The Story

It is T minus 3 days and Homer says it is about time that I tell the Story.  Up to now I have posted some pictures with quick thoughts. Homer is correct so, now the story. For as long as I can remember I have wanted to travel to see Mt. Rushmore. I am not sure why it has occupied a special place in my head but it has. Maybe it was the stories I heard from my grandfather, John, about his growing up on the North Platte River or taking his family on summer vacations. Or Maybe the 5th grade at Warner's Elementary, where we spent all year learning the names of States, their Capitals, and some thing special about each one. Our teacher, Mrs. Sutherland, known through out the school, for her ability to make the Mississippi river on the salt maps all 5th graders constructed, made sure I knew where Mt. Rushmore was.

But, I think what really stayed with me were the Weekly Reader stories about the creation of Mt. Rushmore and the new sculpture being carved from the rock, to memorialize the Indian chief Crazy Horse. I can see the article, like I read it yesterday.  I am sitting in Mrs. Bragan's  4th grade class, first row, second from the front, the weekly reader is passed to me, to pass to the student behind me, and there taking up the two columns on the bottom right is a picture of the monument.   I was, and continue to be impressed with the sheer magnitude of the project.  Over the years, since grade school , I have come to learn much about what it took to create the the Presidents.  I know that after our journey, we will return with more information than our friends or families will want us to share.

Now, wanting to do something and doing it are different things. Sometimes it just seems that it takes awhile for the pieces to fall into place and often the pieces fit with each other. This happened when I found my sail boat, which lead to me becoming a scuba diver, which lead to the trip to Rushmore. For the last two years Dive Master, David Page and his lovely wife, Nancy have arranged a scuba trip to the Bahamas. Before the 1st trip I learned to dive with my dear friend, Lil O'Rourke. My wife Susan, and Lil's husband, Fred, who do not dive, came along for the sun, the food and to make sure Page did not feed us to the sharks! Taking full advantage of the fact that Nancy's sister ,J.P., is married to  Rick, the best guy developing Cable Beach Nassau into a world class resort, we all learned that we could travel, now that our children are out of the house, well almost. 

About 20 years ago, when our children were young, Lil and Fred invited us to join them for a late summer vacation in Nantucket.  The ladies and babies would fly and Fred and I would drive his big, maroon Pontiac loaded with the food and supplies we would need.   Just after dawn on the appointed day I dressed, put on my new sun glasses and walked around the corner to Fred and Lil's. Upon arrival, with a voice I am sure all of Beverly Drive heard, I announced to Fred, that we were burning day light.  Reminding me that not everyone needed to know we were leaving, Fred noticed my glasses and immediately labeled me as "Homer". From that moment on we have been know to each other as "Homer", our wives the "Homerets".  

In the glow of last October's dive trip, Homer informed me that he happy to join me in a journey to South Dakota and Wyoming to see the Presidents, Crazy Horse and, as Homer puts it, " where Custer got his ass kicked".  A couple of martins later, we had booked a trip.  We decided to fly into Denver, because neither of us have visited the mile high city, rent a car, drive north to Wyoming and turn east when the GPS says so.  We invite you to join on us the journey dubbed " Homer Goes West".