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| Horace Ashenfelter won the Gold Medal in the 1952 Olympic 3,000 meter steeplechase in Helsinki, Finland in a World Record time of 8:45.4. He defeated the then-current World Record Holder, Vladimir Kazantsev of the USSR, by a whopping six seconds. Horace was the most versatile and outstanding United States distance runner in the late 1940s and early 1950s as he won an amazing 18 national championships in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track at distances from two to six miles. Titles he won included the NCAA 2-mile run in 1949, the IC4A outdoor 2-mile in 1948 and 1949, and the IC4A indoor 2-mile in 1948. He was also AAU national champion in cross-country, 1951, 1955 and 1956; the steeplechase, 1951, 1953, and 1956; the 3-mile run, 1954 and 1955; the 6-mile, 1950; and the indoor 3-mile, 1952 through 1956. Horace was the 1955 Pan American Games Silver medalist in the 5,000 meters. He won six Gold Medals at the Penn Relays including the 4-mile relay title in 1949 where the three Ashenfelter brothers – Horace, Bill and Don - were relay team members. He competed collegiately for Penn State University and graduated in 1949. At Collegeville (Pennsylvania), high school he was a letterman in football, basketball, baseball and track. While preparing for the 1952 Olympic Games, Horace was a full-time employee with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He served in the Air Force during World War II. In 1952 Horace won the prestigious James Edward Sullivan Award, presented to the USA’s top amateur athlete. In 2001 Penn State’s new 200 meter indoor track was dedicated as the Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track. He was inducted into the New Jersey Sports Hall of Fame in 1998. Glen Ridge, New Jersey’s Thanksgiving Day race has been named the Ashenfelter 8k. Horace and his wife, Lillian, of 65 years, reside in Glen Ridge, New Jersey and winter near Stuart, Florida. |
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| GCR: | With the perspective of nearly six decades since you won the 1952 Olympic 3,000 meter steeplechase in Helsinki, Finland, what has it meant to you to become on that day and to be forever more an Olympic Champion? |
| HA | It’s meant a great deal of course, though it’s hard to quantify. I never profited from it financially. It was different as it was an amateur accomplishment. It has opened doors for me – no question about that – on a few occasions. But it was something that was secondary to my family as I was married with two children and another on the way. It was totally different back then as now the good athletes are sponsored and don’t have to do anything else except run. This is good as it allows them to achieve their best, but on the other hand it isn’t an amateur situation. There is little room for amateurs these days at the top level. At this point in time most of the people don’t come from my era and I have outlived the majority of my contemporaries. A long, healthy life is good in some ways - but the bad part is that my golfing buddies are gone. I think my kids get a bit more out of what I did in the Olympics than I do now. |
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| GCR: | You arrived in Helsinki as a distinct underdog to Vladimir Kazantsev of the USSR who held the World Record of 8:48.6 while you hadn’t broken nine minutes. How your confidence and what was was your race strategy? |
| HA | I’m a pretty confident guy, actually and - put it this way – he had to beat me. It was the first time and only time where I had about three weeks of controlled training and rest. I had fine tuned my weight and weighed 128 pounds which I carried on five feet nine frame as compared to my normal weight of 140. I was in outstanding shape and had no bad luck occur. I was just going to stay with the pace as long as I could and to make the pace if I had to – I didn’t mind that. He got suckered by his coaches as his plan they had was for him to stay with me. That meant that he was running on my right shoulder the whole race and adding three or four yards to each lap. I ran him a little bit wide on the corners and we bumped several times as he was running that close to me. That didn’t bother me but it may have bothered him – I don’t know. I knew I had a lot left at the end. |
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| GCR: | You were even with Kazantsev until the final water jump when he stumbled. Had you been waiting during the race for a moment of weakness or were you prepared to battle down the final stretch? |
| HA | I was prepared to kick down the stretch and I thought he would have one too. We ran a pretty good last lap. I ran hard and he did too. Off the last turn I said to myself, ‘they never remember you if you’re second.’ |
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| GCR: | What were your thoughts as you crossed the finish line and realized you were an Olympic Champion? |
| HA | My first thoughts were just that I had won the race. It didn’t really occur to me what I had done until the next day when I started reading about myself in the newspaper - then it sank in. There were also distractions afterward as I was cheering for runners in other races. And on top of getting ready for my Olympic final, about two nights before the race my wife, Lillian, said to me, ‘I’m pregnant.’ I responded, ‘Again?’ |
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| GCR: | So you weren’t like the boxers that stay away from their wives while in training? |
