Anmyeon Island Trip

We recently took a weekend trip to Anmyeon Island. Anmyeon is about 174 kilometers southwest from Seoul and is Korea's sixth largest island. We reserved a Pension which is what Koreans call a studio rental when it's in the country. I do not know why it's called a Pension. The trip down was fairly pleasant, mainly because there was very little traffic. The phrase "very little traffic" is rare in Korea. After packing everything into the van we left about 10:00 a.m. . We packed a lot of stuff but hey, when you are camping you need all that stuff, right. WJ drove about a third of the way and then we stopped at a rest-stop. This place was much bigger than most that you find along the Korean expressways. It even had clean bathrooms which is another rarity here. WJ was tired so I took over the wheel. Driving in Korea has many challenges and the highways have their own set of high speed dangers. There is no Korean Highway Patrol and if you see a Korean Policeman in a car they are not the kind of police that hand out tickets. Yes, there are different kinds of police here. What this means is when driving on the highways about the only way to get a speeding ticket is if you are exceeding the speed limit when you go under one of the cameras that are positioned over the roads. It takes a picture of the driver and your license plate and then you get the ticket in the mail. No worries if you have your concubine with you because they block out the passengers side...just don't let the concubine drive. As long as you slow down to the speed limit when going under the camera you are legal and then you can drive as fast as you want the rest of the way. You can imagine what happens when a line of cars are doing 90 mph and all of a sudden the one up front sees a camera just ahead and throws on his breaks then everyone behind does the same which causes a chain reaction. The problem is that those people that like to tailgate don't have enough time to stop and they rear-end the cars in front of them. The people driving over here are very dangerous and callous and it's frustrating. Luckily we made it and arrived at Anmyeon about 12:30. NEWS FLASH...Just prior to our arrival WJ figured out that she forgot the meat. No steaks, no hot dogs, and no sandwich meat, so to prevent the serious impending carnivorous withdrawals we stopped at a local market to stock up on what was available. When I go camping I have to have some part of a dead animal to grill over charcoal. It's just tradition where I come from. AJ, KK and I got out to stretch our legs and check out the scenery. Here is where the weird weather started to set in. A strange fog started to roll in and I presumed it was rolling in from the ocean. Man that fog was thick. You can look at the sign and get an idea of what it looked like. One minute it would be sunny and the next minute it was 15 degrees cooler with the clouds rushing by like a scene out of Moby Dick or some pirate movie. It was surreal. We also found out that there was a marathon being run down the various beaches and we would have to take the long route to our apartment. WJ came out of the market with a pack of steaks that was full of fat and two packs of baby back ribs with no sauce. I was to later find out that we did not need any sauce for the ribs. Off we go now with meat on board, a heavy fog to make our drive a tad more dangerous, a dog that won't quit whimpering with excitement and no barbecue sauce. I had just taken a well needed bathroom break and so I had no worries.

We rode through the winding roads of the country side, passing in and out of the fog. There were some very pretty forests that we passed through displaying a unique type of tall slanting pine tree. Unlike those in the states these rarely grew straight up but did so at a slight angle up towards the sky. They were very pretty and living in Seoul one learns to enjoy trees and the country side. We finally arrived at our pension. The first thing that I
noticed was that it was quiet. There were very few cars and none of the ambient noise that goes with living in an apartment in a city among 12 million people. Noticeably missing were; people outside yelling, car horns, mopeds and city buses climbing hills under a heavy load, dump trucks, speeding motorcycles, etc. The pension complex was a two-story house that was sectioned off in small studio apartments each with a small attached porch and picnic table. The apartments were nice enough. They were all furnished with a queen size bed, 32" TV, small kitchenette and bathroom. They would have been better with a private entrance but that's not a complaint. They were going to give us a room upstairs but a downstairs room was available so we took that one. We started unloading the van and I quickly worked up a sweat carrying our stuff up the mountain. The 8 steps up the mountain quickly let me know how out of shape I am. Once we got everything situated it was time to check out the beach.

