Vintage LP Record Reissues From Back In Their Time. Why Did Companies Do That?

October 4, 2024

#498

Gentle reader, 

I'm 68 years old as I write this. This is the 498th article I have written for this blog. When I started doing this, it was just something different to do. I had no idea that anyone would be in the least bit interested in what I had to say. But, you do. 

All that being said, one of my (and countless millions of other music lovers) favorite things to do is look through records and CDs in thrift stores. Some places they are called charity shops. These shops and stores are a great alternative to setting things you no longer want out for the trashman to take away and they keep them out of the landfill. 

My first LP, Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow, was given to me by my big sister, Marcia back in the early 1970's. I did not have a way to play it then, being in my early teens and too young to have a job. Still, it was nice of her to do so.

Back then, I was not interested in building a record collection. As I said, I had no way to play music. At some point in time later on, one of those plastic "suitcase" record players came my way. It was so bad, that like so many, I glued a penny to the top of the tonearm, hoping that it would sound better. 

It was nowhere nearly as nice as this one, an image of which I just found on the Internet. Mine was lime green, all plastic and the speakers were on the edges of the suitcase. The record player portion folded up inside, between the speakers to make it look somewhat like a suitcase. To me, it was a rite of passage since, for the first time, I could then be in charge of what music I wanted to hear, and not dependent upon what the DJ was playing on the radio.

That's what I looked like fifty years ago when we moved from Denver, Colorado, right after I graduated from high school, to Richmond, Virginia. It was just about as different a place as one could move to from the West. It was June, and for the first time in our young lives we had to deal with HUMIDITY!
These were my new friends in Northside Richmond. I don't remember all of their names, but they were a fun bunch. The fellow on the right, Phillip, opened my eyes and my ears when he took me up to his room. He opened his door and the first thing that I saw were the BIGGEST speakers I had ever seen! He had made them himself. They had 18" woofers, six-inch midranges and horn tweeters. I did not know what any of that was or what it meant then. He had a big Pioneer integrated amplifier, a nice turntable and a Revox reel-to-reel with the biggest tapes I had ever seen.
He played Pure Prairie League's Two Lane Highway and my mind (and nearly my eardrums) were blown! How could a record sound so GOOD? I was used to music over AM radio and my dad's modest stereo, and of course my plastic-not-so-fantastic-anymore suitcase stereo. God forbid anyone but Dad touching his stereo! He's long gone now, so I can say that I DID play my records when our parents weren't home, on HIS stereo.

So, why am I telling you all of this? What does it have to do with record reissues? Well, nothing, really. Since Phillip introduced me to what music could sound like at home, it set me on a course these last fifty years of buying and trying hundreds of components and speakers, the vast majority of which came from thrift stores and the occasional yard sale. Oh, and via eBay, of course. Plus, in all those years, I have purchased at least five thousand records and a few thousand CDs, again, mostly from thrift stores. Since one of my favorite forms of music is Classical, that is what this article will focus on.

This is a link to a good article on all facets of recorded music reissues. Original Records vs. Reissues - YouTube I was watching it last night. I enjoy his channel and we are around the same age and been in the hobby for about the same number of years. He seems to have WAY more money than I do, however. 
This is one example of reissuing music. Putting it on CD. I've read that some really early CDs were made with the RIAA curve in the music. The engineers seemed to have forgotten that CDs did not need that. Tchaikovsky's epic 1812 Overture quickly became a favorite one 4th of July in Richmond. There is a small park with a natural amphitheater called Dogwood Dell. A portion of Richmond's Symphony performed there and canons and soldiers  from Fort Lee were behind the bandshell. I was curious as to why, so climbed to the top of the hill and made my way to the side where I could keep an eye on what they were up to. I found out when during the 1812, they started firing their canons! I discovered that there are three sensations canons produce, first is the fiery flash and smoke of the propellant, then the explosion's sound and then the concussion hits your body. I was hooked! 

