Two Coasties Head West: July 17th (Late Entry), Kenosha, WI

Monday, July 20, 2009

July 17th (Late Entry), Kenosha, WI

Donna Buzzell (Kathy's sister) and her husband Bruce welcomed us to their home for a two day visit. Grandpa Vitkus (Kathy's 96 year old father and WWII Marine Corp. Veteran)... wanted to "get a feel for the Harley", so, we dressed him up for the task, and after a bit of an effort, he climbed up on the Harley for a picture.

1 comment:

Jim ChandlerJuly 21, 2009 at 8:33 PM
Grandpa Vitkus - you're AWESOME! WWII vet - even better.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Blood Brothers - Trip Video

Blood Brothers - hosted at Vimeo.

This video is a summary of the trip from the Atlantic to the Pacific. All videos on this blog are hosted by Vimeo, and can be downloaded for personal viewing on your computer, cell phone or other hand-held device. To download for viewing on other devices, use the link that follows each video - this link takes you to the host page on Vimeo. Once there, navigate to the lower right corner of the page and follow instructions for downloading to your computer. Once on your computer, you can then upload to other devices. Enjoy...

About This Blog

Hi everyone. As you know, we're fulfilling a lifelong dream to travel across the United States by motorcycle. Our main objective is to visit with four other Coast Guard Shipmates, a.k.a. BROTHERS (see more below) now living in various states along the way.

We hope to use this blog to document our progress along this journey. Thanks to everyone for their support, and their prayers.

Please bear with us as we figure out the blogosphere. And please leave comments - we really appreciate them!

~Chan
~Louie

Coast Guard Brothers

Six of us old shipmates were stationed together 40 years ago on the Coast Guard Icebreaker Staten Island (WAGB 278).

Louie Carrillo (a.k.a. LOUIE)
Bobby Chandler (a.k.a. CHAN)
George Kelly(a.k.a. KELLY)
Bobby Van De Pol (a.k.a. STORK)
Ray Weber (a.k.a. WEBER)
Walter Kline (a.k.a. SPUD)

If you are wondering what the term BROTHER is all about, well, it was 40 years ago that this ship, along with these shipmates, departed Pier 91 in Seattle Washington on a six month journey over the top of the world - the Northwest Passage - with the super tanker and ice breaker USS Manhattan. During that trip, we circumnavigated the North American continent, while spending 123 continuous days in the polar ice cap, away from civilization.

After the first month in the ice, mail calls are a thing of the past -- as well as supplies of bread, milk and other perishables.

After two months in the ice, meals are prepared strictly by cans and you find that you have seen every movie onboard at least 3 times.

After 3 months in the ice, attitudes and patience dwindle big time!

And after 4 months in the ice, if someone says good morning and you don't punch them right on the mouth, you get to call that shipmate BROTHER!

After 40 years, these old shipmates have come back in contact with one another, and so that is what this trip is actually all about.

Please Leave Comments!

Click on the "Comment" link at the bottom of the post. You will see the "Post A Comment" dialog box.

Enter your comment in the dialog box, then use the drop-down box to "Select Profile". Unless you have a google email account (GMAIL), you will likely want to select the "Anonymous" profile at the bottom of the list. If you are posting your comment anonymously, it will really help if you "sign" your comment with your name so we know who left the comment.

Click the "Post Comment" button. You will see your comment in the "Preview" panel. At the bottom of the Preview panel, you will be asked to type in a word as verification that you are a computer user and not a spam machine. Type the word that you see and click the "Post Comment" button.

You will return to the "Post A Comment" dialog box, but there will be a yellow bar underneath with the message "Your comment will be visible after approval".

You have then successfully submitted your comment - thanks! At the first opportunity we'll approve the comment and it will appear on the blog. The approval process is necessary because since this is a public blog that may be seen by anyone, we want to screen out any inappropriate comments from people we don't know. Of course, inappropriate comments from people we know are always welcome!

~Chan
~Louie

Two Coasties Head West