Adventures on rivers and at baseball stadiums, there is no set time to each experience, no two are alike in dimensions, each river and ballpark visit is excitedly anticipated, and (except for a few enclosed exceptions) weather conditions can impact the adventure. Canoeing and kayaking down a river and an afternoon at the ballpark are both important to our spiritual well-being. Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Detroit. All are major Midwestern cities that evolved on the banks of the rivers that flowed through them: the Allegheny, the Mississippi, the Chicago, the Milwaukee, the Cuyahoga, and the Detroit. Six rivers that were critical to six Midwestern towns in their discovery, development, transportation, commerce, and enjoyment. Paddling trips down each of the six rivers, at least the segment of the rivers flowing through these big cities, are wide, deep, slow-moving affairs —not your usual canoeing and kayaking rural, backwoods adventures—that combine the joy of paddling with fascinating glimpses of history and architecture on the riverbanks. With backgrounds provided by river tour guides and history books, we’ll share with you the unique view from the water, in words and photos, of each city’s riverside landmarks. One of the landmarks each city has in common is a major league ballpark either along or near the river. Coinciding with the 1800s industrial development of these six Midwest cities was the birth of our national pastime, the grand old game of baseball. Baseball was the balance needed to counteract our country’s often turbulent shift from a society of primarily family farmers to Industrial Revolution clock-punchers. The beauty of the hit-and-run, the green grass of a sunlit field, a ballpark frank and a cold beer, brought the same smile and serenity in the 1800s as they do today. To the River of No Return, Doc Fletcher
December 2055... a baseball-fanatic, 101-year-old man, dies and goes to heaven. Beyond blessed by being reunited with loved ones who have gone before, and meeting the two Guardian Angels who ushered him during his time on earth, he is embraced by The Other Side's peaceful, gentle, majestic, comforting, loving, and awe-inspiring beauty. As wonderful as it all is, including seeing Beethoven & Hendrix perform together on stage (John Prine the opening act), to paddle endless winding rivers with a back that never aches, play in baseball games that joyfully run for days yet never tire, it is the opportunity to be sent back to earth by Saint Peter for a decade-long (1911 through 1920) "human experience" that is most intriguing: with the opportunity to see, arguably, the greatest baseball player of them all, Ty Cobb, in action - viewed by a Tiger fan born 3 decades after Cobb retired. "Almost Heaven" takes you back to the 1910s, a decade that began with major league baseball teams constructing the first steel & concrete stadiums to replace their old wooden ballparks, and ends as the dead ball era of Detroit Tigers Ty Cobb & Wahoo Sam Crawford begins its metamorphosis into the live ball era of home run king Babe Ruth. The dead ball era (through 1919) was an era noted for its scientific / small ball approach, when teams played for one run at a time by out-thinking the foe, bunting, stealing bases, "hittin' 'em where they ain't", creating a mental hazard for the opposition by doing the unexpected – and Ty Cobb was its leading practitioner.
S.D. “Doc” Regan, writer of maritime and nautical affairs, ineptly taught himself to sail upon his retirement as a professor and university dean. His original dinghy provided ample opportunity to capsize, founder on rocks, end up on the lee shore, and embarrass the alleged scholar in front of large crowds. Despite his scholarly papers and books, Doc sardonically proffers a humorous voyage through his trials and tribulations manning the helm. Described as the “worst sailor still alive to tell the tale”, Doc and his dinghy, ZONONA, and his West Wight Potter, GENNY SEA, have plied the lakes, rivers, and ponds of Iowa and Minnesota creating an inundation of laughable experiences. Boat builders and skilled sailors shake their heads and mutter that no one is THAT stupid. Always considered a bit of a class clown, Regan has baffled nuns, teachers, professors, and academia with his humor and self-deprecation. He has regaled many dock-side bars with his hilarity and wit as well as university gatherings. He is often sought as a speaker, especially by military and veteran groups. Doc has written “In Bitter Tempest: the biography of Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher”, “Pioneering Spirit: the history of Upper Iowa University”, and multitude of naval historical articles ironically because his doctorate and specialty is educational psychology to which he has written two dozen professional papers.
