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2019-Whenever Misc. Grab Bag Thread

RIP to one of the legends of sports, Bill Walton. Jay Bilas had this to say about his colleague and friend:
For his greatness on the floor, Walton carved out a special place in the game's history that will never be forgotten. As a friend and colleague, Walton had a spirit that was bigger than life. He was a showman. I will always love Bill Walton -- he was a national treasure, and there will never be another like him.
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Walton was always associated with State's 1974 Championship for obvious reasons, and he was always very gracious and engaging. He was also a giant weirdo, but secure in himself enough that people embraced that over time. RIP big Red.
 
My wife is from Oregon and grew up a Grateful Dead fan. One of the Dead concerts she attended, her seat was next to Bill Walton's. He put his hand out to shake hers & said, "Hi, I'm Bill."...like she had no idea who he was. She said that her hand in his was like an adult shaking hands with a 4 year old. She said he was a cool guy and a huge Dead Head.

Jim
 
Pucking Lamplighter said:
My wife is from Oregon and grew up a Grateful Dead fan. One of the Dead concerts she attended, her seat was next to Bill Walton's. He put his hand out to shake hers & said, "Hi, I'm Bill."...like she had no idea who he was. She said that her hand in his was like an adult shaking hands with a 4 year old. She said he was a cool guy and a huge Dead Head.

Jim
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“Strangers stopping strangers, just to shake their hand.” —Scarlet Begonias (Hunter/Garcia). RIP Bill.
 
Josh Gibson is now officially recognized as the greatest hitter of all time. It's sad that he and so many other Negro League stars never got to play in MLB.
 
NCDOT is going to run a daily round trip train from Raleigh to Pinehurst during the US Open. It will dump you out right at the Pinehurst clubhouse. $50 round trip saves you the hassle and the long walk to your car at the end of the day. We have tickets for Friday and Sunday so we might give it a go one of the days.
 
HNIM said:
NCDOT is going to run a daily round trip train from Raleigh to Pinehurst during the US Open. It will dump you out right at the Pinehurst clubhouse. $50 round trip saves you the hassle and the long walk to your car at the end of the day. We have tickets for Friday and Sunday so we might give it a go one of the days.
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And it is a LONG walk ... and a shuttle bus. I did the Open a couple of times, but that's enough. I may go see the ladies if they come back to Pine Needles, but Pinehurst is just such a mess with how they handle parking.
 
dwind said:
I went to the open Payne Stewart won. Had premises parking and a major sponsors tent.
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I went to a practice round that year. We were walking around and saw a group with Justin Leonard, Tom Kite and a guy we didn’t recognize, he was dressed like everyone else. And then we saw him swing. That‘s when we realized who it was. I went again for the 2014 final round when Martin Kaymer had run away from everyone. So we just followed Mickleson most of the day. Saw a bunch of ladies walking inside the ropes and my daughter asked how they were allowed to do that. It was Michelle Wie, Christie Kerr and a couple others. That’s how they were allowed to do that.

The only problem with the train is the departure from Pinehurst. It leaves Pinehurst at 6:35, which is kind of early. But from Southern Pines to Raleigh, it will be on the same track as Amtrak’s Silver Star, and the southbound train gets to Raleigh at about 9:00, so they have to be clear by then.
 
andyt said:
Our little airport is growing like a weed. RDU had the most passenger growth among large airports last year, at 22%. A record 14.5 million passengers passed through the airport. And Terminal 1 is still straight out of the 3rd world.

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LOL. Some of us have been around long enough to remember when our little airport was actually little. 4 gates. One runway. 2 airlines most of the time.
 
jeffbear said:
LOL. Some of us have been around long enough to remember when our little airport was actually little. 4 gates. One runway. 2 airlines most of the time.
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...and even those who have only lived here for 30 years remember when there was a seedy motel where the main parking deck is now!
 
jeffbear said:
LOL. Some of us have been around long enough to remember when our little airport was actually little. 4 gates. One runway. 2 airlines most of the time.
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and one of those airlines was Piedmont...

