Charlie Brown, Peanuts and Charles M. Schulz

About July 26, 2015, we were riding in the Santa Rosa, California area. One sign said, “Santa Rosa Avenue-Corby Avenue, next exit.  It was such a beautiful ride and we saw many stunning coastal views. There were both green and golden mountains placed behind the glistering greenish-blue Pacific Ocean.  The Redwood trees changed to maybe pine trees and also some palm trees.   While, riding, my husband, Jim is playing his IPod through the Harley speakers and we listened to songs such as, ”California Dreamin’” by the Mamas and the Papas, “That’s the Way of the World”,  Earth Wind & Fire and “Summer” by War. The views were so pretty that my husband kept stopping to take pictures. He said, “One more picture, I knew it would be hard, but I did not know it would be this d—n hard.” He cannot resist a great picture.  While stopped, we heard birds singing and I saw signs for the Charles M. Schulz Museum. Charles M. Schulz is the creator of the Peanuts Comic Strip.

In October, 2015, The Peanuts Movie commercials were all over the television. It is scheduled to show in theaters on November 6, 2015. It is the 65^th Anniversary of,  Peanuts and the 50^th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas which is an animated movie. On Thursday, October 29, 2015, close to Halloween ”It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” aired on ABC Channel 6 at 8:00PM. It was first previewed in 1966. Research states that there were about a total of 45 Peanuts animated television specials.

Mr. Schulz was born on November 26, 1922 in St. Paul, Minnesota as Charles Monroe Schulz. When he was two days old, his uncle named him “Sparky” after a horse Spark Plug from the Barney Google comic strip. I became interested in Charles M. Schulz and also in Peanuts &  Charlie Brown. I thought that Schulz was born in Santa Rosa but learned that he was not. He died in Santa Rosa, California on February 12, 2000 at the age of 77.  I looked up the history of Peanuts and leaned a few interesting tidbits.

Peanuts started as a comic strip on October 2, 1950 and the initial Peanuts characters included Charlie Brown,  Snoopy(dog) October 4, 1950,  Shermy and Patty (Not Peppermint Patty), Other members of the Peanuts Gang added later were Violet Gray, February 7, 1951  Lucy Van Pelt , March 3, 1952, Linus Van Pelt, September 19, 1953, Schroeder, May 30, 1951, Pig-Pin, July 13, 1954, Sally Brown, August 23, 1959, Frieda was introduced to the strip on March 6, 1961. On November 19, 1961, the Little Red-Haired Girl, an unseen character was introduced. In 1977, She became visible onscreen in a TV special and we learned that her name is Heather Wold. Patricia Reichardt AKA Peppermint Patty who is a  multidimensional sports loving girl from a single parent home was added in 1966. After the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, Franklin (African American Child) was added the same year on July 31^{st .}Woodstock (bird), was added in 1970. Marcie, the intellect joined the gang on July 20, 1971, Rerun Van Pelt, the youngest of the Van Pelt children was born on May 23, 1972.  Eudora, the last major female character was added on June 13, 1978. She moved to Charlie Brown’s neighbor from another state.

This daily comic strip became a Sunday strip and ran from its launch date of October 2, 1950 to February 13, 2000. It was in more than 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries and translated into 21 languages. The origin name was Lil Folks, but when Schulz tried to have it syndicated, the name was too close to the names of two other comics at that time. Lil Abner was one and Little Folks was the other. Schulz settled on a name he was not too happy about which was “Peanuts” after the peanut gallery from the Howdy Doody Time television show.

On December 9, 1965, a religious theme was introduced to the television special, “A Charlie Brown Christmas. This was the first time Peanuts was animated. In this special, Charlie Brown is trying to figure out the true meaning of Christmas.  The message is anti-commercialism and tells of showing good will to all.

