A Heart Trip...plus more.

We had several inches of snow last light but the roads were clear of snow and traffic at 12pm when I left the house.

I took the Kennedy express I90-94 and drove at 80 mph until it all came to a stop.

A salt truck, and 2 semi's tangled near downtown, all lanes were blocked and the Kennedy was CLOSED.

I somehow moved/exited the highway and just made it on time to Heart Scan at 100 E. Walton, just across the street from Bloomingdales. And you know who lives on the top floor--Oprah.

To get there, I drove thru neighborhoods I had not seen in a decade.

Gone were the dirty old store front businesses. Now they had ferns or drapes or crapes. It turned all Yuppie.

It looked marvelous but no parking.

It all smelled of money.

The tests.
They actually did two separate test.










One included the Lungs, heart, Guts/pelvis.
The other did the Carotids and part of the brain.

After it was all finished I was supposed to see and discuss it with a dr


reader (not a gypsy reader). But he didn't make it in because of the snow.

As I drove back to the Kennedy..I drove past Montgomery Wards on






Chicago ave. Now its Condos with River Front views. Say what!


and Valet parking.









Monkey Wards was located alongside the Cabrini Green Projects.







It was dangerous to walk to your car back in the 60's. I know as

I worked there as a teenager.

I would take the bus north to Belmont thinking boy I'm safe I made it
onto the bus.
Then I would read how the gangs would stop, enter and
rob the bus like bandits of old Butch & Sundance.

Except their names were LeRoy & Junebug...

Now the big buildings of the Green are almost gone.

Memories from 45yrs ago should be a little bit foggy...but some are not.

I STILL HAVE NIGHTMARES...

WARNING: A UGLY NUDE PHOTO FOLLOWS THIS STORY.

A short story. We stayed at Disney Key West Club...maybe it has a different name now.
Its a motel, Points share condo with 3 other couples.

One women was a little out of shape, a lot but thought she was sexy.

I was sitting at a kitchen island having my first cup of coffee. You know,
elbows barely on the counter with my hands supporting my head and the cup.

Ms beauty about age 50 walks into the kitchen wearing a sleeping top like a shirt with a wrap around belt.

She walked past me cheerfully toward the far cabinets.

Of course I looked up and said good morning. Then it happened.

She reached up to the upper shelves of the cabinet and the blouse rose with her reach. The higher she reached, the higher her blouse went until I saw the full moon. Crators and all.

I actually gagged or choked and ran away up the stairs to my wife and would have jumped into her arms if she could have held me.

I was yelling MOMMIE, MOMMIE...another couple was with my wife and were so concerned.

When I finally told the story,,,they hugged me and comforted me until my breathing returned to normal.

Honestly, she did it on purpose. Made some comment...like, oh you got a view, I guess I forgot my undies.

Yes, some nightmares never are forgotten. This photo below, is nearly what I saw, but Ms Beauty had way more wrinkles.

Some wrinkles were large, I did think I saw her husband..nah..couldn't!!

I tried to cover it up, so you all can sleep.

These Are The Good Times, again...

Wow, when they say what goes around comes around. Or life repeats itself, whoever said it was not kidding.

When we started dating, our favorite restaurant was The Come Back Inn.

You've all been in them. Supposed to be a log
cabin in the Yukon with peanut baskets and all the shells on the floor. A big Kodiac bear above the entrance.

The Inn had 6 rooms upstairs and the catacombs downstairs (made to look like a cave).

The main room had a Giant Fireplace with the front half of a moose above it. A surprise waited in the room behind it.

Another Giant fireplace with the back half of the moose. Always good for a laugh.

The rooms were so dark it was difficult to see much with just small candles in little red glass jars burning on the tables.

There must have been a hundred tables upstairs and downstairs. Our group sat in every table at least once thru the years.

The main nourishment was the pitchers of beer. The Come Back had the best food to go with the beer. "THE KODIAC BURGER" on dark rye bread with sliced onion, tomato, lettuce and in a basket filled with the best fries.

Our last visit was 5 yrs ago when Jimmy & his wife Lori told us they were expecting their first. Of course we cried, but not in our beer.

Soon, the neighborhood changed and the Come Back Inn closed.

Now we're stuck with wannabee pubs like Barnabys. The Barnabys near us celebrates Valentine's day with Heart Shaped pizza.

Its not the best pizza but its cute and we've been going for 10yrs.

There are no peanuts or Kodiac burgers but it does bring back memories of good times.

Times where you had to keep an eye on your glass of beer. For if you didn't suddenly peanuts would be floating in it.

Times where single friends would toast their beers to the good times.

I remember each and every smile and laugh.

Too bad we were cool and didn't bring any camera's.