Who Owns Arizona is a murder mystery set in the American West during the traumatic post-Civil War period. This fast-paced story has more twists and turns than a runaway river in flood stage. It begins in San Francisco when Drew Steele, a Civil War-veteran turned detective, is hired by newspaperman John Rudd to go to the Arizona territory to find a long-lost Spanish land grant that supposedly lays claim to the entire Arizona territory. Murders ensue, and Steele suspects the motive may be related to the missing Spanish land grant. Steele confronts hired gunslingers, marauding Indians, and of course, a number of beautiful, but dangerous, women as he searches for an illusive and exceptionally clever serial killer. Who Owns Arizona is a murder mystery in the classic mold.
December 2055... a baseball-fanatic, 101-year-old man, dies and goes to heaven. Beyond blessed by being reunited with loved ones who have gone before, and meeting the two Guardian Angels who ushered him during his time on earth, he is embraced by The Other Side's peaceful, gentle, majestic, comforting, loving, and awe-inspiring beauty. As wonderful as it all is, including seeing Beethoven & Hendrix perform together on stage (John Prine the opening act), to paddle endless winding rivers with a back that never aches, play in baseball games that joyfully run for days yet never tire, it is the opportunity to be sent back to earth by Saint Peter for a decade-long (1911 through 1920) "human experience" that is most intriguing: with the opportunity to see, arguably, the greatest baseball player of them all, Ty Cobb, in action - viewed by a Tiger fan born 3 decades after Cobb retired. "Almost Heaven" takes you back to the 1910s, a decade that began with major league baseball teams constructing the first steel & concrete stadiums to replace their old wooden ballparks, and ends as the dead ball era of Detroit Tigers Ty Cobb & Wahoo Sam Crawford begins its metamorphosis into the live ball era of home run king Babe Ruth. The dead ball era (through 1919) was an era noted for its scientific / small ball approach, when teams played for one run at a time by out-thinking the foe, bunting, stealing bases, "hittin' 'em where they ain't", creating a mental hazard for the opposition by doing the unexpected – and Ty Cobb was its leading practitioner.
The Pine River, well-known for its speed and rapids, and located in the northwest section of the Lower Peninsula, is one of Michigans most loved and fastest rivers. Let Doc Fletcher take you on a 6 day journey down its challenging waters and through the fascinating history of river and its surroundings.
Streams of higher education illuminate 20 river/college unions flowing through Michigan. Each union gets its own chapter featuring the river's history, suggested day trip, degree of paddling difficulty, wildlife and landmarks sighted along the water's journey, the college history and what makes the school unique, and readers Degree of Riverology is sealed at a campus-area tavern.
Adventures on rivers and at baseball stadiums, there is no set time to each experience, no two are alike in dimensions, each river and ballpark visit is excitedly anticipated, and (except for a few enclosed exceptions) weather conditions can impact the adventure. Canoeing and kayaking down a river and an afternoon at the ballpark are both important to our spiritual well-being. Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Detroit. All are major Midwestern cities that evolved on the banks of the rivers that flowed through them: the Allegheny, the Mississippi, the Chicago, the Milwaukee, the Cuyahoga, and the Detroit. Six rivers that were critical to six Midwestern towns in their discovery, development, transportation, commerce, and enjoyment. Paddling trips down each of the six rivers, at least the segment of the rivers flowing through these big cities, are wide, deep, slow-moving affairs —not your usual canoeing and kayaking rural, backwoods adventures—that combine the joy of paddling with fascinating glimpses of history and architecture on the riverbanks. With backgrounds provided by river tour guides and history books, we’ll share with you the unique view from the water, in words and photos, of each city’s riverside landmarks. One of the landmarks each city has in common is a major league ballpark either along or near the river. Coinciding with the 1800s industrial development of these six Midwest cities was the birth of our national pastime, the grand old game of baseball. Baseball was the balance needed to counteract our country’s often turbulent shift from a society of primarily family farmers to Industrial Revolution clock-punchers. The beauty of the hit-and-run, the green grass of a sunlit field, a ballpark frank and a cold beer, brought the same smile and serenity in the 1800s as they do today. To the River of No Return, Doc Fletcher
Who Owns Arizona is a murder mystery set in the American West during the traumatic post-Civil War period. This fast-paced story has more twists and turns than a runaway river in flood stage. It begins in San Francisco when Drew Steele, a Civil War-veteran turned detective, is hired by newspaperman John Rudd to go to the Arizona territory to find a long-lost Spanish land grant that supposedly lays claim to the entire Arizona territory. Murders ensue, and Steele suspects the motive may be related to the missing Spanish land grant. Steele confronts hired gunslingers, marauding Indians, and of course, a number of beautiful, but dangerous, women as he searches for an illusive and exceptionally clever serial killer. Who Owns Arizona is a murder mystery in the classic mold.
