HERE'S A RITIN FRUM
FOR JUNE AND JULY 2000
FOR JUNE AND JULY 2000
This is Old Bear ritin agin and I'm goin 2 tel U abowt how me and my man went to Ilnoyze on the Amtrak and how I sperienced 2 mirakles on the trip. The first Mirakle wus that the Amtrak frum Dallus to Chikago wus on tyme all the way. It tuk us abowt 23 hours ridin on the trayne 2 get 2 Chikago and then we had maybe 3 hours 2 wait until the goin to Kewanee trayne so we got 2 luk around the purty trayne station. Here's a pitcher of me sittin at the bottom of a light post in one of the big rooms.
We stayed 5 days with my Aunt Mary & Uncle Jerry in Kewanee and my man went to see my Gramma in the nursing home every day and stayed a purty long tyme and ate lunch there 2 tymes. It wus sort of funny cus gramma is getting wear she don't member hardly anything at all and mostly she didn't even member who my man wus and kept asking things like "are you my son?" But my man had a gud visit with her and my Aunt Mary & Uncle Jerry went and stayed a wile 2. Here is a pitcher of them out in the back yard of where my gramma lives. It is a nice kumfortable place to sit and talk.
Well, we got bak on the Amtrak trayne to go to Chikago on Sunday and we were purty late getting there but it didn't make any difference cus we weren't in any hurry 2 get tp wear we were gping. That wus the Ramada Inn that was close to the Museum of Science & Industry and real close to the big lake called Lake Michigan. We tuk a taxi-cab from the Amtrak place to the hotel and my man wus surprised that it only kost him $15.00 counting wat is called a tip.
We couldn't go 2 our room until about 3:00 sew we had 2 wait in the hotel lobby which wus purty gud cus we got 2 meet sum of the other peples who had cum for the Elderhostel program and were drinking punch and eatin cookies in the special room that wus jist 4 us Elderhostel peples. Sister Alma was the lady who wus registring us and who wuld be sorta the boss of evcrything for the hole next week. Here's a pitcher of her that my man tuk later in the week wen everybudy went to downtown Chicago 2 a restaurant kalled DICKS LAST RESORT. Sister Alma worked for the museum and knew all about wat 2 see and where 2 go. You can see purty many of the Elderhostel peples sitting by the windows. It wus kold out that nite sew most everybudy wus wearin sweaters or jackets.
Well, wen it was 3 oclock tyme we went 2 our room and abowt the tyme we were getting unpacked Mr. Denver cum in. He wus 2 be our roomate and wus a retired elementary school principal who lyked 2 get up early and go walkin. My man lykes 2 get up early, but he sure don't lyke 2 go walking. Mr. Denver wus a purty gud roommate.
There were 50 peples who had kum 4 this Elderhostel course and they were frum all over the Unity States but most were frum Calforny. Me and my man were the only ones who had kum frum Texus so of course there wus sum jokes about that. The peples we met the first day and the second day were purty surprised 2 find that I wus goin 2 the museum with them. But it wusn't very long before I got 2B purty gud frends with most everyone. Here's a pitcher of me sitting with Miss Sue who kum frum Minysoda with her friend Miss Elois waitin 2 get on the little bus 2 go to the Museum.
And here we are getting on the bus. It wus purty small and culdn't hold all of us sew the driver man had 2 make 2 trips but it wusn't very far and he culd du it reel quick.
What we did each mornin after breakfust about 8 oclock wus get taken 2 the Museum of Science & Industry sew we culd be there before it wus open 2 the public. Then we wuld maybe get a lecture like wen we saw baby chickens cum out of shells and heard all about how that wurks. Here's sum that alredy got borned.
On one early mornin we got 2 have a lecture about the real famus doll house called a Fairy Castle that a movie star named Miss Colleen Moore had built a long tyme ago and it is in the museum now. We also got to be firstust in line 4 things lyke goin down the coal mine and sein the Titanic exhibit and seeing sumpn kalled IMAX which wus sumpn like a movie but reel big. We saw one IMAX of a man named Michul Jordan wearin short pants and jumpin reel high up to put a ball in a basket wile other men in short pants tried 2 keep him frum duin it and we saw another IMAX of peoples goin into space and duin wurk. These are the sort of things we did all together cus Sister Alma had done all the arranging. Other things lyke that wus goin through the German submarine that wus captured in World War 2. It shure wus big on the outside but didn't have much room inside 4 walkin but we were told that there were sixty men that did all the wurk in the submarine. I bet it wus skary being under the water lyke that 4 a long tyme.
One of the bestust playces we went as a group wus jist a little ways frum the Museum to sumpn kalled a Japanese garden where a man who knew all about trees and birds and things told us all abowt how this Garden wus made and if you walked jist right across some stones the bad spirits following you would fall down into the water. My man sed this Japanese garden wus most as purty as the one in Ft. Worth here in Texus. Here's a pitcher he tuk wen we were there.
Wen we weren't duin group things we culd do whatever we wanted 2 du so we jist wandered around lookin at things and pushing buttons to make things wurk. There are jist tons and tons of things 2 luk at. Airplaynes and cars and old timey traynes and space things and science things and jist fun things 2 luk at. My man tried to take pitchers of things in the museum but they were purty bad cus it wus sorta dark inside. But here is one of an old Zephyr train. My man wanted 2 C this specially cus he membered seeing it way back in about 1936 wen it went real fast through our home town and he got to get out of school to see it.
