For Sparky and myself, curiosity drives passion which in turn fuels our life's engine. Our passion was capturing the story of both unbuilding the Grace (1929 - 2007) and Pearman (1966 - 2007) Bridges and discovering the unbuilders. It takes a lot of passion to track a project from July 2005 until April 2007 - rain, shine, hurricanes or moving to Singapore. We discovered the joy of discovery learning. Ken Canty opened the front door for us - then Steve Testa, Ponch Billingsley and Mickey Rogers opened many side doors. Below are the highlights of what we discovered, who we met and what we learned.
And a reminder from T.S. Eliot (East Coker from the Four Quartets)
Home is where one starts from. As we grow older The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated Of dead and living. Not the intense moment Isolated, with no before and after, But a lifetime burning in every moment And not the lifetime of one man only But of old stones that cannot be deciphered.
Today was a fun day for Mickey, the Hebb clan, the Nally clan and the Witte clan. Here is Cousin Arthur waiting for today's finale. Also in attendance is part of the Witte clan - Teasie, Liza and Matthew. Even from Singapore, I felt the excitment that Mickey, Ken and their team create.
For orientation, here is our reference photo
Discovering how Ken links the shock tubes to sequence the ignition
Mickey, Ken and a Discoverer linking the shock tubes
Ken on the C-2 base with the leading shock tube
Teasie, Matthew and Liza with C-2 and the shock-tube array in the background
Sonny and Stan (on top)Taking good care of Mickey's new Copco
Stan protecting Mickey's new Copco on the C-1 base with a nice rubber tire blanket
After the wrapping - Stan hopping off while Sonny just chills a bit
Mickey and the shock tube line to C-2
Discovering how Mickey plants the master shock tube and receiver unit
James and the whistle
Art and his Eddie R
James, Art, the Eddie R, Ken and the Discovery team
Our man, Sparky - smiling as usual
Our man, quiet Manny - always with a smile
An almost completely unbuilt P-9
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
C. Frank Starmer