The world has lost a legend. Yesterday, broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite died at age 92.

Long before cable television, CNN, and the internet, the world tuned in to CBS News every evening to hear the venerable Cronkite tell us what was going on in the world, and he gave us the news of some of the most important moments in American history, from the Apollo 11 moon landing, to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.

The first time I ever heard about the Vietnam War was from Walter Cronkite. I remember asking my parents where Vietnam was and if I would have to go there and fight. My mother assured me that the war would be over long before I was old enough to have to go, but my father, a World War II veteran, just looked worried and didn’t say anything. In the next few years I watched my older cousins go off to fight in Vietnam, and then my turn came. By then Walter Cronkite had already told America that we were mired in a stalemate in Vietnam, and public opinion had turned against the war. If “Uncle Walter” said so, we knew it was true. Because as he told us every night, “And that’s the way it is.”

Rest in peace, Mr. Cronkite. The evening news has not been the same since you left.

On another note, we can’t figure out what happened, but a lot of people that were not due to renew their subscriptions yet received renewal notices with the new issue of the Gypsy Journal. The gremlins were apparently creating havoc with our mailing list and they sure have caused a lot of confusion.

You can check your renewal date by reading the top line of the address block on your envelope. It will have a two digit number, as well as possibly some initials. That two digit number is the issue your subscription expires with. For example, the current issue is Number 61, so if that two digit number on your address block is 66, you still have five issues left on your subscription.

If you received an unexpected renewal notice and your address block still shows you are current, please disregard the notice you received and please accept our apologies for the inconvenience.

We received confirmation yesterday afternoon that we will be able to get a last minute vendor booth at the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) rally in Bowling Green, Ohio next week. So we’ll leave Elkhart Campground Sunday morning and make the 150 mile drive to Bowling Green State University, where the rally is being held, and get our booth set up and ready to do business.

That means today will be busy as Terry does the laundry, I print booklets to sell at the rally, and we do all of the last minute chores needed before we take off. FMCA rallies have never been very successful events for us in terms of sales, but we hope to be able to make a few sales and introduce some folks to the Gypsy Journal. Wish us luck!

Thought For The Day – I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.

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Our month in Tucson has gone by much too quickly, and we have not had the time to do half of what we had hoped to while we were here.

We did get the chance to stop and visit with my uncle, Jack Compau, who is 84 and still holding his own. He’s slowed down a bit, but looks good, and we enjoyed our visit.

We also visited with my cousin Beverly McKiddy several times. Bev has a special place in my heart, and she’s one of my favorite people in this world. We’ve had a close relationship since we were youngsters, and when we were both single parents raising our kids, we leaned on each other a lot. We never miss an opportunity to get together.

Yesterday Bev drug a dozen or more old photo albums out of her closet and we spent some time reminiscing. I love looking at old family photographs. They are a tie to my history. It was amazing to look back over 50 or more years of pictures and remember cars my Dad owned, or see my parents and uncles and aunts as young adults just starting their own families.

Looking at those old pictures brought our youth back to life. Christmas mornings, summer vacations, and high school heartthrobs preserved forever in Kodachrome. Were any of us really ever that young and slender? And what’s with those wide lapels and sideburns anyway? Whose idea was that?

It was interesting to see old World War II photographs of my father and uncles, younger men than my own son is today, going off to fight the Nazis and Japanese to bring peace back to the world. Some of them landed at Omaha Beach on D Day, others island hopped across the Pacific from one bloody beachhead to the next, while others did their fighting in the sky over Europe. One of those uncles never made it back, dying on a battlefield in North Africa.

Another album held photographs of my generation going off to fight our own war. Bev’s brothers Bob and Sonny looked like little boys playing soldier in their uniforms, as I do in the pictures of myself in those days. But those boys both distinguished themselves in combat and made it back home a bit banged up, but ready to get on with their lives. Now there’s a new generation, and a new war, and somebody will be adding new photographs of little boys in uniform.

I think you could look at any family’s old photo albums and trace our society’s history. It’s an interesting trip down memory lane.

Today we’ll fire up our old bus and say goodbye to Tucson. We’re headed for Apache Junction and some more family time, with Terry’s parents and sisters. We’re playing a waiting game, biding our time until it warms up a bit more in Arizona’s high country, so we can get up to Show Low and spend some time with my daughter Tiffany and her family.

Thought For The Day - The only true measure of success is happiness.

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