| HA | No! You don’t get married for that. As a matter of fact I don’t think that’s a hindrance anyway. Maybe on the morning before your race, but it helps you to get a good night’s sleep. |
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| GCR: | Was there an American contingent of fans supporting you at the Games? |
| HA | Cordner and Bert Nelson from Track and Field News organized a trip to the Helsinki Games and the old track coach from Southern Cal, Dean Cromwell, came along. He was pontificating and someone asked him how the American team would do. He said, ‘the sprinters and hurdlers are going to do great, but we don’t have a distance runner who’s worth a s#%t.’ Lillian heard him and didn’t say anything, but wanted to say something after my race. The Nelsons were ambassadors for the sport. One of them was near Lillian in the stands and was making observations of what I needed to do to beat the Russian. One of the FBI agents I worked with in Newark was also on the trip also and sat with the group. After my awards ceremony I went up into the stands with the flower I received from the Finnish girl. I got two hugs – from the Finnish girl and a bigger one from my wife. Cordner and Bert Nelson were almost as pleased as I was with my victory. |
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| GCR: | There is a great picture of you with the other Olympic medalists, Kazantsev, who took the Silver and Bronze Medalist John Disley of Great Britain. Was there genuine respect and congratulations between the three of you who had just competed so fiercely? |
| HA | I couldn’t tell what Kazantsev was thinking as he didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak Russian. It seemed that he was kept pretty separate from us as we didn’t associate before or afterwards. I have a lot of respect for John Disley. He is a friend, but a casual friend and an opponent. The British runners, Disley and Brasher, who won the Olympic Gold medal in the steeplechase in 1956, were both gentlemen. |
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| GCR: | Was there any undercurrent of tension due to the Cold War between the USA and USSR especially since you were an FBI agent, Kazantsev represented a country with an opposing political and economic philosophy and some saw your race as a battle to determine which nation was right in their policies? |
| HA | No, there wasn’t anything from my perspective, though I don’t know from his standpoint. He was just an opponent. The media writes what they think and what they believe will attract readers. |
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| GCR: | Your old foe, Vladimir Kazentsev, passed away in late 2007. Were the two of you ever able to come in contact after your memorable duel in Helsinki? Did you remain in contact with any other of your Olympic foes? |
| HA | Kazantsev and I never had any contact since that day. I didn’t know until you told me now that he had died, but I’m glad to know something about his whereabouts. Back about 25 years ago when I was in the precious metals business there was a person I knew quite well who was going to Moscow dealing with platinum sales. I gave her all of the information about Kazantsev and who he was in hopes that she could find some way for me to contact him - but she didn’t find anything of use. My memory is Kazantsev had been an engineering student at the time of the Olympics. I never saw anything about his life after that. Back then the fact that he was supposed to win and didn’t may have shut the door for him. I did keep in contact with Disley and Brasher, who both became members of British Parliament. They got to be pretty high level politicians. I met the German, Helmut Gude, who finished in sixth place, and we had meals together here in the United States. He came to Pennsylvania close to where I grew up in my youth. After that we had a bit of a relationship. He was an interesting character as he was in the German army on their eastern front at the end of World War II. The army disbanded in place so he walked to Italy. A year after the war was over the French police caught him in Italy with a gun and put him in jail for two years. He came to the U.S. in the early fifties. When we had one lunch about six or seven years ago he said,’ this will probably be our last time.’ He told me that he had cancer and he died about six weeks later. |
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| GCR: | Today’s Olympians are mostly full-time professional athletes. What was your daily life like at the time in terms of work and family? |
| HA | I had a full work schedule with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and most of my training was done in the evenings. During the week I had about an hour to work out – sometimes before dinner, but usually after dinner. I had places to run in parks that had lights. In one of the parks close to where I live here now in Glen Ridge, New Jersey I built a steeple hurdle that was there for six years. It was only a one lane hurdle – it had a heavy top so I could put a foot on it if I had to. Kids used to pull it out and they would make a pyramid on top of the hurdle for me to jump over which I did a few times. It was fun for everybody. The other circumstances of my life made for a busy day and I can’t give my wife enough credit. She made a lot of sacrifices to allow me to run. When I trained for the Olympics in 1952 my kids were three and one years old. After dinner we would get the kids ready for bed. I can remember training as late as midnight. |
