Happy Trails to you...

Sharing a wonderful email

Thank you Bruce

I tried to think of who I knew that was old enough to appreciate this..... then you came into mind.

I didn’t send this to the young guns as they may not understand the meaning of this, but I’m sure you will.

The Roy Rogers Museum in Branson, MO has closed its doors forever.

Happy trails to you -- the end of an era !!   

Roy Rogers was raised on Duck Run, less than 10 miles from Portsmouth, Ohio.

All of Roy’s & Dale Evans’ children were adopted

 

The contents of the museum were sold at a public auction.

Roy Rogers told his son, if the museum ever operates at a loss, close it, and sell the contents. He complied.

Happy trails to you -- the end of an era    

Note the follow-on article truly the end of an era.

Here is a partial listing of some of the items that were sold at auction:

Roy's 1964 Bonneville (Pontiac) sold for $254,500. It was estimated to sell between 100 and 150 thousand dollars.

His script book from the January 14,1953 episode of This Is Your Life sold for $10,000 (EST. $800-$1,000).

A collection of signed baseballs (Pete Rose, Duke Snyder, and other greats) sold for $3,750.

A collection of signed bats (Yogi Berra, Enos Slaughter, Bob Feller, and others) sold for $2,750.

Trigger 's saddle and bridle sold for $386,500.

One of many of Roy's shirts sold for $16,250 and one of his many cowboy hats sold for $17,500.

One set of boot spurs sold for $10,625. (He never used a set of spurs on Trigger)

A life size shooting gallery sold for $27,500.

Various chandeliers sold from $6,875 to $20,000, very unique and artistic in their western style.

A signed photograph by Don Larsen taken during his perfect game in the world series against the Dodgers on Oct. 8, 1953, along with a signed baseball to Roy from Don, sold for $2,500.

Two fabulous limited edition BB guns in their original boxes with Numerous photos of Roy, Dale, Gabby (Hayes), and Pat (Brady) sold for $3,750.

A collection of memorabilia from his shows entertaining the troops in Vietnam sold for $938. I never knew he was there.

His flight jacket sold for $7,500

His set of dinnerware plates and silverware sold for $11,875.

The Bible they used at the dinner table every night sold for $8,750.

One of several of his guitars sold for $27,500.

Nellybelle (the Jeep) sold for $116,500.

A fabulous painting of Roy, Dale, Pat, Buttermilk, Trigger, and Bullet sold for $10,625.

One of several sets of movie posters sold for $18,750.

A black and white photograph of Gene Autry with a touching inscription From Gene to Roy sold for $17,500.

A Republic Productions Poster bearing many autographs of the People that played in Roy's movies sold for $11,875.

Dale's horse, Buttermilk (whose history is very interesting) sold below the presale estimate for $25,000. (EST. $30-40 K).

Bullet (stuffed) sold for $35,000 (EST. $10-15 K). He was their real pet.

Dale's parade saddle, estimated to sell between $20-30 K, sold for $104,500.

One of many pairs of Roy's boots sold for $21,250.

Trigger (stuffed) sold for $266,500.

Do you remember the 1938 movie The Adventures of Robin Hood, with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland? Well, Olivia rode Trigger in that movie.

Trigger was bred on a farm co-owned by Bing Crosby. Roy bought Trigger on a time payment plan for $2,500.

Roy and Trigger made 188 movies together.

Trigger even outdid Bob Hope by winning an Oscar in the movie Son of Paleface in 1953.

It is extremely sad to see this era lost forever. Despite the fact that Gene and Roy's movies, as well as those of other great characters, can be bought or rented for viewing, today's kids would rather spend their time playing video games.

Today it takes a very special pair of parents to raise their kids with the right values and morals.

These were the great heroes of our childhood, and they did teach us right from wrong, and how to have and show respect for each other and the animals that share this earth.

You and I were born at the right time. We were able to grow up with these great people even if we never met them.

In their own way they taught us patriotism and honor. We learned that lying and cheating were bad, and that sex wasn't as important as love. We learned how to suffer through disappointment and failure and work through it.

Our lives were drug free.

So it's good-bye to Roy and Dale, Gene and Hoppy (Hop-a-long Cassidy), the Lone Ranger and Tonto.

Farewell to Sky King (and Penny) and Superman and (Dragnet) Sgt. Friday.

Thanks to Capt. Kangaroo, Mr. Rogers, and Capt. Noah and all those people whose lives touched ours, and made them better.

