Spring is one of my favorite times of the year.
     The flowers are starting to blossom, the grass is gaining a touch of green and the trees are awakening from their winter slumber.
      So are the local ice cream shops across Iowa and the Midwest.
Even though winter is trying to hang on, local eateries such as Grinnell’s Dairy Barn and Montezuma’s Dairy King are already bustling with business. In fact, Debbie and I have already visited the Dairy King three times for a meal since it opened in late March.
     I got to thinking about a tasty ice cream cone or a double cheeseburger with mayo and pickle and an order of onion rings and it reminded me of my growing up days in the south.
     My hometown of Tulsa was home to a number of drive-in’s and small eateries.
    Pennington’s Drive-In on south Peoria Avenue was a long-time iconic eatery just a mile from the Arkansas River that flowed on the western edge of downtown Tulsa before rolling south. That section of Peoria Avenue was referred to as Tulsa’s Restless Ribbon, a two-mile stretch of pavement where boys cruised in their hotrods with their girls on Friday and Saturday nights. I often took my old 1959 Chevrolet Impala, my first car, to the Restless Ribbon back in the day to park and check out the girls. I’m thankful for the sound advice of my mother and the good Lord for keeping me on the straight and narrow and out of trouble’s way.
     Pennington’s featured 60 drive-in spots and was in business from 1951 to 1987. They served tasty shrimp baskets, burgers and their famous Black-Bottom Pie, a Southern creamy icebox delight made with bittersweet-chocolate and a graham cracker crust. The food was served by a car hop on metal trays that hung on your car window.
    Customers ordered their food at Pennington’s on the Order-Matic speaker systems that according to an article I read about the restaurant, was later used by another famous Oklahoma car-hop stop: Sonic Drive-In.
     Boots Drive-In on south Sheridan Road was another Tulsa favorite where teenagers from Will Rogers High School, my alum mater, and neighboring Hale High School would hang out after a football or basketball game. And I can’t forget about Shaw’s Drive-In on south Yale Avenue, another favorite drive-in eatery in Tulsa.
   And of course, I can’t forget about the numerous 10-stool eateries across T-town. Bills, Ron’s, Ted’s Hamburgers, where customers could eat their meal seated in old wooden school desks; and Freddie’s Hamburgers, a Tulsa favorite owned and operated by a high school classmate of mine, the now late Fred Willis. Freddie’s was a yearly fixture at the Tulsa State Fair. When at the fair, my dad always enjoyed eating at Freddie’s and visiting with Fred, who was known for his friendly demeanor.
      I can’t forget about Weber’s Drive-In where they served famous Weber’s Root Beer and the Chuck Wagon Drive-In in Tulsa. The Chuck Wagon eatery resembled a chuck wagon and they provided car-hop service or you could pick up your meal at the to-go window.
      Goldies Patio Grill was a Tulsa favorite for years. There may still be a few of them around. They featured chargrilled hamburgers, fries and a pickle bar. They bar featured about every kind of pickle that could be pickled.
     A column on food wouldn’t be complete without mentioning another Tulsa institution of tasty delights, Coney-I-Lander. The eatery, which served grilled coneys served on a bun with chili and cheese, has been around since 1926. One of my favorites is still located on the original Route 66 that rolled through T-town, less than a mile from my boyhood home.
     After moving to Missouri, then Iowa, it took me awhile to grasp the concept of a Maid-Rite loose meat sandwich.
     My first experience of eating a loose meat sandwich happened while I was a student at the University of Missouri-Columbia. I stopped at a drive-in on Broadway in downtown Columbia near the university for lunch. I checked out the menu and decided to order a couple zip burgers, thinking they were a local name given to a hamburger.
     I opened the first one and about half of it fell on my lap and the floorboard of my pickup truck.
     “What the heck is this,” I’m thinking, as I try save part of my meal.
     That was a new experience for a southern boy.
    After moving to Iowa, it didn’t take me long to be introduced to the famous Maid-Rite loose meat sandwich. In the south, we called them a sloppy joe, a saucy, tomato-based creation severed over an open faced bun.
Debbie loves Maid-Rites. I’ve eaten local versions of loose meat sandwiches at football games and community events many times through the years. I know people love them and that is OK. I’ll stick with a regular cheeseburger.