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| GCR: | How did your training regimen increase during your Olympic preparation? |
| HA | I had two weeks of training at Princeton where the American team was before leaving for Helsinki as the FBI transferred me to the Princeton office. My boss in Newark said, ‘Ash, they need you down in Princeton for a few weeks.’ This was normally a no-no but they sent me there as a favor. I did do my FBI work though I had more time to train and was able to train twice a day on some days. I had my own training plan and did what I needed most. Other team members trained with me if they chose to. I’m a bit of a loner in that respect. |
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| GCR: | What was your typical training in terms of weekly mileage and types of intense sessions? |
| HA | My weekly mileage may have been as high as 40 miles. I didn’t run that much. I believed in really working hard for the hour that I had. A favorite session was running three fast miles where I ran a mile, walked one, ran one, walked one and ran one as hard as I could. My best official mile in a meet was 4:11. I didn’t carry a watch when training since I was running alone and usually at night where I couldn’t read it anyway. I would run hard and bust my butt. When doing the three fast miles I may have started at 4:14, then did a 4:18 and went down to 4:25, but who knows? I did each one to the best of my ability. I also would run sequences of half miles or three-quarter miles. My best quarter mile was relatively slow – I couldn’t break 56 seconds. I would usually win my races in the third quarter of the race by just going hard. But I could maintain my pace for the rest of the race. |
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| GCR: | You won three National AAU titles in the steeplechase in 1951 and a total of 18 national championships variety of distances, from two to six miles, both indoor and outdoors and in cross country. Do any of them stand out in particular as especially hard-fought or unexpected? |
| HA | The one that I didn’t win is the most memorable. I went the wrong way in one of the NCAA cross country championships – I believe in 1948. I was leading by twenty or thirty yards fairly early in the race at Michigan State The course wasn’t marked very well and with no one in front of me and no one to tell me where to go I made a wrong turn and ended up about fifty yards behind the fellow who had been in second place behind me. After my mistake I caught up to him too quickly and didn’t have anything left at the end and so he ended up winning. The Olympics were so far superior to any of the other races. Even though I won many national championships, they don’t compare to my Olympic competition in Helsinki as that was the only time I was in top shape. |
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| GCR: | You were the 1955 Pan American Games Silver medalist in the 5,000 meters. How did that race develop, did the Mexico City altitude affect you greatly and how big of an honor was a Pan Am Games medal back in the 1950s? |
| HA | The first thing that still strikes my mind is the team was having a problem on the way going through Texas as the African-Americans couldn’t eat with us due to some segregation practices. That left quite of an impression on me. The same thing was somewhat true in Mexico City. It was more of a talking point between my brother, Bill, and I as he was also on the Pan Am team. Bill and I and our wives were all in Mexico. We got around pretty well but the differences in the country were apparent. The altitude affected me in the race. I was close to the leader but didn’t have enough left and wasn’t in top shape at the time. Just like these days I think the Pan Am games got lost in the shuffle back then. |
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| GCR: | Running was a family passion shared by you and your brothers, Bill and Don. How memorable is it that the three of you were on a Penn State relay team that won the Penn Relays 4-mile title in 1949? |
| HA | It was exciting. Don was really the most talented natural runner of the bunch. Don just ran and had fun. I think the first race he ever ran he did a 4:16 mile. It was a lot of fun as the Penn State distance team was good. I ran the anchor leg at the Penn Relays as I am a better competitor. My brothers and I had good times and enjoyed each other’s company. Bill is in bad shape now as he had a stroke and they didn’t break the clot up quickly enough to minimize the damage. |
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| GCR: | With your success at so many distances why did you gravitate to the steeplechase and how did you develop the techniques that led to your style and strength? What did you enjoy more – cross country or track racing and at what distance? |
| HA | Racing the steeplechase started when I was with the NYAC as it was an event where I could score points for the team. Fred Wilt ran the 1,500 meters or mile. Curt Stone and I could both competed in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. I felt there was an opportunity to run the steeplechase to score some points for my team. I liked cross country more than anything. It was more fun. I did most of my training in the parks and most of my running was on grass. I trained with my own feel for the intensity of my workouts. I felt I could train hard with my butt to the bone only a couple times a week. |
