A lot of people know that I lived and worked in China for a year, that I’ve also traveled to two other foreign countries so far (Canada and Ireland) and that I’ve been to 30 of the 50 states in America.
What very few people know, however, is that there WAS a time when Tom Brennan traveled to the Yukon in order to make his fortune.
Before sharing those personal details with you, however, I need to take you back in time a little more than 100 years ago.
Long before “Carnac the Magnificent” became a staple on the Johnny Carson Show,
a man named George Carmack left California in 1881 and traveled north because he had heard rumors of gold strikes in Alaska.
For 15 years, he searched in vain. One day, out of frustration, he finally did what all good men do when they need time to think:
He went fishing.
While salmon fishing near the Klondike River in Canada's Yukon Territory on August 16, 1896, he found nuggets of gold in a creek bed. His lucky discovery sparked the last great gold rush in the American West.
The day after discovering the gold, George and two partners staked their claim. Within two years, as many as 50,000 men came to the area in order to get some relief from the devastation caused by the Panic of 1893.
Although very few of them had much luck, Carmack eventually left the Yukon with $1,000,000 worth of gold. Large scale gold mining continued in the area for another 70 years, by which time $250,000,000 worth of gold had been pulled out of the ground. Even today, small mines continue to operate in the area.
One of the 50,000 people who moved to the area was Tom Brennan, the younger brother of my paternal grandfather (Mark Brennan). Like most of the people that went north, he failed to accomplish what he set out to do. As a matter of fact, he never even got back home. Not long after arriving in Alaska, a violent thunderstorm caused a large tree to fall on his head. Amazingly, he managed to survive the initial blow, but died three days later in a local hospital.
My parents had originally planned to name me Mark, after my grandfather, but my dad’s sister Josephine gave birth to a son shortly before I was born, and she named HIM Mark.
Since their name of choice was already taken, I was named after a man who was felled be a tree. My middle name came from my maternal grandfather, who was born in County Sligo, Ireland.
One of the 25 goals that I wrote down earlier this year was to visit every state in this country that I haven’t been to yet, so at some point in time, I plan to visit the state where my great uncle met his demise. More than likely, we’ll be traveling to most of those states in an RV (inspired by a couple of trips to RAGBRAI), but the NEXT time that Tom Brennan goes to the Yukon, it will be a much different journey:
Prior to the advent of the American movie palaces of the 1920’s and 1930’s, the primary form of entertainment in America was vaudeville which enjoyed its peak of popularity from the 1880’s until the 1930’s. Although some elements of vaudeville (such as blackface performers) have faded into obscurity, the wide variety of acts eventually led to variety shows on television, the most prominent of which was the Ed Sullivan Show in the 1960’s.
During the dying days of vaudeville, Irving Berlin (composer of White Christmas, THE most popular song ever recorded) wrote a song titled “Putting on the Ritz”. Although a musical of the same name was released in 1930, the most famous historical version is Fred Astaire’s performance in the movie “Blue Skies” in 1946:
Even at his best, Michael Jackson simply could not compare to Fred Astaire, who was 60 years old when “Blue Skies” was filmed.
In 1981, a much traveled musician named Taco released an updated version of the song that also managed to bring in elements of the original vaudeville performances:
Although both versions of the song are fascinating to watch (as is the “Young Frankenstein” version of 1974) , the common theme to all of them is that no matter what your circumstances are in life, if you can somehow manage to convey an image of prosperity, you’ll do just fine.
Starting in May of 1965, the late Hunter S. Thompson spent a year living with the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang, and ultimately published a book titled “Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs”.
Ultimately, Thompson made a fair amount of money from the book, which led to a number of other successful publications, but he had to suffer through a Hell’s Angels “stomping” in order to get to that point.
July 31 marked the end of my personal journey with a local biker gang. Although it was a very memorable experience, I didn’t suffer any ill effects from the trip, and I’m already looking forward to my next encounter with the gang, which will probably be a year from now.
