The final stop in our aimless trip around the Northeast was the Delaware water gap. We were going to visit Raul and Cindy Mello. We first met Raul over 20 years ago in NYC. He is now an internationally acclaimed opera singer and Cindy works for nasdaq-amex.. We arrived in the small town of Milford before the Mello’s since they had gotten caught in some hellish traffic leaving NYC. Terry and I wandered the country roads looking for a scenic spot to stop and have lunch. I saw this VFW and had to stop. I leaned back against a shady tree and started to sketch. Terry took the rental truck and went up the road to shop at an antique shop we had passed. She has gotten good at judging how long it will take me to finish a sketch. when she came back I was just putting down the final washes.
Terry and I ate leftovers from the previous nights dinner at Olive Garden. The pasta tasted even better than it had the night before when I had been too full to enjoy it. While I sketched, I discovered I was sitting right on top of an ant mound. They had started to scramble up my legs. I jumped up and stamped to shake them off. I moved a yard away to do the watercolor washes.
From the brass marker I discovered I was in Pike County New York. This UH-1H Dustoff Helicopter’s tail number is 68-15542 and it flew 16 kn0wn medical evacuation sorties for a total of 1,423 flight hours between May of 1969 and February 1970 in the Republic of Vietnam.
The veteran’s parking lot started to fill up. Two SUV’s emptied its load of teenagers. The boys put on backpacks and then the whole pack marched off into the woods. When I finished this sketch, Terry wanted me to go to go to the antique store which she wanted to continue shopping at. It was a fun shop with tons of fun affordable options, though I didn’t pick anything up. I was tempted by a $3 leather monocle holder. But I realized I didn’t have a monocle.