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| GCR: | Did you ever have any safety issues or concerns running late in the evening and after dark? |
| HA | A local policeman on his rounds sometimes patrolled the park where I ran. It was a mixed area with black and white kids and I never had any problems with the black kids. Most of the neighborhood kids would cheer for me and some would run a bit with me – maybe a lap in the park. I had a problem once with two white kids who threw water on me – this was in the late fifties after my competitive track days were over and I was still running three or four times a week. They rode away on their bikes and I caught them. We had a controversy and I threatened to throw their bikes in the creek. One finally apologized but when he got across the bridge he called me some cuss words. I said, ‘I’ll remember you and I better not ever catch you again.’ I never did see that kid. I was pretty pissed off. It didn’t hurt me, but the fact that they would do that offended me. |
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| GCR: | What were some of the main lessons you learned from your time at the New York Athletic Club and from Penn State Coach Charles 'Chick' Werner that led to your mental and physical development as a runner and racer? |
| HA | I learned the most from Curt Stone and Fred Wilt, two of the other distance runners at the NYAC. They were great distance runners, students of running and mentored me. I listened and watched them. I probably have a big chest capacity and was stubborn about running hard. An interesting story is that I was cross training after the Olympic Trials as I had qualified for the Olympics in both the steeplechase and 10,000 meters. The coaches gave me the option of which race to run in Helsinki as the qualifying heats were back-to-back on two consecutive days. It would have been too hard to run two trials and then to have any chance in the finals. Chick Werner was one of the assistant Olympic coaches along with a coach from Southern California. He was my coach when I was in my early days of regular running at Penn State and it helped having a coach who was familiar with me. |
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| GCR: | What was your athletic background in high school? |
| HA | My high school graduating class had 36 people in it. We lived four miles from town and it was a small school in southeastern Pennsylvania. I was a four sport letterman in football, baseball, basketball and track. But track was only one meet with five or six local high schools. The track meet was almost like a May Day. I was second in the mile and won the high jump. I did five feet four and a half inches in the high jump and don’t even know what I did in the mile – probably six minutes. Who knows? As and aside, when I went to Penn State I started running cross country because it was near the golf course and I also got up to five feet eleven inches in the high jump. It was part of the required physical training. Back in high school I was a 145 pound linebacker and offensive tackle in football. We only had 14 or 15 suited up for the football games so most of us played both offense and defense. In baseball I pitched, caught and played wherever the coach needed me. I batted about .400. I could have received a scholarship to Westchester College as my coach went there and had connections, but I didn’t want it. In basketball I was a toughie – I hit the boards pretty hard and could rebound. I wasn’t very fast or talented but I worked hard. |
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| GCR: | In 1952, you were the recipient of the prestigious James Edward Sullivan Award, given to the USA’s top amateur athlete. What does it mean to be included with a group of Sullivan Award winners such as legends like Doc Blanchard, Bob Mathias, Wilma Rudolph and Mark Spitz and recent winners Michael Phelps and Tim Tebow? |
| HA | It feels good – what can I tell you? It was a surprise to me to win. We were at the dinner and there were a lot of pretty good athletes there. But I can’t even begin to remember my reaction when I found out I won. |
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| GCR: | You served in the Air Force doing pilot training and as an air gunnery instructor during World War II. What did the discipline of the military and the harsh reality of war do to shape your personality? |
| HA | We had a tough road run that was part of our training when we were aviation cadets and I was pretty proficient at it. I was in the southeast command at small airports all over the southeast as a cadet. One of the things that was consistent in physical training was the run where we also had to climb over benches and climb a ten foot high wall with a rope ladder. After graduating you didn’t have to do it unless you chose to but I did. We had a job to do and I wanted to be ready. The food was plentiful during training and I weighed the most I ever did – up to 160 pounds because I was a farm boy and ate what was in front of me. I spent all my air corps flying life time at Kendall Field down in the Florida panhandle near Panama City and got to fly P40s and P53s in a program where they fired bullets at our plane. I graduated in 1944 and the war didn’t end until the next year. My wife and I got married and had a little house near the shipyards. A week after the war ended they told us, ‘You guys are done flying – you might as well go home.’ The physical training was a part of each day that I liked. |