In 1972, two feature writers from the Des Moines Register (John Karras and Donald Kaul) decided that it would be fun to ride their bicycles from the west coast of Iowa to the east coast of Iowa, a journey of approximately 450 miles. They invited some of their readers to join them, and when “the great six day bicycle ride” officially kicked off on August 26, 1973, 300 cyclists met in Sioux City, Iowa. Among the group was 83 year old Clarence Pickard of Indianola, who completed the entire trip on a used ladies Schwinn bicycle, while dressed in long underwear, a long sleeve shirt, trousers, and a silver pith helmet.
The name of the event was changed to RAGBRAI in 1975, and Roman numerals were adopted for the first time. (RAGBRAI is an acronym for Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) The trip that was completed this week was RAGBRAI XXXVIII
Over the years, the event has become increasingly popular, and the 2010 event included approximately 20,000 cyclists from most of the states in America, as well as several foreign countries. Lance Armstrong has completed the ride a few times, and recent events have always included participants from Livestrong, his charitable organization.
Since 1973, 26 people have died during the ride itself or from injuries suffered on the ride, but the majority of those deaths were from heart attacks suffered while resting. One of the RAGBRAI riders actually got hit by a deer last year, but managed to escape with only minor injuries.
Our daughter Kelly completed her first RAGBRIA in 2008, and was joined by her mom (the RV driver) in 2009. This year, I brought along my ancient Peugeot racing bike, and completed two days of hard core riding that totaled about 150 miles.
After the wedding in Clear Lake, the new bride attached her bridal veil to the back of her helmet for the remainder of the ride.
It’s also been rumored that there have been at least a few children who were conceived during a RAGBRAI, which brings to mind Stephen King’s 1977 novel, “ Children of the Corn”
The stated purpose of RAGBRAI is to complete a bicycle ride, but the event has evolved far beyond that simple idea. Until you’ve actually witnessed the sight of thousands of bicyclists gliding over the rolling hills of Iowa, it’s nearly impossible to describe a ride that is literally poetry in motion.
I actually met “the banana man” this year, as well as one of the Elvis impersonators, and I had the pleasure of devouring the best pork chop I’ve ever had, courtesy of “Mr. Pork Chop”, who came to the event is a pink school bus with a pig’s snout painted on the front. On my second day of riding, “team Heifer” flew by on a black and white tandem, dressed in matching black and white costumes, with a cow’s tail flying stiffly in the breeze behind them.
By the end of week, the 12 members of our team had literally evolved to the point of family, and the host families that we encountered along the route weren’t far from that. Our “family” this year included Jim and Lisa in Sioux City, Mike and Cindy in Storm Lake, Bob and Donna in Clear Lake, Trisha and Tony in Waterloo, and Dan and Bev in Manchester, as well as the group of people pictured below:
Both of our kids live in a neighborhood of Chicago where weekly shootings are pretty much taken for granted, so it’s refreshing to be reminded of the fact that there ARE still cities in America where people don’t feel a need to lock their doors at night, and where it’s not all unusual for a dad to take his pre-teen sons on hunting expeditions.
The RAGBRAI route changes every year, and this year’s event started out in Sioux City, just like the original. Along the way, we passed through Clear Lake, which necessitated a stop in the cornfield where Buddy Holly passed away in 1959:
Hunter S. Thompson was the originator of the writing style called “gonzo journalism”. To quote Steve Martin, Thompson was definitely “a wild and crazy guy”, as evidenced by the quote below:
“I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me.” - Hunter S. Thompson
In spite of the fact that he probably would have had trouble riding a bicycle around the block, he DID offer a few tidbits of wisdom that could be applied directly to RAGBRAI.
One of them is this one:
"The person who doesn't scatter the morning dew will not comb gray hairs" - Hunter S. Thompson
If you translate that phrase into English, he’s telling us that only those brave souls who get out early in the morning to pedal like madmen on their bicycles will live to have a long and happy life.
He also offered the following piece of advice for NEXT YEAR’S event:
"Buy the ticket, take the ride." - Hunter S. Thompson
In case you’ve forgotten, one of the main rallying cries at the Republican National Convention in my hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota in 2008 was “drill, baby, drill”.
