Wheaton, Illinois. The bed was cozy with the temperature set right. Our marriage was cozy. Both of us were divorced when we met. But that didn’t stop us from getting married and looking forward to a peaceful life together.
One of the reasons why I liked Meg was, she was unattached to her family. She had disowned her sister and three other siblings, her mother and father had divorced when she was very young, and they were not a part of her life. Thus, no family conflicts to disturb our marriage, or so I thought.
After Meg’s mother divorced her father, Ruth and young Meg had moved to California. Meg’s mother had a mental breakdown and was institutionalized and treated with electric shock treatments. Meg was sent to an orphanage. As she recalled, she was a captive of the State of California imprisoned with bars on the windows. Meg’s escape came here her aunt and uncle in Michigan took her in thus … her cousins became her siblings and family.
Back to Wheaton, Illinois at 3:16 AM and the phone on the bedside table is ringing. I raised up from the comfort of the waterbed.
Groggy, I answered it. “This is Larry.”
I certainly didn’t recognize the voice on the other end of the phone. I was the manager of the TV Production Department at WCFC-TV 38 in Chicago, and I had no idea why someone would have a problem at this hour of the day.
The voice on the phone said: “Hello, I am so and so, with the CBSA the Canadian Border Services Agency and do you know a Ruth McCourtney?”
By this time, Meg was slowly rising to ask who it was.
I covered the mouthpiece of the phone and said someone from Canada was calling about Ruth her mother
.He went on to say that Ruth had boarded an airplane in California an
It all started last Christmas when my sister came to visit for the holiday.
My sister is an avid reader. Every time she comes to visit, she will bring several books with her to read. Last Christmas she brought a couple of John Grisham’s books. And I got hooked when she introduced me to Ford County. It was his first book of short stories.
In the 1990s, I had read most of his earlier books, but I had not read much of his work since that time but reading Ford County spurred me on to read more.
The book contained short stories reveling around a mythical county in the Mississippi Ford County. This county was where his first book story A Time To Kill took place. The short story that caught my attention was Fetching Raymond. A story about a poor aging mother and her two sons who had to borrow a pickup truck to drive to Parchman prison for a final meeting with her third son. Raymond was on death row. Grisham’s description of the journey to the prison was so full of color and feeling, I thought I was riding with them. And the narrative of the Raymond’s final hour to live before his execution in the electric chair was riveting.
Grisham was a small-town lawyer, and it took him three years to write his first book A Time To Kill in 1991. It was also rejected by twenty-eight publishers. This book did not immediately gain success. His second book, The Firm exploded to popular acclaim, and he discovered that if he could write a book a year, he would become a popular author. Today, it is reported that his books have sold over sixty million copies making him one of the most successful authors of my time. At this time ten of his works have been adapted for the silver screen.
He attributes his success to two things. One his pacing can be slow or breakneck and second his theme revolve around the little guy takes on the big corporate conspiracy.
What comes to my attention as I read his books, he addresses social issues: wrongful execution regarding the death penalty, racism, the homeless, health care, insurance companies, sleazy advertising, pharmaceutical companies, and big coal.
In the 2016 The Whistler and a follow-up book written in 2021 The Judge’s List, he deals with corrupted judges. Utilizing the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct as his starting point with a female leading character.
But what got me was his insight to the homeless on the streets of Washington DC in his 1998 book The Street Lawyer. He writes of main charter holding a small child in his arms at a makeshift shelter on a cold night and the next day learns that the child along with his mother and other children were found frozen to death because they were homeless and had to sleep in a car and the car’s exhaust asphyxiated them.
In Gray Mountain written in 2014 he addresses the plight of coal miners in the mountains in Virginia. Miners who are stricken with Black Lung Disease and have little or no recourse fighting the massive coal companies for better health care.
The Racketeer written in 2012 starts with a prisoner who is a lawyer that has been railroaded into prison but has evidence of a murder if he would be released.
While reading his books I am remember reading books I read in high school. Books by Sinclair Lewis who was called a muckraker. He had a social conscience about the plight of the less fortunate and struggle of immigrants at the turn of the century in the early 1900s.
In The Jungle 1906 Lewis wrote about the horrific living and working conditions of immigrants in the hog butchering plant in Chicago.
In Babbitt Lewis traced a satirical novel in 1922 about the emptiness of middle-class life and the soci
Larry received a letter well over 16 years ago and he read it to music. He didn't even remember recording it. A friend of a friend sent to him the other day and thought you would enjoy hearing it as well. It's about the small town in Illinois that Larry grew up in.
Chillicothe, Illinois.
Just a little note, this podcast is sponsored by Collage Travel Radio dot com. Travel insights and tips are share beside hit music of the 60s, 70s right up today. Collage Travel Radio 24/7 streaming on the internet at Collage Travel Radio dot com and Zee Michaelson Travel.
Since this is Larry’s Sorta Fun Stories I like to share with you some of what happened in my life and today I am going to introduce to you an old friend from my younger days. Gene Grover wrote a book called Growing UP in a Small Town in Illinois. I did an interview with Gene several years ago for Zmax Radio … let’s join this interview. Chillicothe, Illinois.
Now I want to interject here, that Gene’s mother was actually my fourth-grade teacher. It seemed that there were three new fourth grade teachers that year. My mother started teaching again that year. My mother had taught in a one room school house before she got married but had to quit teaching back them because she was married. Another friend Bob his mother was also started teaching fourth grade as well. So, the school system had to make sure that our mothers were not teaching us, so I got Gene’s mother. So not only did I know Gene and his brother, but I knew his mother who was the real pioneer.
Just a little note, this podcast is sponsored by Collage Travel Radio dot com. Travel insights and tips are share beside hit music of the 60s, 70s right up today. Collage Travel Radio 24/7 streaming on the internet at Collage Travel Radio dot com.
A friend of mine actually heard one of the earlier episodes of Larry’s Sorta Fun Stories and she contacted me. It’s Dorothea (Johnson) Jensen
Dorothea Jensen is proud to be one of a very few people who has boarded a pirate ship and attacked a dragon-powered Viking vessel manned by real, horn-wearing Vikings. She is also the author terrific books about the American Revolution.
Dorothea was born in Boston, but she grew up in Chillicothe, Illinois.
And this is where our stories meet. Doretha or DeeDee and I go back to our high school days in Central Illinois. She and I were in the same high school speech class.
Dorothea had heard one of earlier episodes and she emailed me and said:
“ …. You have such a great reading voice! And to think it all started in The Old Fox’s Closet.”
Well we talked about the FOX and the Closet.
Dorothea also shared about her time in the Peace Corp and how she got stated writing about the American Revaluation and her interest in Lafayette.
Check out her Most Popular Books
- The Riddle of Penncroft Farm
- Tizzy, the Christmas Shelf Elf
- Blizzy, the Worrywart Elf
- A Buss from Lafayette
A Buss From Lafayette Teacher's Guide**.
Contact her at Dorotheajensen.com**A reminder… check out Collage Travel Radio … it’s music and positive information about traveling today. It’s a there 24/7 Collage Travel Radio dot com.
