It is a funny thing, that before I entered my 75th year on this old planet and the movie the Bucket list came out, I never gave a Bucket list much of thought. But it finally dawned on me that at three quarters of a century of age, how many more years have I got of pushing the old coach around. The kids are all grown up, educated and partnered off, our parents are no longer an issue taking time and effort, and it is just Lucy, Earl the kitty kat, and I.
With that we left New Hampshire in October and have been working down our, or should I say, my bucket list. During my working career as an auto writer we were constantly wined and dined by the auto makers when they had new models to show off to the press. As a nationally syndicated columnist I was invited to trips all over the world by the companies in hopes that I would write nice things about the new products. My bucket list is to revisit a lot of these places and show Lucy and ya Earl too, what caught my eye but I did not have enough time to see the way I would have liked. Yes in that time I drove cross country 20 or 30 times, but always against a time deadline, making the trip in as little as 42 hours. (in a 12 cylinder Jaguar.) There are actually three lists, one for never seen it before, and the second for been there but need to do it again, and of course a tally of what has been done on this trip.
NEVER DONE IT BEFORE
- A cab ride on a steam locomotive
- Fish off Cape Hatturis for Bass and Blue Fish
- White water rafting trip
- Spend a day on a working tug boat
DO IT AGAIN SAM
- A cockpit ride in a 727 or larger jet
- Drive Daytona or other high banked track at speed
- Pilot a glider
- Sunset party at Key West
DO IT AGAIN SAM’S DONE ON THIS TRIP
- Drive the Pacific Coast Highway from Seattle to San Diego
- Visit Mount Rushmore for more than an hour
- Ribs at Kansas City BBQ in San Diego
- Visit the Spruce Goose, Howard Hughes big flying boat
- Sunrise from the top of the Cascades
- Pacific coast sunsets
- Spend time on route 66
- Drive the Lincoln Highway
- Visit San Diego Zoo
NEVER DONE IT BEFORE’S DONE ON THIS TRIP
- Ride a Vista Dome railroad car through scenic country like in the old RR ads
- See the Grand Canyon
- Touch the 4 corners of the continental US
- Visit Yellowstone
- Visit Quartzsite (what a hoot)
- Boondock on the desert
- Visit the aircraft carrier Midway
As the song goes these are but a few of my favorite things, and I supposed to some that it is slightly out in left field, but what do you expect from a Geezer? The trip is not over yet and there is still time to add to the list. I will do that when we get back to New Hampshire in April. However one thing stands out in my mind. There is so much to see and do here in the lower 48 that I have little or no desire to cross the boarders.
At this point in the trip we are just outside San Antonio with the next stop Houston and then to New Orleans and Florida. Just rollin along.
Brad “the Geezer” Sears