The link below will allow you, once again, to re-live those thrilling days of yesteryear:
On April 23, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico caught fire and exploded. Early on in the disaster, oil was flowing into the Gulf of Mexico at the rate of 6,000,000 gallons a day. After several failed attempts to stem the flow, BP is currently in the process of installing a new type of cap to seal off the well, nearly three months after the original explosion.
Ms. Palin apparently is of the opinion that the Deepwater Horizon incident is proof that we need to do MORE drilling in “safer areas” of the United States, one of which is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, commonly known as ANWR.
The only intelligent comment that I can add to her post is two words:
Exxon Valdez
On March 24, 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez struck a reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, and released somewhere between 11 and 32 million gallons of crude oil. Although Exxon Corporation spent an estimated $2 billion in clean up costs, and $1 billion in legal costs, a significant portion of those expenses were covered by insurance policies, and several punitive damage awards were reduced dramatically in later years. Ultimately, the Exxon Valdez was repaired, at a cost of $30,000,000. It is still in operation today, and it is now owed by a Hong Kong company, which has renamed it Dong Fang Ocean. As of January, 2010, it was registered in Panama.
The Exxon Valdez incident led to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, and also caused major changes in the physical characteristics of oil tankers, as well as their escorts.
The economy of the city of Cordova, Alaska was adversely affected after the spill damaged stocks of salmon and herring in the area. Several residents, including one former mayor, committed suicide after the spill.
Last year, scientists at the University of South Carolina estimated that it would take ANOTHER ten years for the wildlife in the area of the spill to recover.
The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform is a far GREATER catastrophe. The amount of oil that is flowing into the Gulf is equivalent to 4 Exxon Valdez spills EVERY WEEK.
Although George W. Bush may well have been one of more unpopular presidents, he was a surprisingly well-read leader, as evidenced by the link below:
It’s been argued that the only book that Sarah Palin has read is her own, and perhaps that’s what being a rogue is all about. However, I would encourage her to read at least some of the books written by Thomas Friedman (of the New York Times) since he has a far better idea about how to handle America’s energy crisis than she does.
In closing, I’d like to offer Ms. Palin a few kind words of advice:
I’ve told our H.R. manager that the initial “T” on the dealer plates that I’ve been issued by The Autobarn stands for “tough old bird”.
In my 62 years, I’ve lost jobs, had close experiences with life-threatening illnesses, crashed on the way to Hell, been robbed in China, suffered numerous financial hardships, and I currently owe the I.R.S. almost as much as I paid for my first house.
In spite of all that, though, I’m probably one of the most optimistic people that you’ll ever met.
I’ve also read hundreds of books in my lifetime, and until this morning, I don’t remember reading ANY that brought tears to my eyes.
In May of this year, I read Greg Mortenson’s second book, Stones into Schools, and published a post about the book on this blog site on May 16. As I finished reading his first one, Three Cups of Tea, this morning, the closing pages brought tears to my eyes simply due to the fact that his story, and the initial success of some of his students, is simply unbelievable
When it was first published, in 2006, the book was the #1 best seller for 14 straight weeks on the New York Times book list. Since its publication, it has been required reading for freshman, honors or campus-wide reading in over eighty universities, and hundreds of schools. It is also required reading for senior U.S. military commanders, Pentagon officers in counter-insurgency training, and Special Forces deploying to Afghanistan.
As of today’s date, Mortenson’s company, the Central Asia Institute, has built 141 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Arguably, he is the one person who is the MOST responsible for peace in that part of the world.
None of us would be willing to endure the sacrifices that this modern day peace keeper has endured over the years (including being kidnapped by the Taliban), but we CAN make a contribution to world peace at a far lower cost. All you need to do is click on the link below:
Former Yankees manager Yogi Berra is well known for fracturing the English language, and the quote above is one of his originals.
A recent story in The New York Times brought that quote to mind again, but this time it relates to Chinese workers.
The world's first transcontinental railroad was built between 1863 and 1869 to join the east and west halves of the United States. Begun just preceding the American Civil War, it is considered one of the greatest American technological feats of the 19th century, surpassing both the building of the Erie Canal in the 1820s and the later crossing of the Isthmus of Panama by the Panama Railroad in 1855. Known as the "Pacific Railroad" when it opened, it served as a vital link for trade, commerce, and travel and opened up vast regions of the North American heartland for settlement. Shipping and commerce could thrive away from navigable watercourses for the first time since the beginning of the nation.
