Hector Heathcote

I have a Hector Heathcote lunchbox. Does anyone remember Hector? If not, don’t feel bad... I didn’t, either. So Wikipedia told me “Hector Heathcote was a Terrytoons cartoon character. Created by Eli Bauer, he first appeared in 1959 in The Minute and a Half Man. Hector was a Colonial era patriot who turned up, often as an unsung hero, during various stages (time traveler) of American History. In some cartoons he was accompanied by his faithful dog Winston who talked with a slight English accent. The Hector Heathcote Show debuted October 5, 1963, on NBC. The series ran for two seasons.” So now you know.
 

I was two years old for the premiere. I suppose there were reruns. But as a first-grader in Grove School, I could describe Hector to you, in detail, from the many thirty minutes of lunch hours I sat and stared at the colorful sides of that lunchbox I received in 1967. As I licked my orange fingers from the Cheetos my mom had twist-tied into a tiny plastic bag, I really had no idea why this little guy wore a funny hat with three points or why the big guys in red coats were being tricked by him. Hector hauled my ham sandwiches.

By now you are wondering why a little girl would pick this tin tote? It’s very simple. When momma realized she was going to be packing my lunch every day, we went to the only place in Grove that sold lunch boxes... the furniture store. Grove Home Furniture didn’t have a lot to choose from is why I wound up with Hector. I really don’t recall, but I was more of a Roy Rogers kinda gal, not some short scientist time traveler in an American Patriot uniform. I can assume that there was Barbie and Hector to pick from and I hauled Hector home.

What in the world has this got to do with travel? Everything. I recently strolled down the “back to school” aisle at several of our local merchants. The excited kiddos raced back and forth between the dozens of choices of backpacks, notebooks and yes, lunch boxes. Overwhelmed parents pointed out options and examined price tags. Items were grabbed and tossed and selected and discarded at an amazing rate of speed. I got dizzy watching.

Ok, I’ll admit, I’m not the greatest shopper in the world; in fact it’s not my favorite thing to do.

Ok, I’ll admit, I don’t want to sound like an old crankpot that is starting with those ‘back in my day’ stories. BUT, I think all of us, of all ages, have too many choices in life. If I had to pick from all those lunchboxes I recently saw, it might have been my second grade year by the time I selected.

There is a big world out there for us to explore and enjoy. You could go anywhere! It’s hard to know which direction! There are so many options, even in the USA, that a year could slide by while you debate and examine and consider all your options.  One of the many benefits of organized group travel is having the selections narrowed for you so you can be Good to Go with a decision. Many of the big decisions are worked out, time of year, best values, safety, etc.

Life is simpler when you pick between Hector and Barbie.

Our Secret Ingredient

There’s a meme floating around social media purportedly from a national fast food restaurant that appears to show on their signboard “Our Secret Ingredient is People”.  Thoughts of the old movie Soylent Green where the main ingredient is people, it does prompt a chuckle from most.

As you know from my article last week, husband, Doug, and I took a quick road trip up to Ohio to a rally for those of us that own the T@B/T@G teardrop camper trailers. The NüCamp folks did a great job organizing the event, but information for newbie campers was rather scarce on their online site and in printed materials. It was fellow campers (people!) that were the “secret ingredient” to a fun-filled, memorable event.

After unhooking the trailer, we realized it was too far for our electrical cord to reach the outlet. Several guys offered to manhandle it closer so Doug didn’t have to reconnect, move a couple of feet and then disconnect again. People came to the rescue.

The water wouldn’t drain in the sink or shower due to the camper not being properly leveled. A simple “got a minute?” request had three random campers lending a helping hand to level our camper named Joshua. People came to the rescue.

All we had to do was off-handedly mention “how do you get the water hot in the camper? (yes, after TWO years we still hadn’t worked that one out…) Within moments of asking that question, we had no less than three other campers over at our campsite, inspecting our trailer and showing us the correct controls for hot water, where to find the fuse box (turns out we had a blown fuse) and much, much more. They were wonderfully helpful people.

I suggested Doug take his brand-new drone with us so he would have something to do. After several flights, overconfidence had him crashing it into the top of an 80 foot tree. In the middle of a soybean field. Mortified, saddened and angry with himself, Doug began the process of finding out who owned the farm so he could attempt permission to call and have a tree service person  traipse through someone’s cash crop to retrieve the out-of-reach aircraft. Once again, people came to the rescue. A fellow camper and expert drone pilot/photographer named John pointed Doug in the right direction. He also flew his own drone to pinpoint the precise location for would-be rescuers. John was the first “secret ingredient” for recovery.

John directed Doug to Joe Mullet - owner of NüCamp. When Doug explained his predicament, Joe quickly eased Doug’s concerns by “Oh, don’t worry. The soybean field owner is a relative of mine. We’ll get it down for you. Not to worry.” The next day NüCamp employee Marvin carefully clambered up the tree onto limbs of questionable strength. Another camper (people!) offered the use of a six foot pole with a hook on the end of it. It turned out to be much needed and assisted in the successful return of Doug’s anniversary present. People, many people, were the “secret ingredient” to the happy ending.

We waited all day for a simple modification to be made to a table inside our Joshua. After dinner we were rather disappointed they hadn’t made it over to our site as we were leaving at 5:00AM the next day and  couldn’t get the modification. In thanking the ladies who had made the delicious meal for us, I engaged in conversation and shared our perspective on the week-long rally. People. I mentioned the “only negative” was “not getting the modification to the camper.” Would you believe it – I happened to be talking with Elsie, a woman that gets things done  and, 8 o’clock that same evening, an crew came over as we were breaking camp and made the desired changes.

We look forward to a return trip next year. Modifications to Joshua? No. More drone flying escapades? We’ll see. The 14-hour driving to get there? It’s worth it if the main reason (and “secret ingredient”) is… people.