It was an easy 47-mile ride from Hyde Park to Kinderhook, New York. We arrived at Lindenwald, the home of President Martin Van Buren, at precisely 4:00pm on Monday June 5, 2023; only to discover the last tour of the…
Tag: Thomas Jefferson
236: A FEW HOURS WITH FALA, FRANKLIN, AND FIRST LADY ELEANOR
I couldn’t believe my painted eyes when Tom’s alarm rang at 5:30am on Monday June 5, 2023. For the second morning in a row, my rotund photographer and his friend Bob Moldenhauer were up at the crack of dawn and…
235: THE ROOM WHERE A COWBOY BECAME MR. PRESIDENT
The one-mile drive north along Delaware Avenue took us over the rainbow and into the Allentown section of Buffalo at just a few minutes before eleven o’clock on Sunday morning June 4, 2023. Tom found a parking spot behind the…
234: I FOUND MY PRESIDENTIAL PRIDE IN BUFFALO
It’s been nearly six months since my last trip, and I’ve anxiously waited for the opportunity to hit the road again with my photographer. During that long layoff, I had undergone a couple of minor cosmetic surgeries – procedures where…
233: YOU LIKE MIKE, I LIKE IKE, AND WE DISLIKE THE RULES THAT ENDED OUR SHOW
When my photographer ate a handful of the sweet fruit flavored candies called Mike and Ike during our tribute to Dwight Eisenhower on our show ‘Hail to the Chief’, we had no way of knowing it might be our final…
232: I SURVIVED A MEET & GREET WITH A FAKE FAN BEFORE STARRING IN MY VERSION OF ‘THE TRUMAN SHOW’!
In 1998, actor Jim Carrey starred in ‘The Truman Show’ where he portrayed Truman Burbank, an ordinary guy who had unknowingly lived his entire life on a popular reality TV show. In 2021, I became a TV show star as…
231: FDR ROLLED INTO INFAMY ON ‘HAIL TO THE CHIEF’
Franklin D. Roosevelt became paralyzed at the age of 39, just when his political career was about to explode. But instead of giving up, FDR strengthened his body and overcame his disability to lead our nation through some of its…
230: A TITANIC & HISTORIC PRESIDENTIAL SANDWICH ON APRIL 13th
Today, April 13, 2023, is the 280th anniversary of the birth of our third President Thomas Jefferson, who was born at his father’s Shadwell Plantation near Charlottesville, Virginia in 1743. I, on the other hand, was born in China sometime…
229: FOR WHOM THE BUZZARDS CIRCLED, THEY CIRCLED FOR THEE ON ‘HAIL TO THE CHIEF’
On May 12, 2022, my photographer and I, along with our good friend Bob Moldenhauer, embarked on what turned out to be an all-day hike just so we could visit President Herbert Hoover’s Rapidan Camp in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park.…
228: TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADERS ON ‘HAIL TO THE CHIEF’
For the past several months, since I returned home from my last trip shortly after Thanksgiving 2022, I’ve been busy with my photographer in the GBS Media Studio in Port Huron, Michigan as we recorded episodes of our show ‘Hail…