I had just started working at WMBD-TV in Peoria as a part-time Floor Director in early 1965. I was scheduled Sunday night, but I couldn’t stay away from the station weekdays as well. Television production had got into my blood. I was hanging out at the station and skipping Dr. Smyth’s English 102 class in the afternoons at Bradley University. Thus, I still don’t know ‘to’ from t o o. After graduating from high school, I labored for a year at Caterpillar Tractor Company before enrolling at Bradley University in Peoria, because factory life was not for me. I was learning television production.
One Friday as I skipped class again, I discovered a lot of activity in the TV studio, and I was asked to help out. It seems the sales department of the TV station had sold a contest package to a local supermarket Ben Schwartz Food Mart. Founded by Asher Schwartz in the downtown area of Peoria in 1933, and it had grown with several locations in the Peoria market. The stores had been turned over to his son Ben and that is where the name came from.
The marketing package the sales department had sold Ben was a package to get more people to come into their locations and they could register to win a brand-new motorcycle. The winner was going to be announced ‘live’ on the TV station at 10:30 this Friday evening.
The promotion had been a great success. Thousands of names were registered, and all of the entry blanks were delivered to the studio on Friday morning and dumped into a child’s blowup swimming pool that was staged in front of the motorcycle that was to be given away.
As I said, I was asked to help out. It seems the sales department had just received a frantic phone call from Ben Schwartz just a little after the noon news had gone off the air.
Ben Schwartz had discovered that his devious teenage son, Kerry Schwartz had taken several of the entry pads to write his name and stuffed them into the entry boxes at various store. However, employees and family members of Ben Schwartz Food Mart were not eligible to win in this contest.
We at the station were looking at a sea of names in the swimming pool that practically filled to the brim. So, I along with several other staff members were engaged to go through the sea of names trying to get to the bottom to see if we could find any of the entry blanks that Kerry had inappropriately placed into entry boxes at different stores.
Now how do you eat an elephant? You eat it one bite at a time and that was what we were doing. There were seven of us around the edge of the plastic kiddie pool on our knees looking at as many entries we could see to verify that Kerry’s name was not one of them.
As I said, this panic started a little after the noon news had gone off the air. Ben Schwartz was aware of what it would have looked like if his son’s name was going to be drawn on a ‘live’ TV drawing. The sales department was hovering about because their client was not happy. We actually got to see the station manager come up to the studio.
The station manager with his Florsheim Wing Tip shoes squeaked when he was walked down the highly polished hall on the first floor by the sales office. He had been a f
The other day I needed to get new razor. I’m not sure about you but I can usually get a razor blade to last about thirty-five days or longer. Not really counting but knowing that I don’t purchase a new razor every time I go to the store. I was shocked at the cost when I went through the checkout line.
Shaving for me started when I would sit in the bathroom on the stool next to the sink patiently watching my father as he used his safety razor. Gillette was always the brand that he purchased. The double-edged safety razor was introduced to the world in 1903. It was so slick. You twisted the handle and the top of the razor opened up and you slide in a thin, double-edged sharp blade. And you could buy a packet of blades that were not very expensive. And you can still get the Gillette Platinum-Plus Double-Edge Blade.
Today as I bought my latest razor, I thought I was just getting a new set of five blades in a packet, but no I actually bought an entirely new concept in Gillette razors. The Gillette Proglide Shield. Not only does it have five blades, but it also has a blade on the back side to help trim your sideburns. It will glide across your face, and it will swivel around your face. Now the final kicker is … it has a battery in the handle and when turning on the switch. It vibrates.
Remember I recommend you check out Collage Travel Radio. It hasgreat light and bright music streaming on the internet 24/7 and is absolutely free. Not elevator music…the great music from the 60’s to today’s hits. The station is for anyone that loves music and travel … All you got to do is click and listen to Collage Travel Radio dot com
Rose came back for a second episode to share more personally about her family and what the owner of Mother's the nightclub meant to the family.
Part one of the First 50 Years of Mother's concludes on what transformed the club. Rose took a "hiatus" from the club.
However...once again….things would change a few months later in July… Tune in for Act Two of “Mother’s-the First Fifty Years!
And if you want your travel dreams to come true, check out Zee Michaelson Travel at zeemichaelsontravel.com.
Collage Travel Radio brings you great light and bright music streaming on the internet 24/7 and is absolutely free. Not elevator music…the great music from the 60’s to today’s hits. The station is for the independent traveler and for travel advisors and just anyone that loves music and travel … All you got to do is click and listen to Collage Travel Radio.
When I was younger, I had an establishment called the Sugar Shack in Chillicothe, Illinois and I hired young bands. And I love hearing the stories of talented friends.
Rose brought her guitar with her to the studio and shared about being you performer at Mother's in Lockport, New York when she was younger.
“Mother’s” was furnished with antiques. An eclectic collection of charming décor to reflect the rich history of the area...old sewing machines, rocking horses, hall trees, old radios, Tiffany lamps, old photos….fascinating! In fact, every time I went into the club; it seemed I would notice different artifacts. “Doc” also had some pieces custom designed to reflect his personality, and that of the club. Fun and captivating!
One of her best fans was a gentleman named “Willis”.
The woman who stormed into the club holding a laundry basket…..full of laundry.
This photo was taken by a “photographer” who frequented Mother’s. Coincidentally, he was called “Doc” as well.
Great stories that I find as my sorta fun stories.
Last week’s episode was a story of how I got to Lincoln, Nebraska and one of my directing assignments was directing Cartoon Corral and Diane Simard was on the Cartoon Corral when she was celebrating her 5th birthday and I was directing the program.
I wanted to share with you more about my interaction with Kalamity Kate.
For me, the Cartoon Corral was an interruption in the production schedule of completing local commercials that we were video taping in the afternoon. Many times we would have a studio full of cars from a local car dealer and then have to clear the studio in time to get the Corral-Set set up in time for the kids to enjoy their moment of fame on TV.
Leta Powell Drake aka Kalamity Kate was one of the hardest working people in television. She did everything from stage acting and newscasting to producing the live daily morning show as well as her popular character Kalamity Kate on Cartoon Corral. It’s said that she interviewed over 80,000 kids on Cartoon Corral. Not only did she interview kids, but she interviewed major CBS celebrities on their annual promotion junkets from Mary Tyler Moore to Tom Hanks. She paved the way for many women in entertainment with her brash knack for speaking to people on their own level.
One of the fun commercial clients she wrote for and was the talent for Aunt Betty’s Bakery in Lincoln. Seriously, she came up with the slogan “Bun Meals are Fun Meals. Get Aunt Betty’s Buns” And she could keep a straight face every time she read that line.
I got to know Leta better because she was also the producer and was the talent for a show called Gateway to Homebuying. This was a two hour show that ran on Sunday morning. It was very unique because is was skirting the then time-limit of a commercial program. Back then you were only suppose to run a certain number of minutes of commercial matter per hour. Not like the Informercials of today. The sales department had worked out a deal with Gateway Realty, the first franchised real estate company in the country so they could show houses for sale in all of their markets across Nebraska during this two hour Sunday morning program.