So, 40+ yrs later we settle for Barnabys.

Tonight, we toast to the new good times with our kids who have their own children

Location and times have changed
yes, these are the good times "2".

Hi Everyone,
Someone sent me this photo album to look at.
http://pictures.aol.com/ap/viewShare.do?shareInfo=esv4e%2b9w77liBIz66UGpTEez8cOv40mnJ198ahF/UqNWGd%2bBXiXp6w%3d%3d

I'm not in any of these. But worked all these type of vehicles.

I worked a wagon like in the photos and spent many hours investigating as a detective in that police station.

It was on Chicago ave just west of Clark. Near Rush Street.

It covered the Gold Coast with some of the richest folks in the country. And future yuppies....and the projects.

Some projects where our Mayor Jane Byrne moved into, to
stop all the murders. She succeeded.

In her re-election campaign got 13 votes from the residents while
Mayor Washington got 99% of the votes...like 200,000.

He never visited the Green even as a Mayor. Oh, he was black.

The tavern was a dive just south on Clark. You never knew what/who would bein there drinking. But it was convenient for some of the older Jaded coppers.

Levinsons was the jewlery store that was hit by burglars without the mobs permission. They were all rubbed out except one who turned to the feds. He then wrote the book and movie Thief.

I met him when he owned a barber shop/bookie joint in the district where i worked. Nice guy. I didn't know he was booking.

That tv show with the projects where the guy yelled DYNAMITE was supposed to be Cabrini Green, which is in some of the photos. The red brick buildings.

Different Gangs occupied the Red brick, White brick and roll houses. They would just shoot at the other buildings entrances and hit whoever was standing walking by.

The early cars didn't have power steering and neither did the paddy wagon in the photos. I worked a wagon just like the one in the photos.

One time, while transporting a dead body to the morgue, we got a call of a tavern fight. We put the fighters in the wagon with the dead guy.

We laughed.

They got quiet.
The dead guy never complained. You knew that was coming...

Also thats navy pier where the plane crashed. Before its renovation
it housed a college at that time which turned into the U of I at Chicago Circle.

Of course just some of the regulars that police would become friendly with.

Hope you have time to view the album.

All those coppers were young than with the mustaches that were dark. Mine was light brown and now its just light--gray.

A Thought from The Road Back

An interesting thought on the trip home.

I stopped somewhere in Georgia where for a few miles I drove thru Tenn and then a short time again in Georgia followed by Tenn.

I stopped for gas and a Mega Bucks Lottery ticket, it was 160 million.

Anyway, where I stopped had one gas station built into the side of a hill.

I saw a young couple walking down the highway,,,it was downhill.

I turned back toward the interstate and saw a pretty curvy 2 lane road leaving into the hills and woods.

I followed it for about 2 miles.

I was running really late and started to have 2nd thoughts as time was pressing.

I drove past a small settlement with no name.

It looked like tobacco road.

I took out my camera after a U turn and headed back toward the interstate.


I took a couple photos as I was driving with the window open.

I didn't get the photos I wanted. I did get their cemetary. But not the poverty living conditions I saw.

As I passed the village I thought HOW come them and not me... Just because of a set of circumstances...I had my life and they had their life.

.

I had just come from beautiful fla
My condo garden/pool areas. The beach.

I saw these folks were struggling to survive.
Did they know what they were missing?
Were they missing anything? Do you miss something only after you
have it?



On and On....
I got back on the interstate and left that road in my rear view mirror.

I wonder which memories will last.

McDonald Maury's B-24 story

Maury's WW-2 B24 Story

Maury is one of my Florida McDonalds Coffee Mates. We sit with
a few other youngsters and usually just laugh and tell stories.

We often talk about small experimental airplanes. Like the kind
you put a motor on your back and use a parachute as a wing.

One day Maury appeared with a small display.

This weekend Feb 2-3, there is a Military plane fly-intoVenice airport, Fl Many older/retired WW11 pilots will be there. Maury made up a small display to take and show others at the show

Here are some photos from Maury Price' B24 flying days in World War 2





The display includes a group of photos of what damage his plane suffered during a flight.

The wing was missing 10 feet from scrapnel.





Maury flew and landed the plane for 700 miles after being hit.

Then climbed the wing and inspected the damage.
Of course being a good looking ham, had his photo taken.




Another pilot wrote about the flight in his journal.
Here is a photo of that page. Click on it to make it larger.

He flew many missions over China & Japan. He was given these two flags to give to Chinese citizens with hopes of helping him. Also $10,000 US Dollars to finance his rescue if needed.


The pin is the 7th Air Corps and the patch is a well known patch for Chinese--Burma..