Goodbye Collingswood, Hello Home! August 24th 2021

 In JRR Tolkien's Hobbit there is a song - The Road Goes Ever On and On.  

That is a perfect description of the last day of our trip! LOL 

We left Cherry Hill in the morning, stopped for Mini-Mike's cup of Joe, and then headed back to Collingswood to take some final photos of the area where the bench would sit, the Sycamore, us, and a bench of the type we will be dedicating.  In the final photo of this grouping you can see the set-up of the bench with footer and plaque.  Ours will look much the same, only face Michael's house and the road instead of the lake.  

The night before we held a little congratulatory celebration complete with spritzer and cactus cocktail glasses.  We toasted all of you for bringing us to Collingswood and making the bench project a reality!  Mini-Mike joined in but he had a little too much! ;-) 

After we took the final photos of the area where the bench will be installed, it was back to the car and the beginning of the long road home.  This time we were DETERMINED not to go through Philadelphia and set the GPS on NO highways.  We thought we were okay and then we started to see some familiar things like the Benjamin Franklin bridge and.....

The dang GPS took us right downtown - on Tuesday at noon!  Needless to say, it took us over an hour just to get out of Philadelphia, and then about another hour to get out of the greater Philly area. In the end, we really didn't get on the road home to Ohio until almost 1:00 in the afternoon. 

Sigh....

We decided on the way home to avoid the turnpike, which turned out to be another challenge due to the fact that the GPS kept routing us back to it in spite of the fact that - again - we had programmed it for Route 2, with NO highways.  By mid-afternoon we were tired and rather exhausted (and running behind).  Mini-Mike got so aggravated he decided to disappear all together and sent Little Joe to take his place.  Little Joe had been sleeping it off in a suitcase for the whole trip so he was in a great mood and suggested we take a side trip to rest and enjoy some of the best grub he knew about - 

At Hoss's! 

Joe was so excited, he dove right back into the suitcase, woke up his brother, and had Hoss come along with us for a late lunch.  Hoss was pleased as punch and the two brothers joined us for some food and hijinks. 

"Hey, Little Joe.  Bet you can't 'ketch' me 'up'!" 

"What do you mean, I gotta eat off of the Little Hoss' menu?"

"How come you get the steak fries and I get cattle fodder?  Huh??!!"

"You ain't got nothin' over me, little brother.  I'm the freshest thing in town!"

Our adventure at Hoss's over, we hit the road again.  We were still in Pennsylvania with a LONG way to go.  

Little Joe begged us to get him a cup of joe so he could keep going.  Little did he know, we needed one too!  We stopped for coffee again after we passed the Ohio border.  It was now going on midnight and we had been on the road more than 12 hours! 

The last leg of our journey went fairly smoothly.  We pulled into the Budget rent-a-car to drop off the rental vehicle a little after one in the morning. 

But the adventure wasn't over! 

There was no one in sight.  No attendant.  No one to tell us where to leave the keys or deposit the papers, so we wandered for half an hour throughout the near empty garage trying to figure it out.  Sonya's husband arrived during this time and, in order to spare we tired ladies a long walk to the car, pulled into the garage - unaware that he, we, and our ride home were now trapped!  LOL  Thanks to David's amazing driving skills (and a bit of dubious knowledge from his younger years), he managed to get us out of there with no dire consequences!  

It was quite an adventure! 

And so, it was around 2:00 in the morning on Wednesday the 25th, when three very weary ladies finally made it home, mission accomplished.  

We thank you all again for your support and enthusiasm for the Michael Landon Collingswood Lake Bench project.  

We are almost there!    

 

  

Chowing Down in Collingswood - August 2021

One of our favorite places to eat in Collingswood is the Westmont Diner - the place with the same name as the theater where Michael Landon worked as a teen.  It is an amazing, locally owned and operated restaurant with a menu you would not believe!  Mini-Mike expressed his regrets that his alter ego's big brother Hoss was not with us.  Hoss would LOVE this place!  The portions are definitely Hoss-size and the cooking is on a par with Hop Sing's.  (Just don't tell Hop Sing we said so!)  

The Westmont Diner is located on the main street of the borough of Collingswood - or, at least, it WAS!  We had no idea it had moved, so when we started out to walk to it - on a 95 degree day with a heat index of 107 degrees - we had no idea it was nearly two miles there!  We asked locals, we asked cops, we asked everybody we met how to find it.  They kept telling us things like 'turn at Krispy Kreme', or 'it's beside McDonalds', or 'it's about a quarter mile up the hill'.  Apparently they were all driving.  That, or they had a terrible sense of distance!  Anyhow after a VERY long and VERY hot walk of about two miles, we got there.  It took some time to cool down (Mini-Mike was a big help!), but the food was just as enjoyable as always.  