We all got into our swim clothes, except WJ, and with KK in tow we immediately set off to the beach in the wrong direction. When we finally
figured out the right way to go we skipped off along the sun splashed road. I'm good at skipping. As we walked along we could see towards the beach and the sky did not look good. The fog was thick as pea soup but that was not, however, what was disconcerting. As we topped the hill to the beach we found out that...we could not see the beach. The fog was so thick that you could barely see 25 feet in front of you and it was not exactly warm either. We walked down to the seawall and then we saw something that was repulsive and utterly pathetic. The roadside, the seawall and the beach was just littered with trash. It was everywhere. You could not find one square yard that did not have someone's refuge discarded within. All of the beaches that I have ever been to combined did not have this much trash on them. Bottles, food, cans, expended fireworks, all kinds of food wrappers and empty chip bags, fishing equipment, shoes, chairs, pretty much everything that you can throw down on the ground after one is finished with it. The good thing is that the tidal movement in Korea is enormous on it's east coast and the tide had carried away most of the trash from about 20 yards off shore. We could here the surf but could not see it so AJ and I ventured out to find the waters edge.
I jokingly told WJ that if she heard me yelling to yell back so we would know which way to walk. We walked about 50 yards to get to the ocean. As we moved on through the fog we saw that there were a lot more people at the surf's edge than there were at the seawall. AJ immediately found some kids to play with. They were catching some kind of salamander looking creature and jumping and playing in the surf. We hung out there for about 2 hours I guess. Then we headed back to the sea wall. WJ had already left. I figured that she would come on out to the surf before we left but I guessed wrong. As soon as we climbed over the little hill which was about 30 yards from the beach the clouds disappeared and the sun was out. It was really weird.

After we got out of our wet clothes AJ and I started scoping out a place for the tent. We quickly discovered that we only had two locations from which to choose. Either next to the porch or at the bottom of the stairs. We started putting it up next to the stairs but the tent was to big to fit. Here we go now dragging all this stuff back down the hill but AJ was a big help. After we got it staked down and poked the tent poles in the liner then we erected the thing in a jiffy. We even got the raincoat on it. That's what AJ called the rainfly. It actually went up easier than I thought it would since it was so big. I was glad that we did not get any wind or rain that night. This is the first tent that Ashley slept in that she can remember. She later asked me "Daddy, is this really camping?" to which I replied "It's as close as we'll get here.". I can't wait to take her to the Buffalo River in West TN. Now that is camping. Canoeing down the river stopping to swim or fish when the notion strikes. Cruising along and just listening to the sounds of the river. At the end of the day stopping on a gravel bar to pitch a tent and cook a steak and most of all talk with friends about things that make us happy or sometimes about things that don't...yep, that is camping. Mainly it's the camaraderie of family and friends and being in the country that I like most. We took out our air mattress and inflated it with our foot powered bellows. It took a while between AJ and I working the bellows but it worked pretty well aside from the irritating noise that it made. Before we even got it blown up all the way AJ wanted to jump on it. I let her turn flips on it but did not want her to bust it so I told her that there were to be no monkeys jumping on the air mattress this night. She wasted no time starting to invoke the one activity that I allowed her which was to turn flips. She has way to much energy but she was having a lot of fun and that's what counts.

WJ was actively involved in conducting an operational test on the sleeping apparatus. Involvement by AJ and I was not required since we were going to be sleeping in the tent. By the way, putting up a tent makes a person powerful hungry so we broke out the grill and started to cook those fatty steaks and the baby-back ribs with no barbecue sauce. The ribs turned out to be delicious. They had no fat on them at all and all we did was put black pepper and salt on them but they were really really good. Before we left we went and bought some more the next day. We also had some grilled potatoes since WJ also forgot the corn on the cob. We still ate like rich pioneers and even gave most of the steak to the dog so she ate well too.

