Where is Billy?

I HAVE NOT HEARD A WORD FROM BILLY! I AM WORRIED.

Its official - Billy Crippe World Travelor

We had the family meeting yesterday and there was a lot of discussion....you know like will the Puzzler be able to continue to keep his auxiliary power supply charged? ....Will the smog bother him? Will there be problems going thru airport security? Where will he be on the airplane? What about all those steps at the Olympic venues?

We had lots of questions and very few answers.....but this would be a once in a lifetime experience for Billy Crippe.

At 7:30 we delivered Billy and his meager luggage to the Puzzlers residence. Shortly thereafter scrapper Bob came by with his Dodge Caravan and loaded everyone up to go to the airport. I don't think Bob got the word that Billy was going along as we had to leave Bob's RAGBRAI weary bicycle in the Puzzlers garage so that there would be room for Billy and Carol's seven bags. (No big shake....because Bob will probably not ride his bike until its time for next year's RAGBRAI)

We went along to the Eastern Iowa Airport (CID)to say so long to Billy for awhile....next stop would be O'Hare and then 16 hours in air to Beijing.

To say Billy was sweating it would be an understatement...but then the temp was 82F and the Humidity was 70%.

Check back...this could get interesting.

Billy has a dream

Beijing Olympics 2008 - The Countdown Begins @ Yahoo! Video

Billy loves all kinds of sports. His favorite is football and his beloved Iowa Buckeyes. The puzzler has Jack Nicholson seating for the Buckeye season and has promised the tickets to Billy and us when they are out of town on their various traveling adventures. You can follow the adventures of the Puzzler by clicking here.

But this year Billy is conflicted. He can use the Puzzlers football tickets whilst they are in China for this years Olympics or...are you ready for this.....he can tag along with them in China.

Billy has a hard decision to make. His passport is up to date and he travels light (unless you factor in the lung) and he loves watching gymnastics....something he was never able to do himself.

Like I say he is conflicted. There will be a family meeting today at the Crippe household and we will be there to help make the right decision for him. So stay tuned. Will Billy see the first two Buckeye games or will he be a world traveler? Time is short, the Naked Gun is making the airport run tomorrow.

Bob the scrapper

Bob is a scrapper......I don't mean he likes to fight....He has been keeping copious records of people he knows since the mid- forties and preserving them in scrapbook form.

I'm sure the methods have changed as certain essentials were invented over the years ..like glue and color photography.

I stopped in the other day and asked him to show me a book or two. We plopped one down on his table near his poolside bar. Thats the area you will find him on any given Sunday, dressed in his signature "slingshot"...that is if he is dressed at all. Thats why they call him Naked Gun

The books are filled with everything associated with his life. Friends and family....one family member is nephew Tom Arnold and he gets a lot of press and space in the scrapbook.

You will remember it was Tom and his family comps that forced Billy to stay in the sweltering iron lung at the theatre parking lot during the premiere of the Final Season.......but thats another post from the past.

Some bloggies say the naked Gun looks a lot like Billy's Uncle Heinie. I've posted the two side by side. You make your own comparison.

RAGBRAI in Homestead (An Amana Village)

If Billy could ride a bike.....he would do RAGBRAI.....so when RAGBRAI stopped in the Amana Colonies for its second visit, Billy requested that he be front and center.

I store the Hummer in a secret place in the town of Homestead, so early this morning I proceed to the storage garage and it fires to life even though it has not been driven for awhile. You see the Hummer is thirsty and unless Billy needs to go somewhere or there is a lot of snow cover, it just hibernates most of the time. (I actually have been thinking of pawning my blackberry for gas money) I'm off to Middle Amana and the second story walk-up to gather Billy the lung and the backup power supply and before we know it we are back in Homestead to see a good number of this years RAGBRAI participants stream into town.

For the blogies from outside of Iowa who are not familiar with RAGBRAI , please point your browser to here.

There used to be a lot of party people on RAGBRAI ....but nowadays it seems like a bike ride
to the church picnic. Gone are the naked beer slides and people riding au natural....at least thats what I heard. Naked Gun still rides RAGBRAI, having done so for 33 times. Some of those times he was wearing his signature slingshot.


A phone call to him today confirmed what I thought...no more slingshot. Just like everything else, things are never the same as the old days.

However, the beer drinking continues and I shot a few pics to evidence that.

It appears that virgins are a rare commodity as I only spotted one in the whole group.


This whole party for the RAGBRAI people was chaired by Tony of AJ's Copper Garden. He's the one in the muscle shirt.

Anyway, today, Billy lived vicariously through the whole event naked in his iron lung and no one was the wiser.