Virginia and North Carolina

I spent several hours driving to Virginia and then on to North Carolina on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. I first went to Virginia Beach and it has really changed since my last visit. They have just competed a new Hilton Beachfront Hotel and a new Convention Center. I stayed at the Hilton, but to be honest, I really didn't get to enjoy the huge flat screen tv and the brand new room. I go in late and checked out at 7:00AM. The beach was beautiful, as usual, but the visit was so short that I didn't get to appreciate the experience. I saw several old friends and appeared on the program with Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. Tim is a former city council member from Richmond, Virginia and seems like a very compentent governor. Virginia is unusual in that the governor is restricted to serving only one term. This is very unusual in the United States. It really makes you focus on getting things done in a relatively short time.

I left Virginia around noon on Monday and headed for Greensboro, North Carolina for the North Carolina League Conference. I attended the Annual Banquet on Monday evening and got to see a former National League of Cities President, Ferd Harriston of Scotland Neck, North Carolina. Ferd has the distinction of being the NLC President from the smallest city. I believe that I am from the third smallest city, with Clarence Anthony from South Bay, Florida being second. Us little towns have to stick together!!! Ferd is in his eighties and is showing his age a little. He is still a pretty sharp dresser and still has a lot of friends at the North Carolina League. I was a little amazed that I knew as many people in North Carolina as I did.

One odd thing when I visit North Carolina is that people always give you a doubletake when I say my name is Jim Hunt. Jim Hunt was a popular Governor and United States Senator from North Carolina.

I stopped in Winston-Salem on my way home to participate in a ceremony for the Inclusive Communities Program. It was a really nice event, with many members of the community participating in the event. They renovated the City Hall in Winston-Salem about four years ago and it is a very impressive building. I really think that the Inclusive Communities program is going to do great things in Winston-Salem.

On the way out of town, I passed RJ Reynolds Co. Tobacco is still really big in North Carolina and you can actually smell the tobacco in the air.

After a safe drive home, I looked at my odometer and I had gone over 1000 miles in just three days.

National Public Radio

I had the opportunity to be a guest commentator on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" on Tuesday of this week. It was quite an interesting experience since I only found out about it at 1:45PM on Tuesday and the show was aired later that day at 5:20PM. If you would like to listen to my commentary, please visit the following link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6284896

I recorded the segment at the studio of WFDD Public Radio in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The station is located on the campus of Wake Forest University. They linked me to a studio in Washington, DC and as I read the commentary, the producer stopped me and to give me advice on how to make it sound more condusive to radio.

The program airs throughout the United States and I have received several calls and e-mails from friends who heard the show.

Visiting Lake Tahoe

I was fortunate to visit Lake Tahoe this past week and it is truly one of the treasures of the United States. I arrived just as the sun was setting over the lake and it was a beautiful sight. Although my visit was fairly short, it was very memorable. I attended the Nevada Municipal League reception at the Thunderbird Lodge, which is a unique house on the lake with quite a history. It was owned by one of the developers of Lake Tahoe. The highlight of the house is a visit to the boat house. In order to get to the boat house, you walk down a tunnel that is over two hundred feet long. The boat is a wooden yacht that is over 55 feet long. It is beautiful and unlike anything I have ever seen. I found a little bit of history on the boat.

Here it is:

