Top 20 Entries from 1972 - Part 3***

Here are the next 5 highlights selected from 366 journal entries of 1972

LOCATION: Corona, California -- Jan 21, 2014

Saturday, July 1, page 183, was the half-way point in the Leap Year of 1972

11) Jul 02, 1972 - The Cave of TIME

LOCATION: Bethlehem & Wonderland Cave, South Dakota
I visit Wonderland Cave & Prince Valiant confronts a sorcerer in The Cave of TIME.

Writer/Illustrator HAL FOSTER (1892 - 1982) set an impossibly high standard for graphic storytelling. His Prince Valiant series followed the thrilling adventures of a bold prince throughout his life while he aged in real time. Splendid artwork & deceptively simple text wove complex tales of exploration, power struggles, ingenuity, magic, courage, peace & violence. The PV sagas clearly inspired our recent Game of Thrones productions. It's interesting to note that the extraordinary life's work that defined Foster's existence was tragically erased from his mind. During a routine medical procedure, an accident with anesthesia resulted in extreme memory loss. At the end of his days, he could never recall writing or drawing Prince Valiant. As far as he was concerned, his extraordinary world-changing epic never happened.

None may withstand "TIME"... I vanquish them all in the end.

-- Ancient Sorcerer in The Cave of TIME  

12) Jul 06, 1972 - Forgetfullness: Non-Total Recall

LOCATION: Bethlehem, South Dakota
In an examination of memory, I consider two versions of "Total Recall" and wonder what you will remember about these movies after 40 years. Anything? Anything at all?

13) Jul 17, 1972 - Pranking McGovern's Secret Service

LOCATION: Bethlehem & Rapid City, South Dakota
On my 18th birthday I end up at the Rapid City airport for the arrival of the Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern. While we are waiting, my friends & I amuse ourselves by impersonating secret service agents. McGovern was a South Dakota senator and a friend of Father Gilbert & the Shrine of the Nativity. This day also features a mind-bending experience at Mount Rushmore and a visit to The Planet Of The Apes.

14) Aug 13, 1972 - A fun-filled family dinner party

LOCATION: Chicago

I had a great time in Chicago as a guest of the Latkas. This page includes photos of me having a goofy dinner with family & friends. 

15) Aug 25, 1972 - "Guess Who" concert in Rapid City

LOCATION: Bethlehem & Rapid City, South Dakota
Guess who appears in this entry?

The Guess Who - Undun (1983 performance)

Another band I saw in '72 was Styx when they first appeared under that name at a Marist High School dance in Chicago (July 21). I never would have dreamed that both of these groups would still be performing more than 40 years later. It's interesting to note that Styx & The Guess Who have both created compelling songs about the enigma of time. If we got Styx, The Guess Who & Chicago together, we could have a decent TIME concert. Something like this...

Styx - The Best of Times

Styx - Too Much Time on My Hands

The Guess Who - No Time

Styx - Crystal Ball

NEXT WEEK: Top 20 Entries from 1972 - Part 4 (16 to 20)

Jul 10 - Geri's photos of Europe trip*

Monday, July 10, 1972 - Page 192
LOCATION: Bethlehem, South Dakota

7:00 PM
I've just finished putting in the photos Geri took [April 21 & 22; April 29 & 30]. I missed breakfast today, of course -- it was windy and somewhat cloudy, but most of the day was warm, clear and calm. I did various things -- hauled cement to Clint & Tom S. who put it in the forms, shoveled dirt away from the bank (just now I wrote "Happy Birthday to me," on July 17, 72), finished cement, constructed forms with Pierce (Dorothy, by the way, turned her ankle badly yesterday, so she's incapacitated), and began grading the land near Storm's.

Klint

Jeff's gone, most of the nuns are still here, two groups of tourists dropped by to see the cave, Mike Mills beat me in two more games of chess, and I read some more in "The Thing In The Stone" [by Clifford Simak originally published in Worlds of IF Science Fiction, March 1970: A man who suffered brain damage can see the ancient past & hear the traffic of the stars -- and a mysterious creature trapped under a mountain...]. I'm learning to find more time where I can now, so I'll be doing more reading, some writing, and possibly some artwork.

John, Bruce, Clint, Tom & Tom are gone now, out helping a doctor move his motorcycle from Wonderland Cave. Jim's out someplace playing his guitar (I can hear the music vaguely). I am now in Abbott's, and Mike and Greg are in the next room fooling with some psychological test. Brad is unaccountable as usual. Today Gil mentioned that he'll want me to do some art work for a pamphlet. Progress on that will be forthcoming. Now I'm going to write captions for the Europe photos. -- It rained for a while today, then cleared up. The Democratic convention took place. I lost in poker.

