Saturday, November 28, 2020

Utah Monolith - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Utah Monolith


Last week, a metallic pillar 9.5 feet tall was discovered in the canyons of southeast Utah by state biologists.Widely described as a monolith, it appears to be made of stainless steel riveted together into the shape of a triangular prism. Dated to some time between August 2015 and October 2016, its origin remains unknown.


The so-called monolith reminded me of the movie 2001, A Space Odyssey, an epic 1968 science fiction movie by Stanley Kubrick that I had referenced in this previous blogpost.


A similar monolith appeared during the early scenes of the movie that lead viewers to conclude it was placed there in ancient Africa by an unseen alien race to encourage the development of intelligent life on earth. The implied purpose was to instill thought to the tribe of apes that first came in contact with the monolith With such thinking skills, the tribe discovered bone fragments could be used as weapons to fend off invading tribes and tools to hunt for food, a critical step in the evolution of man.


Fast forward several million years, the movie shows astronauts on the moon where they find another monolith that is receiving radio signals from Jupiter. So a “space odyssey" to Jupiter is planned to further investigate the source of the radio waves.


On the way to Jupiter, the on-board computer nicknamed HAL tries to sabotage the mission and the only surviving astronaut, ironically named Dave, saves the day by unplugging Hal and manually guiding the spaceship to Jupiter where the monolith is found orbiting the large planet.


From that point on, the movie gets really strange in that Dave, while trying to explore the orbiting monolith, is pulled into a vortex of colored light, carried across vast distances of space, while viewing bizarre cosmological phenomena and strange landscapes of unusual colors.


Eventually he finds himself in a large bedroom where he sees, and then becomes, older versions of himself: first standing in the room, middle-aged and still in his spacesuit, then dressed in leisure attire and eating dinner, and finally as an old man lying on a bed. A monolith appears at the foot of the bed, and as Dave reaches for it, he is transformed into a baby enclosed in a womb-like transparent orb of light, which floats in space towards Earth as the movie ends. The implication is he will share his newfound, immense knowledge with Earthlings upon his return. We’re still waiting!


The Monolith in the movie seems to represent and even trigger epic transitions in the history of humankind, with the evolution of humans from ape-like beings to civilized people, hence the odyssey of humankind.


The Utah monolith is just another reminder of the continuing human story. The monolith’s origin is still unknown, just like in the movie! I love this stuff!

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Sunday, November 22, 2020

Mid-Engine Corvette - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Mid-Engine Corvette


Not many good things have happened in 2020 predominantly due to Covid; however, one positive for me was the word from my golfing buddy Mike, an Italian by descent, that he was cancer-free after a two year bout with leukemia. Some people ring a bell to recognize the cancer-free milestone, but Super Mario (our nickname for him after surviving his ordeal) celebrated by ordering a brand new 2020 mid-engine Corvette pictured above and below.


The Vette was just delivered so Mike graciously allowed me to take a spin around the block this past week. What a thrill! I absolutely loved everything about the car, from the styling, ride, handling, steering, braking, acceleration and many other features too numerous to mention. Check out this youtube review of the 2020 Corvette which reiterates my findings and more.


Mike has other Corvettes in his collection that he stores in his so-called Man Caves, located both in Florida and Michigan. Here are two photos of Mike in his Florida Man Cave, one before the leukemia and another with the thumbs up during the treatments a couple years ago. I’m convinced his positive attitude carried him through the ordeal, along with tons of prayers from friends and family. Our contribution was lighting a votive candle, like we do for everyone we know who's ill, at the grotto on Orchard Lake St. Mary's campus, the local Catholic high school where our son graduated.


And here’s a photo of Mike and me in his Michigan Man Cave next to a beautiful 1962 Ford Thunderbird hard top convertible that he had just purchased. His Florida Man Cave houses mainly Corvettes and his Michigan Man Cave has other classics in his collection like Mustangs, Chargers, Barracudas, Camaros and Tbirds. For a brief video tour of his Florida Man Cave, click here.


Mike inspired me to create a mini Man Cave in a corner of my garage as pictured here. The car is a 2004 Thunderbird and the photos on the walls are cars I’ve owned over the years as well as cars I would have liked to own. This previous blogpost provides more on that subject.