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| GCR: | In 2001 Penn State’s new 200 meter indoor track was dedicated as the Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track to recognize your athletic prowess and the generosity of you and your wife toward Penn State’s track program. How big of a smile does this bring to you? |
| HA | Penn State is big in my family - my dad was in the class of 1914 and both my brothers and sister were in the classes of 1951 and 1952. My family had two grandchildren graduate this spring and another is a student. Penn State was an agricultural school and we were farmers. I think my first year at Penn State cost 550 bucks for everything – room, board and tuition. That was in 1942 before I joined the air corps. It is a nice recognition by the school. |
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| GCR: | Glen Ridge, New Jersey’s Thanksgiving Day race has been named the Ashenfelter 8k in recent years. How integral is it in your family’s Thanksgiving celebration? |
| HA | It comes first and everything else comes second. Some of the family members run in the race. |
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| GCR: | What are some of your most memorable awards and where is your Olympic Gold medal displayed now? |
| HA | I have six gold watches from the Penn relays. The Sullivan Award is also one of my most treasured. My Olympic Gold medal is at the Penn State museum because we have four boys and what are you going to do with one gold medal? The Sullivan Award is also there. |
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| GCR: | How is your health now, what have you done for fitness as you advanced in years and what leisurely activities do you presently enjoy? |
| HA | I play golf though I usually use a cart. In Florida in the winter I’m down near Stuart and we can drag around our golf clubs so I do that three or four times a week. I still get out now and do a trot and a walk. I’m in reasonable shape. In Florida I run on the golf course and sometimes in a state park though it is quite sandy and the footing isn’t as good. I like to trot for a half hour or an hour. There is a rose garden in town where I spend quite a bit of time volunteering to keep in shape – maybe twenty hours a week. |
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| GCR: | Renowned coach and author, 1972 Olympian Jeff Galloway, has written a book entitled, ‘Running until You’re 100.’ As you get closer to this milestone, could it become a goal along with continuing good health and fitness? |
| HA | If I can still trot when I’m 100 I’d be pretty lucky. Who knows if that will happen, but if I survive and things go well I will. I haven’t had any heart or cancer issues, but my doctor is on my butt about my blood pressure. It’s a little high so I cut out salt and it decreased my blood pressure a bit. |
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| GCR: | Are there any major lessons you have learned during your life from growing up on the farm, the discipline of war, etc that you would like to share with my readers? |
| HA | What is ingrained in me as a farm kid is that there is work to be done and someone is going to have to do these things. Work is not a bad thing – you should do the best job you can and the same is true with running if you are a competitor. You do the best you can and work hard at it. You take care of your body and avoid drugs and excessive drinking. You have to eat proper food and my wife has been outstanding in this regard. She’s a good cook and is a very bright lady – she does the New York Times crossword puzzle in ink! She has maintained a very good household but was insistent that the kids do their best in school and we had good cooperation. Having good medical attention is also important. Keeping fit is a regular affair – you need to keep at it. |
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| | Inside Stuff |
| Hobbies/Interests | Playing golf, running, gardening, mowing the yard and doing things around the house. My wife won’t let me go on the roof any more and I understand it as my balance isn’t as good as it used to be. We are active as we go to parades and my wife plays bridge. I’m a hunter but also a ‘greenie’ as if deer come in my garden I don’t mind sharing a few of my vegetables with them |
| Nicknames | ‘Nip’ from my father. It comes from an old cartoon in the Philadelphia newspaper called ‘Nipper in the Sands of Time’ that was like ‘Dennis the Menace.’ I have the tip of one finger that was caught in a corn shucker when I was a kid and sometimes I tell people that’s where the nickname is from, but it really came from my dad |
| Favorite movies | I don’t go to the movies too often but I especially liked the one about the life of Nelson Mandela |
| Favorite TV shows | I watch CNN, other news and sports |
| Favorite music | Classical music like the Boston Pops |
| Favorite reading | Any books by Larry McMurtry; books about animals and biographies; magazines like National Geographic |
| First car | A 1925 DeSoto coupe with a rumble seat. I’d drive back and forth to Penn State with two or three guys |
| Current car | A big Buick |
