Friday, December 7, 2007


December 7th, 2007


Dear Friends, Today is a rough day for many Americans and Firefighters, even if you didn't realize it. While some others might barely remember why, we remember. If you were around on Dec. 7, 1941, you will definitely never forget what the date means and how it impacted our nation. Today is Pearl Harbor Day. Remembering the attack at Pearl Harbor is directly remembered by fewer each year...as the "greatest generation" continues to pass on. The attack on Pearl Harbor left a toll of 2,388 dead and 1,178 wounded...including Firefighters (read on)....and pushed the United States into World War II.


The next day, the following speech was given by President Franklin D. Roosevelt:


December 8th, 1941......


Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, members of the Senate and the House of Representatives: yesterday, December 7th, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.


The United States was at peace with that nation, and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.


It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.


The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.


Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya.


Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.


Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam.


Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.


Last night the Japanese attacked Wake Island.


And this morning the Japanese attacked Midway Atoll.


Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.


As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.


But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.


I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.


Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.


With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.


I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.
..................................


It's 2007 and we are at war now as well. In WWII, it wasn't just the soldiers who went to war-EVERYONE got involved and made a difference to protect our Country-and defeat the enemies. Today we need to remember those who served, those who were lost and those who survived the attacks in 1941. We must keep their memory alive as a reminder that they paid the highest price for OUR freedom. We also must remember the young women and men who are serving overseas-today-right now as you read this stuff, they are serving you and I.


During the Pearl Harbor attack. 3 Engine Companies of the Honolulu (Hawaii) Fire Department, (Engines 1, 4, and 6) were dispatched to fight the fires caused by enemy attack. HFD Fire Captain John Carreira, Captain Thomas Macy and Hoseman Harry Pang all gave their lives in the Line of Duty. Six other Firefighters were wounded while fighting fires at Hickam Field: Fire Lt. Frederick Kealoha, Hosemen Moses Kililikani, John A. Gilman, Solomon Naauao, Patrick McCabe and George Correa. All of these Firefighters were awarded Purple Hearts and became the only civilian Firefighters in the U.S. to do so.


Freedom includes the right to feel what you wish regarding our current military deployment. But either way and no matter what, we must very aggressively and proactively protect our freedom from attacks by the known and unknown enemies. The enemies who plan and would love to take it away from us... and would do so in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, those who hate what we have, what we stand for, what we believe in and how we live as Americans, offer us no options.


Need a reminder? Go here...quickly:


http://www.fdnylodd.com/9-11-Never-Forget/Memorials/Blood-Of-Heroes.html

The following are some excellent links with video related to remembering December 7, 1941.




Thursday, December 6, 2007

A great man spoke today...

http://www.mittromney.com/

Please go to this site and listen to this speech (if you have not already heard it). This should be remembered as one of the greatest speeches of our time. Mitt Romney is a great man who will do a great service for our country if given that chance. He knows and understands the Constitution, which today hangs by a thread because of the secular influence on the Supreme Court and the skewed view of those in the black robes that seem all to ready to forget their charge of defending and interpreting this sacred document according to the intentions of our Founding Fathers, who wrote it 220 years ago.

The most important act our next president will do, regardless of who that person is, will be the appointment of justices to the Supreme Court for life terms. The following words of wisdom can be found in Laura Ingraham’s recent best seller, “Power to the People” ( a great book, by-the-way):

“Judge Bork said recently: “If the Democrats win in ’08, the Supreme Court is gone.” He is right. Nothing is more important to the court than electing presidents and senators who will nominate and confirm justices and judges who will practice judicial restraint, stay out of politics, and respect the role of the people in our democracy. During presidential and senate campaigns, look at what candidates have done and said in the past on judges. Demand to know what kind of persons they would appoint to the bench, if elected. As in, names. If they will not nominate justices like Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, and Alito, forget it. Don’t vote for them.”

Family and friends, I believe this presidential election is the most critical decision this nation has ever faced. I also believe that unless our president understands the role that God plays in the past and continued success of this great experiment, we stand a chance to lose it all. The Constitution was written for a God-fearing and moral people and will have no effect if these prerequisites are forgotten and lost. These convictions must start at the top with the most important political leader in the world, The President of the United States of America, elected by the most powerful force in the world, we, the people.

Once again, please take the time to listen to this speech and consider carefully your choice for President of the United States of America. It is time that we are once again served by a god-fearing leader of men rather than ruled by a man (or woman) beholding to the special interests of the ACLU and other anti-American, anti-Constitution, organizations of similar ilk.

Make your vote count.

Scotty

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Epilogue: No Regrets...