Near us in Michigan on the site of a former GM assembly plant is a place called the M1 Concourse, an 87-acre playground for auto enthusiasts that includes the world’s largest community of Private Garages and a state-of-the-art 1.5-mile Performance Track with its own private Motorsports Club. M1 is a place where enthusiasts can keep, show and exercise their vehicles in the company of other enthusiasts and enjoy automotive experiences in a social setting unavailable to people who keep their cars at home or in a traditional storage facility. Check out this private M1 garage for sale at $395,000.


More photos from Mario’s Man Caves:


Everyone who visits Mario’s Man Caves is invited to sample a snort of his hootch, 190 proof moonshine he gets from a friend in Tennessee. I only drink a capful every time, but it must kill Covid because fortunately we’re virus-free so far.


Happy Thanksgiving, Fish Report readers. Enjoy some hootch and stay safe!

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Sunday, November 15, 2020

NYC & the Holland Tunnel - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

NYC & the Holland Tunnel


As a history buff, I routinely enjoy searching a website called History Place. My most recent search uncovered that the Holland tunnel between New Jersey and New Your City started construction 100 years ago this month, eventually opening in 1927. That brought back memories of my first trip through the tunnel in 1966 as documented briefly at the end of this 2016 blogpost. My recollections about NYC at the time of the original blog were blurry, but somehow they came back to life after reading about the historical milestone for the tunnel. Two high school friends and I existed the tunnel in Manhattan around rush hour in late August, ‘66 and as we did so, a guy standing at the exit waved us over after noticing our out-of-state plates. He asked us if we had a place to stay that night, and when we responded no, he offered to help us find a hotel at no cost because the hotels reimbursed him; we readily agreed so he jumped in the car with us for the drive to the hotel.

Since we were running low on money, we requested a cheap room for the three of us near Times Square that also included parking. He guided us to a local hotel, helped get us checked in and the car parked. The room was adequate, but when we opened the one window shade, all we could see was the brick facing of the adjacent building! A room with a view was not in our price range!

Off we went to explore Times Square, which was amazing with all the lights (and mini-skirted girls!).


We got a bite to eat at a Times Square street vendor, then headed to a dive bar our guide had recommended that didn’t check id's to chug down a few beers before heading back to the hotel. We had slept in the car the prior two nights as described in the 2016 blogpost, so there we were in the city that never sleeps, crashing around 10:00pm!

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and drove around the City, catching the sights like the Statue of Liberty, Greenwich Village, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Fifth Avenue and Central Park before heading north through Harlem to check out Yankee stadium in the Bronx, then back across the Hudson River to head back to Ohio via Niagara Falls, Ontario and Detroit, arriving late that night flat broke and dead tired.


Chief Engineer Clifford Holland
Back to the Holland Tunnel, construction during the 1920’s was a challenge, as it would be the longest continuous underwater vehicular tunnel in the world. Originally known as the Hudson River Vehicular Tunnel or the Canal Street Tunnel. It was renamed the Holland Tunnel in memory of Clifford Holland, the chief engineer, following his sudden death in 1924 before the tunnel was opened. Check out this video about the construction process.



The cost was $48 million or about $600 million in today’s dollars. The initial fare was 50 cents, rising to $2 for us in 1966, and now up to $16.


That first trip to New York City was special, even though a blur!

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Monday, November 9, 2020

Northern California - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Northern California


My last two blogposts touched on the internet and my involvement in it’s development from 1984-94 while on the Stanford University Technical Advisory Board. After those twice yearly Board meetings each spring and fall, my family and I would spend some time touring the sites of northern California, most of which are shown on the map above. But first, in light of the election fallout, my reference in last week’s blogpost about the social dilemma of the internet manipulating our minds, the hyper link included in the blogpost was blacklisted by Google and would not open for most readers. Google considered my post to be inappropriate, or not in their best interest, probably because the blog was critical of their CEO, so they blocked me. Now I know how every right wing politician running for office felt this year!

The rest of this blog is non-controversial so should hopefully be readable just fine!

Since we honeymooned in San Francisco, many fond memories of the Bay Area and northern California fill our hearts, so when asked to join the Stanford Board, I readily accepted, knowing we could spend more time revisiting some familiar sites and seeing new ones. And we sure were not disappointed. After meticulously planned our adventures each spring and fall, we found that time of year to be perfect for touring northern California. The weather was perfect and the crowds were down. I don’t recall it raining once during our trips there and the temps were always in the 70’s and sunny. Probably ditto for our honeymoon in October, 1972, but we weren’t paying much attention to the weather.