Jim Ebel, the station General Manager and a very smart engineer for the Fetzier Company had created 10/11 Strong to be seen as far west as Scottsbluff, Nebraska. He had the station purchase a station in Grand Island, Nebraska to simulcast channel 10’s programs and then micro-waved the station’s signal to low power translators in the various communities. So, the station was seen in Lincoln, Hastsings, York, Grand Island, Kearney, Norfork, Beatrice, North Platte, Scottsbluff and more of the little communities in-between. Historically, the station had some of the highest news ratings in the country. The one station reached practically across the entire state. KOLN–TV Channel 10 in Lincoln remained the only commercial TV station for 40 years.
At that time, many of the local television markets were fighting to keep Cable TV out of their markets. However, Jim Ebel welcomed the population of Cable TV into Lincoln Nebraska. By offering other stations to be seen from around the country via cable this kept the addition of a competing station to be established in the Lincoln market.
The first franchised Real Estate company was founded by retired Lt Colonel Raymond Gottner. Colonel Gottner had flown B17s, B29s and became the Commander of the 71st Air Refueling Squadron. He also was selected to be the first pilot to land on sea-ice to determine whether an emergency landing of a large aircraft on sea-ice would be safe. After serving in United States AirForce for 21 years, Colonel Gottner retired and became a Realtor.
The Colonel had the vision to take advantage of the coverage of the TV station and created franchised Gateway Realty offices in
After last week’s episode, I got a message from Robert and he really remembered the show that he used to watch on WHAS-TV in Louisville, KY station, the Randy and Cactus show. He even remembered the theme song for the show, (INSERT THEME SONG)
So, as I have asked, if there is something that reminds you of a memory let me know at Larry’s Sorta Fun Stories dot com …
After hearing from Robert, I thought it might be a good idea to research other Cartoon shows around the country as we were growing up. And to my surprise, I discovered that practically every television market had a ‘local kiddie show.”
One of the best known shows was the Bozo the Clown show. This started in 1949 and then became a franchised television show and Bozo was then in different markets. Willard Scott who became the weather-man on the NBC Today Show for many years, was an early Bozo. Willard also helped McDonalds to create their famous clown, Ronald. The most famous and last Bozo Show was in Chicago on WGN-TV.
As you listen to this, I am sure there are happy moments of you remembering home after school and you turned on the one channel out of three channels at that time, to the show with the local talent that you remember watching.
So, this is my story as how I got to the Cartoon Corral in Lincoln, Nebraska
After I had become a TV director in Peoria, Illinois, my wife and I were looking to move to the mountains in Colorado. I had on opportunity to applied to the ABC affiliate in Colorado Springs. They gave me my first commercial plane ride.
This was an early morning flight from Peoria and airlines at that time were serving a full breakfast on all their flights. All I can remember was the poor flight attendant practically crawling up the aisle at what was a very steep angle as the plane was hardly off the ground getting the breakfast cart out to serve the passengers.
I do not remember if I was offered the position in Colorado Springs, but I remember that I was not impressed with the station and did not want to take it.
The next year I got a call from the television station KOLN/KGIN 10-11 Strong in Lincoln, Nebraska and they were looking for a young energetic creative director who had street smarts. The year before the station had hired a young person with a college degree and he didn’t do well. They were glad to know I did not have a college degree, just the street smarts of what I had learned all that time skipping my college classes at Bradley University. I got the job.
The main studio of the station was on North 40th Street in Lincoln, Nebraska and the transmitter site and tower was about thirty-five miles west of Lincoln outside a small town called Beaver Crossing, Nebraska. The tower stood one thousand four hundred eighty-nine feet (1,489) and was reported to be the tallest structure in the state of Nebraska. It had an elevator in it so you could get to the top, but I missed my opportunity to ride to the top at a company picnic because I got there late. (By the way, this tower actually collapsed in 2019 in a winter storm.)
One of my assignments was directing The Cartoon Corral program Monday – Friday at 3:30 PM. The show was hosted by Kalamity Kate. Not a-lot-of-jokes, but kids with birthdays were invited to the show to sit in the corral. You had to sent in a request to be on the show and the station received so many requests that there was only a few lucky kids chosen for each show. This show was so popular that kids would be driven in from as far west of 150 miles from the station. For instance&nb
There they were … Captain Jinks (Stan Lonergan) and Salty Sam (George Bahsillyun).
They hosted the afternoon children’s program The Captain Jinks TV Show on NBC affiliate WEEK-TV in Peoria, Illinois. The show was live and unscripted and ran from the 1956 – 1972. The show had various segments like the joke barrel and cartoons, but the fun part was hearing the Ol’ Captain adlibbing making Salty Sam laugh.
The two characters were actually the station’s booth announcers. The booth announcer was a person in a small room off of the control room and he would read live commercials and live tags to a commercial or every hour he would do the station ID. This was before everything would be pre-recorded.
The Captain was the morning booth announcer and Salty was the afternoon booth announcer; doing the Captain Jinks Show was their transition time. The show was first an hour, and it became so popular that they expanded it to two hours. That meant they could sell a plethora of advertising in the show.
Now a little back story, I had started my TV career at the competing CBS Affiliate WMBD while skipping classes at Bradley University as a lowly floor director or a … ‘hey you, I need a glass of water or that set needs to be constructed’
Then due to my immaturity, somehow, I was asked to leave the station that I loved. But I was able to garner a floor director’s position at the WEEK-TV for a while. I was able to regain my position and career at WMBD, but that is still another story.
Also, at this time I am also still a first-year freshman at Bradley University in name-only and a young entrepreneur with the Sugar Shack in my hometown asking kids to dress up and go dancing on the weekends. I was booking bands from around the area.
Combining my studentship and entrepreneurship, I spotted four upper classmen at Bradley University who had formed a band called The Trademarks and I thought they had real potential.
Now my work schedule was to work the Captain’s show and then get ready for the local news program and stay until the 10 pm news cast was finished, I clean up and went home.
At that time, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson was 90 minutes long. After the Tonight Show was over at midnight George Buhsillyun would read the closing sign-off announcement for the station. Then the station would run a film of the National Anthem and the engineers would shut off the transmitter.
I saw this as a great opportunity to get The Trademarks to come into the big TV studio and get recorded. Something they hadn’t been able to do. I became friends with one of the engineers at the station and he agreed to stay after the station signed off to record the band.
(INSERT RECORDING) I have the only recording and it was a very was educating night.
Now for the rest of the story, the story that I set out to tell.
It was a Friday night and the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson had just started and the switch board started getting calls complaining about the signal of the station was coming in and out. That was scaring all the engineers because they were checking all of the dials and meters. The signal strength of the network coming into the station was strong. That wasn’t a problem.
The calls kept coming. Another round for system checks began. The only people in the station were the person taking all the calls, the four engineers, myself and George B.
But the calls continued coming. Finally, one of the engineers decided to go behind the studio building to observe the tower. The base of the tower sat in the middle of a field next to the building. The tower was guyed-masted.
I wasn’t drunk, but I was staring at the bottles so neatly stacked on the shelfs in front of me on the other side of the bar. As I was staring at the bottles, my right hand was draped around a glass of Budweiser. Ken was by my side.