After we ate then AJ and I went back to the beach. The fog had mostly cleared away by this time and we could even see the surf from the sea wall. Lifes little wonders are what make it so special. We headed off to paly on the beach, watch the sunset and take a few more pictures. AJ jumped off into the water lickety split and was jumping and playing in the surf. KK and I ambled up and down the beach and chased these tiny little crabs. Actually KK chased them while I chased after her trying to make sure that she had plenty of slack in the leash. These little crabs lived in little holes in the sand and rolled up these little sand balls all around their abode. Not sure whether they were just bored or needed these sand balls to impress all their other crab neighbors. I did notice that the bigger crabs had bigger balls...no pun intended. As the sun was setting the tide was slowly coming in and the waves were increasing in size. AJ started trying to jump over the waves and I saw an opportunity to maybe capture a few good pictures of her with the sunset in the background. Taking pictures of a sunset is not the easiest task to start with but when a moving person is throwed into the equation and at the same time the photographer is trying to hold a dog on a leash then it becomes even more difficult. Never fear because Super Photographer is here! I took a lot of pictures hoping that a few would come out clear enough to develope. Later, I was ecstatic when they appeared to turn out as well as they did. Here are a few of the better ones. I like the way that she is shadowed against the backdrop of the sunset and the reflection of the water. AJ was getting some pretty good height on her jumps and that made the shots even better. She had pants on over her bathing suit and since they were soaking wet they kept falling down. I kept having to tell her to pull them up. I hate the baggy pants falling down fad. We stuck around there for quite a while as she jumped and fell and jumped over and over again and again. I have since ordered some of these in 8x10 size and hope that they come out well.

We headed back to the camp site to hang out in the tent for a while before going to bed. The mosquitoes are the same here as they are every where else in the world. The little pests seem to like AJ a lot because she gets bit often and the bites always swell up into big red knots. We coat her in repellent and they still gang up on her. We hung out in the tent for a while and I told her some stories. After AJ went to sleep I read for a while. I'm reading a great book about the 1986 NY Mets called "The Bad Boys Won". The worst part about sleeping in a tent is having to get up in the middle of the night to go pee. We still slept cozy in the tent listening to the crickets and frogs. AJ slept in her sleeping bag but mine was to hot for me. A couple in a building across the parking lot stayed up late talking on their balcony and Koreans talk loud...I wished I could have understood them since I could not sleep with them virtually yelling at each other. I slept like a baby afterwards. We both woke up at about 5:30 am and had to go you know where. We went up to the pension and went to the bathroom and then back down to the tent. AJ started talking and I wanted to go back to sleep. In a bid to get me to stay awake she suggested that I start reading again. She finally went back to sleep and did not wake up again until about 9:30 am. I, mean while, woke back up at 8:00 am and fired up a nice cigar, grabbed my camera and went back to the beach. I figured that a cleaning crew had came in and cleaned the beach and hoped that the visibility was better so I could get some better pictures. At least one of my hopes proved to be true but unfortunatly it was the visibility. The beach was even dirtier and I would not have thought that possible. I don't know why Korean people think that it is okay to litter but they do and they don't care. Could you imagine if you were a tourist that paid money to come here and then this is what you found...I was pissed and I only had to go about 150 miles. Here is some more beach scenery.

The bad thing is that littering is not limited to the beaches here in Korea and is a huge problem for the country and it's image. It's routine for people to litter everywhere. If you finish a coke, cigarette, candy bar then just throw your trash on the ground where you stand...that is the general practice in Korea. Bottom line is that this is their country and if they want to trash it then more power to them but when Koreans wonder why the vast majority of tourists go to Thailand, Japan or China rather than come here on vacation, then I say this is just one of the shining reasons why.

We all ate breakfast and the pack up and trip home was rather uneventful. We were going to stop by and hike through the forest but missed it somehow. We did stop by Songtan and go to Chilies on Osan AB to eat supper. We finally got home and downloaded the van and once again I was reminded that I need to do some more exercising. I would like to go back to Anmyeon Island. It's quiet there and the Forrest and surrounding area is very pretty. As far as Kotji Beach goes though, I will not go back and would not recommend anybody else to travel there either until they get that place cleaned up.