Mercury's album and this Telarc are thought to be the best sounding of all recorded canons on countless 1812 records. I have many of them. Again, two reissues of the LP. Sadly, I cracked the SACDs cover.

But, this too, is not what I'm writing about. I'm writing about when a record company reissues a recording, perhaps on one of their less expensive labels, or simply to catch collector's eye hoping they won't realize that they already have that record. 
These two records are prime examples of such a reissue. London Records, called Decca in the UK, apparently has a "bargain" label called JUBILLEE. 
Above and below, the original LP has a gatefold cover, has images of the soloists and the conductor and extensive notes about the performance and history of the symphony. The reissue, to further save money for Decca, went the simpler route, as you can see.
I promised myself that I would play every single recording in my collection when I retired. And, for almost eight years, I have been doing just that. I listened to all my Jazz (traditional and Smooth) LPs first. I got turned onto Smooth Jazz in the 1980's when the music was spreading across radio stations in the US. It was being played by three stations in the Washington, D.C. area for a while. Thanks to Smooth Global Living - A Vision of SmoothJazz.com and Sirius/XM, one can still enjoy it. New artists are making it and the groups I fell in love with are still putting out music. Such as:
I'm glad that some artists and labels have not given up on SACDs and DVD-Audios. Being my age, I likely cannot hear any difference between them, but, I still like to buy them and pretend that I can.

My parents had eclectic taste in music and Dad's stereo was often playing when they were home. As a result, all five of us like a wide variety of music to this day. Beethoven's 9th Symphony was SO radical when it premiered that it took the 19th Century music world by storm! Not just because he had the audacity to have SINGING in it, but the entire piece, WOW! I have many versions of it, in many formats.
Here is a prime example of Decca/London records trying to catch the eyes of younger listeners. The cover image on the right is most likely from Woodstock in 1969.
Compare ALL the information on the back of the original issue compared to the brief notes on the reissue which ends with "Dig it!"
Although the French title of Berlioz symphony seems to say Fantastic Symphony, and it is, it really reads Symphonic Fantasy. He was hung up on a woman actress he had seen in a play, of which he could not posses. For more on this story go here: The Story Of Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique - Classic FM
In the case of these two records. The reissue is YEARS later than the original release and Odyssey was Columbia Record's budget friendly Classical label. The Original LP, however had numerous different covers and I bought a number of them, even knowing that they were all the same record. I finally donated all but this one because it was in the best condition. The reissue is one of those that I did not realize I already had it in the collection until I began playing all the Classical LPs and started looking closely at each record's cover, did I discover all four of these examples I am showing you today.
This is the Classical LP shelf in the listening room. Classical music recordings comprise well over half of all my recordings. I did not plan it to be so, but there are so many recordings of the same composer's works by SO many different orchestras around the world, that it is easy to gather a number of them for variety's sake and entertainment value.
At the same time I have been starting the Classical listening starting with A at the top of the shelf, I have also been playing records from the second to the bottom as well. They are recordings which have music from more than one composer on them. The one on the right above, I was playing and since I was listening to it, I decided to look in the B section (top shelf) to see if I had more Borodin records.
I found the pink one which is directly from Russia and was still sealed. When I looked at the English on the cover, then compared it to the one I was listening to, I thought, "Ah! This one is the original. How many more do I have like this?" I found the other three, so far and they became the reason for this article.
All the time that I have been sitting here typing into my PC, I have been listening to Classic Rock CDs. And Pure Prairie League's Two Lane Highway is playing right now. I think Phillip would agree that my secondary stereo system sound's just fine. 

