And away we go!

Even the United States Coast Guard showed up for the arrival of ms Ryndam in Key West on the second day of our recent cruise.
The happy travelers from Albuquerque couldn't be deterred. It was off to The Little White House that was used so many times by Harry S Truman and then we stopped at the Hog's Breath Saloon for a tod and bar food.

On to Ocho Rios, George Town, and Cozumel before heading back to Tampa.

We all ate and drank too much, but what the heck - we had to get ready for the Christmas holidays.

The Ryndam was the perfect size vessel and watchful eyes all the time, like these during the safety briefing, made for a great trip!

I wonder if our new found German friends were serious about wanting us to visit The Black Forest?

Before & After

Our front yard

Before

After

Thanks to Pat's Landscaping

I See The Train A Comin'

Here comes the train, a special trip of the Union Pacific 844 ceremonial train traveling through New Mexico as part of the Centennial Celebration (NM became a state in 1912).

Betty, Connie and Teddy were almost blown away - by the train's whistle and by the weather. It was the coldest we had been in months as we stood by the track in Vaughn and waited and watched. (There are two sets of tracks in this town, one used by the UP that runs on a diagonal across the state from El Paso (TX) to Nara Visa and the other used by the BNSF that is a mainline running east & west.)


From the Union Pacific is this information about the engine...Steam Locomotive No. 844 is the last steam locomotive built for Union Pacific Railroad. It was delivered in 1944. A high-speed passenger engine, it pulled such widely known trains as the Overland Limited, Los Angeles Limited, Portland Rose and Challenger.


Zipping down the road toward Corona it was hard to keep up with the iron horse as it faded out of sight heading south.

Dodger Blue

So, Frank McCourt is being forced to sell his cash cow, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Good riddance!

I don’t bleed Dodger Blue, but they’ve always been my favorite team. Maybe because of their long time association with Albuquerque where the minor league club has been a top level affiliate of the Dodgers for years – back when “we” were the Dukes and now that “we” are the Isotopes.



It was my first and only time at a World Series.

The Dodgers meet the Oakland A’s (and Mr. October, Reggie Jackson – solo home run top of the 2nd in the first game).

A lot of the Dodgers that year (roster below) were once Albuquerque Dukes. Here's their complete roster

Pitchers
• 21 Jim Brewer
• 44 Al Downing
• 49 Charlie Hough
• 40 Rex Hudson
• 25 Tommy John
• 28 Mike Marshall
• 47 Andy Messersmith
• 31 Doug Rau
• 36 Rick Rhoden
• 41 Greg Shanahan
• 50 Eddie Solomon
• 20 Don Sutton
• 38 Geoff Zahn
Catchers
• 13 Joe Ferguson
• 16 Gail Hopkins
• 9 Kevin Pasley
• 7 Steve Yeager
Infielders
• 1 Rick Auerbach
• 10 Ron Cey
• 14 Iván DeJesús
• 6 Steve Garvey
• 34 Lee Lacy
• 15 Davey Lopes
• 5 Ken McMullen
• 8 Jerry Royster
• 18 Bill Russell
Outfielders
• 2 Orlando Alvarez
• 22 Bill Buckner
• 27 Willie Crawford
• 43 John Hale
• 12 Von Joshua
• 46 Charlie Manuel
• 11 Manny Mota
• 17 Tom Paciorek
• 23 Jimmy Wynn
Manager
• 24 Walter Alston
Coaches
• 26 Red Adams
• 54 Monty Basgall
• 58 Mark Cresse
• 19 Jim Gilliam
• 52 Tommy Lasorda

I managed seats at that game through my friendship with Tom Bolack, a former Governor of New Mexico – and owner of the Albuquerque baseball franchise. He knew the O’Malley’s – the real owners of the Dodgers. (Governor Bolack also owned a travel agency and dumb ol’ me didn’t buy my plane ticket there.)

It was one of THOSE weekends … I hopped aboard TWA from Albuquerque to LAX on that Saturday morning in October (12th). Remember TWA? They served San Francisco from ABQ, too. I took a cab from LAX to Dodger Stadium, found my seats (about the 10th row up from 1st base) and proceeded to watch the game. Glorius, I thought as 58,000 other fans were there. Then the fellow sitting next to me said, I think I know you. (I was on TV then.) He introduced himself, Art Janpol – owner of the VW franchise in Albuquerque.

We watched Rollie Fingers win the game for Charley Finley’s Oakland team. The A’s went on to win the series in 5 games.

Since I was “big riggin’” that weekend, I took a cab back to LAX, hopped the next plane to Las Vegas, gambled the night away and got back home late Sunday – TWA used to serve LAS, too.

A weekend to remember.

Hopefully the new owners of the Dodgers will be able to create similar stories for future fans.

And a team that wins so Vin Scully can continue to create some of the greatest baseball broadcasts in history. Listen to him. He’s the greatest! And hopefully the new Dodgers will be too!

11 1 11

Regular season ends - silly season begins.

One of our regular Monday golf group declared at the end of play yesterday, "The regular season is over, the silly season begins!"

That holds true for a bunch of things.

A)Golf in the winter isn't as much fun as it was 50 years ago when we played in the snow in Taos and painted our golf balls with fingernail polish so we could see them in the snow.

B)National politicians are getting desperate. The days for victory on the national scene are fast approaching and pretty soon it will be curtains for a bunch of them.

C)Holidays seem to come (actually do) in rapid succession these next two months. Good, we like reasons to celebrate. A sign in our bar area says "Celebrate Everything". Agreed!

So, get ready. The silly season is ahead!

And, for us casual UNM Lobo fans - basketball is here, nobody will care about football any more - until they name a new coach!