George Whittell had a life-long fascination with the latest technology of the day, particularly that which manifested itself in aircraft, automobiles and boats. Among the many he owned were a DC-2, outfitted for his private use, a Grumman Duck seaplane, six of the most uncommon Duesenberg motorcars, a 145' pleasure yacht and the legendary 55' speedboat, Thunderbird. The latter is certainly one of the most unique and elegant wooden vessels crafted in the Twentieth century and, like his Duesenbergs, is as much a work of art as a means of transportation.
Commissioned by Whittell specifically for Lake Tahoe while he was building his fabulous estate there, the Thunderbird was designed by famed naval architect John L. Hacker and built by Huskin Boat Works in Detroit. Enamored of the lines of his DC-2 aircraft, also named Thunderbird, the eccentric millionaire requested that the hull and cockpit of his new speedboat resemble the fuselage of his personal airplane. Fashioned of triple-planked mahogany and brushed stainless steel the new acquisition would enable Whittell to get about Lake Tahoe with unmatched speed and style. Outfitted originally with twin 550 hp Kermath engines, the vessel was capable of 60 knots. To accommodate the Thunderbird its notoriously reclusive owner ordered the construction of a 100-foot long enclosed boathouse with 600-foot tunnel that would connect it to the main residence, both blasted out of solid granite.
Completed at a cost of $87,000 (over $3.3 million in today's dollars), Whittell took delivery of the Thunderbird in 1940, and it first crossed the mountain lake's sparkling blue waters on July 14th of that year. The aging playboy used it extensively that summer and the next, retrieving friends from nearby communities and showgirls from the Cal-Neva casino for lavish parties at his estate. Following the entry of the U.S. into World War II, however, Whittell became afraid that his beloved yacht or its engines might be conscripted into military service, and he hid it away in Lodge's boathouse. Until the war's end the Thunderbird never saw the light of day and was used only occasionally at night.
As Whittell entered his seventies he became even more reclusive and was rarely seen by anyone in the Tahoe area. The yacht was also seen so infrequently that it seemed to some who caught a glimpse nothing more than an apparition.
After Whittell broke his leg late in life and refused surgery to repair the fracture, he ended up confined to a wheelchair and unable or unwilling to use the Thunderbird. Suspended by slings in the boathouse for most of the last 10 years of his life, the boat was rescued by casino magnate (and Whittell protégé) William F. Harrah, who purchased it from Whittell shortly before his death in 1969. Harrah had it transported to his Automobile Collection restoration shop in Reno where it was reverentially refurbished. His workmen added a matching, brushed stainless steel flying bridge and replaced the original Kermath engines with two V-12 Allison aircraft engines, each developing 1200 horsepower. Harrah used it as his private yacht for the entertainment of his casino high-rollers and showroom headliners, such as Sammy Davis, Jr., Frank Sinatra and Bill Cosby, to name a few. The boat was returned to Reno every winter where the mahogany hull was meticulously sanded down to bare wood and refinished with ten coats of varnish!
Following Harrah's death in 1978, present owner Joan Gibb purchased the Thunderbird and now makes it available for charter on Lake Tahoe. The yacht is berthed in its original boathouse at the Thunderbird Lodge and can be viewed during tours of the estate.

L.L. Bean Country

I flew up to Portland, Maine last week for the Maine Municipal League Annual Meeting. The trip went thru New York City and I flew over Ground Zero in early evening. It is a humbling site. It stands out among the skyscrapers in Manhattan and it is an strange feeling as the plane approaches LaGuardia Airport.

This was my first trip to Maine and it is a very nice place. The leaves were turning as we drove from Portland to Augusta. We did pass the exit for Freeport, the home of L.L. Bean. You can really tell it's the home to L.L. Bean. Almost everyone wears a fleece vest or coat.

The Maine League is a very solid league and they have an excellent Executive Director in Chris Lockwood. I have known him for several years and it is always nice to see the directors in their home territory. I visited the Maine League offices and they have a very nice building. Chris's office is much like his personality, very understated. You could tell he was proud of his work for the league.

My speech went well and I think that it was well received. I visited the exhibits and they do a good job of attracting lots of vendors. The incoming League President, Nick Malvadones drove me back and forth to Augusta. I really enjoyed getting to know him. We also had dinner with two of my good friends at NLC. Karen Geraghty and Jill Duson met us for dinner on Wednesday night in Portland. Karen is retiring from Portland's council this year and she will be missed.

I really enjoyed my first visit to Maine. I did get to have a bowl of Lobster soup and it lived up to it's reputation. They say it gets pretty cold in the Winter, but the weather was great during my visit.

I left for the airport in Portland around 5:45AM and it was not a minute too soon. The security line was wrapped around the entire building. They take a serious view of safety at the Portland Airport, since it was one that the 9-11 hijackers used.

Next up: Reno