He is an Airline Pilot nowadays, so the long hair and beard are long gone. Since he's older than I, he is likely retired too. He earned his private pilot's license while I was living in my first apartment in the 1970's. I was just about to head out to the laundromat when there was a knock on my door. I opened it and there was Phillip. "How would you like to go with me to Charlottesville?" "Now? it's Tuesday, we both have to work tomorrow." "I'm going to fly us there." "Screw the laundry!", I thought and climbed into his car. We flew in a Cessna, my first time in a small plane and only my second time in ANY airplane. There was a strong crosswind during our approach into Charlottesville's airport, but Phillip handled it just fine (scared the crap out of me, however!) by tilting the plane to counteract the wind. I swear the right wingtip almost touched the runway!
His plane tilted much farther than this one, plus it was dark at this point. We wandered around the Charlottesville airport for a while, emptied our bladders, then flew back to Richmond. I was very happy he chose me to accompany him.

Oh, the CDs I have been listening to are: JAILBREAK by Thin Lizzy, Best of PURE PRAIRIE LEAGUE, THE VERY BEST OF CAT STEVENS  and POCO The Essential Collection.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I hope that I amused and perhaps enlightened you. Feel free to comment below or via Facebook.

Scott Robb
October 4, 2024
#498

ORION BLUE BOOK Guides are Awesome Sources Of Information For Your Hobbies!

 October 3, 2024

#497

Gentle reader,

When I get interested in something, I gather as much information as I can about whatever it is. Today, we do an Internet search. In the olden days (twenty or so years ago) there were thick books from ORION RESEARCH CORPORATION who did all the grunt work for you and all you had to do was open one to the pages devoted to that company's products.

Since this is 2024, I did a simple Internet search to find the image above. I, as my regular readers know, have collected all kinds of things, and these books were invaluable for my researching whatever gadget I wanted to know more about.



These are scans from the latest Blue Book I had owned many years ago. I went through photos in my computer and found each item, then highlighted each one I have enjoyed owning. What is NOT shown on these pages are the various used prices the books provided based upon their extensive research with Pawn Shops, and, I imagine, later on, eBay sales of each item. That's a LOT of research! And, the company still exists: Used Equipment Blue Book Values and Online Fair Market Value Price Guides for Guns, Computers, Audio Equipment, Musical Instruments and more by UsedPrice.com The prices which are shown are the RETAIL prices of each when new.

I lucked out some years ago, seeing a LOT of twelve or so ORION BLUE BOOK guides for a bargain price on eBay. I jumped on the auction and won. I kept the books I needed and sold the rest individually. Later on, selling each of them as well. 

Have you ever regretted selling something, thinking, "I'm never going to use/need this thing again."? Well, I have. Too many times!

Above and below are two examples.
Brochures from the original 1960's DYNACO company are in the upper photograph and from the 1990's new DYNACO company as resurrected by PANOR, a company once called Pan-Orient. In the lower image's case, I had moved on from vintage DYNACO to all kinds of other brands. In fact, all that I own now are a pair of A25XL speakers I scored for a hundred bucks via eBay. 
They are the smaller speakers. I mounted them on bamboo stools.

The brochures seen directly above the speakers image were sent to me by the then-new DYNACO company in answer to a letter I sent them (via US Mail) requesting product information. All that I could afford then (see 1990's DYNACO retail prices in the PAGE images above) was their QD-1 "FIVE CHANNEL HOME THEATER SYSTEM" unit as seen below. It is their first upgrade, thus the Series II.

It was an update on the 1970's DYNACO Quadapter.

I never owned one of the originals. Image courtesy of TMRAUDIO.COM.

However, as time has shown me over and over, and yes I do know the definition of insanity, I later found out that those expensive Panor-era Dynaco equipment would start trickling onto eBay for reasonable prices:
The first I purchased from the 1990's DYNACO company was one of their reimagining of the original DYNACO which they called: QD-1, later, I bought both updates, then the final, and the best, version, the QD-2. Which can seen above nestled between the ST-200 DYNACO power amplifier and PAT-6 Preamp/tuner. All three found on eBay.

