My Dad's Map Legacy

Many of you who know me well, know I am a bit obsessed with maps (there could be worse vices!!). I build mountain biking trail maps, railroad and trolley maps and even have a blog devoted primarily to maps. It has been a passion/obsession of mine for a while.

What is uncanny is, as I spent sometime sorting out my late father’s files, I came to realize where my map obsession came from >> my Dad!

There were reams of maps, old and new in his file cabinet. Even more endearing was his hand-drawn maps created as navigation aids on his travels and as well for folks who came to visit. There are a few examples below...

There’s a lot in our genes besides just hair and eye color!

 A few of My Dad's Hand Drawn Maps

Replete with a driveway parking diagram!  :-)

Northville - Lake Placid Trail (Ages Ago!)

A Blast From the Past

Right after High School Graduation, Bill Romania and I spent 5 days Hiking thru the Adirondacks on the Northville - Lake Placid Trail (< check out the interactive map). It was a first time major hike for me and a great experience. We trekked many miles per day with our food and sleeping bags in our backpacks and camped at night in the open lean-tos that were along the way - sometimes sharing the lean-tos with other hikers as well.

It was an amazing experience and truth be told it was kinda brutal for me as Bill kept up a relentless pace :-) but that was what was needed to see this trek through to the end :-)

We took the bus back from Saranac Lake and man ...we looked like we had just crawled out of the sewer (and smelled like it too!). Folks on the bus avoided us for good reason!

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Dad's "Map Log"
What was even more endearing, as I went through my late Dad’s extensive topographical map collection of the Adirondacks, I discovered he had marked our entire trip!

My Dad marked up a series of topo maps charted where we hike, rested and camped out!

Kappa Brass Quintet

Ah… this poster brings back fond memories of my early college years - playing in a top-notch brass quintet. Even more so, its a story of the triumph of hippies vs. nerds!

Without my knowledge or approval, I was picked--as an incoming freshman--to live in a music fraternity. Although it was located in one of THE best dorms on the campus, the fraternity (i.e. my dorm mates) were a bunch of dorky full-fledged music nerds. I really wanted nothing to do with them socially, especially as I was beginning to "spread my hippie wings,"so to speak.

Living in this nerd land music community got so increasing weird that I finally opted to move to the opposite side of the campus into a non-music oriented dorm. The fraternity had started pestering me to pledge (yeech!), but I finessed the ultimate retribution by joining the rival music fraternity’s brass quintet right before I changed dorms. HAH - I never even joined the rival fraternity, I just played in their Brass Quintet!

Oh yeah, the Kappa Fraternity was the polar opposite: hippie-infused, counter-culture cool dudes and--most importantly--the brass quintet were all upperclassman and top-notch players. I was honored!

We performed quite a few concerts and even had a mini tour across upstate NY playing Skidmore and Hamilton College, etc. It was a privilege to be asked to be part of this ensemble and I had a blast musically and socially!

Good memories from this poster for sure!

Busted in Herkimer

another one from my old room bulletin board...

A saved Bus Ticket from Utica to Schenectady? Why?

Well, one Thanksgiving, a fellow college Student (initials P.A.), who was also from my home town, convinced me to hitchhike home from Ithaca rather than take a bus (this was my pre-car days).

Despite my half-hearted pleas and warnings that hitchhiking on the Interstate was illegal, my stubbornly confident fellow traveler convinced me it would be “no problem… I’ve done it before… a piece of cake… it will be fun” - so I reluctantly agreed, actually eager for a new adventure.

I can’t remember all the travel details but after of couple of rides, we were dropped off near Herkimer, NY on the Thruway. I of course was dressed like a bum with a long-green worn-out Salvation Army coat and carrying my trombone case (which I believe had all my clothes stuffed in it).

It didn’t take long for a police car to pull up and kindly escort us off to the local precinct: Herkimer.  I think we got off with just a warning--not a ticket or fine--and ended up at the Herkimer Bus Station. From there we had to take a local bus to Utica where we picked up a Greyhound on to Schenectady.

Calling my parents from Herkimer informing them of my escapade was not a happy moment. :-) Needless to say, I saved this old bus ticket as a crazy reminder of that exploit.

Our "Jazz Trips" to NYC and Boston On $5 A Day!

Ages ago, my high school and college friend Bill Betz and I ventured on “Jazz Expeditions” to both Boston and New York City. We were young and naive but eager to partake of the big city culture not available in our sheltered suburban home turf. These receipts were taken from my old room in my parent's house.

Bulletin Board

Boston

Our first trip was via a Greyhound Bus to Boston and from the date on the ticket, it looked like 1972. Although we departed from Schenectady, I think we had to change in Albany - that was a seedy Bus Station back then!

I  don’t remember where we stayed in Boston but I do remember going to see Larry Coryell and the Eleventh House down in the Jazz Workshop's smoky basement.

Bus Ticket to Boston

New York City

Our trip to New York City was crazy and scary but laughable in retrospect.

Once again we departed by bus from Schenectady. This time we were armed with an already outdated book titled “New York on $5 A Day” and arrived at the YMCA only to find it was way out of our meager price range… 

After wandering around midtown for a while, we finally settled for a room at the funky Hotel Wolcott that we could afford. There was a smelly wino teetering in the lobby and the bathroom water was a rusty orange! Ah but we were on a hardcore jazz adventure so we “grinned and barred it.” 

Hotel - $11.20 - yikes!!!

We then wandered down to the Lower East Side (that area was pretty down and out way back then) searching for a jazz club called “Slugs.” After a scary walk through a block of Hells Angels in the dark (our knees were quaking as we timidly passed their motorcycles and tattoos), we arrived at Slug’s only to find it had closed down weeks if not months earlier!

We eventually saw McCoy Tyner over at the Village Vanguard (another smoke-filled basement) and called that trip a memorable success!