Family. Food. Football. To the typical American, those three words define the Thanksgiving holiday. But to me, at least in 2025, Thanksgiving weekend was defined by another F-Word, and that word was ‘Forty’. At 5:52am on Thursday November 27, 2025,…
Uncategorized
343: I’M GOING HOME – TO SAY GOODBYE, TO FIFTY-EIGHT, WHO FELL FROM THE SKY
It was the moment of truth when Tom’s alarm rang at 6:00am on Thursday July 24, 2025 in our hotel room in Dixon, Illinois. My photographer had tweaked his knee the previous evening at Lowell Park, but he figured the…
342: FROM DUTCH BOY SHOES TO HIS RAWHIDE BOOTS, REAGAN NEVER FORGOT HIS DIXON ROOTS
During the afternoon of Wednesday July 23, 2025, my companions and I had become completely enthralled with the childhood of Ronald Reagan. We had spent a little over an hour in Tampico, Illinois where we toured Reagan’s birthplace, and then…
341: BABY WHY DON’T WE GO, TO A PLACE CALLED TAMPICO – AND TOUR THE BIRTHPLACE OF RONALD REAGAN
There was nary a cloud in the sky when Tom’s alarm rang at 6:00am on Wednesday July 23, 2025. Although I was anxious to visit the Iowa State Capitol Building during our first stop of the day, I was even…
340: I SANG LIKE NUN OTHER AFTER SURVIVING A NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE IN THREE STATES
There wasn’t a ton of excitement in our Holiday Inn Express hotel room when Tom’s alarm went off at 6:00am on Monday July 21, 2025. The reason for the lack of enthusiasm was because my photographer, his wife Vicki, and…
339: I STOOD ON THE SURFACE OF AN ALIEN WORLD – “AND WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SMELL?”
It was the 56th anniversary of the Apollo 11 astronauts landing and walking on the Moon, and there was no better way for me to celebrate that historic event than to stand on a destitute, other-worldly surface as well. That…
338: AFTER A ROUGH RIDE INTO NEVADA, I RUBBED ELBOWS WITH TEDDY ROOSEVELT AT THE CAPITOL
When Tom’s alarm went off at 6:00am on Saturday July 19, 2025, I was still thinking about the strange noises I had heard in the night. Those animalistic sounds were loud, as was the rhythmic pounding, and I was certain…
337: THE SCENIC PLEASURE OF RIMMING CRATER LAKE WILL GO DOWN IN THE ANNALS OF HISTORY
The fourteenth day of our scheduled three-week-long trip began on Friday July 18, 2025 when Tom’s alarm went off at 6:00am in our small room at the Timberline Lodge in Government Camp, Oregon. My photographer, his wife Vicki, and I…
336: FDR AND ME, TOGETHER AT MOUNT HOOD’S TIMBERLINE LODGE
The moment Tom’s alarm rang at 6:00am on Thursday July 17, 2025, I heard his head bang against the knotty pine wall and his knee crack on the bed post in our small room at the Timberline Lodge in Government…
335: A WILD GOOSE CHASE TO SEE MOUNT ST. HELENS TOOK ME THROUGH SASQUATCH’S BACKYARD
It had been a long time since I last saw my photographer get as excited as he was when his alarm rang at 6:00am on Wednesday July 16, 2025. From our hotel room at the Peppermill Inn in downtown Centralia,…