It was a quiet place where you could be alone. The Trust Me Tavern in Mossville, Illinois was located between my hometown of Chillicothe and Peoria on Route Twenty-Nine, but it was far enough away from someone noticing us. Jill the bartender didn’t card us. We looked older than we were. Ken and I had graduated from High School a couple of years earlier.
When you opened the door to walk in you felt the smoke in the air lingering on the walls and ceiling. The floor felt sticky and tacky as each step got you closer to your favorite bar stool and you could feel comfortable. This was long before they thought smoking was bad for your health.
I really thought I was ‘feeling my oats’ at the time. Drinking hadn’t been something that occurred in my home. Neither of my parents even thought about drinking. My grandfather on my mother’s side was always kidding about drinking but he never did … I never saw him drink.
Ken was smoking a cigarette, it made you look older. I emailed Ken to see if he remembered any of this and all he remembered was that he had a 1963 Split Window Corvette. The corvette got us to the Trust Me Tavern. I was not impressed with the ride and thought it was like riding on the ground. My 1959 VW rode a lot better. I haven’t been in a Corvette since that time.
Since we were underage at that time, we had been meeting on these bar stools for the last several weeks. I was working but I’m having a hard time remembering where I was employed. But sitting on that bar stool I know, I was pondering my life, I was coming to realize that my life had no purpose. Just sitting on that barstool.
So, life gets a little fuzzy here. One person that was influential in my life was Earl Nightingale. I was nineteen years old driving home from working the overnight shift at Caterpillar Tractor Company in East Peoria, Illinois. The radio in my VW, was tuned to WMBD AM and there was a daily motivational feature from Earl Nightingale that I listened to:
INSERT EARL
“Life should be an exciting adventure, it should never be a bore, a man should live fully … be alive. He should be glad to get out of bed in the morning … he should be doing a job he likes to do because he does it well … - - - … the architect of the universe didn’t build a stairway leading nowhere … and the greatest teacher of all the carpenter from the plains of Galilee gave us the secret time and time again … as ye believe so shall it be done unto you.”MUSIC UNDER
… That got me thinking about what I wanted to be … what I wanted to become.
As I think back on the life and times of people who have influenced and inspired me, the first name comes to me is Reverend Ken Yocum. He was the pastor at the small Methodist Church in Sparland, Illinois. I got to know him at my father’s dry-cleaning business. He was a customer. I pressed his pants and waited on him at the front counter as I was working for my father through high school.
A couple of years later, I was working as a production assistant at Bradley University in the ETV department that was in four-converted classrooms in the EE Building. It’s amazing the year before I was a freshman at Bradley University skipping classes so I could learn more about television production. Now the next year I was employed by Bradley University, and I was getting firsthand experience with television equipment. My job classification was listed as a faculty member. From dropout student to faculty in
LOST PHONE
Thursday morning and it’s 8:30 and I am ready to head out the door to my Writer’s Group at the Event Center at Trilogy of Orlando.
I’m going to take the car today because it looks like rain, and it is supposed to rain off-and-on all day. I have the car key flub, my clipboard with today’s writing and … all I need now is my phone. But I can’t find my phone.
I knew I had my phone earlier in the morning. I do my daily meditations on the phone. I know I did that at 5 AM because I woke up early, but then went back to sleep and I got up at 7 AM.
Now, I am pacing between the kitchen, the studio, the kitchen and the studio and my bedroom. I know the phone wasn’t in my easy chair because I had it earlier this morning.
I was concerned that the phone was on silent. The night before I had attended one of those meetings where they request that you silent your phone at the beginning of the meeting. I couldn’t remember if I had switched it back ringer mode.
Now I am going around the house asking Siri to help me find my phone … “Hey Siri, Hey Sir, Hey Siri, what was the cost of a barrel of oil today?” I thought I heard her answer once. And then silence. The internet went down again. Siri won’t answer. I keep marching around the house retracing my steps. It’s 8:45 and I needed to get going, I hate to be late for the Group.
What a feeling, I didn’t have the communicator with me, I asked myself will I make it through the next two hours?
After getting to the event center and got my usual cup of coffee, I walked into the Artisan room. The first thing I did was to ask Jim if he would help me find my phone after the group meeting. He said he would be glad to help, and I was relieved. I knew the phone wasn’t in the car or lost somewhere I knew it was in the house; but where?
Pacing myself through the lecture and readings, I didn’t have the phone or internet to distract me from what was happening in the class.
Finally, the class was over, and I followed after Jim as I was racing home to find my phone. My communicator. My personal computer. It’s funny how your whole life is now connected to your phone.
As we got in the house Jim started calling my number. That was a great idea. If my phone rang, we would hear it and could identify its location.
It was going to be easy; Jim pressed the send button on his phone. We could hear the phone ringing on Jim’s phone, but we could not hear my phone ringing. When my phone rings, it sounds like an old phone chime. It should have been easy to identify. So, I guess I had left the phone on silent from last night. We started pacing from room to room but heard nothing.
Jim said, “Even if it was on-silent, we should hear or feel the vibration.” This gave me great comfort.
I went back to the bedroom and started patting the head of the bed when I slept. Assuming I had left it in bed. Nothing!
Jim started calling again. We were looking in drawers in the kitchen. I pulled the trash container out from under the sink looking through it. It wasn’t there, but when I had worked at Chick-fil-A there were times when a guest would accidently drop their phone in a large trash bin. I had combed through the trash bins and found a couple of phones, so I thought maybe I had accidently dropped my phone in the trash.
From the studio to the bedroom, but no sound.
At last, there was a sound. The internet had come back on. The sound was emulating from the bedroom. But where? Our ears were pointed to the bed. The bed, I had frisked it and didn’t feel anything. Yes, the bed. What was it hiding?
Finally, I ripped the covers back and at the very foot of the bed under
Copy to follow
Rollins College Crummer School of Business
Memo to Dr Johnson
This week's story is a story from a memo written to Dr. Mark W Johnson who's a Professor of Marketing and Ethics at the Crummer School of Business at Rollins College in Winter Park Florida.
Go back to 2001, my wife at the time thought I needed further college education well I had never graduated from any college at all, and I had used my experiences in the television production business. But 2001 she thought I should be accepted for my Life Credits in business in the Executive MBA program for The Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College.
So, part of the two-year program was a Doctor Johnson would lead students internationally to tour different countries and after that we're supposed to write a paper and turn it in the problem is it's a late paper, I never turned it in so here goes.
Here's the story, after completely being drummed out of Rollins College Crummer School of Business in the fall of 2002 from the Finance501 Financial Management Class because I could not figure out stock valuations.
I can't understand this now I don't think there are many stockbrokers who can understand it as well but since the Dow Jones have been doing good and we'll never know where it goes as of today's recording.
I thought it would be a good time to once again turn my paper in to Rollins College Executive MBA program because of the trip May 11, 2002, trip we toured Hewitt Packard Office in Broad in the Czech Republic. We Tour the castle in Heidelberg Germany, and we toured the Headquarters of Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart Germany.