One of the first areas we spend some time after the Board meeting was nearby Monterey Peninsula the site of Pebble Beach golf course, Carmel and a majestic seashore. No, I didn’t play Pebble Beach, which to this day remains on my Bucket List (a subject for a future blog), but we did walk the famous 17th and 18th holes. That alone was a thrill. And we enjoyed the quant little village of Carmel-by-the-Sea with all it’s shops and restaurants. Clint Eastwood was the Mayor at the time!
The next trip entailed visiting Napa wine region, which we had missed during our honeymoon - at the time, our taste in wine was slightly different as indicated above!

This particular trip coincided with a milestone anniversary, so to celebrate, we took a balloon ride over wine country early one morning. Breathtaking! And the winery tours via the Wine Train were fantastic. But a not-so-memorable aspect of that trip was our hotel room was burglarized - while we were sleeping! The thief took an over night bag with some valuables including our plane tickets. We survived but it was traumatizing to say the least.


Yosemite and Lake Tahoe were next on our places to visit and definitely did not disappoint. Our son joined us for that trip and the water and mountains were spectacular, with Lake Tahoe so blue and Yosemite so majestic. I can recall hiking together up Yosemite Falls Trail to catch a glimpse of the falls up.


Heading north along the Pacific Coast highway was our next adventure, crossing the Golden Gate bridge to Mendocino, a touristy town right on the Pacific, then drove on to see the giant redwood Sequoia forest.


During our next trip to the Bay area, after the Board meeting, we headed south down the Pacific Coast Highway, probably the most beautiful stretch of road in the entire country. Our first stop was Big Sur. I had heard about a Clint Eastwood’s golf club under construction in Big Sur called Tehama, but had no luck trying to check it out. We were told a story at the time that the wife of one of the prospective Club members had complained directly to Clint about some detail of the Clubhouse under construction, and the next day, the prospective member received a letter telling him he was not approved for membership. Within a year, the prospective member was reinstated when Clint found out he got a divorce! I did manage to get a Tehama golf cap, which I still have, that has the inscription on the back, “Fac Diem Meam," or "Make My Day" in Latin.


Heading further south on the Pacific Coast Highway, we drove to San Simeon, the mansion of legendary newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. What a place! The pool pictured here was something to behold. Plus there was an indoor pool as well. A decade or so before our visit, Patty Hearst, akin at the time to today’s heiress Paris Hilton, was supposedly kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army, but was really a co-conspirator with the SLA, so was convicted and sentenced to 35 years in prison. But she was eventually pardoned by Bill Clinton after only serving 22 months. Helps to have relatives who know people in high places.


Next stop was Santa Barbara, but on the way, we happened to drive through the Paso Robles wine region in central California. Needless to say, we stopped for a tour and tasting at a local winery and were told this region was going to be the next Napa, Indeed some 30 years later, the Paso Robles region is now well know for excellent wines priced much below Napa wines, but just as good in my view. A friend of mine stores his Corvette in our garage over the winter when we are in Florida and at the end of the season, he always gives us a case of Paso Robles wines where his daughter now lives. Perfect!


Continuing our drive south, we finally arrived in Santa Barbara, which is such an amazing small city along the Pacific coast between San Francisco and Los Angeles. A friend from Michigan who was in the printing business and had the contract with the diocese to print all the weekly bulletins for every parish made enough money over the years to buy a vacation home in Santa Barbara. During our visit, we were able to have dinner at his ocean front club, overlooking the Pacific Ocean at sunset enjoying a memorable meal.


Needless to say, over the course of our bi-annual visits to northern California from 1984-1994, we also spent a lot of time in the Bay area, seeing the San Francisco sites we enjoyed during our honeymoon and sharing them with our son. For example, we had lunch at a Sausalito restaurant call Spinnakers that we visited during our honeymoon. The bayside spot has great food and a fantastic view of the City and Golden Gate Bridge from across the bay. We of course rode the cable cars all over the place, toured Alcatraz Island, walked Fisherman’s Wharf and drove down the curvy Lombardo street, all of which we appreciated immensely.


But probably the highlight of that trip was attending the 4th and final game of the 1990 World Series in Oakland to witness the Reds rally in the 8th to sweep the A’s and win the series. As a lifelong Reds fan, that was quite an experience.


We’ll be forever grateful to have had the opportunity to spend such quality time in northern California over that memorable decade. It’s a shame how San Francisco's problems have eroded its attractiveness. Here’s what one local official recently wrote about the City:


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