Way back when collecting film cameras was my focus (no pun intended) I bought the McKeown's Price Guide to Antique & Classic Cameras. They were the most expensive books I had ever bought. The last edition was over $100! But, they were THE way to find out detailed information about cameras. In fact, they bought at least one camera from ME because they had never seen it before!

And below, is one of the ORION books from that lot I told you about.
Sadly, the Internet, specifically eBay put McKeown's and Camera Shows, out of business.

The Internet became invaluable to me back in the 1990s because I could connect with fellow collectors around the world. As an example, The Argus Collectors Group . Later, a fellow camera collector, an American living in Hong Kong, invited me to be his "110 Film Cameras" expert for his (quickly failed) website: Camprice.com. HE saw the writing on the wall for McKeown's and thought that he could cash in with an Internet version of their books. He did not succeed.
This is a film image of what my collection looked like for years. So many collectors scrambled to try and find glass shelves of cabinets from stores going out of business to display their collections in.
I had a different idea, however, which I named CameraLock. There used to be website which a fellow collector in France offered to let me use to post directions-for-sale to build a CameraLock system for oneself. It had very few takers.

Let this be a lesson to you. Think really hard about something you own, which is rare or might become unavailable soon, before choosing to sell or donate it. Why? Because I JUST bought a 1995 ORION BLUE BOOK AUDIO via eBay!

I spent two days going through all my digital images of stereo and audio equipment, looking in the guide book and highlighting the information when I found it in the book. If the item was not listed, I wrote down it's equipment type and name on the bottom of the correct page.

Now, I'm on the lookout for the last ORION BLUE BOOK AUDIO via eBay!

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. Your doing so is very gratifying. I do not make any money doing these articles. It is just something I enjoy doing. That SO many people would end up reading my words is astounding and humbling to me. 

Feel free to comment below or via Facebook.

Scott Robb
#497
October 3, 2024


Taking to a Train Trip to Travel and Learning to Let Go and Trust Others

October 01, 2024

#496

Gentle reader,

    While this article is technically not about a physical collection (other than of all the hundreds of digital images we made during the trip) it is about something which I feel the need to get out of my head and hopefully into yours.

I have no idea who this couple is, but, when I saw them obviously enjoying themselves beside the epic majesty of the Grand Canyon, I decided to capture the moment.

Nancy and I are both "control freaks". One would think that might cause problems within a marriage. But, except for that one time too many in which I "suggested" she do something while driving like, "You know we're going to be turning right, right?" we both set aside the need to be in control for the sake of our marriage and our sanity. We are truly soul mates and have a mental linkage which is downright spooky. We love each other too deeply to worry about the little things.

A little background: I'm 68 and have been retired for almost eight years. Nancy is 59 and is still working. We met thirty years ago at my part time (and her full time) job. We went out for six months as friends before she grabbed me and kissed me passionately. When we broke apart, I said, "Wow. What was that for?" She explained why and thus we went from great friends to, well much better friends who were also in love. Oh, and we both broke up with the individuals we were dating at the time.

We've been married for twenty-eight years and have never had a fight. Both of us suffered through bad first marriages. We know that we were brought together against all odds. I could tell you step by step each choice I made (or thought that I was the one who made the choices) in my life to get to that point in 1994. But, that is not what this article is about.

This article is about letting go and letting someone else take the reigns for a change.

Above is, I believe, the cover photo of the US AMTRAK rail system routes book. 

Some months ago, Nancy decided that we needed a REAL vacation. Aside from taking some time to visit relatives over the years, we really haven't gone anywhere just for fun since our honeymoon in January, 1996.

I had worked on Washington, D.C.'s subway rail cars for thirty-five years after nine years of being a new car dealership mechanic. Which is what I knew at an early age that I wanted to do for a living, and thus trained for. Yet, aside from my one commuter train ride sixty years ago, I had not ever ridden a "real" train. Nor, had Nancy.