Work on the East Coast portion of the transcontinental railroad was done primarily by veterans of the Civil War, but most of the construction in the west was done by Chinese immigrants, who were originally brought in to provide labor during the California Gold Rush in the late 1840’s.
Not long after the completion of the Transcendental Railroad, a variety of forces came together to exclude Chinese workers altogether. The Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882, and was not repealed until 1943, a year after the internment of Japanese Americans occurred in California.
It's a well known fact that history often repeats itself, and the American railroad and the Chinese now have a new connection. This time, however, it's a LOT different than the old one.
The Chinese government recently signed a contract with the State of California to build high speed rail lines in the state. The Chinese bullet trains are capable of speeds up to 215 miles per hour, and are touted as being environmentally friendly. The California rail authority plans to spend $43 billion to build a 465-mile route from San Francisco to Los Angeles and on to Anaheim that is supposed to open in 2020, and a significant portion of the funding for the project will come from China. The authority was awarded $2.25 billion in January of 2010 in federal economic stimulus money to work on the project.
With apologies to Johnny Cash, the Orange COUNTY Special could be right around the corner, and it came about because of a connection that started 150 years ago.
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”
President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953
On June 6, 1944, General Dwight Eisenhower was the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces during the invasion of Normandy. During the course of Operation Overlord, 5000 vessels transported 156,000 troops across the English Channel. By nightfall of June 6, 9000 Allied troops were either dead or wounded, but well over 100,000 made it safely to shore, and changed the tide of the war against the Nazis.
Dwight Eisenhower and the rest of “the greatest generation” did what was necessary to win WWII, but lessons learned from WWI, and the sheer effort and expense that was used in WWII, caused the world after 1945 to be a vastly different place.
Rather than using the punitive reparations that were imposed after WWI, the Allies rebuilt the lands of their former enemies, and Japan, Italy, and Germany have been our allies for more than 50 years.
There are always going to be people that disagree with us, and today’s enemies are much more elusive that they were in the past, but they can still be defeated as long as we continue to use non-traditional forms of combat.
Our 2010 Defense Budget is somewhere between $880 billion and $1.0 trillion. If you break that down into smaller components, it works out to a MINIMUM of $73 billion per month, $18 billion per week, $2.6 billion for day, $109 million per hour, $1.8 million per minute, or $30,000 per second.
Although those are definitely big numbers, they don’t tell the whole story, since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are funded by supplementary funding that is outside of the Defense Budget. Over a five year period, they averaged slightly more than $160 billion per year.
The 2010 U.S. Expenditure Budget is $3.522 trillion, although projected receipts are a lot less, at $2.381 trillion. Regardless of how you do the math, roughly HALF of YOUR tax dollars are being spent on the defense budget, and I (for one) don’t think it’s money that is being well spent.
I recently finished reading Greg Mortenson’s “Stones Into Schools” , and just started reading his first book, “Three Cups of Tea” this week.
For a grand total of $340, a child in Pakistan or Afghanistan can obtain four years of a high school education, and $50,000 can buy a school, and pay for a teacher’s salary for 4 years.
Either one of those options can help us achieve peace a lot more effectively than ONE $5,000,000 drone, and we’re using a LOT of them in Afghanistan right now.
To be perfectly honest, none of us can REALLY control how our tax dollars are being spent in Washington, but we CAN make some personal contributions that will TRULY make a difference in the world today.
If you’d like to make a PERSONAL contribution to world peace, all you need to do is click on the link below:
I lived halfway around the world for a year, and it was a wonderful experience. Apart from the fact that I lost 15 pounds (it’s hard to find good pizza in China) it also opened my eyes to the fact that people in other countries really aren’t much different than the rest of us.
It’s extremely unlikely that we’ll ever witness another event like D-Day, but it’s not impossible to imagine that the events of 9/11/2001 could reoccur. To prevent that from happening, all we need to do is remember the words of Mother Theresa, who said, “ If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other”…
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