It is early on the morning of Sunday, November 25th, 2007. I have just completed the final blog from this leg of our journey (sorry it took so long folks). I say "this leg" because we are just on a pitstop... the road is calling and there are many more places to be seen and photographed before we are done!

However, if God were to take me tonight, I would be a happy man with no regrets (please don't though!)

I don't know if two people could have more fun together... 70 days in a Mini Cooper S... Wow, what a trip! As I said once before, I rediscovered all the reasons I married this girl 33 years ago... a man could not have a better friend! It was so much fun to watch her discover photography, and the wonders of nature... and to see her get so excited as she discovered her ancestors... and mine too!

But most of all, it was great to see all of the relatives we found along the way... thanks to all of you for helping to make this trip possible and so enjoyable. (Kalli, We are so sorry that we did not get to see you! Congrats on your engagement and let us know when the big day is!)

It is also great to be back home with our family and best friends... you were all missed very much. A special thanks to those of you that helped to take care of our home so we could experience this adventure... not many people would jump into our pond... twice... out of the goodness of their heart... and what a big heart it is...

A special thanks to Heidi for encouraging me to keep this blog of our trip... it has already become a valuable resource for us... it is amazing how much you forget when you get older... it has been a lot of fun to share our thoughts and photos with all y'all... and the comments have been great!

I will continue to add to this blog from time to time because the adventure is not over... we are just resting for awhile... I hope that some of you will join us for the next leg of the journey!

Our love to all of you as we prepare for the Christmas Holiday... Deb has the tree up and the decorations hung around the home, and we are waiting anxiously for Katy, Joy, Tyler and Jessica to come visit... It will be a glorious Christmas... Remember, our home is always open and our friends are always welcome here... come by and share some time with us and swap a story or two!

Goodnight. Scotty.

Day 70: Final Pitstop For This Leg Of The Adventure!

Tuesday, November 6th...

Greetings from Happyrock, USA

Today, with very mixed emotions, our journey came to a pitstop, for now...

We left Chemult after a great breakfast and headed through Central Oregon... a very beautiful part of the world...


After passing through Bend and Redmond, we started seeing familiar landmarks that reminded us that our journey was almost complete... Monkey Face Rock at Smith Rock State Park...




Peter Skene Ogden State Park... There is a city in Utah named after this guy...




and the three high bridges, next to the park, that span the Crooked River Gorge...

The old bridge...




The new bridge...




and the railroad bridge...

The old bridge is closed and makes a great viewing vantage point for the new bridge...




Deb snapped this great photo of our most familiar landmark as we were about to head through Warm Springs and up the south flank of good old Mt Hood...




She took this one just before we got to Government Camp... and this was the last sunshine we saw... it got foggy and misty as we headed down through Zig Zag... the first precipitation that we have driven in since Portland, Maine... go figure... WE'RE HOME!




We had a great hamburger at Calamity Jane's in Sandy, Oregon and then drove home... we pulled into the driveway about an hour-and-a-half before we had to be at leadership meetings at church... after almost 12,000 miles and over 9,000 photographs, we are back to the real world!
Final thoughts next...

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Day 69: Winnemucca to Chemult in "Starship Mini"

Monday, November 5th

(Remember, to see a larger version of the photos, "click" on them).

We spent the night in Winnemucca, Nevada... not much here unless you are a gambler... and then there still is not much I am guessing...


As we drove through the Nevada desert (Still lots of very flat land), we spotted many of these wild burros along the road... Deb thought they were real cute...






This is some of the desert flora at one of the rest stops... it was next to a fresh water spring that we used to fill our water bottles...






After an 87 mile drive on a road that only had one slight bend and one other car (Lil loved this stretch of road), we finally reached Oregon... sheesh... do you think we could put up a fancier sign... this is one to be proud of!






On our way to Lakeview for lunch, we spotted a huge herd of pronghorn antelope...






some beautiful high desert country...






A Big-Horned Owl...






and some deer...






After a very nice lunch in an antique store and deli located in Lakeview, we headed up the canyon towards Crater Lake National Park... we followed this river for quite awhile...






We arrived at the rim of Crater Lake just as the sun was slipping down over the horizon... the park was deserted for the winter and we were the only ones there... it was so still and quite that it was almost unsettling... the lake was like a mirror... it was just like the night we spent at the Grand Canyon... not even a hint of a breeze...




But it was perfect for photography... so I took out my tripod and settled in for an hour or two of evening shots... Here is a panarama that I took at out first stop...


Here is another that I took at another spot about 30 minutes after sunset...





I stayed until long after sunset in order to get a few shots of the stars reflecting in the lake...






This is a shot of Starship Mini's landing lights illuminating the lake...