    And chili in the north is called a soup. In the south, chili is a meat dish that some eat with a fork, not a spoon. You can still eat it with a spoon if you wish.
    One of my favorite Iowa and Midwestern eateries is Culver’s. I stop every chance I get for a double deluxe with onion rings and a cold glass of iced tea. I hope to see you there soon.
     Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

        I have had the privilege of meeting a number of famous people along life’s way.
        Some years ago, I attended a car show in Tulsa where I met Sorrell Brooke, who played Boss Hogg on the Dukes of Hazard. Most Friday nights Dad and I took a short trip to pick up some Wheel Burgers at the Chuckwagon drive in for supper. We enjoyed the meal while gathered around the television in the kitchen to watch Dukes of Hazard and Dallas.
        And one of my most recent autographs is from Lynda Carter, who played Wonder Woman in the 1970s. About five years ago, I reached out to Carter’s agency asking about getting her autograph.
        Lynda herself wrote me an email and sent the address as to where I could send a SASE for her autograph. Her photo did arrive a short time later. I not only have her autographed photo, I have an email note from Wonder Woman herself.
        A few years back Debbie and I met Frank Fritz, the former television star of the American Pickers, at the Iowa State Fair. I saw him walking down the midway and chased him down to shake his hand. Later in the day, we got our photo taken with Frank at the US Cellular trailer. I have a framed photo with autographs of Fritz, Mike and Danielle Colby of the popular show.
       Other famous people I’ve met from afar include then President Bill Clinton. I was in Washington, D.C. in 1995 as a student at the University of Missouri-Columbia to attend an agricultural communicators event and President Clinton was a guest speaker.
       President Clinton spoke to a large room filled with ag communicators in the basement of the J.W. Marriott Hotel, where I was staying for the three-day conference. Everyone was patted down and I had my camera bag checked. The press was everywhere and the photographers even set up lights in the room.
        I was toward the back of the room with the other photographers, many with camera lens I would use on an African Safari, not to take photos of the President. The photographer next to me was clicking away and then stopped. “It’s you’re turn,” he said. All I had was my Konica film camera and a short lens. Talk about feeling out of place.
        I’ve met and photographed former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, current Gov. Kim Reynolds and some years ago, Debbie and I attend an event for the media at Christmastime at the Iowa Governor’s Mansion when Gov. Vilsack was in office. We toured the entire mansion, including the bedrooms, office and kitchen. That was quite experience walking around in the governor’s bedroom.
        One my biggest moments was the time I got to meet and interview the now late Sen. Fred Thompson, a former Tennessee Senator, lawyer and television actor, who in 2007 threw his hat in the Presidential race. He stopped in Montezuma a few days after Christmas that year and I interviewed him in the Montezuma Republican office. I then followed him around the town as he stopped and visited with folks and even struck up a conversation with the fry cook at the Star Lanes.
         And I can’t forget about being backstage at the Grand Old Opry on my honeymoon on Oct. 1, 2004. We got autographs of the late Jean Shepard, Porter Wagoner and Little Jimmy Dickens. We also got autographs of country star Chely Wright, T.G. Shepard and the now late T. Bubba Bechtol, a county comedian who invited us back stage after I wrote and told him we would be at the Opry. Such great memories.
       I have autographs of former OU Football Coaches Barry Switzer and Bobby Stoops as well as the last coach, Lincoln Riley, who left for USC.
         I have a signed footballs by a number of OU players including Brian Bosworth, the “Boz” as he was called when he played for the Sooners in the 1980s. And I once met and got an autograph from Billy Sims, the Heisman Trophy winner in 1978, at the Tulsa State Fair.
        I met Patty Gasso, the OU Sooners Softball coach, at a softball game at ISU a few years back. After the game, I stood in the stands by the dugout and called her name. She came over and met me and signed a hat and softball. Debbie and I have autographs of a number of OU players and professional softball players, including Keilani Ricketts, Lauren Chamberlain, Paige Lowary, an Iowa girl, and Shelby Pendley. I also have an autograph of Chelsea Thomas, a Pleasantville, Iowa native who played for the Missouri Tigers a few years ago.