Nancy has lived in Virginia since she was two or three, having been born in Puerto Rico. while I had grown up in the West until the family was moving to Virginia in 1974, right after my graduating from high school. Nancy felt that travelling by rail across the United States to visit the Grand Canyon, in Arizona would be just what was called for. She has only known a small part of the East and only seen America from high in the sky. So, she called AMTRAK Vacations and had set it all up. Every step of the way was planned by A-V representative and every moment was laid out with us spending five days at the Grand Canyon. And, then reversing our route back home.

When she presented me her plans, I threw a wrench into the works. I pointed out that we have a friend (Bob Berne) and relatives in Arizona and if we went there and did not visit them, they would be upset.

Therefore, I was in charge of making that work. Which I was able to do. It was not easy, and would require perfect timing for me to be able to pick up the rental car within minutes of the train arriving in Flagstaff four days after we left Virginia.

Also, I proposed taking the southern AMTRAK route home would show us so much more of the US, and as it turned out, a slice of Mexico too. The trouble is, there is no train tracks which one can ride over to get to the southern stations.

Aside from getting and driving the rental car to allow my plans, EVERY step of the way of this ten-day trip was us having to trust others to be in control of our movements. All we had to do was BE at the right place at the right time to board the correct train! What could go wrong?

The trip began with her arranging the day before for a Taxi to pick us up at home well in advance of our needing to catch the last last northbound VRE (Virginia Railway Express) commuter train from our town to Washington, D.C.'s Union Station.

Guess what? No taxi. I called the company and was told, "Yeah, we don't schedule a driver the day before for a pick up." Hearing that she whipped out her phone and called the LOCAL Yellow Cab company and was told, "We have a driver which can be there in ten minutes." The car which showed up was not yellow...

A nice man from Ghana arrived and stored all of our (too many) suitcases in the back of his Scion XD taxi. He drove us to the commuter train station and got us there with plenty of time to spare. First bump in the road avoided.

We'd never been to ANY train station (other than subway car stations) before and found the Woodbridge station was quite nice. A VRE was there, but we knew it was not the last train, so we waited patiently. The less time wandering around Union Station until time to board the AMTRAK train, the better.

A few moments later, we heard a train horn, and were thinking, "Here comes our train." Wrong! It was a freight train with four locomotives and it was FLYING into and through the station! Man was it l-o-n-g, loud and producing a lot of wind!

Eventually our VRE train arrived and our first hardship was lugging all those heavy suitcases (all of which had other bags mounted on their handles) up all those stairs inside the car and storing them out of the way in the passenger seating area of the car.

Those VRE cars are very nice. We enjoyed the ride and as Union Station was the last stop, enjoyed the sights without having to keep an ear out for our stop being announced. A conductor helped us get all the luggage (and us) off the train safely in Union Station. Then, she climbed back abord and away the train went.

We looked around and asked each other at the same time, "Which way do we go?" And seemingly, just like that, a woman in an AMTRAK uniform asked if she could help us. She looked at our tickets and said, "Ah, you're going first class. I'll take care of you. She led us to the Check In, had our big cases labeled and whisked away then to the First Class lounge. We would not see those suitcases for four days. Out of our control!!! Gulp!
One of the stunning sights inside of Washington's Union Station.

Okay, I realize that I do not need to tell you every step of our trip. The point I am trying to make is that, for the first time in our adult lives, we were NOT able to do anything like we always have, such as, hop in our car and take off. No, we had to rely on total strangers to get us every step of the way to and from Arizona. The only thing I can compare it to is being enslaved or in jail. Nonetheless, we HAD to learn to trust the system and the professionals who do this all the time.

Now, many people in the United States rely on public transportation to get everywhere they go. At least places they can't get to on foot. Many cannot afford, or do not want a car of their own and the expenses thereof. We are both from, while not truly poor, but our parents did struggle some years to get enough food on the table when we were little. Thus, this trip would be our first experience at doing anything "First Class".

