REMEMBERING SPECIAL AGENT CLINT HILL

November 22, 1963, seems like a long, long time ago. But some of the images from that day are still etched into many of our memories.

One of those images is that of President Kennedy’s open Limo traveling down Elm Street in Dallas. As shots rang out, the image of Jackie Kennedy in a pink suit climbing out on the rear oi the car while a secret service agent is stepping onto the rear bumper of the moving car in an attempt to get to the President and Mrs. Kennedy as the car picked up speed and headed toward the triple under pass.

That agent was successful and ended up pushing Mrs. Kennedy back into the backseat and covering both Mrs. Kennedy and the fatally wounded president with his own body as the car sped to Parkland Hospital.

Clint Hill

While I am sure that there are a number of people who still remember watching that grainy image which occurred some 60+ years ago, I doubt that many will remember the name of that Secret Service Agents Name.

Well, he was Clint Hill who Joined the Secret Service in 1958 and was assigned to President Eisenhower Protection Detail. When President Eisenhower left office in 1960, Agent Hill continued in the Protective Service and assigned to President Kennedy. 

On that day in Dallas, Agent Hill was actually assigned to the Detail protecting Mrs. Kennedy. As the motorcade made its way down Elm Street, Agent Hill was riding on the running boards of the Follow-up car directly behind the Presidential Limo. He immediately recognized the sound of gunfire and jumped sprinted toward the Presidential Limo, as Mrs. Kennedy was scrambling onto the trunk of the car. 

Agent Hill grabbed the handle that was mounted on the trunk and stepped onto the limo's bumper, Just as Special Agent Will Greer who was driving the Lino began to accelerate. Agent Hill managed to push Mrs. Kennedy back into the back seat where President Kennedy lay in a pool of blood. 

Agent Hill covered the President and Mrs. Kennedy with his own body as the car sped toward Parkland Hospital.  A short time later, the Limo arrived at Parkland Hospital. The mortally wounded President was wheeled into Trauma Room 1. Agent Hill accompanied Mrs. Kennedy to a near by waiting room. 

Agent Hill remained with Mrs. Kennedy throughout the Funeral and for the Next Several Weeks. He was eventually reassigned to the Protective Detail for Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon

Agent Hill remained with the Secret Service until he retired in 1975. After leaving the service, he wrote several books about the events in Dallas and the days following the Assassination. 

Why am I telling you all of this? Well, Clint Hill Passed away a few days ago at the age of 93. He was, I believe that Last person with a direct connection to the Assassination. His passing was largely ignored by the News Media.

2025 - WHERE WILL THE YEAR TAKE ME

 

Well, 2024 was a fun year that largely was made up of a number of short trips. My longest adventure in 2024 was my trip up to Jamestown, New York and over to visit several Presidential Sites in Ohio. It was an interesting year for me and one the took a little a little more planning than I am used to since I put myself on a schedule for those trips.

So, what’s on hand for 2025? Well, there are a number of things on the whiteboard. Whenever I come up with and Idea for a possible trip it goes on to the whiteboard. That’s the first step. Then I start looking at hotels and a route for each trip listed on the whiteboard. The next step is to start dripping pins of places to stay, restaurants, and points of interest along the way. If the trip makes it to this point, then I start seriously laying the groundwork for the trip. It is at this point that the trip makes the final cut or for a number of reasons removed from consideration.

Since, I didn’t take an extended trip in 2024 there are a few longer trips on the list. So, as I turned the page from 2024 to 2025, what’s on the White Board.

1.      AMTRAK SOUTHWEST CHIEF TO LOS ANGELES

Since I took my first long distance Amtrak trip to Phoenix, Arizona in 2018, I have always wanted to take another one. So, I put this trip at the top of my list in early 2024. The plan was once I got to Los Angeles was to rent a car and spend a couple of traveling around southern California.

There are a number of Bucket List sites in Southern California that I want to visit including both the Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon Presidential Museums. There are a number of cemeteries that are on my List to visit in the L. A. Area. At the top of that list is the Westwood Memorial Park, Forest Lawn Glendale, Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills and the San Fernando Mission Cemetery.

Sadly, this trip has been removed from the 2025 list due to the massive wildfires that are devastating the Los Angeles Area.

