Bronco Lane

This week, I feel like Bronco Lane. Who is Bronco Lane, you ask? We got our first tv about 1957 -58, so the plethora of westerns that graced the airwaves during those years made a big impression on me. They were pretty much cookie cutter programs, but each had memorable theme music. This week as I run back and forth across Indiana and east central Illinois, The theme to Bronco keeps running through my mind. "Bronco, Bronco, tearing across the Texas plain"... As the theme plays in the beginning of the show, there is Bronco Lane ridin' hard. That's pretty much the way I feel. Here is a link to acquaint you with yet another western hero. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051261/ Let's see, Georgia came back to Gas City a week ago today. I stayed til after anatomy class Wednesday, then came over so we could spend some time together. Saturday, we ran "home" for Aidan and Ava's baptisms. Had a really nice time with the family at Greg and Mel's after. Sophie asked if she could stay over. Understanding that we were rushing out Sunday morning, we agreed. During this time, we are in the process of emptying Bea's apartment since she is moving in with Nan. We brought the Grandfather Clock home on this trip. When Bea moved into the apartment she didn't have room for her dining room table. Georgia loved that set, so it came to our house (I think when we moved to Mahomet.) We had a set, that we bought when we graduated from vet school (40 years ago) but since sold the table or gave it away. Who knows? Here's an aside. Remember I went to Gas City Wednesday. On Thursday nite in conjunction with the Purdue Vet School Fall Conference the Class of 1968 met for a 40th class reunion. We think that we were back for one reunion a long time ago, but only one. There were 3 of my classmates who didn't recognize me and one of my best friends from those days, I couldn't recognize. (Graduation class size - 43.) It was great catching up and renewing. (And another episode of Bronco.) Back to the dining room sets. Bea did keep her china closet to store some the cut glass her dad made. (He was a glass cutter and made some beautiful glassware.) This seemed to be a good time to reunite the china closet with the table and chairs in our dining room. So the plan was to trade china closets. We would again have a matching dining room set (which had belonged to Georgia's mom.) and our cherry china closet would look better in Nan's house than the more ornate maple one. I spent Saturday afternoon working out the details of making this trade. It seemed the best plan was to rent a cargo van in Champaign, bring our china closet to Nan's on our return Sunday, then load Bea's china closet in the van to return to Illinois on Monday. Greg and Jeff helped me load (actually they did it) our china closet in the van which Greg had picked up for me on Saturday before the baptisms. After "convoying" our 2 explorers to Illinois on Saturday, Georgia and I "convoyed" back with the van, leaving the green explorer at Gregs. We got to Nan's where her son Richard helped me load Bea's china closet. At this point it was decided that a bedroom dresser and coffee table were going to Illinois, so Richard and I tipped the china closet on it's side to make room. Now I am loaded to return to Illinois (Monday) where I will unload the stuff in the garage before returning the van. Greg will pick me up there and drop me off at his house to pick up my explorer on his way from his office to a meeting on the west side. Tuesday, I will mow the yard (sans rain), teach in the vet anatomy course on Wednesday, then back to Gas City to help finish emptying Bea's apartment this weekend. Which by the way is James Dean weekend in southern Grant County. http://www.jamesdean.com/community/festival/index.htm So all the small towns in southern Grant County, Indiana (including Gas City) will be filled with people and their old classic cars. Specifically, Gas City holds a "hot rod show" called the "Ducktail Run" http://www.jamesdeanducktailrun.com/DucktailRunPhotos2008.htm . This morning at breakfast at the local "B & B restaurant, the place was invaded by "old" guys in their Ducktail Run T shirts. It seems they gather in the Gas City Park all week long. After breakfast, as I left, there were several classic cars in the lot, including a customized purple 48 Hudson, and a 57 red Plymouth with a white stripe. A mixed blessing. We will have to work around the people, but it will be cool to see all of the old cars. I assume our explorers will be filled with "stuff" but hopefully everything too big to fit in the explorers is now in the cargo van ready to head west. Whew! So here I go again, "Tearin' across the midwest plain." No duck tail, no classic car, just memories of those days when the coolest car was the one where all of the "bling" had been removed, leaving a smooth rounded contour, riding low (especially in the rear) and rumbling, not from a stereo system, but from a kick-ass V8 with dual glass pacs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJWGJ0qSkVY