I'll never forget coming in to land at the original terminal/ runway on a flight back from Colorado with my Dad in about 1976. The woman seated across the aisle looked out the window and said "That's it?" "That's the WHOLE terminal??". Was she ever in for a surprise taking HWY 70 in to Raleigh, because there just wasn't much but woods until you got to Dixie HiFi and Skate Town by Duraleigh Road. I-40 wasn't close to done yet & I doubt 540 was even an idea, so, HWY 70 was it.

Jim
 
HeyKurtz said:
...and even those who have only lived here for 30 years remember when there was a seedy motel where the main parking deck is now!
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I stayed in that seedy hotel one night. As I recall, it was a Days Inn. Our flight to Maine was cancelled and they couldn’t get us out until the next day. We decided that our vacation had already started so, rather than going back home and having to return for a very early flight, we checked into the hotel.

When we were looking at houses, the last house we saw was in Hawthorne off Norwood in NW Wake County. It was the only one of the 15 houses we looked at that our realtor was the listing agent for. One of the airport’s FAA beacons is in Hawthorne, so every plane on the big runway lines up there. We came out of the house and were standing in the driveway as the realtor was locking up and a plane flew over. Landing gear down, lights on, an old, noisy 727. I swear the pilot waved at us, it was so low. The realtor looked at us and visibly slumped.
 
HeyKurtz said:
...and even those who have only lived here for 30 years remember when there was a seedy motel where the main parking deck is now!
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Yeah ... our construction company had a deal with management and could park company cars there for free since we handled their maintenance and upkeep work. My Dad always just propped his hard hat on the dash so we wouldn't get towed. It was a basic, cheap, 2 or 3 story motel like most regional airports had back in those days.
 
Pucking Lamplighter said:
and one of those airlines was Piedmont...

I'll never forget coming in to land at the original terminal/ runway on a flight back from Colorado with my Dad in about 1976. The woman seated across the aisle looked out the window and said "That's it?" "That's the WHOLE terminal??". Was she ever in for a surprise taking HWY 70 in to Raleigh, because there just wasn't much but woods until you got to Dixie HiFi and Skate Town by Duraleigh Road. I-40 wasn't close to done yet & I doubt 540 was even an idea, so, HWY 70 was it.

Jim
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You could get to the airport using Hwy 54 back before I40 was extended through Raleigh, but it was a slog. US70 was much more of a straight shot so it was the primary gateway.

And yeah, only Eastern and Piedmont flew out of RDU full time for a good chunk of the 70s. They were joined by Delta later on. Some of the other major carriers had a couple of flights a week, but those were our primary options. Even before the hub and spoke system, we flew to DC or Atlanta before proceeding on most of our trips.
 
We used to race cars, party, and screw around in general on what was left of the runways at the old Raleigh airport above Tryon Rd and the 401/70 split. There's a bunch of apartments & a Golden Corral there and Chapanoke Rd. cuts through it now. We got chased (not caught) by the Wake County Sherriffs Department and a NCHP trooper joined in the chase back in the mid 70's. We went down Tryon and made the turn on Rhamkatte Road (now Lake Wheeler Rd.) and hid on the road to the Carolina Pines Gym beside a black guy's house we went to school with. His uncle came out to find out who we were & what was up. He had us park around back and hide in the shed, then covered for us. "He ain't seen no car he didn't know." They never saw the tag number and probably never a good description of the car. We took care of the uncle with some white liquor and some cash a few days later.

Jim
 
Pucking Lamplighter said:
We used to race cars, party, and screw around in general on what was left of the runways at the old Raleigh airport above Tryon Rd and the 401/70 split. There's a bunch of apartments & a Golden Corral there and Chapanoke Rd. cuts through it now. We got chased (not caught) by the Wake County Sherriffs Department and a NCHP trooper joined in the chase back in the mid 70's. We went down Tryon and made the turn on Rhamkatte Road (now Lake Wheeler Rd.) and hid on the road to the Carolina Pines Gym beside a black guy's house we went to school with. His uncle came out to find out who we were & what was up. He had us park around back and hide in the shed, then covered for us. "He ain't seen no car he didn't know." They never saw the tag number and probably never a good description of the car. We took care of the uncle with some white liquor and some cash a few days later.

Jim
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I may never tell a story in here again. That’s tough to top.
 
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