         I once met the late Hayden Fry, the former Iowa football coach, and was introduced personally to him by author George Wine, who wrote the book: Hayden Fry: A High Porch Picnic in the late 1990s.
          Debbie has met Brad Paisley and was at the state fair when she was invited to a meet-and-greet for Reba McEntire. She also has autographs from coaches and ball players.
          And I once attended a Sawyer Brown concert at Meskwaki Casino. I had a press pass as the opening act was Lynston Blain, a 14-year-old North English singer at the time who opened for the county act. Afterwards, I got all the band member’s autographs.
         Another person who comes to mind is the now late Charles W. Moore. Moore, a photographer for Life Magazine during the Civil Right days of the 60s, took many of the iconic photos that depict that time in our society.
         After he spoke to our photography class at MU, Moore joined a number of us for lunch at Shakespeare Pizza in Columbia across from the J School. I remember the day well as well as his words of wisdom.
          “Whatever you do in life, do it with passion,” he told the group that day.
          Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

​     Every so often I start talking out loud to myself and it can bring stares from those around me. I’ve been so loud at times that some people think I’m talking to them.
    When that happens, I usually say it is “nothing,” as I continue on with the business at hand. It is usually something on my mind or a brain toot of some sort that gets me going.
     I’ve heard it said that it is OK to talk to yourself, just don’t answer. I don’t know about all that. If you are going to have a conversation, might as well have a question and answer session and get whatever it is on your mind worked out.
     Experts on the subject say it is more common for people to talk to themselves than to not. According to one study I found on the Internet, 96 percent of adults say they have an internal dialogue (the voice inside their head). While self-talk out loud is less common, 25 percent of adults say they talk to themselves, mainly due to everyday situations they encounter.
    There are 329.5 million people living in America as of 2020. That works out to 316.5 million people who commonly talk to themselves or have some sort of internal dialogue. I guess I am in good company.
    In another study I found on the subject, talking to yourself out loud is perfectly normal. In some cases – such as when you’re trying to increase focus – it may even be more beneficial to jabber away than keep whatever it is giving you an itch bottled up. However, the study did caution those who talk out loud to always be mindful of their settings. That is something I need to work on a bit more.
   Another study I found on the subject indicated that talking to yourself may indicate a higher level of intelligence. The study noted that according to scientists at Bangor University, speaking out lout to yourself was “found to be a trait of higher cognitive function.”
    I don’t know if talking out loud makes me smarter, but I do know that hard work, diligence, not giving up and keeping on when the odds are against you will go a long ways in helping you have a successful life. So will praying.
     Sometime I pray out loud. It’s not that God can’t hear me when I pray silently, I just prefer to talk out loud. Praying, in my thoughts, is not the same as jabbering away to one’s self while working out a problem.
     I remember some years ago while attending the University of Missouri-Columbia. It was my 36thbirthday in September 1995, and I was preparing to take the grammar test to get into the MU School of Journalism for a third time. I needed to score 80 points out of 100 questions, all grammar and sentence structure related, such as he, she, who, whom, they, them and the likes.
     I had taken the test twice before and failed it with scores of 73 and 68. The idea that I was taking the test at one of the top journalism schools in the nation was a feat in itself. I barely passed high school English nearly 20-years earlier and to be there on that day was quite an accomplishment on my part.
    Anyway, I had spent hours studying and attending tutoring sessions with editorial professionals at the journalism school. On test day, a large group of test-takers had gathered on the lawn and steps outside of the test center at the journalism school. Many were talking and others were complaining as to the purpose of the test.
     I left that gathering and went down the hall to an outside door and found a place of solace, where I began to pray out loud.
    I didn’t ask God if it was Ok for me to be there, I told God that I was going to pass that test because I believed that I belonged there. I was saying these words out loud while walking up and down the sidewalk. Every so often someone would leave the building and I would stop for a moment, greet them and continue on.
    I finished the test on time and passed with a score of 82. I went on to have a great experience in journalism school, outside of a class in advertising. I didn’t do so well in that class.
   Even though I have shared this and other stories about my time at MU in this column, it’s good reminder of where I’ve been and where I’m going. It gives me time to reflect on the good things in life and to remember that success is available to all.
    Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.