memories of my life...

i am one of the last 49th state citizens... i was born around 9:30 pm,on August 20th,1959... Hawaii became the 50th state of this "most perfect" union,called the United States of America,the very next day... people may find that amusing,but i honestly am very,very proud of that little fact... my life has been very interesting,to say the least,and even though i have had great ups and greater downs... i would have loved to be a EAGLE SCOUT,but honestly,i loved being a Boy Scout,and being "one of the boys" more,folks... i am proud of being a marathon runner,finishing my share of them... if it was not for a fragile left patella,i would be still running marathons... there is absolutely nothing nicer than running ten miles,in training,and realizing that you could do that again,with no trouble,so you double the mileage the next day... you then realize after taking some time off from training,and you run fifteen miles one day,then you wake up the next morning,you try to get out of bed,and you can not move a muscle,but you literally crawl on your stomach out of bed... that is no fun,folks!!!! i remember my three trips to New York City(1978,1994,and 1998),and to tell you the absolute truth,i enjoyed all three of them... exploring the Hudson Valley,New Jersey,New Haven(twice,1994,and 1998),and mid-state Connecticut was a blast,but honestly being very sick on that last trip was not too fun... meeting some unique people on those trips made those trips memorable... in 1994,i explored the lower Hudson Valley for four days,and remember walking in a beautiful area of the state of New York,and riding on a county bus past Sing Sing prison,in Ossinning,New York... what a sight that prison is,folks... traveling all over the country was a necessary evil,but i had many more fun days than i had miserable days back then... my greatest feat in those years was walking 100 miles,in consecutive months,in two different states(Colorado,and Nebraska,in August,and September,1998)... i remember walking in the Nevada,and Arizona desert at twilight... that is a real beautiful sight... remembering the state monuments while walking down the street in many states,in places that you have no one around,while walking down the state highways,or even walking down the street in Reno and Carson City... walking over the North Platte river,outside North Platte,Nebraska,and have someone in a red Toyota truck almost hit me,and then giving the finger to the driver,for that miserable stunt... even then,i was not taking any guff from anyone... what memories!!!!