| Early jobs | I worked on our farm as a kid – it was about 130 acres. I started milking cows when I was in seventh or eighth grade. There were two cows I milked for five or six years. We had about 30 acres of apple trees and grew other crops like asparagus and strawberries. We also had flowers that we would pick and cut. We lived about thirty miles from Philadelphia and my dad would go to town two or three days a week as he was a ‘Market Man.’ My first official job was as a printer for a Bakelite company that made electric parts that went into radios. They were about the size of a quarter with five holes for electrodes to go through and into tubes. There were numbers that I printed onto the Bakelite. This was a war plant in 1941 and 1942. My dad had said, ‘You can go to college – but I think it would be smart if you work a year to get an idea of what the world is all about.’ And he was right – I worked a year and I knew damn well that wasn’t what I wanted to do. Working in a shop is strictly a one way street. You work from 7:00 to 3:30 and that is it. The ‘humor’ is when someone greased your printing machine handle or nailed your lunch or shoes to the floor. That was crap! There was no future there and a good lesson for me. I recommend kids do a year of public service such as the Peace Corps. Because of my church membership I had the option of serving in the military or being a conscious objector. Some of my friends did the latter and worked their butts off in Cuba digging mosquito ditches. Some went into the ambulance corps and got killed. But I decided to join the service and my church supported my decision |
| Family | My wife, Lillian, and I celebrate 65 years of marriage on June 25, 2010. We have four children and 12 grandchildren. One of our sons ran for Yale and was on the Yale track team. He competed for the Yale-Harvard team against Oxford and Cambridge. Another son was a swimmer and team captain at Colgate. We have an active family with some swimmers and runners. We supported them with enthusiasm and appreciation |
| Pets | I like dogs – We’ve had collies and border collies, but don’t have a dog now. One of my kids has a schnauzer. I dislike cats because they are tough on birds and rabbits. A funny pet story happened recently when I was working in the rose garden and a lady came by with her dog. I said, ‘Hi Honey.’ Well, her dog is named Honey. This morning I saw the lady again and apologized just in case she thought I was calling to her and it bothered her but she didn’t take any offense |
| Favorite meal | Bacon and eggs – I get too few of them these days |
| Favorite beverages | My favorite is Yeungling dark beer which has quite a presence in Florida. My golf club has it on draft, but not because it’s my favorite. I still like milk and drink water |
| Favorite breakfast | Wheat with raisins |
| First running memory | My first serious competitive race was when my brother, Bill, and I went to Norristown High School during my sophomore year. They had an intramural race. The high school was big with maybe 1,000 students. I won the mile without any training. I must have run about a 5:50 and it was my first win |
| First collegiate running | At Penn State after the war in 1946 I was running on the golf course and a guy who turned out to be Curt Stone saw me and said, ‘Hey kid – why don’t you go out for the track team? You get a locker, a shower and a towel.’ So I went up to the coach and asked him what I needed to do. He said, ‘Can you run two miles.’ I said, ‘I can run two miles.’ And he said, ‘You’re on the team.’ We have a new greens keeper at our golf course here in Glen Ridge and his assistant is Trevor. It turns out that Trevor’s great-grandfather was my coach, Chick Werner, at Penn State |
| Running heroes | Glen Cunningham and Gene Vinsky |
| Greatest running moment | The Olympic win – there couldn’t be anything that comes close. Breaking the indoor 2-mile record at Madison Square Garden was important at the time but got totally overshadowed by my Olympic victory |
| Worst running moment | When I went off the course during the NCAA cross country meet and came in second |
| Childhood dreams | I thought I’d be a farmer and liked airplanes so when I had a chance to work with airplanes in the service I made that choice. My parents were forward enough to allow us to make choices. In our farming community all the kids had to work and some weren’t allowed to go out for sports. We were fortunate in that our parents let us |
| Funny memories | Just recently one of our grand daughters who is a very good swimmer and will be on scholarship at Penn this fall went out for track and placed second or third in her first races. Her coach said, ‘Where have you been?’ She’s only been running for six weeks and it just showed how the endurance transferred. This granddaughter is a real tiger to enjoy running |
| Favorite places to travel | Alaska is a favorite place I’d like to visit again because of the flora and fauna. About 25 years ago we took a cruise up the coast and went on an old rickety school bus around the back country and out to Denali National Park. Maybe 20 years ago we went to Australia and New Zealand for two weeks each. The countryside and zoos were fantastic. I climbed Ayers Rock when it was still allowed. We went on a river-rafting trip in New Zealand on the Shaw River which turned out to have some class five rapids - and we were 70 years old! They brought out wet suits and we said, ‘What have we gotten in to?’ All the young people gravitated to two boats and the ‘duds’ were on our boat. The wives listened well and we even picked up one person who fell out of his raft. The area on the south island of New Zealand was beautiful. There are many elk farms and they sell the soft antlers in Asian markets for aphrodisiacs. My wife and I also took a boat on the Danube. We didn’t travel as children |
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