Florida Trips - Dave’s Midwestern Ohio Memories

A 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.

Florida Trips

Naples Pier at Sunset

US 1 Overseas Highway
to Key West

As much as we enjoy living in the midwest, there are times in the winter when it becomes a challenge. So now that we’re retired, my wife and I have traveled to Naples, Fl. until spring to escape the cold. We both enjoyed our first taste of Florida in the 60’s during spring breaks, but really didn't appreciate the area until, as a newly hired engineer at Ford, I was assigned to do hot weather testing in Florida during the winter. My wife would sometimes accompany me on the trips, which allowed her to enjoy the beach, shop and sightsee while I was working. One such trip was to Naples, where Ford had a nearby test track. We stayed at a hotel along the beach and came to really enjoy the area, but concluded everyone was pretty old at this place. Fast forward 40+ years and now I blend right in (not yet for my wife), so here we are enjoying 80 degree weather in sunny Naples.

Those Ford test trips usually entailed driving instrumented test cars to Key West along US 1 from Miami. We would have to soak the cars in the hot sun until the interiors were 140 degrees, then get in and start driving to measure how fast the vehicle cooled down. The soak time took a couple hours, so during those downtimes, we’d plan fun activities like enjoying the unusual sights, sounds and cuisine of Key West. On the return, we do another soak on Marathon Key, where our neighbor from Dearborn happened to spent the winters. On one trip, he was kind enough to take us bone fishing on the Gulf. It was a calm, sunny day and the Gulf was so clear we could see the bone fish hit the bait 40 feet down. After we enjoyed the fishing and performed the cool down tests, we headed back to Miami, where one evening after a run to Key West, we went to the Orange Bowl to see the Bengals play the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football. Speaking of Miami, city driving tests to simulate stop and go traffic was always on the agenda. Our favorite city traffic route was in Miami Beach along A1A where bikini-clad girls would be walking the streets. It was hard to concentrate on our test instruments while running that route!

During one test trip, we drove across Alligator Alley on a high speed run. Alligator Alley is an 80 mile straight shot, 4 lane highway built in 1968 across the Everglades between Ft. Lauderdale and Naples. We made arrangements with the Florida Highway Patrol to escort us across as our speeds were about 100 mph. I remember them driving Mustang police vehicles like shown on the right. The state troopers were ahead of and behind us, with lights a flashing, which made the trip more fun than driving on the autobahn in Germany with no speed limits. And yes, I was getting paid to perform these grueling tasks! Heck of a lot different than the farm work I was used to!

Alligator Alley

Stay warm, my friends!

DJ, Jr. & Sr. - Dave’s Midwestern Ohio Memories

A 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.

DJ, Jr. & Sr.

My wife received the above photo in her recent Christmas card from her cousin, whose mother Rita is my wife’s aunt and Godmother. Rita is pictured celebrating her first communion in 1937 with her older brother, my wife’s father. Also, Rita's Christmas card included a handwritten letter shown below dated January 8, 1940 from my wife’s father, age 10 at the time, to his Dad traveling on a business trip to Chicago. It reads as follows:

Dear Dad,

Is it very cold in Chicago? It snowed all night but it wasn’t very cold. Played snowballs at school today. I’m glad I wasn’t in the airplane. I have been very lonesome for you. Three of the Reds didn’t sign up yet, Meyers, Goodman and Lombardy. How did you like your trip? Last night the windshield wipers froze and Mom and Tom had to get out and clean them. I pray so you would get there safe. Take care of yourself and come home soon.

Your big Boy,

DJ, Jr.

My wife’s grandfather, nicknamed DJ, Sr. for Delbert Joseph, was one of kind! He always wore a sport coat with a lobster-shaped diamond lapel pin somewhat like shown on the right that he picked up on one of his many “ business” trips. If you look closely, the pin is visible on this 5 generation photo below; DJ is on the far left, my wife’s father, DJ, Jr. better known as Doc, is on the far right, next to him is his daughter Joan, with her baby Michelle in the lap of 100 year old great-great grandma Anna.

Once when DJ visited us in Michigan, to make an impression, he contacted in advance all the local places we would be going so they could acknowledge him by first name when we arrived as if they’d known him for years. We indeed were impressed, thinking at the time that he personally knew all these managers, waitresses, bellhops, valet attendants, etc. that we ran into. He always made a big show of tipping them generously for their over-the-top efforts.

His business involved the manufacture of metal castings, as well as the fabrication of storm doors and windows. During one of his business trips, he got robbed of his trademark pin and wallet full of tip money; he was hospitalized, but ok. That incident put a damper on his travel, and a few years later in 1976, he unfortunately passed away suddenly at age 72 on his son’s 46th birthday. He had lived a life full of adventure, travel and successful business dealings. As evidence, after his death, the family discovered a large box of matchbooks and airplane whiskey bottles from his travels, along with hundreds of room keys that he “collected”. His trips were documented on a map with stickpins showing his many destinations. See the photos below of the now prominently displayed items in the basement bar of my brother-in-law (thanks, Ron). We were amazed at the wide variety of exotic locations DJ had visited, allegedly all for business purposes (Siberia, for example!). One of a kind, indeed!

Ten Year War-Bo & Woody - Dave’s Midwestern Ohio Memories

A 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.

Ten Year War - Bo & Woody

At our family Christmas party this year, my niece’s boyfriend, an OSU grad, when discovering we live in Michigan, asked as an Ohio native if I was a Buckeye fan. My response was that I root for the Buckeyes for 365 days a year. When he realized that 2016 was a leap year, his suspicions were confirmed; I’m a fan of that “school up north”! He asked how and when I switched, and my response was while attending Michigan for my MBA in 1974, but it really started earlier while at General Motors Institute in Flint, MI. on November 22, 1969 in the Big House when the Wolverines, lead by new coach, Ohio native Bo Schembeckler, upset the #1 ranked and defending National Champion Buckeyes 24-12. This Columbus Dispatch article and youtube video about the game say it all! That victory started “The 10 year War" between Bo and Woody commemorated in the superb book with the same title by Joel Pennington. Needless to say, being a Michigan fan has made for some fun and interesting family get-togethers with my rabid OSU-rooting relatives. Check out this previous blog about some of those times.

Eventually our conversation turned to the most recent game and that 4th down spot. He (reluctantly) admitted that the Wolverine’s outplayed the Buckeye’s that day and likely would have won if Michigan’s quarterback was healthy or the game was played at the Big House.

With the greatest rivalry in sport renewed again with coaches Harbaugh and Meyer, Jim and Urban sounds rather congenial compared to Bo & Woody. They need to come up with some nicknames for the current coaches cause Jim and Urban will never make the list of famous football nicknames. Maybe with better nicknames, they'd win a bowl game!