Tom Hildebrand, Father Gilbert's right-hand man

TOMORROW: Flood-Repair Meeting in Deadwood

Jul 01 - MID-POINT in this Journal's Journey***

Saturday, July 1, 1972 - Page 183
LOCATION: Bethlehem & Rapid City, South Dakota

Half-way thru this big year...

THE YEAR IS EXACTLY HALF OVER

(11:30 AM 7/4/1972)
So I woke up at 7:30. Bruce got up somewhere before 6:00. Anyway, I ate breakfast with the gangs and then wandered around outside. Tom H. and John were at the cave unloading boxes of candles from the Van, so I helped them. Father Gil was gone yesterday, but he had come in during the nite. I met him again at breakfast. He's a nice fellow.

Anyway, eventually another group went down into Rapid -- Tom, Me, Bruce, Mike F., John and a couple who were up at Beth for a short time, and were going to Rapid to hitchhike out -- they were Andi, a chubby gal, and Pat, an Amish sort of fellow -- they both seemed under 20. So we all drove down the road (we always have to use the grader or a cat to pull the van through the creek where the road was washed out), and we stopped at a farmhouse at the end of the road for Bruce's car (Illinois license -- he's from Suburban Chicago), a Valiant with a busted transmission. Mike F., John & Bruce (mostly Mike tho) removed the drive shaft. While we were there we talked with the friendly old man who lived there, and played with the friendly young kitten that lived there too.

John & Bruce rode in the car while we towed it into an Aamco station in Rapid City. There we found out it would cost $150 to fix. (Andi & Pat had left by then, being dropped off at the corner by Tom.) The cost was prohibitive, so Bruce and Tom drove to a junk dealer, but had no luck. They returned, and John, Me, and Tom & Bruce drove to another junk man and he said he'd have a look at it when he got off work at noon. So we left Bruce at the Aamco station with his car to wait for the junk man, while Tom, Mike, John and I went around Rapid -- Tom had to buy a part for Gil's car, and check in at Becker's Drugstore to find out what work there was to be done. There wasn't anything definite, so we drove back to Aamco to wait for the junk dealer. After an hour we left Bruce there again and went to Becker's to finish what little there was left. We did, and then we drove to a Salvation Army truck for lunch. Then we returned to Becker's to eat and to wait for Bruce who would be hitchhiking down.

To pass time I gave Mike and John that psychological test I'd heard in History Class long ago -- the path signifies life, the key symbolizes knowledge, the cup of love, etc. -- during that (I didn't give the test to Tom cause he'd already done it in Spain last year -- we had some time to waste then too), a couple of girls came by from another house to see what we were up to. We talked to her awhile and I learned some more about the flood.

EXPLORING YOUR HIDDEN PERSONALITY

One day during High School History class, our teacher shared an entertaining test he'd learned in his College Psychology course. It's not really a TEST (there are no right or wrong answers), it is a clever method of delving into the human imagination. Your responses uncover subconscious perspectives that reveal your unique view of life's journey.

Throughout my travels, I often used this "test" when meeting new people to break the ice or to fill those awkward moments when nobody has anything to say. After hearing responses from more than a hundred people over the years, I am constantly amazed by the revelations into human nature that are brought out during this exercise. Nobody ever gives the same answers to these questions.

See for yourself. Find the 6 questions here on my website: Your Journey. Write or record your answers, then I will auto-send you a one-time email that explains what it all means (no obligation, no cost, no spam, no kidding). I promise that you will be genuinely astounded. Share it with your family, friends or co-workers, and learn about the fantastic private worlds that live in everybody's heads.

Bruce came by in some body's car (the second ride he'd got) -- he'd sold his car for $45 -- he'd originally asked $125. John was disturbed about the car being sold because he and Bruce were going to drive to Iowa in it. So their plans have changed. We talked with the girls some more, toured the house, and eventually they left, and then we left driving back up to Beth.

It had sprinkled slightly, but hardly at all. Saturday I learned that practically everyone at Beth plays chess. I brought out my chess set (tho I didn't have a board), but John had a set and board so we used his. I played three games with Bruce in the retreat house -- the last game was interrupted by Dinner, but I won all three anyway. Then John and I decided to play cards. I dug up Tom and Lyle (a visitor from the Wonderland Cave Info center) who were at the Abbott's cabin, and we started playing poker. Lyle won, beating me, and left to drive back to Wonderland. We continued playing, and a few new people came in. Brad, who was here in January, Mike Youngster, Tim, and Mike National Guard -- all from Nebraska. Tom left, Bruce played, getting in debt with me & John, and Mike Y. also played. ---

I won eventually -- Bruce lost, Mike Y. lost, and I beat John playing Guts. Then I went on to lose 3 games of chess to Mike N.G. I played two with Lyle and won one. Finally got to sleep after Midnight. (Oh yeah, Lyle was here because his car broke down -- he slept in our room that nite). It rained that night, most of it on Saturday.

TOMORROW: The Cave of TIME