Longtime reader Gerri Poth Beckman and her hubby John are spending some time in our old stomping grounds, the White Mountains of Arizona. Before we went on the road as fulltime RVers, Terry and I lived there and I published the weekly newspaper. The White Mountains are also the setting for my Big Lake mystery […]
In the summer of 1935, much of the world was suffering through the Great Depression, an economic collapse that had begun in the fall of 1929. In the United States, men who had earned good wages just a few short years before during the Roaring 20s were lucky to get jobs paying $5 to $7 […]
We’ve all heard the saying that truth is stranger than fiction, and there’s no question about that. More than once someone has asked me if the oddball questions I get and sometimes share here are real. Oh yeah, they’re real. I don’t have the imagination to come up with some of the things people ask […]
In an online conversation yesterday, somebody asked if anyone had ever heard of a rich guy who had a newspaper column and was famous for letting people write to him asking for money and then giving it to them. I replied that not only had I heard of him, I knew that man. Born in […]
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was one of America’s most beloved presidents, and the only man to hold the nation’s top office for four terms. He was a father figure to all of America, pulling us out of the Great Depression and seeing us through the darkest days of World War II. His Fireside Chats were an […]
I have mentioned before that I love doing research for my books, but it can become quite addictive and a time waster if one is not careful. Then again, if you’re learning new things, is it ever a waste of time? I spent much of yesterday working on my new Tinder Street book, knocking out […]
Well, we made it. The last day of 2020. Did you think we would get this far? I wasn’t too sure, and unfortunately, a lot of people didn’t. Just a few days ago, I found out that one of my longtime readers and online friends, Truman Dobbins, lost his battle with COVID-19. My heart goes […]
Benjamin Franklin Stone was a young man born into poverty. Part African-American and part Irish, he was born in 1874 to a society that considered him an outcast. As a young boy, Ben and his older brother Tom were placed in an orphanage in Toledo, Ohio. Though conditions at the orphanage were far from perfect, […]
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was one of America’s most beloved presidents, and the only man to hold the nation’s top office for four terms. He was a father figure to all of America, pulling us out of the Great Depression and seeing us through the darkest days of World War II. His Fireside Chats were an […]
Note: This story is from my book Overlooked Arizona. Do you believe in ghosts? Do you think it is possible that the spirits of those long departed from this world can return? Are tales of ghosts and hauntings merely the product of overactive imaginations? Ask some of the rangers at Arizona’s Yuma Territorial Prison State […]
The name Hershey is known the world over, and Hershey candies have delighted young and old alike across America and around the globe for over a century. But you may be surprised to learn about the man who founded the giant company that bears his name. Milton Hershey was born September 13, 1857 on a […]
On a visit to the Miami County Museum in Peru, Indiana I spotted an oversize pair of bib overalls hanging on the wall and learned about the man who wore them, a gentle giant named Robert Wadlow. Born in Alton, Illinois on February 22, 1918, Robert Pershing Wadlow was the first child of Addie and […]
Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you lovers out there, and especially to Miss Terry, the love of my life. Terry, everything I am and everything I ever hope to be is because of you. I love you with all of my being. As I held you when I went to sleep last night I […]
Note: This story was in the July-August 2005 issue of the Gypsy Journal. In the tiny community of Centreville, Mississippi, just a few miles north of the Louisiana state line, we came across a mystery that dates back to the days of the Great Depression and President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. Embedded in the […]
Note: This story first appeared in the September-October, 2008 issue of the Gypsy Journal. Located just off Interstate 57 in central Illinois, the charming and friendly community of Arcola was one of those rare gems we love to discover. A place where hippies, rag dolls, and Amish buggies are all part of the landscape The […]
Occasionally when I have nothing new to share with you, I will recycle an old story from a previous issue of the Gypsy Journal to give you an idea of some of the interesting things we have seen in our travels. This article was first published in our July-August, 2007 issue. Before the advent of […]
Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you lovers out there, and especially to Miss Terry, the love of my life. My darling, everything I am and everything I ever hope to be is because of you. I love you with all of my being. A couple of readers have asked me to share a love […]
Naps. I hated them when I was a kid, but as I get older, I have come to love naps. I love them on gray, rainy days, and I love them on bright sunny days. Give me my couch, a couple of comfy throw pillows, and a light comforter if it’s a chilly day, and […]
Well, the good news is that Greg White is back from whatever dark place he went to, and finally relented to take me to Dairy Queen last night. Life is back to normal.Or as normal as it ever gets when the two of us are in the same zip code. 🙂 We spent some time […]
Well, did your computer crash from the Conficker worm April Fool’s virus yesterday? Obviously not, because you’re reading this. But dire predictions filled the news for the last few days of March about how bad it was going to mess up our computers. It makes me wonder how real the threat was, and how inflated […]