One of the things we did 2 tymes cus it wus sew much fun wus go rydin in a flyte simulatur thing where we sat on long benches and hung on reel tite and then a pitcher thing cum on that luked lyke we were drivin a reel ayrplane and then we started bouncin and turnin and goin evry which way jist lyke a reel ayrplane wuld and were getting shot at by missiles and stuff lyke that. It shure wus fun. Here's a pitcher of wat we were sittin in.
And here I am pretendin 2 B a astronaut.
Well, I told you at the top of this ritin that there wus 2 mirakles that happened on our trip and I told U abowt the trayn being on time. Well, the second mirakle happened in the Museum and I guess my man shuld tell you abowt it cus he kan du it better.
I'll sure try to tell the story of what I think must have been a miracle. But first a little background. There are at least four restaurants in the Museum of Science & Industry, including a Pizza Inn. All of us with Elderhostel were given a dated voucher for each day we would be in the museum worth $5.00 and good in any of the restaurants. If your meal came to less than $5.00 you didn't get any change; if more, well we paid the difference. Mine came to $5.13 one day. Bear and I only ate in two of them but found the food to be very good, especially the soup.
Well, one of the more popular places to eat was in the 'old town' part of the museum. This was more or less an old fashioned ice cream parlor with really good ice cream but where you could also get excellent sandwiches. Allthough the choice wasn't great, one sandwich was big enough for two people. So during our lunch 'break' you could usually find a couple from our group with half a sandwich and a big ice cream Sundae or soda in front of them. Here is Nancy and Ginny enjoying such a meal. with Bear sitting on the table waiting for me to finish my picture taking.
Well, on the day of 'the miracle' Bear and I went into this ice cream shop for lunch when it was almost empty. Now, Bear is a little awkward to carry through a serving line so when it is possible to put him with someone, like Nancy and Ginny, who will keep an eye on him I will do it. But this day I just set him down on an empty table only 3 or 4 feet from the serving counter and as I waited I kept turning my head to see if he was okay. I did this three or four times; he was okay, but the place was filling up with people, mostly families with children. Then I was distracted for a little bit by a server and when I turned again BEAR WAS GONE!
Well, panic didn't set in until after I determined that there wasn't a child holding him for he is attractive to children. But, no, he was not in sight. Then I panicked and began asking where's my bear, my teddy bear is gone, has any one seen my teddy bear? You can imagine the looks I got from people; an old man running around asking for his teddy bear. Well, I really began to panic when one of the customers said he had seen a man pick it up and leave with it. I asked the staff to help me look for it but all I got from them was blank stares and 'not mine, bro' comments.
While I was looking for Bear in the ice cream shop my sandwich and sundae was ready and I took it to the table but told my companions that I had to go report Bear's theft. Lunch could wait. So I ran in all directions trying to find a security person. Earlier they had been all over the place;. Now the best I could find was a volunteer who directed me to an office on another floor where I could make the report. Of course, when I got to this office, the receptionist was on the phone and I stood there on one foot and on another mentally shouting 'get off the damned phone!. Finally she did, and when I told her of the bearnapping she gave me the extension to call on the house phone. That was another 5 minutes of being put on hold ...oh, where is Old Bear .. Why didn't I leave his name and address on him how am I going to tell people he is missing ..why wasn't I more careful ...then after I talked to security it was a few more minutes until a guard showed up. Hurry, hurry .. We have to start searching for Old Bear!
Then, miracle of miracles, while I was reporting this 'theft' to the guard a couple from our group walking by this office saw me in there, opened the door and said hey, Jim, Ginny found your bear. Oh, thank you Lord, thank you.
Although I was certainly relieved that this had ended well I was too upset to eat any of my lunch except a by now almost melted sundae. While I was eating it I was told what had happened. It seems that it was one of the young men working as a busboy in this ice cream shop that picked Bear up, thinking he had been left behind by someone, and had put him in a cupboard for safe keeping. He was deaf, and mute, so didn't hear me asking for help in finding my teddy bear. After I left in such panic, Ginny and others in the group, much more sensible than I, kept inquiring and finally with a variety of gestures made it known to this man what they were looking for. He immediately took them to the cupboard. So, all was well, and I thanked this young man profusely. Even though he had given me several minutes of anxiety he had only been doing his job. And it was a miracle that he was found for I would soon have left the museum, broken hearted and blaming myself for his loss. As we left, I stopped by office I had been in earlier to show the girls that I really did have a teddy bear. They were delighted that it had been found.
That wus sure a venture 4 me. I didn't know wat wus goin 2 happen wen that man picked me up and put me in a dark playce. It wus sort of lyke a long tyme ago wen I wus in a closet 4 sew long.
Well, we had a reel good tyme doin the Elderhostel stuff and then wen we left Chicago we tuk the Amtrak 2 wear my guddest frend Samantha lives and we visited there 4 maybe 7 or 6 hours. It sure wus gud 2 C all of them again.
That is Miss Pat with Shelby on her lap, then Carolyn and then me sittin on Samantha's lap and then Mr. Paul. Carolyn and Samantha had to leave purty quick to go see their sister Emily in Injunapolis, but Mr. Paul and Miss Pat and me and my man had a reel gud visit and they waited at the train station with us 4 more than 2 hours cus the Amtrak wus late.
This is all the ritin rum I'got 4 this tyme.
