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Charlie Campbell Tribute

  It has been a whirlwind few weeks. One  father's friends from high school passed away earlier and we made an expected trip down to Murrells Inlet for the celebration of life. They have kept in touch over the years. Charlie moved around a lot during his eighty plus year his roots remained n Allendale, NJ! He and his wife Bev were a fixture a t DeeDee and Anth ony's Fourth of July Parties. I   know their kids,John and Annie.Charlie also had to sons from a previous marriage and it was recently discovered he has another daughter. Charlie was the CEO of several companies, like Floor Shine shoes and Munsingwear, a golf clothing company.  The family moved around a lot from  Allendale,NJ to  Connecticut to Minnesota before finally  settling in Murrells Inlet SC, founding the Dead Dog Saloon, a fixture on the Murrells Inlet Marshwalk, he later built the Claw House next door. Ironically Charlie and Bev brought a second house in Cape May which meant I spen...
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Memorable Memorial Day

It started out as a pretty normal Memorial Daqy. Chris, Natalie  and Zander came up this weekend, we went to  the Old Mill yesterday and while mom played with Zander I decided to do some laps. This morning I woke up earlier because I knew Mom wouldn't let me out of the house without some kind of breakfast. I woofed it down and waited for the car to be moved so I could get my scooter. I was a bit bummed because  my camera stopped working but still I was psyched. They call it the Tri-Boro parade because it goes through Woodcliff Lake Park Ridge and Montvale, every  year they alternate. Th is yea r the parade started at the Woodcliff Lake firehouse so I went down to hang out. I unexpectedly ran into a good friend Bob Hanna, actually I went to school with his son Robbie. Everytime he sees me he anno unces, "Here's trouble!", which is true and this time was no excpetion. Well he announced he put his 1931 Model T Pickup in the parade this year. After about a second he answered the question I was afraid to ask. With a roll of his eyes, jokingly of course, he offered to allow m e to ri de shotgun. Instantly I was transported back to my youth when I rode in Joel Abrham's  1932 Chevy, but he sold  it a long time ago I had to park the scooter somewhere, the back bay of the firehouse  was open so I rode the scooter in, grabbed my scanner and ran back around the corner. Of course the parade already started so I had to scrabbleinto the truck trying not to scuff the running board.  Hanna then said I needed to take my sandles off which he thought was a mistake because my feet were sweaty./ Well we finally got our act together and I was in seventh heaven!! Meanwhile my mom, Natalie, Chris and Zander were waiting at the corner of Glen and Pascack, when Hanna and drove by hey just smiled. Hanna jokingly announced I put a gun to his head, right in front of th e Woodcliff Lake Police  Chief, glad he didn't hear it.
AS we drove the parade route I overheard people yelling, "Hey that's Justin" or what are you doing in that truck?" I was just smiling the whole time, soaking in the moment. It was also very interesting learning about the Model T picking truck while driving me along the route.   After all the years teasing each ot her we had a pretty pleasant drive
Afterwards we went to a pinic with the other antique auto folks. I returned to the firehouse to get m y bike home'. I no sooner got home and it was time to go to Aunt :Dees for dinner and of cou rse more swimming. Can't think of a better way to spend Memorial Day!!!!!

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