We visited the Westmont again the next night and apparently Ben had ordered the chuck wagon to be ready to feed an army - and mistook us for the army! 

If you are ever in Collingswood, be sure to check the Westmont Diner out - and bring a HOSS-sized appetite!  (Maybe an appetite big as the whole Ponderosa crew!!)  

Another great spot in Collingswood is the original Famous King of Pizza where you can buy pizza in dozens of varieties by the slice or pie.  Mini-Mike thought it was cool that the slices were as big as him!  Jessie, Sonya and I were only thinking one thing - and we'd thought it before - next time we bring Hoss! 

Next: Goodbye Collingswood, Hello home

Collingswood, We Are Here - August 23, 2021 Part Two

The lovely rose bushes next to Michael's memorial were a bit, well...enthusiastic!  (Not that that's a surprise, considering who they are guarding!)  We decided to give them a trim and Michael's plaque and face a polish while we were in town. 

Lost in the rose bushes 

And then came the weeding

And then the scrubbing and polishing 

And then the satisfaction 

And finally, a little dash of color in remembrance. 

The memorial was all cleaned up, we were wiped out, and night was falling.  Time to grab a bite of supper and head back to the hotel for our last sleep-over in Cherry Hill before beginning the long journey back home. 

Next - chowing down in Collingswood.    

  

Collingswood, We Are Here - August 23, 2021 Part One

So, Monday arrived and we left the hotel with memorial plaque in hand to meet up with the lovely folks from the Camden County Parks System.  Our liaison with their department is Ashley Pagan.  She arrived with her coworker at app. 11:00 and the discussion of where to put the memorial bench began.  

Jessie Jo has been dealing with Ashley directly since the project was conceived.  Ashley and the Camden County Parks System people have been very helpful and accommodating.  If you remember, they allowed more words on the plaque and also approved the use of an image (Michael as Little Joe with the Ponderosa Ranch House).  We want to thank them again for that.  Ashley was very helpful and enthusiastic and, in the end, we got everything we hoped and wished for! 

Jessie Jo

Arriving at the same time as Ashley was Bob Hasting of the Collingswood Public Works Department.  Abbe Effron told us that the Public Works Dept. is the one that maintains 'The Little Tree House in the Park' as well as the rose bushes surrounding the pillar and memorial plaque.  She suggested we contact them in regards to any landscaping for the bench.  Bob was super-nice and super-excited to be involved.  He told us how his daughter fell in love with Michael Landon at five years old and everything in their house was 'Michael' for a long time!  Bob is a Collingswood native and has connections to some of the older inhabitants of the borough.  He mentioned several still living who went to school with young Eugene Orowitz.  We hope, before the dedication ceremony, to get in touch with some of them.  

Perhaps we will have a new story to tell! 

After we gathered and exchanged greetings, the six of us crossed the street to the area where the bench was to be placed.  Our first 'yippee!' moment was finding out that the bench could - and would - go directly across from Michael's house!  

Once we reached the area across from Michael's home, one thing became apparent - God had already planted the perfect tree to grace the memorial bench.  Standing directly across from his boyhood home is a beautiful old and large Sycamore tree, nearly 100 feet high.  It is impossible to know for sure, but the odds are that it was there - as a small tree or sapling - when young Eugene crossed the grassy strand to the dock on the lake nearby.  Ashley said it would be perfectly acceptable to place the bench unde the spreading arms of the Sycamore and to have it face the house so fans could sit on it and enjoy the view. 

So, the decision was made to place the bench beneath the Sycamore tree and to enhance the setting with two flowering bushes or trees (type yet to be determined).  It is an amazing setting, with this tremendous tree above and lots of shade below and we hope that everyone who sits there and sees the plaque and views Michael's boyhood home from it will be moved by the experience. 

We hope you enjoy these images of the Sycamore, Newton Lake where Michael (or young Eugene) fished and dreamed as a boy, and his house across the street.  One day we hope you can experience this peaceful and beautiful setting and the bench in person! 

As of early afternoon, the plaque was delivered and the bench location chosen.  Ashley told us that the Camden County Parks System Board will give final approval at its September meeting and then the footer and plaque will be put in place.  Next comes the bench.  Unfortunately, due to Covid19 shortages and delays, they have no firm date for the delivery of their new shipment of benches.  We are hoping and planning (and praying!) that the memorial will still be done in time for an October dedication this year. 

The day was half done and now it was time move on to a few other things.  When visiting 'The Little Tree House in the Park' memorial, we noted the bushes needed trimming and Michael's handsome face could use a polish - so it was off to Walmart on a shopping expedition and then back to Knight Park. 

To be continued....