Now that that's a good excuse but part of my back ground consisted of being the vice president of operations for CSTV, television production company located in Chicago Illinois. The company had produced 750 episodes of a program called the American Spotlight. which aired on TLC The Learning Channel and CNBC. The program ended in 1989.
This program looked a lot like the program's you see on cable TV today that was made program. The process of producing a program was the producers and remote TV Crews would go to a company and capture their entire manufacturing process as a raw material would come in the back door of a factory and then be turned out into a finished product. American Spotlight as well focused its cameras on the HR departments to see who and what made American manufacturing work to examine the marketing of some companies it was needed to go to a Third-Party to discuss how the products or Services were to be sold.
The program consisted of what were classified as small businesses to some of the major names in American Business they included American Steel and Wire in Cuyahoga Heights, Ohio, the Brunswick Corporation Skokie, Illinois, the Dial Corporation Phoenix, Arizona.
American Spotlight also did a program on Harley-Davidson in Milwaukee, Wisconsin learning how they once Famous Brand in America had declined, but they were retooling to back to the prominence of the American manufacturing processes.
At one of the studio taping sessions to the program Nathan S Ansel co-founder of Ethan Allen Incorporated explained the concept of selling rooms-style settings in the showroom
The one that always makes me smile was the Von Duprin company in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are the manufacturers of push bar on doors. The company produced the first panic bar style door mechanism that allows a door to a public building to be locked from the outside but still easy to exit from the inside so when I'm exiting a building. I always check to see if I'm using a Von Duprin product when leaving a building.
With all that said back to Rollins College the Executive MBA program in May of 2002 I didn't turn the paper in, and I
The class I should not have taken in high school. All my life I have been in business, and I never took any classes that was related to business. Still a product of that of the education system of today, but that is a different story.
In my freshman year in dear old Chillicothe Township High School, my father thought it would be a good idea for me to learn something about building things.
My father was a product of the other great depression. He had helped his father out on the farm, and he was handy with tools when he wanted to be.
So, here I am in Mr. Smith’s Industrial Arts Class my freshman year. I learned how to sit back and not be very motivated. There were four basic elements to the class. There was mechanical drawing learning to read blueprints, electrical wiring, gas and arc welding, but I only remember Woodworking. It took me all the allotted time of the class to complete my Box.
Yes, the Box. The Box is only 61/2 x 51/2 x 5 inches. It was supposed to be a box you could opened, but it took me so long to just get the sides glued. The sanding to make it smooth must have take a week and finally staining it with a nice finish.
I have kept it all these years to remind me of all the time it took me to make that box.
I am still proud of the great creation. It has moved all over the country and stays with me. The Box remains one of the great talking points when you walk-in to my home wherever I am
Western Union Clock
“Well, the massive Western Union Clock on the bunker wall says that time’s up for this week but remember you can check me out at Jay Lawrence Radio Host on Facebook, drop me a line or make a request.
So, join us again next time. I’ll still be here in the bunker getting some more shows together FROM STATESIDE here on the UK 1940s Radio Station. Until Next Time, I’m Jay Lawrence … thanks for listening.”
I had just completed the 241st episode of FROM STATESIDE. On each program I refer to the Western Union Clock on the bunker wall of my Underground Broadcast Studio Bunker and it finally came to me that I need to clarify the reason I used that reference.
It all started when I was given a tour of the WMBD radio studios in Peoria, Illinois when I was incredibly young. In each studio there was a Western Union Clock on the wall.
Listening to the radio had always been a staple in my home growing up. There was the afternoon children’s programs like The Green Hornet and Spiderman to listen to when I got home from school, but the serious listening started at the supper table on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This was the time for the LONE RANGER. It was a half hour program that came on right at supper time and my sister and I would argue over who would sit closest to the radio to hear all the action.
There were other programs listened to during the week in what we call prime time hours now, but the most important and most listened to program happened on Sunday evening. It was the Jack Benny Program. Jack Benny always had a cast of characters like Mel Banc (famous for Bugs Bunny voice), vocalist Dennis Day, Bandleader Phil Harris the announcer was Don Wilson but one of the funniest characters was Eddie ROCHESTER Anderson. Jack Benny allowed his cast to have some of the funniest lines and biggest laughs. And it seemed like they were always going to practice the radio show for the next program … it was great theater of the mind.
And several times you would hear Jack Benny say, “The clock on the wall says we’re a little late so goon night.” The show was running long. They were doing the broadcast live. And the clock on the wall was a Western Union Clock.
So, it was only right for me to think about being on the radio. I wanted to be in one of those studios. I wanted to be on the air. But an amazing thing is that you must be able to read. And I find it hard to read sometimes and I even have a habit of putting words into scripts that aren’t even there.
Consequently, I found a way to get into the broadcast business by understudying a TV Director at the radio and TV station that I had toured twelve years earlier. When I say I understudied, I skipped my English102 Class at Bradley University and studied and absorbed all I could in television production at the TV Station.
I studied and I learned, and I was promoted to a TV Director directing live news casts. My eye was always on the Western Union Clock on the wall as we had to join CBS for THE EVENING NEWS with Walter Cronkite on time.
Jump ahead to 2013, I am semi-retired and wanting to do more production. The internet was giving us a great outlet for creativity, and I heard this station from England called the UK 1940s radio station and I wanted to do a program for that station. I threw together a fifteen-minute pilot demo and shipped it off. They liked it and here I have just completed 241 hours of programming. As I complete each program, I have my eye on the massive Western Union Clock on the bunker wall to be sure I am on time.
Day Two: Birmingham to Tulsa
We are on a pilgrimage to move my youngest son from Eustis, Florida to Golden Colorado. We spent all day on Saturday packing the twenty-foot U-Haul truck and we hit the road on Sunday. My son and I would be driving the truck and his wife, and her father would be following us in another car.
The U-Haul truck was also pulling one of my son’s cars and we were dragging along at a pace of 8.5 miles per gallon of gas. And as we were the Alabama boarder, we detected that we needed gas and we spotted a LOVES gas station and pulled of the interstate and proceed to find that all the gas pumps nasals were covered, and they didn’t have any gas at that station. So, we had to get back on the road and luckily the next exit had a gas station and gas.
Since my son and I had decided that we would switch drivers where we got gas, it was my turn at piloting the U-Haul heading towards Birmingham. I got the truck up to a good cruising speed of seventy miles an hour and turned to my son and asked him where the cruise control switch was on the steering wheel. He commonly said, “it’s under your right foot.”
We completed our first day’s journey to Birmingham, Alabama and called it a night.
Day two started off okay. We knew that was going to be the longest leg of the trip and we had to go north to get to Interstate 40 by going to Memphis, Tennessee. We were on Interstate 22 and US 78 heading north and as we got closer to Memphis, we started seeing big warning signs that said the Interstate 40 Bridge was out of service and we would have to find an alternative route.
As we got into the southeastern side of Memphis Interstate 22 suddenly just became US 78. The road became very rough and riding in the U-Haul was like riding on a wooden roller coaster. On our right side was one of the largest train/truck loading depots I had ever seen. It was the Intermodal Cartage Depot of Memphis with very large cranes unloading shipping containers from railroad cars onto hundreds of semitrailers waiting to hauled out onto the rough highway.