Eddore and Arisia fought desperately to control the Universe. The ultimate battleground was a tiny, backward planet in a remote galaxy—Earth. And only a few Earthmen knew of the titanic struggle—and of the strange, decisive role they were to play in the war of the super-races.
S.D. “Doc” Regan, writer of maritime and nautical affairs, ineptly taught himself to sail upon his retirement as a professor and university dean. His original dinghy provided ample opportunity to capsize, founder on rocks, end up on the lee shore, and embarrass the alleged scholar in front of large crowds. Despite his scholarly papers and books, Doc sardonically proffers a humorous voyage through his trials and tribulations manning the helm. Described as the “worst sailor still alive to tell the tale”, Doc and his dinghy, ZONONA, and his West Wight Potter, GENNY SEA, have plied the lakes, rivers, and ponds of Iowa and Minnesota creating an inundation of laughable experiences. Boat builders and skilled sailors shake their heads and mutter that no one is THAT stupid. Always considered a bit of a class clown, Regan has baffled nuns, teachers, professors, and academia with his humor and self-deprecation. He has regaled many dock-side bars with his hilarity and wit as well as university gatherings. He is often sought as a speaker, especially by military and veteran groups. Doc has written “In Bitter Tempest: the biography of Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher”, “Pioneering Spirit: the history of Upper Iowa University”, and multitude of naval historical articles ironically because his doctorate and specialty is educational psychology to which he has written two dozen professional papers.
A Liver Runs Through It tells the legendary, four-decade-long, story of the annual 4Day canoe and kayak trip taking place each year on the rivers of Michigans Upper Peninsula. The reader can hear the pfsst of beers opening and smell the cigar smoke swirling about the bourbon-soaked history of the 4Day, as it comes to life in stories told among paddlers on the river, round the evening campfire, and bellied up to northern bars, the timeless yin It is with awe that we stand, two paddling hours upstream from the Fox River Campground, at the top of the well-named Fox River Overlook, this years launch site, with its spectacular view 150 above the winding river valley below. We talk of how, almost 2,000 years ago, this view must have affected the Native American Ojibwa, les Ojibwes, when they first walked to the edge of this cliff. Silence falls over the boys, a rare respite from jokes n stories, as they absorb the scene the pines across the valley and tag alders crowding the Fox below, the rivers gorgeous dark reddish-brown color the result of tannins, the decaying leaves and other vegetation along the riverside. & yang... Some get there by canoe, some get there by car, theyre all lookin for Andys, Andys Seney Bar.
The enemy spacefleet arrowed toward the armored mountain--nerve center of the Galactic Patrol. The Patrol battle cruisers swerved to meet them, and a miles-long cone of pure energy ravened out at the invaders, destroying whatever it touched. But the moment before the force beam struck, thousands of tiny objects dropped from the enemy fleet and, faster than light, flashed straight at their target--each one an atom bomb powerful enough to destroy Patrol Headquarters by itself! The Galactic Patrol—and civilization itself—had seconds to live. Unless a miracle happened....
Volume Three of an odd boy tells of the foundation course at Farnham Art School from '70 to '72. At Hatch Mill-the warren of wonders-the author steps out of time into a world of creative camaraderie where every meeting is a scene from a surrealist play. '72 marked the end of the '60s gestalt. Before the final curtain call however, a tumult of bizarre scenes tumble across the panchromatic stage: strange liaisons with transient heroes and heroines of the lost time; the Farnham Blues Festival; and, 'the religion of Art' entwined with burlesque love stories. He meets with Liverpool Poets - Adrian Henry and Roger McGough. Poetry and oil painting co-mingle with loves won and lost. He finds himself-for a bare month-as a rising star on the British Blues scene - but with the death of Jimi Hendrix, it's the end of an era. He steps off the stage, takes to the road - and arrives, ironically, at the ever-familiar crossroads.
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