Five years ago, my husband, Jim turned 60 years old. I did a PowerPoint presentation showing various stages of his life through pictures. I also did a music CD. Two of the songs on it are from “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. They are both Jazz instrumentals by the Vince Guaraldi Trio. The titles are Linus & Lucy and Christmastime Is Here. Jim is a big Peanuts’ fan. This movie is the second longest-running Christmas special of all time, second to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

In 1984, Peanuts made the Guinness World Records after being syndicated to it 2,000^th newspaper. It’s a great time to put Peanuts on the big screen. Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang is an important piece of Americana. (Most of the information is from on-line sources such as- Wikipedia)

An Adventure in Pain

After I finished rubbing Aspercream Max Roll-On Arthritis Strength on Jim’s back, I thought about several things such as, celebrating 23 years of being married to him, how much I love him & how much I enjoy our life together. Our anniversary was on September 10^th.  I also reflected back to our ride and on getting older. There are pleasures and pains associated with riding as you age.

“Getting old isn’t for sissies” ~ Bette Davis

Grow old with me! The Best is yet to be. ~ Robert Browning

Jim & I are not as young as we were 2 or 3 years ago. We are not as young as we were 2 or 3 days ago. This summer, we were on the road for 42 days. That was a true 6 weeks and a long time  in the saddle. We both have problems with our knees and with our backs. People always question whether my butt/behind hurt but it is never my butt. It is always the bottom of my feet on the rides. This trip, I experienced NEW pain. I had charlie horses(cramps) in my calves and also the front area of my ankle on the right foot. I also had pain in my right shoulder and in the back of my left thigh (Hamstring). There were also times when my old friend- hip pain would return. Jim’s NEW pain was the inter part of his right knee and also behind it.

Our routine was that most nights I would massage Jim’s back and knees with the Aspercream and I did the same for me. We also took aspirin before bed. In the mornings, every morning, Tiger balm was used for the massages.  Near the end of our trip, I put a tube of Aspercream or the small bottle of Aspercream with lidocaine in my fanny pack. This way, I was able to quickly massage my feet, knees, hips, hamstrings and my back in the ladies room. Rubbing my feet was the most difficult because I usually did it in the stall and I needed to remove my socks, one at a time while standing on the other foot. I was grateful if there was not a line for the ladies room because I did not want to keep other ladies waiting.

We made sure that we had our regular Bayer aspire and also the Bayer Back & Body in a container on the motorcycle and also in the pill box that I carried in my fanny bag. We took them about every 4 hours. After 1:00pm, I did not take the Bayer Back & Body because they contain caffeine.

Hot tubs and pools in hotels helped but this was not done often enough. One morning, while in Green bay, I sacrificed my sleep for the pool. It was a very nice indoor pool and hot tub that was almost directly outside of our room. Another time, after doing the laundry, which means it was late, both Jim and I got in an outside pool. That night, in Yuma, Arizona, it was 100 degrees at midnight. Jim felt that it helped and was glad he had his swimming trunks with him.

Something else that helped with the pain associated with riding a motorcycle for us was family breaks. Whenever we were able to stay with family for a few days, we rode in their cars. This gave our bodies’ time to rest. Out of the 42 days, we were thankful for the 11 family nights.

THANK YOU CARDS

Today, I took the last of the 10 thank you cards to the post office. We thank all of the family members that we stayed with on our California Dreamin’ ride. Thanks also to any family or friend that we visited for a few hours or came to us when we were in their area. We also had one person, Don, who stopped to see if we were OK when it was necessary to pull over on to the shoulder of the road in Jarrett, Virginia. The bike broke down.

While we were visiting the various family members, Jim usually treated them to dinner. On one occasion, he brought Harley Davidson tee shirts for them. For those that we did not take out to dinner, we included a food gift card in the thank you card. It is just a very small token of our appreciation.

The Largest Cross in the United States

We have been back home for a while from our 42 day cross country ride and today is Sunday, August 30, 2015. Our assignment for church is to bring any picture having to do with the gospel story of the “Road to Emmaus” Luke 24:13-35 and also to bring a set of 3X5 index cards to give to one of our members who will be leaving for his Camino De Santiago pilgrimage. This pilgrimage is a 500 mile 40 day walk in Spain. It is also known as the “Way of Saint James.” The set of index cards are, 1- a Bible verse or two and 2- the other is a short prayer for him.

One of our members brought in a card with a picture of a very, very enormous cross and his motorcycle in front of it. I immediately recognized the cross. Jim and I saw it on our 2010 motorcycle trip, “One Heck of a Ride” and again on this year’s “2015 California Dreamin’ ride” on Sunday August 2nd.