Finally, my favorite... this is a shot looking out the moon roof of Starship Mini... the interior was lit by the glow of the GPS navigation system during this 30-second exposure of the galaxy beyond... this photo is not "photoshopped" but is real-time fans...






Because we didn't realize that the lodge was closed for the winter, we took a very precarious ride back down the mountain looking for gas and lodging... fortunately, we found a gas station that was closed but we were able to pump gas anyway (don't tell the fire marshal), or we would have been sleeping along the side of the road... the next gas station was beyond the range of our reserve tank! We found a nice "Down Home Style" restaraunt and motel in Chemult where we spent the night... the motel was not the greatest but the food was tasty and plentiful!

Day 68: "Lil" stretches her wings and "Wings of Freedom"

Sunday November 4, 2007

Today we went to church with Haylee (I snapped this photo of her in her sunday dress before we left... oh she is sooo cute).










After church, we began our final leg of the journey back to Oregon. We decided to head west out of Salt Lake City on I-80. This is a route that we have never taken before and we thought it would be a great change from the trip across Idaho, which we could do in our sleep (and not really miss much... sorry spudheads).

Our first stop was a view of the Great Salt Lake... believe it or not, I have not ever really seen the lake... it was very low but there was one sailboat way out there...





Our next stop was really exciting... The world famous Bonneville Salt Flat Speedway!






Debra was just facinated by all of the salt... and we thought Kansas was flat! The salt was a hard crust and fairly rough in texture.






The road to the speedway just runs right out onto the salt... it was like being in a boat on lake... you could drive wherever you wanted to drive. I took the MINI up to 112 mph and drove for quite a distance (in fact when I turned around, we had lost our bearings because we could not see the entrance road anymore... the vast whiteness is a little disorienting. Though I was not to worried because we had the GPS). I pulled over and convinced Debra to "stretch her legs"... it was not easy but when I reminded her that there is not too many grandmas that have driven on the speedway and that Kaleb's favorite movie is "CARS", she got that glint in her eye and said "OK!". She got up to around 85mph and the car started to fishtail... I looked in the mirror and noticed that water was spraying up behind the car... very strange because it was not visible and it had not rained for a long time... as she slowed down, I noticed the color of the salt had changed from stark white to a grayish color... and we were starting to sink into the "mud". Deb freaked for a second but I was able to coach her out of the "quicksand-like" salt and back onto the hard layer. When we finally got back to the road, the car was covered with a layer of very sticky salt that was the consistency of clay or Play-dough.

We limped the car into West Wendover and found a carwash (the wheels were totally out of balance because of the salt that was sticking to the rims... it was crazy). I am not so sure this was a smart move for the car, but it sure was fun to join the ranks of one of my boyhood heroes - Mickey Thompson!



After we cleaned up the car (as best as we could for now), we drove back to a memorial commorating the 509th Composite Group and the first Atomic Bomb.








Then we were fortunate enough to happen upon the Historic Wendover Airfield that we have been reading about since leaving Illinois!





The old control tower and operations center in now a museum in honor of General Paul W. Tibbets and his 509th Composite Group, as well as the current fire station.





Inside, there is a great exhibit of models and old photos of the B-29's in the bomber group as well as other bomber groups that were stationed there over the years... This is a model of "Little Boy" being loaded into the "Enola Gay".




These are a few of my favorite photos of some of the nose art on the 509th bombers... This first one is the bomber that flew the second mission to Nagasaki, Japan two days after the "Enola Gay" flew her mission over Hiroshima...














This is the famous photo of then Colonel Tibetts in front of the "Enola Gay" named after his mother...














It is a good thing the brave men of the 509th were not hamstrung by ridiculous left-wing "Rules of Engagement and Political Correctness" or we would probably be speaking German or bowing to an Emperor today... and we would have missed out on some darn fine nose art! Crap, they probably would not even have been allowed to name the bombs "Fat Man" and "Little Boy"... God save America today! (OK... down off my soapbox... deep breaths...)


This is what is left of the hangars and buildings on the flight line... notice the flags are at half-staff due to the passing of General Paul Tibbets on November1st... (See our earlier blog).





This is an old aircraft parked on the apron... part of the permanent exhibit...






I am standing in front of the "Operations Center" museum...












and so is Debra!












This is what is left of the "Enola Gay' Hangar... it is awaiting restoration so it can be a permanent museum for the "Enola Gay"... if you have any rich acquaintances, this is a worthy cause!




This sign is an artist's rendition of the project...








Here are some of the old barracks that have survived, sort of, over the years.





Overall, today was quite fulfilling! It was awesome to be on the speedway and an honor to visit this historic site and pay our respects to General Tibbets and the men of the Historic Wendover Airbase!