I Love My Parents

I thought that writing about my parents would be nice. I wondered whether I should write about them or too them. I suppose both are in order but it seems that this forum and my intention, which is to share what they have done for me and why I Love them so much, is better served by writing ABOUT them.

I have so many fond memories of my parents and making sure that I write about them with heartfelt words that present them in an epic light is a daunting task. Where do I start? I guess that it is appropriate to tell a little about who they are and how they came to be my parents. My Mother was born in Nashville, TN in 1943. She was the 2d child of what was to be a family of 3 sisters and 2 brothers. Her Father died just a few months before I was born. He fought in WW II and I am told that he was a God fearing man who worked hard and was honest as they came. It is a shame that I never got to meet him. Her Mother, my Momma, had to raise her kids on her husbands Social Security and her meager wages as a nurse but she managed and did well by the family. Mother went to school in TN and decided it was in her best interest to quit at the ripe old age of 16. She would probably agree now that it was not one of her wisest decicions. She has never talked much about school but I do remember her saying that she was a pretty fair basketball player. When she quit I think that she was working at the Gizmo. The Gizmo was a small diner just off of West Commerce about one block off of the square. For those of you from the south you know what "The Square" is don't you. The Gizmo was a typical 50's style diner with the stools in front of the bar and served the kind of short order food that you would expect from a place called the Gizmo. Hamburgers, fries, soup and the like. It is no longer there but I have faded memories of going there as a child and eating soft serve ice cream cones and spinning around on a stool in front of the big bay window overlooking the big world that I would soon enough travel quite extensivly. It serves mentioning that the Gizmo was located only a stones throw from Gordons Hospital where my Mother gave birth to me just a few years later. It sure is a small world but just like my Daddy says "I'd sure hate to paint it". Anyway, the Gizmo is where Mother met Daddy before they were a Mother and Daddy. I will have to get them to tell me the first meeting story in detail. I have always said that I hope God has a big DVD collection that one can view the public parts of peoples lives. The DVD of Mother and Daddy meeting for the first time in the Gizmo would probably prove to be great entertainment. God if you do have this library please don't let Ted Turner colorize it, but then again he probably won't be in your neighborhood. Movies in black and white should remain in black and white. The world seemed a simpler place before movies were colorized don't you think. The area between good and evil was muche wider abd did not seem so blurred.

Mother was and still is a very religious person...Daddy, on the other hand, is a Christian but does not attend Church with Mother very much. I like to think it's because Daddy just doesn't like parties and a Church congregation is close to being a party with a lot of hallelujahs and folks congregating and hugging and so forth.

Daddy was born in Yell, TN and is the oldest of three brothers and two sisters. His parents were known to me as Paw Paw and Granny. Paw Paw shoed horses and more inportantly seen to it that I always had a pony to ride. Granny was a school teacher and always saw to it that I had books to read. Daddy was born in 1941 before Pearl Harbor was attacked causing the US to finally enter into the fray of WW II. On the good side too I might add. If you were newlyweds and just starting a family wouldn't that make you question whether it was the right time to have kids and start a family. Obviously they were not scared and they were right. Daddy was working at Forrest Whitsell Tractor & Implement Co. as a parts man when he met Mother. I wonder what led him into the Gizmo on that fateful day? Reckin' it could have been something as simple as being hungry. Or reckin' that he had heard from friends about that pretty waitress working there. Or maybe he passed by there in his car and noticed her through that big old front window. No matter I guess but the arrows of fate were flying straight and about to cause those two to start a family.