Earlier on the morning of the 2nd, the manager of the Lexington Inn in Holbrook, Arizona, where we stayed, informed us of the Roscoe Wind Farm which is about 50 X 25 miles and also of the largest cross we will see as we continued towards Amarillo, Texas. We were on the look-out for it and we did see both.

This cross is considered the largest cross in the United States. It is 19 stories high (190 feet tall free standing) and is located on interstate 40 in Groom, Texas. The cross was completed in two shops with more than 100 welders and was erected in July of 1995. They have 10 million visitors a year with about one thousand a day. This information was obtained for “Welcome to the Cross Ministries” crossministries.net.

Roscoe, Texas ~ The Roscoe Wind Farm

We thought they would never ever end. There were so many of them and they kept going and going and going for miles. The wind was blowing so they were turning. From the motorcycle, they all looked white against the rich blue sky that was painted with a few cotton ball white clouds. They stood proud and tall.

                                  

The Roscoe Wind Farm is one of the largest in the world. It is located in Roscoe, Texas and became officially up and running in October 2009. There are about 634 wind turbines standing 350 feet to 415 feet tall and spaced about 900 feet apart. This wind farm covers almost 100,000 acres of land.

                                              

The wind farms use wind turbines. While riding, I thought they were windmills. Once I google the different between the two, I learned that windmills help to pump water and grind grain. The wind turbines were made to produce energy. Interesting?

A Prayer and an Applebee's

Jim and I had a late lunch today at Applebee's Bar & Grill in East Norriton, PA close to our home. Yes we are home. I thought about the Applebee's on our ride.

It was Tuesday, July 14, 2015. We were hot, tire, hungry & thirsty. We saw the sign for Applebee's and we knew we had food gift cards for this place. It was Bozeman, Montana.

We walked into the Applebee's and there were about 11 people a head of us. We had  polite conversation about our ride and learned that they were doing missionary work with Native Americans. Because it was only two of us, we were seated right away.

We finished our meal about the same time as the missionaries and continued our conversation in the parking lot. Before we went our separate ways, about 4 or 5 of them prayed with us. We held hands and formed a circle. They said prayers for our safe travels.  I thought that was nice.

I prayed each & every morning upon waking on this ride just like I have always done. First and foremost, I say, "Thank You" ~ Thanks is giving for so many people, things and the trip. I praise God through Jesus Christ and I ask for protection for me, Jim, the children, grands, siblings and the rest of our family. I also ask for travel mercy. I also pray each time we got on the motorcycle.

I also prayed for my church. I took a copy of the "Saint John's Pray For Continued Transformation." This is a 4 paragraph prayer offering thanks to God, requesting a clear vision, confessing and asking for the Holy Spirit to guide us. The pray uses Isaiah 43:19-20 . . . about to do a new thing . . . will make a way in the wildness and rivers in the desert." At the end of the prayer it said, Here we are, O Lord send us. In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray, Amen. We are to pray this daily and on Wednesday, the whole church does it at 7:00PM. I think I did better with this on our last trip. 

Once a week, the Pastor e-mail the weekly service to the membership. I was able to read all of the Sunday's Bible Verses.

The Purple Heart Trail

Reflecting back on our forty-two (42) day motorcycle trip, I keep thinking about a particular sign that was on several different  roads that we travelled.

"THE PURPLE HEART TRAIL"

As we were riding, from time to time I would see this sign. I wanted to know what it was so I decided to Google it. This is what I learned. There was also this quote on some of the sites.

"As you travel the Purple Heart Trails, take a moment to remember the sacrifices that have been paid for our nation's freedom."

It's purpose is to create a symbolic & honorary system of roads, highways, bridges, etc that give tribute to the men and to the women who have been wounded, killed and may have been awarded the Purple Heart Medal. It is also done by creating a visual reminder to travellers that others paid a high price. 

The trail was established in 1992 by the Military Order of the Purple Heart. It starts at a monument in Mt. Vernon, Virginia and at present is in all 50 states and also in Guam and Puerto Rico. 

I first noticed it in California on the Pacific Coast Highway which is route 101. Jim said that he noticed it around Arizona on Interstate I- 40. The last time that I saw it was at the Delaware Welcome Center Travel Plaza in Newark, Delaware when we were trying to get home. I am glad I decided to get information on these signs.