A quick overview of AMTRAK trips. One has three riding/sleeping choices: Coach, Roomette or Sleeper. By far, the most people travel by coach. We sure have when flying! A roomette ticket gets you two facing seats which can be slid down and together and a thin mattress laid over the seats and made up for sleeping. In coach, most choose to sleep sitting up. Although, the one time I had to go to a coach car was on the last train ride home. The bathrooms in our car had some kind of electrical problem. One could use the toilets, but not be able to flush it. They would reset the circuit breaker, but it would mysteriously trip again, later on. Therefore, I had to walk through the sleeping cars to use the coach car's bathroom. Which was MUCH larger than ours because it had to accommodate a wheelchair. But, I digress. 

The roomette, at least in our first three trains, has an upper bed which folds down from the wall (see below, the handle at the top of the image). It is made of hard plastic and the mattress is firm and not too yielding. I did not sleep well when in that bunk. Nancy graciously chose it climb up into it the first two nights. The last two it was all mine. The last train, from New Orleans, north, was made up of east coast cars. Central and West rail car tunnels are much higher than the much older East coast rail system tunnels. The cars are only 1 1/2 high compared to the original AMTRAK cars. Thus, that upper bunk slid down and locked into place. The roomette was slightly larger as well.
The view through the doorway into a roomette. 

We were able to sit in a sleeper room for the first part of one of the trips since we boarded near the rear of the train (more on that later) and thus, had to disembark (or detrain) at the next station and hoof it all the way down the station to our car. Anyway, the Sleepers have twice the square footage of a Roomette and also have a sink and sometimes a full bathroom in them. Next time, and there will be a next time, we are going to book Sleepers.
Mather Point at Grand Canyon, which we walked to in order to watch the sunset over the canyon. You simply cannot imagine JUST how incredibly large, complex and beautiful the place is!

I compiled the list above to determine how far we had gone over the ten days and to show each mode of transportation we utilized. I could not find rail distances, but since rails often parallel roads, the distances should be closely similar.

So, are you ready for all of the God Moments which happened during our trip? Some, I have already mentioned. But, there are more:

The first, occurred once we got to Arizona and were all on the shuttle bus from Flagstaff AMTRAK station to Wilson, Arizona, home of the Grand Canyon Railway and hotel complex. Dave was driving the bus, and as he took the ramp down from the interstate, he was not slowing, let alone stopping for a stop sign! I was about to yell, "Dave! STOP!" when he suddenly stood on the brakes! I have worked on all kinds and sizes of vehicles and I am well aware of stopping distances verses vehicle weight and friction. Thus, there was NO way that van should have been able to stop, fully loaded with fourteen adults and all their luggage, going downhill in that short of distance. Physically impossible. But stop it did. There was a semi-truck which would have hit and likely killed, most of us. First God Moment.

When you go to see the Grand Canyon. Do not drive. Book a room at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel and ride their antique train to and from the canyon. There is a Fred Harvey Restaurant which is part of the complex and the food is delicious. There is a "Cowboy Show" for fifteen minutes before we boarded the train. It was fun and check out this image I was able to capture during the show: 
The EXACT moment he fired his revolver! Now, I need to learn more about Photoshop so that I can figure out how to remove those vehicles from the background.

We had a wonderful time at the Canyon. The lodge we stayed it was great, the food plentiful and delicious and we plan to go back again. And the canyon! My first impression was, "This can not be real!" 
Now, since the train from Chicago was late getting into Flagstaff, and since I had not been able to get ahold of the first taxi company I had called days earlier, to arrange to be picked up from the train station, I called the next one on the list of all the taxi companies in Flagstaff I had written down. I had a very nice conversation with Tim, the proprietor of Turquoise Taxi.  On board the train, which sat stopped for another train which was stopped ahead of ours and we were waiting (a distraught person had jumped to their death in front of the freight train ahead of us on the track, we found out later) I used the time to call Tim and to tell him we would be too late and he could go ahead and go home for the night and I arranged to hire him to pick us up on the morning of the 19th at 9:30 at the G.C.H. To which he readily agreed to do so. 