Daddy tells me that he was driving a 1953 Canadian made 4 door White Ford Meteor that had a Ford body with a meteor dash. That surely must have impressed Mother...not! I ain't never even heard of a car like that. Daddy said that at the time Mother did not even have a license. So here we have two people that did not come from rich families, both were working because they had to work so had very little money but had love a plenty. Money don't grow on trees you know. When I asked were they used to go on their dates I was told to the Dairy King and to the stock car races at the Nashville Fairgrounds. I am sure that they went to the Highway 50 Drive-In to catch a few movies from time to time as well. When I get up enough guts I might even ask where they were when Daddy stoled his first kiss...I bet that Mother knows the answer but Daddy probably don't. Men are like that you know. After seven months of dating they decided to tie the knot in Shelbyville, TN in 1961 and they have been married ever since. They have been married for 45 years. That almost makes me want to cry when I think about it because I am so proud of them. They have had their ups and downs just like every other married couple but they never gave up on themselves or our family.

I was born on a cold snowy day in February at Gordons Hospital. Thanks Mother for taking the time to bring me into the world. So far I have enjoyed it immensely. My sister was born four years later in the same hospital. We lived in several homes throughout the years. The first one that I remember was in grandmothers old house in Wheel. It had running water in the kitchen sink but no indoor bathroom. It did however have a nice yard that I had free reign over and in it were many trees and a fence to keep out my grandmothers cows. It worked most of the time unless someone left the walk-in gate open. Homes in those days always had front porches and back porches and this one was no different. The swing on the front porch was always a source of amusement and relaxation, never mind the squeak. The back porch was in a state of disrepair and there was one board that was loose and could be used like a diving board. I remember jumping up and down on that thing for hours. We lived in several more homes throughout the years. Two in Lewisburg, two more back in Wheel plus a stint in a house trailer and then finally they built a home in Wheel where we lived until I left for the Air Force in 1981. None of them were real big but they were comfortable, nice, clean and warm. Their Love provided the nourishment that made them all a healthy home for our hearts and minds to grow and learn. Their discipline generally kept us out of trouble through the years. My sister and I were mischevious as teenagers I guess but we were never mean and we turned out okay I think.

After they married Daddy soon got a job at Heil-Quaker where he worked until he retired at the age of __. He worked there for __ years as a millwright. He worked his way up and eventually became a supervisor. He also worked part-time jobs and one being at the Lewisburg Auto Parts. He used to take me there while he worked and I remember it all. The great big catalogs that they would have to look the parts up in and then figure out which row in which it was located. A customer conversation would go like this; Customer: I need a fuel pump for a 68 Ford Falcon. Daddy: What size engine does it have? Customer: A 289 V8. Daddy: That thing must run pretty good. Customer: Yea, it'll hold it's own that's for sure. Daddy: You want a new one or a rebuilt one? Customer: Better get the rebuilt one, my daughter has to go to the dentist next week. He left me free reign to explore the whole store and I did. I would go all through the machine shop and look at all the stuff out front. I remember one time when one of the guys that worked there had some type of seizure and he was laying on the ground and his mouth was foaming. This guy was real big to and they were having a hard time controlling him. The ambulance came and took him away. That was scary for me.

Heil-Quaker built air-conditioners and I guess management could not always match demand with production so Daddy would get layed off every summer until he built up his seniority. He and some of his friends would do odd-jobs like shingling houses, painting tin rooofs on barns and other stuff. So while school was out I would go with him and would work and get paid doing odd-jobs. I have so many memories of these times but this story ain't about me. Suffice it to say that he was teaching me the value of working and that even through hard times a man that wanted to work could find work to do no matter what. That is a good example to set for a child don't you think.

Mother always worked hard as well. Throughout the years she worked at menial low-paying jobs but she did what she could and put her sweat and time into it as good as anyboby. After leaving the Gizmo she worked at Genesco, Rob-Roy, Sanders Nursing Home and then finally Cosmolab from which she retired last year. She has made everything from shoes to shirts to womens make-up. Let me tell you something else...working in a nursing home ain't no cake walk either. At Rob-Roy I remember getting to go inside the factory to visit on one of those kids days. They made shirts. I remember the big tables loaded with material and these big cutters that they used to cut out the pieces from patterns and the people at rows and rows of sewing machines sewing all the peices together. My Mother used to do what they now do in China and Mexico and she did it to raise us kids. I am proud of of my Mother...more proud than you can know. I am proud of them both.

