JIM & MICHAEL COLYER TRAVELS

Charlotte and I went to Big Bone Lick State Park near Florence, Kentucky. The site was once a salt lick, and fossils of many Pleistocene mammals such as mammoths and mastodons have been found. The park sits near the Ohio River, the southern most boundery of glaciation during the Ice Age.

Coming back 42, I again viewed the Ohio from Butler State Park in Carrollton. This was the third time I had been there in 10 years. The second time was with Karen.

Charlotte and I made a trip to My Old Kentucky Home State Park in Bardstown to see the Stephen Foster Story.

January, 1986 - Texas

Chester and I made a Grand Tour of Texas during the state's Sesquicentennial. We unloaded the truck near Graceland in Memphis. It was cold. It was night, and Graceland was lit up.

The Space Shuttle Challenger was the major news story. Following the Red River Valley, we first heard of the Shuttle explosion in Burkburnette. I was sitting in the truck. As soon as it came on the radio, I sensed something was wrong.

It was on to Fort Worth, down I-35 to Waco, Austin and San Antonio. We took I-10 over to Houston, a very tall town. In Houston, there was great sympathy for the Shuttle crew.

Summer, 1985 - On truck with Chester

We circled Chicago and came within 5 miles of Wisconsin. We crossed Michigan to Detroit.

A second trip took us through Harrisburg and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, then across lower state New York, my 6th time in that state.

I was going through a divorce in what I later referred to as the "summer of hell." I was out gallivanting across the country when I should have been taking care of my son. But I had lost control. It would be awhile before I regained it and when I did, things would be different.
Contact: jim@jimcolyer.com
JIM COLYER