Rosa Trip: Days 3 & 4

Archontis Pantsios apantsi at binghamton.edu
Tue Jun 13 18:05:16 CEST 2000


Fellow Quackeroos:

Day 2 of our Rosa trip had ended with me just having read Rosa's most
recent Lo$ chapter.

*DAY 3: THURSDAY, June 1, 2000*: We woke up ~ 8:00 a.m. and had to pass up
Ann's kind offer to fix us for breakfast the thickest pancakes in Kentucky
(the catch was that we had to wake up at 7:00 a.m., since she had to leave
for her seminar--as it turned out, we'd take her up on the offer the
following morning!). We had our breakfast at the western deck reading the
local newspaper that mentioned a demostration in Greece by extreme
religious groups regarding the mentioning of religious affiliation in one's
identity card!

After breakfast we visited a deck in the forest south of the house, always
been followed by the 3 dogs that were quick to respond to Don's commands
about squirrels! Don told us that they don't use that deck very often,
because, eventhough it's connected to a power line, it has no phone line
and so one can't sit there and get connected to the 'Net--plus, its
distance from the house would mean lots of carrying stuff back and forth. 

It was getting late in the morning and knowing that it'd get very hot and
humid later in the day, we embarked on our second forray into Don's
"jungle"! This time we "explored" the northwestern part of the forested
area. Don was literally armed with a machettee and was leading the way
around the "intricate" system of pathways. He told us that the major
"enemy" since he initially bought this property was the poison ivy! The
area was initially infested with poison ivy, but after persistent spraying
over the years, he has managed to kill it off in many areas, while still
fighting it where it's still reigning! The pathways are mowed ~once a month
and while he's always careful to avoid going over turtles, the last time he
mowed the area, his machine run against a turtle hiding in the grass. Our
"exploration" ended on the small pond north of the house.

What next? Well, a ride into town! Don wanted to make photocopies of his
most recent story and then drop them off at Dan Shane's place, so we
decided to ride along and then visit a local comic-book store, "The Great
Escape"!

We rode on the '48 Dodge and headed towards Louisville! I sat in the back
seat and I really enjoyed the ride even if it was really hot with no
air-conditioning. Other than that, however, the car was in *GREAT* shape!
Very roomy and comfortable inside (they *REALLY* knew how to make cars
these days!), and felt very safe (with real steel in the front bumpers!).
Most people would stare as we drove by as the car really stood out among
the modern Camrys, Accords, and Tauruses! Don told us that he's sometimes
asked by people "What year is *IT*?"--and he (jokingly) replies: " It's
2000!". 

We first made a stop at a photocopying center and we waited under the shade
of a tree as Don was taking care of the photocopies inside. At one point,
he rushed outside to show us a "real Kentucky redneck" that had just driven
up and didn't care to park his car properly but had simply left it where he
stopped!

After leaving the photocopying center and following a brief stop at Dan
Shane's house, we visited "The Great Escape". The store's managers knew Don
and he introduced us as "2 European comic book fans". (I guess they'd be
"shocked" if they met *American* Disney comics fans! :-)). We spent ~an
hour browsing thru the store and we even found 3 boxes of Disney comics
from Dell to Gladstone. Orjan bought a few Dell issues from the 1950s
saying that each costs less than a "Kalle Anka" costs nowadays! 

After a brief but non-successful stop at a nearby CVS pharmacy to look for
post-cards, we rode the Dodge and asked Don to take us to the house where
he was borned and raised (actually he lived there until his 9th year). It
was a very nice neighborhood in suburbia Louisville, and we parked right in
front of the house. Don told us that the place looked almost exactly as it
looked 40 years ago, with the only addition being a little tree planted
recently. Don showed us the window of his room where he read his (actually
his sister's) first Disney comics and where he drew his first comics! We
were hoping that someone would actually step out of the house so we could
talk to him, but to no avail. A neighbor working in her garden was busy
talking on her cellular phone, and after taking a few pictures we rode the
Dodge and headed for home. It was early in the afternoon, very hot, and at
some point the Dodge gave us a small scare at it started to overheat.
Fortunately, after passing some busy intersections the engine was
ventilated adequately and the temperature started to fall to less alarming
levels...

When we returned to Don's house we rested for a few minutes in the living
room and asked to see the stories he drew as a child! We thought that he'd
bring out 4-5 booklets, but he came upstairs carrying a big box! The box
was full of old agendas and accounting ledgers that Don's father would
bring home from work. We started thumbing thru these old mementos and we
saw what could well have been Don's first picture-story that he did while
in kinderkarten! (the story had "interruptions" for T.V. commercials, just
as the yound Don would see them on T.V.!). It was amazing to see that some
of his stories where he used stick figures would presage some of his Duck
stories (like "Journey to the Center of the Earth"!). Among the most
fascinating drawings were copies of 2 Barks stories where he used humans to
retrace "The Old Castle's Secret" and (Don's absolute favorite Barks story)
"The Golden Helmet". We were also able to locate what could be Don's first
Duck drawing (according to Frank Stajano), even though Don himself has some
doubts about it really being a Duck!

We spent the rest of the afternoon in Don's studio. Don left us there alone
for ~an hour to do some e-Bay "hunting" downstairs. We took countless
photos covering every possible angle of the room, (my favorite one is when
I was pretending to draw on his drawing board, with a lithograph of Barks'
oil painting "McDuck of Duckburg" in the background!), we searched thru the
piles of international Disneys free for the taking and took quite a few
back, we went thru his file cabinet with copies of all his stories in B&W
from initial rough story boards to finished inked panels, we read "The
Three Caballeros" (Orjan read the whole thing, I had time only to go thru
half of it and I'm really looking forward to seeing it in print!). 

We went downstairs when Don informed us that it was time for dinner! After
debating whether it was too hot to sit outside, we finally went ahead with
the previous evening's set-up: the larger, western deck. This time dinner
consisted of smocked chicken, corn-on-the-cob, salad, and cold ale (or
simply water for Orjan, who suffered in the heat the previous evening when
he had Don's homemade wine!). Personally, I sweated it out, but didn't
balk! We really enjoyed this last evening at the Rosas. We discussed
economics, politics, traveling, and ...birds! 

After dinner we visited Don's studio for one last time! Don never stopped
surprising us by bringing out new wonders to feast our eyes; the last was
probably the best: his original art for many of his covers, some older ones
he said will never part with and some newer ones. It was really a special
treat to close off the second day by oggling over those originals!


*DAY 4: FRIDAY, June 2, 2000*: We had decided to leave early, anticipating
a 12-hour drive back to Binghamton, NY. Hence, this time we took Ann up on
her flap-jacks offer for breakfast! Orjan tried one more thing for the
first time (among the many firsts for him during his U.S. visit). Good, ol'
Gyro was right there to offer us help with the pancakes! 

After breakfast it was time for good-byes: we thanked the Rosas for their
wonderful hospitality, for putting us up and feeding us, and sharing their
lives with us for two full days. As we drove up the driveway we knew that
the chances of making the same trip any time soon (if ever again) were
rather slim; at the same time we knew that these two days were something we
would treasure for the rest of our lives...

The drive back was more subdued than the one three days earlier. We tried
to re-collect our thoughts, compare notes, and exchange opinions on what we
had experienced. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant near Erie, PA, and we
arrived in Binghamton ~9:00 p.m. It was the end of four wonderful,
exhilarating days...

Cheers,

Archontis




------------------------------
Archontis L. Pantsios, Ph.D.
Visiting Associate Professor 
Department of Economics
Binghamton University
Binghamton, New York 13902
USA
tel: (607)777-4726
fax: (607)777-2681
------------------------------




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