SCOOTER DIARIES DAY 6

Scoot, Bob and me hurried out of Huntsville, Tx. This is where Texas has it's death chamber, the busiest one in the world and we did not want to be next. Bit chilly this morning but warmed up nicely. Today was a mix of country roads and highways. The country roads were lovely with the rolling pastures, but neither route had much to photo and I met very few people. Got to get back to meeting the people on this trip.

I arrived at Largo Vista, Tx. about 2pm and John and Laura had left me a key, a fruit plate, and some ham and fine cheese. This is going to be a great B&B. They own their own business and arrived home a little later. I met John and his lovely Ecuadorian wife many years ago when we were both flying helicopters in the Amazon.

So who is the Bob guy? Bob Lubliner is one of those people that you are very lucky to come across once in a lifetime. He lived in Chicago and spent his whole life in the family theater business, from the early vaudeville acts to movie theaters. In the mid-80's he retired and bought a 36 foot Grand Banks boat and a townhouse on the water in South Carolina. The town house was sold quickly when he found living on a boat was to be one of the loves of his life. His greatest gift was in story telling and boy did he have stories to tell. He knew everybody in show business from Hollywood to Italy and all the regular suspects in Chicago. He would often call and just bust out in song, singing something from the 40's. Then he would laugh and say "I can remember all the words to that song, but I can't remember where I live" or something similar. He was only down when politicians did something really stupid. He always had a positive attitude. He ran 4 marathons in his 60's and was still going to the gym a few times a week before he passed away just short of his 92nd birthday. He says it was to exercise, but I say it was to look at the good looking girls and bask in their attention. He was still living on his boat when he went to the Mayo clinic and then to hospice. Even when he was in hospice he was still the great entertainer and maintained a great positive outlook. One night he sent out for martini mixings and real glasses for us all to have a little toddy. My wife Vicki and our friend Deb walked through the door one day and he said, " I never know who is coming through that door, the Doctor or the undertaker, thank goodness it is just two angels." After his "girlfriend" Louise and George, both who cared for him like a father, got back to visit, Bob "slipped over the bar", as his favorite poem says.

Bob loved to travel, so I am taking some of his ashes to put in the Pacific and maybe he will drift back to Hollywood. He is greatly missed by his many friends.