Being the first time I had ever been in Memphis, Tennessee I had to Google our location and to see where Elvis’s Graceland was. I was evenly miles out of our way and the way road and traffic was, there was now way this 20’ U-Haul and car pulling trailer were going eleven miles out of way. Sorry Elvis, next time.
The road that was supposed to be an interstate road kept getting rougher and rougher. We kept moving north looking for the alternative route to cross the Mississippi River. At last, we understood that we were going to have to get on Interstate 55 to cross the river and then go north to intersect with Interstate 40 West.
Understandably old Interstate 55 was very congested with all kinds of trucks and cars that were wanting to be on Interstate 40 as well as just heading west on Interstate 55. The traffic was congested that we were moving at a snail’s pace. So, my son Josh hopped onto a Google map and found back roads to get us up to and onto the old Interstate 55 bridge.
As I was questioning what he was going to do, we exited at Exit Seven, meaning we were seven miles to the bridge. But we were on old side roads that paralleled the interstate. This was an old industrial area. made a U-turn because that was the wrong road and then crossed some railroad tracks. The last turn was up a road that had a sign that read NO TRUCKS. That didn’t stop Josh. As we climbed the hill, I noticed picnic tables and park benches. I thought this was not going to be good. As we turned a corner there was the National Metal Museum. We didn’t have time to explores the museum, but we did see it.
Two more turns and we were at the very old Exit Number One on Interstate 55 at the very foot of the bridge. There wa
This actually happened.
Saturday night June 12th was the most anticipated event that happens here at Trilogy when the Cascades of Groveland Entertainment and Arts Group Presents the SUMMER SIZZLER in Cooperation with Trilogy Musicians Initiative Concert at the Trilogy Event Center.
I had heard that this was supposed to be an excited and ticketed event, I purchased two tickets. Assuming as naive as I am that I would be able to convince that someone to at least share the concert with me. Well, that didn’t happen as from an earlier story, there was no communication.
Since I had two seats, I wanted to get to the Event Center early enough to get a parking space and to be able to find my seats. I was escorted to my seats I-17 and I-18. Finding my seats, I was able to get up and chat with Brenda Lee, Bunny, Jeff, Beverly, Tolman and Marcia. After I got an adult beverage, I stopped by the tech booth, and I got a lesson in the lighting system since I had said I would love to learn it.
I got back to my seat I-18 … and I-17 was not filled, it had been reserved for that someone. Then I looked to my right and Linda and Frank were seated next to me. And the amazing thing is that Linda and Frank sat next to me at the 50s Sox Hop a couple of weeks ago. We got reacquainted chatting and three minutes before the concert was supposed to start there seemed to be a confused usher asking about our seat assignment because there were four ladies looking at our seats.
The usher asked to see our tickets and she discovered that what we thought was row I was supposed to be in row L. So, Linda, Frank and I were escorted three rows back as they were dimming the house lights to start the concert. Linda and Frank were on the isle, and I moved into seat L-18 and L-17 was empty Finally, being seated as Ken was introducing the program, I looked to my left and my jaw dropped wide open. SHE was seated right next to me one seat over in Seat L-16.
She blurted out in surprise, “Larry King?”
I think I said. “Hello.”
The concert started and I sat nervously thinking that perhaps God had arranged this. At intermission I slide over to the seat L-17 next to her and we both agreed that the music wasn’t exactly our cup of tea.
Then I suggested that I would like to get together and talk, and she again said, “why, just seemed that we did that before, and it didn’t end well.” (paraphrased)
I did say, I hope she was doing ok and quivered, “if you would talk sometime, I would like that.”
So, I got up and left the concert. I had to get home to record this story for my Writers Group.
I am hoping this is the end of the that story and beginning of a new Trilogy love story.
Creative Writing:
IT WAS THURSDAY. Thursday morning was the day I went to a writing class at the community center. After class I walked a couple of blocks to the café on Main Street where everyone went for lunch. Yes, I had my usual table with my back to the wall. Heather was my server, and she knew what I was going to order. The chop salad was waiting for me. But this was not going to be just another Thursday.
As I was pondering what I had heard in class and trying to put some story ideas together, my eyes kept wandering halfway across the room. Seated at the table was one of the more provocative women I had seen in a long time. I of course could not take my eyes off this beauty. This sweet rose of a woman.
One, she was a blonde. Her hair was short but not too short. Two, she wore her makeup in such a subtle manner you didn’t even notice. Her lips had a red glow. But third as my eyes traced her long legs, it was the high heels. You just don’t see those kinds of shoe around here. What would a blonde with those legs be doing here in this mountain resort town?
Well, I did try to concentrate on class. In the class the presenter had flashed a picture in front of us and said, ‘write about what you see in the picture.’ I had the picture in my head, but the blonde kept my interest.
Suddenly my attention was jolted and what flashed in front of me were those legs and those high heels. Standing before me was the blonde from across the room. She asked me my name and I said it with such a shy voice I could hardly hear me. So, she asked me again. I could hardly get it out. But I said my name.
She proceeded to hand me some folded papers and said, “Great. You’ve been served.” And she walked out of my life.
Dress up and Go Dancing ... that was the tag line for the commercials. It was 1963 and I was just out of high school. Always the entrepreneur, I thought it would be a good idea to create a Teen-A-Go-Go for the youth in my home town. Enjoy
Besides putting my record player out the window and blasting the neighbors I also got into trouble with some other neighbors a little later.
I had graduated from high school and was working as a paint shop helper at Caterpillar Tractor Company in East Peoria, Illinois. I heard the cry that going around that there was no place for the “young people” of Chillicothe to go and have some good clean fun.
After traveling all the way to Peoria and seeing Chubby Checker at the Peppermint Lounge … a youth orientated dance club created by a member of the LaHood family. And I saw such great acts as The Four Seasons and Jerry Lee Lewis. I thought it was time that Chillicothe and the youth deserved a place like the one in Peoria.
After attending a Chillicothe City Council meeting and giving my big speech that Chillicothe needed a place for the youth. Serendipity stepped in. A man named Dean Riggins attended that meeting and afterward we talked on the sidewalk outside of City Hall. I can remember that conversation like it was yesterday. He said, ‘he had a building that just might fit our purpose.’
Dean Riggins was a building contractor with unique visions. He had constructed a motel and boat dock harbor on the shore of the Illinois River. His sales and repair building wasn’t being used and he thought it would really fit our purpose. The building had two sections. The front room which was to be the show room for boats had a polished floor for dancing and the second room would be great for snack bar with tables that we purchased from the LaHood establishments in Peoria.
Dean helped us construct a stage that would fit into one corner. In an old Country Club called Shore Acers, there was an old bar that really wasn’t being used and we transported it to the second room, and we were set.
The Sugar Shack in Chillicothe was born. A place the youth of the area could go to and as our advertising phrase said, ‘Dress Up and Go Dancing.’ We booked bands on Friday and Saturday evening. The first band was a local group called the Rockin’ Ramrods. Feature groups came from St Louis, The Jules Blattner Group, and the biggest night was when The Rivera's appeared when there one-hit-wonder California Sun was #4 in the nation.