The fruits of their labor was not for their means...no sir re-bob. The fruits of their labor was passed down to thier kids and if you have not been paying attention I am one of them. Aside from the neccesities I also had great toys. When I was six they bought me a mini-bike which I rode and rode and rode. I pretended that I was Bronson from that TV show "Then Came Bronson" starring Michael Parks. My cousin rode with me a lot too. Bubba even broke the front axle off one time but Daddy fixed it. Daddy could and still can fix just about anything mechanical. When I was nine they bought me a Honda Mini-Trail 50. Boy was I big time when I got that because it had a speedometer and most importantly, a kick starter. I was not selfish either. I let all my friends ride it including Goober who ran it into a ditch and bent the front axle. It still worked though and ride it I did until the engine was past repair. Then came my next and last motorcycle that my parents bought me and I will never forget the circumstances as long as I live. We were at the Little League park in Lewisburg and I had just finished a game. Daddy said that he had to do something so he was not there for the game. When we finsihed me and my friends would play our own baseball game next to the bleachers using a stick and whatever else we could fashion into a ball, usually it was two or three paper coke cups all balled up. Anyway, Daddy comes to get me, Mother and and my sister saying that we have to go home and of course I put up a fight. "I don't want to go, let's stay for the next game" I say. "Nope, come on" he says. "We have to go", and so we started walking towards the parking lot. Soon enough I get a glimpse of our red 1965 Ford F-150 pick-up with twin-I-beam suspension and tied down in the back was a brand new Honda XL-125. It was red too. I could not beleive it. They had not even mentioned that I may be getting a new motorcycle but there it was a real as all get out. The feeling that I had that day was so strong that I am getting emotional writing about it now some 32 years later. I had to go get all my friends to show it off. This thing was huge. 125cc's of raw two-wheeled power. I was so short that I could not straddle it and put both feet on the ground at the same time. Don't take a genious to figure that I was ready to go home know. Over the next four years I rode that motorcycle hard and fast. It was were I spent most of my time except for when I was working hauling hay or feeding chickens and it got me back and forth to do that.

Throughout the years I played baseball and football up until I started 9th grade and then I started working most of the time. By then we had moved back out to Wheel and town was a twenty minute ride one way. Living in the country at that time was not what I wanted because my friends were in town. The only two friends that I had that lived close were Richard and Tim. Tim stayed with his grandmother that lived just down the road but only in the summer and Richard was several years younger than me. I worked hauling hay mostly in the summer anyway. I still rode that motorcycle along every inch of those country roads and can still tell you every curve on each one of them.

When I graduated high-school I became disillusioned with the small town and life there that I miss so now. I joined the US Air Force and then promptly left for Denver and then places beyond. Except for a short stay back in TN during 1986 and 2001 I have usually been overseas or in a state other than TN during my entire adult life. It has taken a tole, I am sure, on my parents. They deserved better I suppose but I felt that the world was a place to see and not just read about. I envy the fact that my parents have been able to stay at home in TN all their lives but I also have to think that if I had stayed there things could have turned out worse for me. They both took care of their Mothers in their waning days and I admire them for that and a host of other things that we just don't get around to talking about. They never missed a birthday card or failed to help me when I needed it most. Never failed to whack me across the butt when I needed it either. It's hard to mention all the ways that I could have done better by them. Supposing that they understand is something that I take for granted but I don't do so without some guilt. Right now there is nothing that I would like more than to be there for them all the time to help them in their golden years but reality dictates a different tale.

There are so many other things that you have done for me that hopfully I will get around to writing or telling you about also so just let me say that my heart is always with you and my Love for you runs deep into the core of my soul. I guess at some point I quit writing about you but more to you and that is okay. Just know that everything that is good in me stems from the scarifices that you bore on my behalf and from the way that you raised me. There are not two more people on God's green earth that I would rather have as parents.