saturday evening with mr. t...

starting a tad earlier than normal this week,but wanted to get this up so i can enjoy the rest of the day here...

"Regarding the Photos of the famous four cousins: Your getting me all
verklempt... these were our glory days, 1966-67. Good photo with my Dad at age
47 holding Cindy up on his shoulders. it shows he really liked you guys and kids
in general. Paul always had a soft spot for kids. even the neighborhood kids
would join a baseball game he would start with us and one other kid. Pretty soon
the whole neighborhood spread the word - Mr. timlin was playing baseball with
the neighborhood kids. I saw him do that several times in the old Indiana
St. neighborhood.

Remember that tent camper we had? (seen in the
black and white photo). I remember it rain or shine -hahaha. Dad used to
put plastic over the tent part when we were sleeping at night in the rain, to
keep it farily dry so we could pack , fold it down the next morning with no
potential mildew etc. Next stop if there was any moisture, chances are the sun
was out and we would just dry it out. we had that tent camper from 1966-1972,
then sold it. We actually used it to go to California in 1968 but also slept in
a few hotel rooms and at Lyles for 2-3 nights. It had been to Maine, Niagra
falls, vermont, Massachusettes, to Ohio of course, Northern Michigan, Washington
D.C. (1971), to Canada (both sides (1967the Calgary Stampede, and Banmff
(sp) National Park, and Nova Scotia 1970 (when we were called back because
grandma was in the hospital). Disneyland, Yosemite, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming,
South and North Dakota, Mt. Rushmore, even, dare I say it? Yes, uh, Toronto
and Quebec.

Quebec is where my Dad could not get them to
understand anything in English. He asked for "white gas" for the Coleman stove,
(bad move , dad)and the guy pretended he did not understand English and kept
wanting to put regular gas into the Coleman gas stove we had. we kept
laughing (including Mom) at Dad while he tried to convince the guy what white
gas was. ("That is what I have been saying you fool! a Rum!") Of
course, Dad's always look silly in Bermuda shorts and funny Hawaian
(sp) vacation shirt, immediatley labeling himself a dumb American Tourist
for all Canada to see. It was like putting a neon sign on your back flashing on
and off "Kick me, kick me, kick me"

the camper had been
taken to Yellowstone National Park - a bear or two passed by in the night
there while we were sleeping. My mother wakes up and sees a bear going by,
starts shaking like a leaf and wakes up Paul.

The conversation may
have gone something like this, but I slept through it:

Paul says
"what?"

Mom says "There's a bear outside."

Dad says
"So? We're in Yellowstone National Park, what were you expecting, a French
waiter?"

Mom says "What are we going to do?" Dad says, "Order some
fish...........I'm not going out there. I don't want to get acquainted with him.
Go back to sleep."

Mom says, "I can't. I'm on the
menu."

Another time, in 1968, on the way to California, we stopped
at National Park in New Mexico, proably White Sands. Two rangers there...only.
they must have been as lonely as the Maytag repair man. We ate at a picnic
table, and of course, mom is the first to spot a coyote a little ways away
eyeing our food. Or us as food. while Dan and I went to the bathroom we saw
a giant bug, like a cockroach grasshopper or something, in the bathroom eyeing
us with a look that said, "How dare you break into my house...got any food? Not
even a beer? Say, why are you sitting there with your pants down on my swimming
pool? How about I crawl up your leg and look around?" No thanks.

A
half hour later we decide we're packing up and not staying. Two college girls in
a VW Bug show up with a ground level tent and a small trailer attached.. they
drove up to us and asked "Are you folks the only ones here besides the
rangers?"

Dad said "No. we have neighbors way over
there."

They said, "Where? we don't see anybody."

Dad:
"Yeh, but they see you. they're Coyotes."

They said: "Oh. Are you
leaving?"

Mom: "Yes."

They said: "Then so are
we."

We all took off, and we ended up in Yuma at midnight in a
motel.
the next day, in 110 degree heat, we arrived at Lyle Bond's house in
San Diego. we put our trunks on to swim in his pool, and there were no coyotes
or giant bugs invited. Lyle thought that story was pretty funny when he heard
it. I remember he and Vi laughing as Paul and Loree and Dan and I told it."