On Sunday, Huntington Beach libraries are closed. It does not mean I take a day off. I wanted to know if the city had any buses that traveled clean to Los Angeles -- and by God, they did. Right Across from Costco is the Transit station and Old World Village on Center Street. A bus just had pulled up.
"Are there any buses that go to Los Angeles?" He smiled and nodded in the affirmative.
"The #701 Express leaves each morning at three different times."
I found out it goes clear to Union Station with a minimum of stops. I also bought a book with all the routes and time schedules. Then I looked at the thirty or so shops in the Old Village. I thought it would be just the place to meet my grand-kids summer and spring. You can't beat a German Deli or the craftsmanship of the old clock store. I was enamored with the toy soldier store.
Then I drove to the Whole Foods market. I brought some homework and was busy rereading some of the research papers. I treated myself to a breakfast with the leanest bacon I had ever eaten. A professional football game between Green Bay and Pittsburgh was on T.V. I asked the sole next to me if the game was a regular one.
"No it is preseason. But these boys are trying to make the teams They are going all out!"
He had lived in Green Bay and I spoke about my football story. One thing led to another and the name of Lindbergh cropped up.
"You are joking. Harold Bixby was my Great-Great-Grandfather and he was the one who did Lindbergh's financing. That is how the Ryan plane had been bought. It was Bixby who made Lindbergh call it the Spirit of St. Louis. Without Bixby there would have been no Lindbergh, since the wad of money came in the nick of time. Others were competing with the $25,000 prize to become the first to fly the Atlantic to Paris France.
"Well I have a chapter on Lindbergh in my football story. Any information would be gladly received. Harold Bixby ran a St. Louis bank and gave Lindbergh the go-ahead to buy the Ryan monoplane."
"He made his money selling boxcars to the train companies. I am a contractor who had been born with a gold spoon in my mouth. I just came in from Coronado.
Well we must have talked for one hour and how he built some gorgeous homes in upstate New York. I told him that there is a library at the Aero-Space Museum with books on Lindbergh.
Ethan left and I returned to my apartment for a much needed nap, but too excited to sleep. The rest of the day I spent with my brother in Midway City sharing dinner with him at the Pacific Spartan Assistant Living Center
The name of Bixby meant nothing to me until Sunday.
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