Rediscovering America – Day 18 – The Colonel, Noah, Abe and Me

Posted on July 10, 2016 by crankyoldguy067

MAP

If you were to look at the map of our 18th Day on the Rediscovering America Tour, you’d think we were lost. But, as the old hymn goes, “I once was lost, but now we found it” or something like that, nothing could be further from the truth.

We MEANT to go a couple hundred miles out of our way of our original more linear destination of Cave City, KY. Because, Katie tossed us a challenge.

ArkChellenge “Are you guys already past Kentucky? There’s a full sized Noah’s Ark display that is opening today!”

Whaaaaaaa??? Come on. Full size? That a ton of cubits! That would mean that the thing has to be almost two football fields in length!

Challenge on. Challenge accepted. Plans/route altered.

There are loads of reasons we had to go. After a quick Google of the details, it turns out that not only is is a full-size Noah’s Ark…but has more than 130 exhibits explaining the creation of the world, and the Ark’s relationship to it. And…as it had just opened on July 7th, none of you reading this could say, “hey…we’ve been there!” We were the FIRST!

We plotted course, and headed way North out of our way…on a “Mission from God.”  Continue reading →

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Rediscovering America Days 16-17- A Blue Dot in a Sea of Red

Posted on July 9, 2016 by crankyoldguy067

Map

Getting out of Virginia proved to be a challenge that neither of us anticipated.  We began the day with a final check-in with Charlie and his staff at WESR, with the intention of hitting the road by 10AM, for an 8 hour drive to Asheville, NC. The meeting part went fine…but as we were leaving, they handed us some gift certificates for a couple of their favorite local merchants.

In one fowl swoop, (I know…it is supposed to be foul…and then, not even foul, but FELL if you are using the idiom correctly….but I just wanted to see if you were paying attention), our morning went into a gastric tail spin.

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Rediscovering America – Day 15- The Eastern Shore and Fighting the Future

Posted on July 8, 2016 by crankyoldguy067

Somewhere around mid Tuesday the 5th of July, we hit the “halfway point” of the 29 day Rediscovering America Tour. Time is like that. It can be slippery, and relative, and kind of creeps up on you when you least expect it.

Pickles

I am a very young 62 years old.

I know…I know…every person in their 60s these days says that. But, I have a measurement matrix to which I can hold myself, that makes me feel like a kid. It’s the “Radio Industry Matrix.”  Compared to almost everyone in radio/broadcasting, I am a “bleeding edge,” forward thinking, tech maven, kid.  But, part of that is the fact that the radio industry would like it to be 1986 again…and for the most part clings to the notion that this “interweb thing” will go away some day soon.

I won’t go into the details of the long-term battle to drag our radio clients kicking and screaming into the early 2000s, let alone this decade. But, suffice it to say, that part of this trip, I will be visiting a variety of my clients for some one-on-one face time, and some serious cajoling, restructuring, and reinvigorating.

Which brings us to the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

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Sometimes Less is More… Final Days in NJ and Rita Plays Favorites

Posted on July 8, 2016 by crankyoldguy067

ScrewItAll--2

After days and days of being in “super-warp-tourist-mode,” the time we spent AFTER the NYC Marathon Day (I’m sure we clocked more than 26 miles of walking), were much needed, and very special.

Having a daughter 3,000 miles away, working for a major news organization, in one of the biggest cities in the world, brings both a sense of pride, and a sense of dread. While we talk, text, facetime, e-message, and g-chat all of the time, there is always a bit of parental detective work that goes on to answer the question, “how is she REALLY doing?”

As it turns out. Great. I mean really great.

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