2020 Edition
This road trip was taken during the scamdemic of 2020. The year that
the commie Democrats intentionally destroyed the US economy, unlawfully
took away our constituional rights and freedoms and pretty much destroyed
America as we knew it.
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The Surf Ballroom (the Surf) is a Historic Rock and Roll Landmark at 460
North Shore Drive, Clear Lake, Iowa. The Surf is closely associated with
the event known colloquially as "The Day the Music Died" - early rock and
roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper"
Richardson gave their last performances at the Surf on February 2, 1959
as part of the "Winter Dance Party Tour".
I remember that day well. I was just an early teenager but I cried (and
stil do) when I think about that great loss.... Buddy Holley was a true
innovator when it came to the advent of Rock 'n Roll.... Alan Freed,
Ike Turner, Jerry Lee (The Killer) Lewis, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Richard
Penniman (Little Richard), Antoine (Fats) Domino and a few others who
defined the music of the 1950's.
What a great time to be growing up in America!
On September 6, 2011, The Surf Ballroom was added to the National Register
of Historic Places.
The Day the Music Died
Holly, Valens and Richardson left The Surf immediately after the show,
going to the nearby Mason City airport and chartering a small plane to
take them to Fargo, North Dakota to prepare for their next show at the
Moorhead Armory in Moorhead, Minnesota. The plane took off at 12:55 AM
Central Time on Tuesday February 3, 1959. Shortly after takeoff, the
plane crashed, killing everyone aboard.
A concrete monument was erected outside The Surf, and the ballroom is
adorned with large pictures of the three musicians. A street flanking
the facility's east property line is named Buddy Holly Place in his honor.
Crash site:
22728 Gulf Ave, Clear Lake, Iowa 50428
I-35S (coming from I-90), exit 300th St.
These images were made with my Nikon D810 camera and my
Zeiss Planar T* 50mm F/1.4 ZF.2 manual focus Lens.
This was supposed to be a 62nd birthday road trip for Julie that
would make up for the canceled due to the covid scamdemic road trip
to New Orleans and our canceled birthday trip to ride the Durango
train.
But...... "love" got in the way and sadly it wasn't Julie's undying love for
me that put the nix on this trip. After 14 years together Julie
found herself a new beau.... and he apparently made it not worth
Julie's while to fight to keep what she and I once had. Oh well..... I've
seen this movie before, unfortunately. But it is what it is and I can't
do jack about it. Fighting to keep someone who doesn't really want
you that much is a fool's errand. I have too much self-respect to
humiliate myself further.
I wish her well in her new relationship(s) and hope that this guy turns
out to be the true man of her dreams. It's not a gamble I would have ever
taken but then again, I was pretty happy with what we had. Obviously,
she wasn't.
Happy Trails, kiddo.....
Eloise knew I was feeling blue so she "arranged" to have them give
me a brand new, 2020 Dodge Challenger Hemi with only 900 miles on it
for the trip to LaGrande and then on to Clear Lake, Iowa.
Since this is likely to be my last major road trip of 2020 and
perhaps for the rest of my life, it's nice that I will be doing
it in style. They were nice enough to order this car with the
throaty hot rod exhaust system. I hope they didn't mind when I
lit up the tires turning onto Murray. Extra-cool that it has
posi-traction so I could fry BOTH rear tires. Thanks Eloise!
View from my back deck the evening before I headed out on what
I hope will be a memorable adventure. Sad that I'm doing it alone
but nothing lasts forever....unfortunately.
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