That morning, three days later, and we were our front of the hotel, but no taxi yet. No problem, I called the T.T. phone number, and a man answered, I said, "Tim? This is Scott.", and told me he was Mark, Tim's son and would be there in a couple minutes. Which he was. Well, first of all, the taxi was not turquoise! And the man who climbed out was OLD! Long silver hair and beard! I said, "If you're Tim's son, how old is he?" He laughed and said, "Did I say, 'son'? No, I'm his Dad." 

We had a good laugh and loaded everything up and climbed in for the thirty-five mile trip to the airport car rentals. We got to talking and I mentioned that I was born in Phoenix, but only lived there my first two weeks because that's where the grandparents lived and that my dad was training to be a Presbyterian minister at a seminary north of San Francisco. "Well, what about that," Mark replied, "I'm a retired Presbyterian Minister!" "Outstanding and what a small world!" I said, "We are quite involved in our church and I am part of KAIROS prison ministry." "Really? So am I!" And we high-fived. The rest of the trip was quite pleasant and he helped us unload, pointed us in the right direction and I paid him and said, "KAIROS hug?" We embraced tightly. God Moment.
The scene from the 33rd story of the luxury hotel AMTRAK Vacation booked us in for the wait until catching the last train home.

To catch you up: So far, we had ridden trains five times: VRE, AMTRAK, AMTRAK, Grand Canyon Railway, twice and were now driving from the Flagstaff Airport in the mountainous evergreen forests of Arizona in a 2025 Nissan Sentra. A very technologically advanced car. I uses active radar to monitor what's ahead and automatically brakes the car, quicker than a human would notice the danger. A God Moment? No, but God gave us the brains to be able to create all kinds of unimaginable things.

I had last been in Arizona fifty two years prior. And, had not seen any of my Arizona relatives except in 2011 for Dad's memorial service. EVERY August, no matter where we lived in the West, we all piled into our forty horsepower Volkswagen Bus and drover OVER mountains to visit the grandparents. Therefore, I did not recall much of Arizona except being very hot. So, seeing so much of it as an adult was fun and exciting.

Dad and my middle sister, Judy with one of three Buses they'd bought.
Mom and the five of us, about to board the Bus. Dad reversed the middle seat so that we could play together during the countless hours we would be on board.

We arrived in Mesa, much sooner than anticipated. My sister, who lives in Goodyear, but has never been to the Grand Canyon, had said that it would take six hours to get from there to Mesa. She was likely thinking from the G.C. itself, where speed limits are much lower until one gets to a real highway. 

Much fun was had seeing my Aunt and meeting her husband. Even more so being able to finally meet Bob and his wife. Bob and Joseph hit it right off. The next day we visited the Berne home and I took in all of the Dynaco equipment and so much more! Some incredibly rare stuff!
What Bob could use is a professional organizer to come in. Something none of us could afford. Having OCD, I would love to do that for him! 

Once the visiting was done, Nancy joined my Aunt in her car as she led me to the Mesa Airport's car rental return area. Then, she drove us to Maricopa where I had booked  a room for the night prior to catching the AMTRAK train which departed that station at 5:55 AM. The desk clerk of the hotel, which was brand new and only moments from the train station, was very nice. He offered to drive us the next morning, if we liked. I thanked him and told him I would let him know.

Nancy arranged for a LYFT car while I downloaded the app and signed up as well. She was promised that a driver would be there at 5:00 AM. The next morning, we saw a Cadillac SUV out front, but empty. The overnight clerk did not know whose car it was. I asked a man sitting in the lobby if it was his. It wasn't. Nancy began calling for a driver and kept being told there was none available! 

She began shaking and I too was wound pretty tight. I grabbed her, held her tight, told her to have faith. Then I prayed asking for the Lord to provide us with a ride. She relaxed somewhat and we parted. Not one minute later, her phone rang, a driver said that he was six minutes away! God Moment.

