SOME THOUGHTS ON 'LOOKING BACK' & A FEW PHOTOS OF LONE PINE, CALIFORNIA:))

ALL OF TONIGHT'S PHOTOS WERE TAKEN AROUND LONE PINE CALIFORNIA IN MARCH 2011
I would have to apply that ‘second verse, same as the first’ phrase once again today, only this is the third day of shed clean-up & reorganization. My efforts have now moved me into the carport storage area & I will continue my efforts there. A few years ago I would have had this clean-up project finished up in about half the time but the energy levels just are not quite where they used to be, plus it was another hot & humid energy draining day. 
 
THERE ARE ENDLESS MILES OF GREAT JEEPING ROADS AROUND LONE PINE
Forgot to mention something in Thursday night’s post about RV folks & it is this….I would say 98% of all RV people we have met first hand or on the internet are animal lovers. And, in my books that is an important judge of character. RV folks love their pets & there are very few people traveling out there without their best Pals. And many travelers do not just have one best Pal with them, they have several. We here at the Bayfield Bunch can sure identify with that:))
  
Below is a series of photos I took this past March along Movie Road in Lone Pine, California.  Even with the aid of a movie map it took me a fair bit of time to track down these exact movie set locations where some old dusty westerns were filmed years ago.  The captions describing the movies are first with the side by side photos of the movie sets below.  I tried to take the photos from the same original camera angles.  Randolph Scott was one of my all time favorite western cowboy stars so it was extra special for find the exact spot where he had once been.  Added bonus here was Richard Boone in that photo because he later became well known for his Paladin character in 'Have Gun Will Travel.'
      
IN THIS PHOTO MY WHITE COWBOY HAT IS SITTING ATOP THAT ROUND ROCK YOU SEE IN THE MOVIE SET AT LEFT WHERE A COWBOY DIGS A GRAVE (click photos to enlarge)
  
MY HAT IS IN THE EXACT SPOT CESAR ROMERO WAS STANDING IN THIS SCENE
   
HERE ,MY HAT SITS ON THE THE EXACT SPOT RANDOLPH SCOTT IS HAVING IS CUP OF COFFEE
 
THIS BRIDGE WAS USED IN THE MOVIE  'GUNGA DIN....BOTTOM PHOTO LEFT SHOWS WHERE THE MOVIE SET BRIDGE WAS ANCHORED TO THE ROCK & TOP RIGHT THE JEEP  IS SITTING WHERE THE BRIDGE CROSSED BETWEEN THE TWO ROCK FORMATION...I DIDN'T GET THE ORIGINAL CAMERA LOCATION QUITE RIGHT ON THIS ONE OR THE ONE BELOW.  i'LL GET EM RIGHT NEXT TIME I'M THERE:))

Tonight we welcome 1001 T.R.I.P. BRAZIL as our 296th blog Follower.  Welcome aboard fella & I hope you are able to find something of interest here:))

I came across a blog recently of a transplanted Canadian fellow living in the far off European country of Austria.  He is a good writer with a flair for humor as he chronicles the daily challenges of living in a non speaking English country complete with a non North American lifestyle.  You may find Bob's take on his challenging surroundings an interestingly funny read.  Check out, THE CARETAKER CHRONICLES:))
 
Received the following email this morning from Nan.  "Some time ago, did you write about a couple from Michigan.  The man had either a heart attack or a stroke and shortly after his release from the hospital, he fell in his Motorhome and later died?  I followed that blog for a while and am interested in how the woman is doing.  If you can point me in the right direction, I would appreciate it."  No, that wasn't me who wrote about that but if anyone has any info on the Michigan lady maybe you could send it to me & I can either publish the story in the blog or email Nan back.
 
It seems the longer the time lapse the greater the change.  This is especially noticeable when we haven't seen someone for many years.  It also happens to areas, cities, towns & villages we may remember from an earlier era.  There is often a large difference between memory & reality.  Our mind remembers how things were such as a building, a street, a neighborhood or an entire town.  Upon visiting there many years later we find out a particular house is actually much smaller than we remember it.  What seemed like a long street years ago in fact isn't really long at all.  Has the street changed?  Has the house changed somehow!!  No, but our memory of what was has sure changed.
   
About once every year or so I like to take a casual drive through my old home town of Tavistock.  Most everything is still recognizable to me & yet much of it is not how I exactly remember it.  It has changed, right?  Well, yes in fact some of it has physically changed alright & the rest of it has undergone a mental change in my mind & both those things can be disappointing.  A Tim Hortons now stands in the spot where our little towns train station once stood.  People sip coffee now where I remember big puffing steam engines chugging into the station.  I grew up just a few hundred yards from the railroad tracks & train depot.  Just doesn't seem right a coffee shop should take the place of a small town's train station!!  We like things to be as we remember them & with every little thing that isn't there it seems to be a sad disappointment & disconnect.  It's all part of our early grounding I guess.  Kind of that secure 'touching base' kind of feeling.  If everything is exactly as we remember it I find there is feeling of security & a sigh of relief that the old home town hasn't changed.  One's childhood memories are still there & still safely intact.  I kind of like that old feeling.
   
Years ago, one of my jobs entailed driving people to & from the Toronto Airport.  Many of those folks were elderly Dutch folks who had come to Canada after the war & many of them were returning to Holland for a first time visit since leaving the country so many years before.  Often times I would be at the Airport to pick them up again after their trip & return them home.  Many of those people were so disappointed & heart broken at what they saw, or should I say, didn't see on their return to their Homeland.  Holland underwent a massive rebuilding after the war with many areas, towns & villages being totally rebuilt.  The people returning home hoping to see their old house, school or village found everything had changed & in many cases whole neighborhoods & villages had vanished only to be replaced by all new suburbs, roads, industrial & commercial buildings, etc.  The people would tell me how sad it was not finding their old familiar & comfortable surroundings of so long ago.  Only thing left now are their memories. And, you know, maybe that really isn't so bad after all.
   
GROANER'S CORNER:((  At income tax time, did you ever notice that when you put the two words 'The ' and 'IRS' together, it spells.........'THEIRS'!!
Is it true that you never really learn to swear until you learn to drive?
What hair color do they put on the driver's licenses of bald men?
Do Lipton Tea employees take 'coffee breaks?'
If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call it Fed UP?
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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right
now...... AL.