It was a great ride through childhood

HAPPY TRAILS MY FRIEND

A Short Vietnam War Story: USN KA-3B vs. Russian Trawler AGI

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Thanks Jeff

The Russian "Trawlers" (NATO designation: AGI for Auxiliary General Intelligence) with what looked like one thousand "fishing" antennas plied the Gulf of Tonkin on a daily basis...needless to say, it was a cat-and-mouse game to see what havoc they could expend towards our two carriers operating there 24 hours a day.

Since the U.S. government had proclaimed the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin three miles off the coast of North Vietnam and Hinan Island, People's Republic of China, to be international waters, American ships in the Gulf were bound to obey the international rules of the road for ocean navigation.

This meant that if the Russian ship maneuvered herself into the path of an aircraft carrier where she had the right of way, the carrier had to give way even if she was engaged in launching or recovering aircraft. 

The navigation officer was constantly trying to maneuver the ship so that the trawler wouldn't be able to get in position to abuse the rules of the road and gain the right of way. Sometimes he was successful in sucking the trawler out of position, but the room available for the ship to maneuver was limited by our on-station requirements, and sometimes the trawler was successful interrupting our flight operations.

The pilots of the air wing were strictly forbidden to take any action against the Russian ship, but one day CDR John Wunche, the commanding officer of the heavy tanker KA-3B detachment, had finally had enough of the Russians' antics.

John Wunche was a big man with bright red hair and a flaming red handlebar mustache. He was a frustrated fighter pilot whom fate and the Bureau of Naval Personnel had put into the cockpit of a former heavy bomber now employed as a carrier-based tanker.

CDR Wunche flew the tanker like a fighter and frequently delighted the tactical pilots by rolling the "Whale," as we all called the KA-3B tanker, on completion of a tanker mission. Consequently, John's nickname was "the Red Baron." 

On 21 July 1967 he proved just how appropriate that name was.

 (Bonnie Dick was the nick-name for USS Bon Homme Richard)

The "Bonnie Dick" had nearly completed a recovery. The Russian trawler had been steaming at full speed to try to cut across our bow, and the bridge watch had been keeping a wary eye on the intruder. 

For a while it looked as if the Russian would be too late and we would finish the recovery before having to give way to the trawler. But a couple of untimely bolters (missed wires) extended the recovery and the Bon Homme Richard had to back down and change course to comply with the rules.

The LSO hit the wave-off lights when the "Whale" was just a few yards from the ramp. John crammed on full power and sucked up the speed brakes for the go-around. The "Bonnie Dick" began a sharp right turn to pass behind the Russian, causing the ship to list steeply, and there, dead ahead of John, was the Russian trawler. 

He couldn't resist. He leveled the "Whale" about a hundred feet off the water and roared across the mast of the Trawler with all fuel dumps open like a crop duster spraying a field of boll weevils. 

The Russian disappeared in a heavy white cloud of jet fuel spray, then reemerged with JP-4 jet fuel glistening from her superstructure and running lip-full in the scuppers. The Russian trawler immediately lost power as the ship's crew frantically tried to shut down anything that might generate a spark and ignite the fuel.

She was rolling dead in the water in the Bon Homme Richard's wake -- her crew breaking out fire hoses to wash down the fuel--as the Bon Homme Richard steamed out of sight completing the recovery of the Whale.

The Red Baron was an instant hero to the entire ship's company.

WHY IS THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE SO IMPORTANT

In their infinite wisdom, the founders of our country created a structure called the "Electoral College" as a control system and to ensure the individual states were fairly represented. Otherwise one or two densely populated areas would speak for the whole of the nation. It was not created as a device to favor Democrats, Republicans, Whigs, Tories or any other political affiliation. It was created as a system of "checks and balances" to guard against any small vocal area, with a specific agenda, speaking for the whole of the nation

The following list of statistics should put an end to the argument as to why the Electoral College makes sense.

There are 3,141 counties in the United States.

Trump won 3,084 of them.

Clinton won 57.

There are 62 counties in New York State.

Trump won 46 of them.

Clinton won 16.

Clinton won the popular vote by approx. 1.5 million votes.

In the 5 counties that encompass NYC (Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Richmond & Queens) Clinton received well over 2 million more votes than Trump.

In other words, these Five (5) counties alone, more than accounted for Clinton winning the popular vote for the entire country!

These 5 counties comprise 319 square miles.

The United States is comprised of 3,797,000 square miles.

When you have a country that encompasses almost 4 million square miles of territory, it would be ludicrous to even suggest that the vote of those who inhabit a mere 319 square miles should dictate the outcome of a national election.

Large, densely populated cities (NYC, Chicago, LA, etc.) do not and should not speak for the rest of our country...and somehow the geniuses who founded our country understood this and created a system to avoid that circumstance.

And now you understand the supreme importance of the Electoral College.

Do share this...  It needs to be understood.