The Sugar Shack was a hit. Except for my neighbors.
It seemed Mr. Crossman and Dr. Green and three other neighbors didn’t like all the noise and traffic that we created each weekend. So, after a year and half, they took us to court and had us closed down.
Of course, it was a cold Friday night; it was November in Chillicothe. The town where we knew almost everybody in town.
I and a couple of friends were walking … heading north on Sixth Street. The street was silent. The town was silent. This was a night we were supposed to be dancing at the Sugar Shack. The music was supposed to be blaring … I was to be rejoicing and celebrating our youthful age.
Since graduating from high school the past May, I had landed a great job at Caterpillar Tractor Company in Peoria, Illinois and I was working the third shift … the overnight shift. However, on this cold Friday night, Caterpillar had shut down for the weekend. That was really an anomaly.
But earlier that day, I had been sleeping in my upstairs bedroom when I heard a strange voice call out to me. It was my eighty-seven-year-old Grandmother. She had lived with our family for several years as she and my grandfather had grown older and weren’t able to keep their house. She was always a great encouragement to me. Relaying those great stories how she had lived from the ‘horse and buggy’ to seeing rockets heading for the moon.
“Lawrence,” she cried out. “I think you need to turn the TV on,’ she said. Now this was strange. Why would she be trying to wake me at 1:30 in the early afternoon? Didn’t she know I needed my sleep to work the overnight shift?
“Lawrence, the President has been shot!” That got my attention. Even back then I was a News Junkie. I clamored out of bed and turned to my trusted news source CBS NEWS. It was 1:35 PM Central Time and Walter Cronkite took off his black horn-rimmed glasses and delivered that cold chilling News FLASH to the world. “From Dallas, Texas … the Flash … it’s apparently official President Kennedy died at One PM Standard Central Time.”
That Eerie and Bitter Cold November Friday night of 1963 still lingers with me as we walked north on Sixth Street in Chillicothe.
A poem I wrote for my wife in 2017
We're heading east with sadness … the vacation was over
My wife was by my side but the mountains where in my rearview mirror, but the mountains were in my rearview mirror.
My mind thinks of the times we had together
What were they like pondering a hiking trail or seeing deer in the meadow at Sunset?
but the mountains were in my rearview mirror
the mountains were in my rearview mirror
It was the Traverse it felt like home with my wife by my side
But heading east brough sadness because the mountains were in my rearview mirror
She wanted to call Bozeman home, she hated to head east
that meant the snowiest Peaks and the grandson were left behind
and the mountains were in my rearview mirror
Now that seat is empty now
The Traverse is gone how will it be looking at the snowiest pikes
To see the mountains in my rearview mirror
Because the mountains are still in my rearview mirror
We were able to get so great talent for KBHL 95.3 in Lincoln, Nebraska. Scott Campbell came to little ol' Lincoln, Nebraska from a radio station in San Diego, California. Hear how the station transitioned from The Sound of the New Life to NEW LIFE 95 KBHL.
Scot Campbell became KBHL’s Program Director, he spent a lot of time communicating with the listeners. He heard them say they listened for entertainment and information even though they may be alone or in their car or at home they're only a click away from Christian Fellowship.
As the station merged towards a more professional sound Larry King and Scott Campbell dreamed up a promotion to end of the branding of the station from The Sound of the New Life. This was a way to introduce the new jingle package and brand the station as New Life 95. Jerry Logan made this announcement, “Monday October 31st, 1977, in Lincoln 95.3 KBHL will no longer be The Sound of the New Life. But at 6 p.m. the staff and management of 95.3 KBHL invite you to listen at 6 p.m. tonight as ninety-five point three KBHL says farewell.
Jim Hanemaayer did middays on New Life 95. He was just out of college and Larry King gave him his first job. Scott Campbell was there to help develop his radio career. He enjoyed the fact that he was a part of a new and very exciting way the contemporary Christian music scene. He said, “It was in a time of explosive growth and change and we did a lot of things with artist interviews and features and community loved the music.”
Scott Campbell added a lot KBHL. Scott ended his broadcast career when he went home to Bend Oregon. He passed away from a sudden heart attack. He was a terrific radio Pioneer in the format that is in many major markets today call THE FISH.
The dream that started in 1973 for me (Larry King) came to an end in 1979 due to financial pressures. I had to sell KBHL. I must confess I was very disappointed.
Jim said, “Larry King was a man of vision as a Pioneer probably in a financial sense a little bit before it's time for the format because now across the country there are these FISH formats as they are called. They do the same thing in a very big financial way that Larry King tried to do from a Ministry perspective back so many years ago, but Larry was a true Pioneer and contemporary Christian music I don't think would be where it is today if it weren't for guys like Larry King Scott Campbell. I really enjoyed being a part of New Life 95.”
Larry King said, “I've accepted ted the responsibility for having to sell the station but it's as Jim said the vision lives on, so I'd like to close with this from one of the most requested songs written by Andrae Crouch on KBHL. ‘I've had many tears and Sorrows had questions for tomorrow there have been times I didn't know right from wrong but in every situation. Gave a blessed consolation that my Trials come to only make me strong through it all through it all I know that I am kept by His love.”
Be sure to listen to the entire podcast to hear the voices and know that you are Kept by His Love.
The call letter had real meaning. KBHL stood for Kept By His Love.
This is part 2 of a three part series.
Finally on March 6th, 1975, at 6 p.m. in the middle of an ice storm KBHL goes on the air and Mike Wagner does the Sign-On, “This is KBHL FM stereo in Lincoln Nebraska, we now wish you God's blessings and begin broadcasting with inspirational music for your enjoyment.”
March 6th at 6 p.m. you heard the Sound of the New Life KBHL Lincoln 95.3 and then we heard from listeners. We heard from the body God's people responding during the first hour of broadcasting. There were over fifty phone calls by midnight Mike Dwork and Tom Smith shared six hours of Contemporary Christian Music at the Sound of the New Life with Lincoln. The calls kept coming.
The on-air-talent rivaled anyone in town with Bob Kellogg, Larry King, Rodger Roach, Lauren Lippincott, Tom Smith, Glenn Dean, Kay Linley, and J. Michael Dwork.
Ways the station gamed grassroots listeners was with the distribution of bumper stickers. You could see them and all kinds of cars all over Lincoln and Omaha. To celebrate Easter, Miller and Payne sponsored the classical presentation of Handel's Messiah. The radio station promotion was done by a classical actor from Omaha Rudyard Norton.
On May 15th, 1975, at 8 p.m. at the O'Donnell Music Hall on the Nebraska Wesleyan campus the Sound of the New Life concert number one. It was The Second Chapter of Acts and Barry McGuire.
KBHL was committed to Ministry and the New Life Singers were formed. A radio promoting for the Nurse of the Week and Teacher Feature for more details at participating sponsors with production by Jerry Logan one of Nebraska's best producers.
Bob Kellogg was KBHL’s first news director launching the news department for station gave him an opportunity to do two things that I have wanted to do since graduating from college a few years earlier. He wanted to be ab broadcast journalism but there is a lot more to it than that being a brand-new baby Christian for the first time I felt like I was a part of something bigger than myself I felt like I was a member of the Christian believer. Bob was exposed to wonderful learning opportunities through the teaching programs on the station.