When he arrived, we (too) hurriedly put all the suitcases in the back of his car. Once inside, I asked, "Sir, are you a Christian?" "Yes, I am." "I am convinced that the Lord Sent you." and explained why. We were still cutting it close. We arrived and I jumped out and ran to the AMTRAK staff, "Wait! We have to get our luggage!" "Where are you going?" "New Orleans!" She got on the radio to the engineer and they waited.

It was as we lifted the last suitcases to the ground did I say, "Where's the third suitcase?" Freakout time all over! Not to worry, although Nancy surely did. The hotel desk clerk saw what happened, secured our bags (smaller suitcase with our laptops and other things and her CPAP machine attached to the handle) and he called me to tell me so. I thanked him and told him that we would arrange to have them picked up by UPS and sent to our home. He replied that he would find a large enough box to hold everything and keep them safe. God Moment.

One difference when traveling first class is that one's contact with others is limited. Every time we have flown somewhere, I have made a new friend by the time we landed. AMTRAK, due to limited seating in the dining car purposely sits strangers together. Something I love and Nancy tries her best to accept. One couple asked if we could all say Grace together? We all held hands and did so. God Moment.
This is the lounge car on one of the three double-decker AMTRAK trains. We were stopped in Houston, Texas.

On the last day of that train ride across Texas, I saw a man I had heard speaking and asked him, "Are you an Aussie?" He replied that he is. I then told him that (Australian V8) Supercars was my favorite racing series. Boy, did we get to talking! The rest of the trip, when possible, he, and a woman he met on the train, and us was spent together, getting to know each other. 
Two New Zealander (Kiwis) Supercars drivers enjoying a laugh some years ago. Both became champions and both now race in the US. Shane Van Gisbergen on the left, drives for NASCAR. Scott McLaughlin races in Indy Cars for Penske. 

He had not arranged a hotel for the night, he TOO was going to Virginia. I showed him where AMTRAK had booked us, he called and got a room on the same floor. Out of gratitude, he arranged for an Uber from the station to the hotel and back the next morning. We ate breakfast together then boarded the next train for Virginia, after being sequestered in the First Class Lounge. New Orleans station was very modest, but still nice.

We parted ways with hugs as he was getting off at Charlottesville to visit his cousin. Coincidently, her car was right outside our window! So, Nancy took "surveillance" photos of the two. There were SO many people waiting to board trains! That was true at every station stop. We had no idea that train travel was so popular.
Two girls sitting down on the rim of one of many places on Earth which can truly show the evidence of God at work. Yes, technically, He did not create the canyon. But, He did create the entire Universe and every creature on every livable planet in the vastness of Space. 

This trip and the several events, meetings and moments which happened within those ten days truly showed me that if we JUST let go, and let God, everything will be alright. 
Nancy, truly relaxed, aboard an AMTRAK train.

God has intervened in my life in so many ways helping me to make decisions which, if I listened to that small, still voice, always worked out for the BEST. The times I ignored it, did not work out well for me. I cannot tell you where that voice comes from, perhaps the Holy Spirit, or a Guardian Angel, but it always has my best interests at heart.
If you find yourself overwhelmed, or lost, all it takes is for you to sit down, put your phone aside and pray. Regardless of whether you believe in Him or not, He loves you, He always has. He wants you to let Him into your life. Letting go is not easy. It took me decades to finally be able to do so. But, you CAN let go. He will take your hand and show you a whole new world of possibilities. There IS a better life out there, waiting for you. So far, you have not been able to see it. But, it has been there the entire time. All you have to do is open your eyes and see the great big, glorious world God created and brought YOU into, right in front of you. Are you ready? If not now, then when? The present is a gift, will you open it and have your eyes truly opened? I pray that you will. 

Scott Robb
October 1, 2024
#496

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