A LONG INVOLVED DAY.

Today is Veterans Day, and no matter what your personal feelings about war are, it is important to remember and honor the men and women who have given of themselves to benefit all of us. Amen!! (I get to kiss a veteran today.)
Saturday, is play day for us. I think Jim just likes to get me out and about so I don’t rant on my blog. Anyway…I went for a haircut first.

Sue cut my hair after finishing this gent.

Then we went to the Food Bank, actually, a bus parked at Angels Market accepting donations. I brought Karen’s bag full and our box. And the need is so great, I wrote a check, too. They claim they don’t have the resources to give turkeys to people this year.

Our plan was to photograph some of the old barns and miner’s cabins we see all over the Motherlode. We call them endangered species since so many of them are literally falling apart. I’ve driven past this building for over 30 yeas and always wondered about it but knew nothing about it.

The owner explained to us that it was an old gold era inn called Monte’s Inn. It belonged to the Monte Verde family and the owner is a relative of the Monte Verde’s so it is still in the family. It once faced the highway, which has since been rerouted.  Monte’s Inn  had a bar and restaurant inside. They let rooms and during the depression, built a lean-to on the back to shelter homeless wanderers. I was delighted to learn about this building.

The next barn down the line, headed for San Andreas, is the Spence Ranch Barn. I believe they still run sheep.

The Airola barn is obviously still used in the family cattle ranch.

This feed barn brightly painted and advertising antiques is still an old barn. You can tell by the stacked rock foundation. It belongs to what was once the  Schaner Inn across the highway from this barn. They sell antiques. In horse and buggy days, Inns popped up about every ten miles or so to service travelers.

It was about lunch time when we reached San Andreas and this Mexican Restaurant, under new ownership, I was told has good food.

The restaurant is located right next to the VFW, so we decided to stop in and say hello, first, since the post was open.

And, there we met Don Cuneo, a friend of mine I hadn’t seen since 2001. I told him what we were doing, taking pictures of old barns, etc. and he told me he used to go to dances at Monte Verde’s Inn when he was a young man. There was a big dance hall there then.

For lunch I ordered two tostitas. Jim order chicken in his, I had chili verde in mine. Full of big hunks of meat. We got out of the place for $12.69 for two lunches. No drinks. We had a beer at the VFW.

After lunch, we traveled to Calaveritas and back to Angels Camp, photographing more barns. But, our goal was to return to Murphys by 2:00 for the unveiling of a remodeled master bedroom and bath. My friend and neighbor Jan, if you remember from an earlier blog, I took to the emergency room because she had fallen and injured her leg.

Jan lives in a two story house and shared expenses with a gentleman who lived in her Master bedroom upstairs for over two years. Unfortunately, it was pretty much demolished and a bid to repair it was over $7,000.

Jan decided to do the work herself, but she couldn’t climb the stairs. Her friend Cheryl, pretty much organized the group of friends who volunteered to remodel and refurnish the bedroom under her directions.  Jan was not allowed to know what was going on nor could she peek.

The graphic on the bathroom wall, tells it all. Jan is such a good friend to everyone, when the chips are down, everyone wants to help. Floor tile,bathroom tile, sink, all new.

Everyone came to see the unveiling. Becky hugs a tearful Jan.

We all gaped and oohed and ahhed and had a toast to everyone’s efforts.

And, her friend Leslie, who will move in to the room and share expenses,  couldn’t wait to try out the new bed, with the new mattress. She loved it.

Jan asked for one concession to her surprise decorator. Please don’t change my Dawn wall. She and her daughter Dawn painted the East wall, this golden color which faces the East and meets the dawn.  Cheryl promised. So the room was a complete make-over from tile, to carpet to bedding, furniture, lamps, wall decorations etc. Accomplished with $2,000 and a lot of love. And, Cheryl had so much fun, she decided to get a degree in decorating at Columbia Community College and hang out her shingle.

KENTUCKY'S CORVETTE MUSEUM

There are three major stories about the Corvette.  In 1953 Chevrolet designed a sports car modeled after European sports cars. Veterans returning from Europe talked about racy European sports cars and those young vets were the intended market. The Corvette design was nifty but it had no speed or power. It was about to flop.


A bold engineer by the name of Zora Arkus Duntov had the temerity to write to Chevrolet and tell them what was wrong with their car and made several suggestions of how they could improve it. They listened and invited him to meet with them. He was hired and became their head designer from then on. It was Duntov who made the Corvette the successful First American Sports Car that it became.


The second major component of this museum is the Corvette Owners, the clubs, their support and loyalty to their dream car. The Museum is a non-profit, by the way. Corvette Clubs from all over the U.S. come here, they donate their cars, their patches, parts, etc. They are active in their clubs. Ralleys, parades, mystery cruises, all the fun stuff, but they also participate in charities, making money for great causes. NCM Master Ambassador Club fly Vietnam Veterans, who cannot make it on their own, to Washington D.C. to visit the Vietnam Memorial.  The Museum,  gives a discount to vets and does other things for vets. They have programs for children and great displays associated with the Corvette.


They have a huge number of commemorative benches and sidewalk plaques and bricks around this huge building. Quite a place.


The third major story is Corvette’s entrance into the racing field. Above is the front end of the 1969 Orange Blossom Express, one of the most successful racers they produced.


The Orange Blossom raced from 1972 until 2001. It garnered a tremendous record of wins along the way.


This is my favorite Corvette, the rounded back, the convertible top, the sleek, longer front. When I was young, this is what a Corvette was supposed to look like.


And this little beauty, a close second.


There are many different Corvettes here and car buffs will absolutely love this place.


This sexy model with its lift up door simply looks like a smiling gargoyle to me. But, it was a great design as I remember for women to enter with short skirts without having to cram themselves in through a tiny door.


Sleek and speedy. Resembles a bomb. The word zoom just crawls out of your head.

This one resembles a mass of bubbles.


Eventually, they got wire wheels.


A square back. Naaah, not for me. But, it might be your favorite.


The only Corvette we saw in the place with a bra and a rack. It was considered a camping sports car.  I see a face and smile, besides.


A sleek bomb.


This was Duntov’s autographed car with his license, Zora 1.

And, the original 1953 model was pretty and snazzy for all of its faults. Look at those whitewalls and that cherry red upholstery. Yazoo!

Corvette decided to lend its sleek design to a guitar, but they didn’t stick with it.


The license plate collection.


The patches.


A wonderful mural made of tiny pictures of Corvettes.


And this amazing story. This 1965 Corvette was stolen in 1970. It was in show condition and its pedigree showed it had been in many car shows. The last buyer checked, found out it had been stolen and by some miracle the original report existed and the original owner got his Corvette back in 2009 worth a lot more than he paid for it. It is now in the museum. Isn’t that a terrific story? Well, folks, do come to visit, this is a terrific museum.