Great interviews from the musical artists from Kathy (you know her as Kathy Lee Gifford) & Meshi, Andre Crouch, and Evie said, “I just got to say this, this radio station is my kind of radio station and wow they play good music.”
Then Scott Campbell joined the staff …
End of Part 2 of the story of KBHL 95.3 FM, Lincoln, Nebraska.
in 1973 it was my vision to create the first Contemporary Christian Music Radio Station in the United States. This is the back story of how it got started. This is the story of KBHL 95.3 in Lincoln, Nebraska.
It’s just like it was yesterday Friday April 20th, 1973. My wife was driving that big white and red topped Buick and we were just east of Council Bluffs, Iowa on Interstate 80. We were headed to my parent’s home in Illinois for the Easter Weekend. I can still see the clouds in the sky inviting me to dream as we were heading east.
Always wanting to listen to the radio, I was playing with the radio searching for some music. We were driving away from the radio station signals that I was familiar with and my mind starting to drift to “what if?”
As I was dealing with the “what ifs,” we had lived in Lincoln, Nebraska for the last two years. KOLN/KGIN-TV Lincoln, Nebraska had hired me to be a TV-Director in 1969. By 1971 my wife and I had ingrained ourselves in the community and we created an Advertising Agency, and we were on our own.
So here we are driving in a void of radio signals, and I got to thinking … why isn’t there a Contemporary Christian Music Radio Station playing the music of the young artists that were expressing their faith in a medium I could identify with? That was the “what if”
As we kept heading east, the vision became clearer to me. I set out me on an adventure to create a Contemporary Christian Music Radio Station with a format like that of my idol radio station WLS the great 890 in Chicago for the next seven years.
KBHL-FM 95.3 was granted the right to commence broadcasting by the FCC in Lincoln, Nebraska on March 5, 1975.
It was her hair. She was slowly moving around the skating rink, but I kept seeing her long hair as she was trying to teach her young child to skate. Oh yes, I noticed her long legs. She had a pair of white slacks and those legs really stood out.
You might have heard me mention this episode in another story. I was managing a roller-skating rink on a Sunday afternoon in October of 1981, and I noticed that her young son fell on her skate, and he started to bleed. Not wanting the blood to ruin those white slacks, I hustled them to the snack bar, stopped the bleeding and got a date. Well, I just didn’t get a date, I got a wife and her young son in the package.
We were married in a small church wedding on a Sunday afternoon as I took the day off from the skating rink and with a group of her friends and mine in the ceremony. The ceremony was delayed by two events. First, we originally set the wedding date for February 14, but she got cold feet at the last minute and we pushed it back a month to March 14. Second on March 14 we had to wait for the church bishop to complete his visit with the minister and finally we were married.
I had been working at the roller-skating rink because I was in-between as we say in the trade. But my real passion was in radio and tv production. So, I had a friend from Kansas City call me and said there was a production company in Cocoa, Florida that was looking for a producer/director/production manager and I was really made for the job. I called the production facility and with the phone call got an invitation to go to Florida for an in-person interview. Flying from Lincoln, Nebraska to Orlando, Florida wasn’t very easy in those days. So, I had booked an early flight to get me to Orlando in good time.
But here was one of the first issues that I should have noticed. This beautiful woman with the long hair had no sense of timing. And because she doodled so much, I missed the flight. I was embarrassed and had to call my future employer and explain the situation. Thankfully there was another flight about noon time, and I was able to get on that fight and make the connection.
My new employer was kind enough to fly my new bride down for a weekend honeymoon on the beach in Cocoa. Wow, I got a good look at those legs and of course her long flowing hair that danced with the waves on the ocean at sunset.
Meg my wife had to finish grad school at the University of Nebraska while I was getting settled in the new job in Florida. Finally, the semester was over, and she was ready to move to Florida to be with me. I was going to fly home and pack up the moving van and we would head back to Florida in your VW Rabbit. (And that was another story)
The day came and I flew back to Lincoln and got off the plane and I could not find my new bride waiting for me at the airport. I looked around and finally someone said my name and I recognized the voice, but I didn’t recognize the face. Since she was moving to Florida, she thought it was a good idea to get her hair cut. Her hair was so short, I did not recognize my new bride with short hair.
I don’t really call myself a cyclist or I haven’t gone all out to purchase all the fancy clothes to wear on my bike. I guess I just like the feel of the wind on my face and remember as a kid how I used to ride my twenty-six-inch red Schwinn bike with the basket on the front around my hometown of Chillicothe, Illinois.
The thrill of riding my bike then was, I wasn’t confined to just my yard to play in. I could ride down to the Illinois Riverbank and go fishing. I was so hip I had a brand-new portable transistor radio in the basket on the front of the bike. I had all of Elvis, Bobby Darin, and the Kingston Trio riding with me as I listened to the Great 89WLS from Chicago.
I was so free I could head out west towards the Santa Fe Railroad and ride though the McGrath Gravel Pit which was one of the largest gravel pits in the country. Riding past all those piles of different sizes of rocks waiting to be loaded onto freight cars on the Santa Fe Railroad or the fine sand was heading to Irons Concrete Company in Chillicothe to become cement to build the cement blocks that so many homes were built with.
Passing the piles of gravel, you would head north and glide down the rocky road to the Senachwine Creek bridge and explore the creek bed looking for Indian artifacts that were supposed to be there. One of the stupid times was with my friend when we both rode to the creek bridge. He was a hipper cooler friend. His parents had purchased BB guns for the four boys in his family. I didn’t have a BB gun. Well, we took his BB guns with us. We each got on a side of the creek and started shooting at each other! We wanted to see if we could hit each other. Remember the movie, THE CHRISTMAS STORY, the mother would say, “Don’t shoot your eye out?” My friend ended up being a better shot and hit me with a couple of times. All below the waist.
How ridiculous was that?
Now driving seventeen miles to ride my bike with a friend, am I trying to reclaim some childhood memories? The trail is twenty-nine miles long, flat, and straight from Polk City to Mabel. A real rural trail that is a converted railroad bed the state of Florida acquired in 1990
Driving seventeen miles to get to the trail, I drive west on Florida State Highway Fifty to Mabel, Florida to the head of General James A. Van Fleet State Trail. General Van Fleet was called ‘America’s greatest general’ by President Harry Truman and the general called Polk City his hometown.
Approaching the trailhead, the sign of Mabel appears on my right side, and I look to see where the town is and there is nothing there!
Mabel, Florida began in the late 1800’s and the town was named for the daughter of the founding postmaster J.P. Phelps. Mabel had a sawmill that made wooden fruit baskets and a packing house. The population was never higher than fifty residents. Mabel was on a subdivision of the Seaboard Railroad running from Coleman to Miami, Florida running track through Polk City and Mabel, The Post Office closed in 1918 and nothing but a wooden barn remains of Mabel today.
I guess I still am like a kid. I like to ride my bike and feel the wind on my face as I pedal along the trail, and I have answered my questions of how the trail got its name and what happened to Mabel, Florida