2.      AMTRAK CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR TO SAN FRANCISCO

This is also a bucket list trip for me. It is billed as Amtrak’s most Scenic Route as it goes from Chicago all the way to Emeryville, California. Along the way it goes through both the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

My plan is to rent a car and spend a few days in the San Francisco Area before heading down to Visit Kings Canyon, Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks.

My original plans for this trip was to take Amtrak’s Coast Starlight down to Los Angers and Then travel back to New Orleans on the Sunset Limited and then take the Crescent back to Lynchburg, Virginia and renting a car to drive home.

While this trip is still on the board it may end up coming off due once again to the Fires in Los Angeles and the overall crime situation in San Francisco.  I have a couple of Friends who live in t Bay Area, and they are doing their best to discourage me from coming to the bay area because of the crime and lack of police power to ensure my safety.  They have told me that the Entire Bay Area is crime ridden and no one is safe.

Again, this trip is still on the board, but I have a feeling it may come off the 2025 board and hopefully find it’s way back in 2026 or 2027.

3.      SUNSHINE BUS TOUR – SAN FRANCISCO & PACIFIC NORTHWEST

Like Traveling by Train, I also like traveling on Bus Tours. While they are more structured than I am used to, they do allow me to meet some wonderful people while just sitting back enjoying the trip. All the planning has been done for me.

I have taken a couple of longer trips offered by Sunshine Tours and have enjoyed them immensely. When I got Sunshine’s 2025 Catalog, the 20-day cross country trip to San Francisco and the Pacific Northwest jumped out at me.

In addition to Visiting places like Salt Lake City, Pike’s Peak, the Garden or the Gods and the Eisenhower Center in Kansas on the way out we also get to Visit Oregon and Washington before starting the Trip Back.

On the way back we would visit Idaho and Montana on our way to Yellowstone National Park, before visiting the Site in South Dakoka like Mount Rushmore and Deadwood.

I haven’t committed to this trip, but it is moving up on the board. I am currently waiting to receive a 2025 Abbott Tour Catalog to see if they offer a similar trip. While I really enjoy Sunshine, I have discovered that they tend to be quite a bit higher than similar trips offered by Abbott.

4.      ANNUAL NCAA MARCH MADNESS ADVENTURE

One trip that is already pretty much finalized is my annual NCAA March Madness adventure. Last year I traveled to Pittsburgh for the first and second rounds of the Tournament and this year I will be returning to the PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

I have attended the tournament several times in the past and it has been a good experience. The arena features on-site parking, which is always a plus. I purchased my tickets for all three sessions of the tournament during the early buy period back in October.

I was able to get a lower-level ticket just 10 rows up from the floor. In anticipation of attending the tournament in Raleigh, I made hotel reservations back in July at a Holiday Inn just 4-miles from the Arena. In doing so, I was able to avoid the special event rate increase. My 4-night stay averages out to just under $150 per night. I checked the rates for the same period right after the first of the years and the average for the same period was just under $190 per night.

5.      ARKANSAS-MISSOURI ADVENTURE

This trip would be a week to 10—day adventure that would take me along the Ohio River in Kentucky before crossing into Missouri. I would pretty much stay in Southern Missouri visiting Poplar Bluff, West Plains and Branson. From Here my options are to either head up to Joplin before crossing into Northeast Oklahoma and eventually back to Arkansas.

6.      MICHIGAN - ILLINOIS GREAT LAKES ADVENTURE

This trip was high on my list for 2024 but due to a couple of scheduling issues, I ended up pushing it back to this years. This is another adventure that has a number of Bucket List sites on it. Hopefully I can make this trip happen as I really want to spend a couple of day visiting Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

My plan is after visiting the Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, I wall travel across southern Michigan, through Ann Arbor, and Lansing before arriving in Grand Rapids. In Grand Rapids I will be able to cross the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum and Gravesite off of My Bucket List.

Then it’s around Lake Michigan, to the west side of Chicago where I can visit a couple of Cemeteries that are on my list. There are a few graves in Westlawn Cemetery that I want to visit including Jack Ruby the man who killed Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President Kennedy and Movie reviewer Gene Siskel.

Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery is the final resting place of many Chicago gangster and Organized crime figures including Sam Giancana and Al Capone.

Then it’s off to Rockford Illinois where I want to visit Historic Auto Attractions, which has one of the largest collections of Presidential vehicle and artifacts in the country. It has a coach that belonged to President Ulysses Grant along with a number of More recent presidential Vehicles. 

It also has a number of other historic vehicles including the Ambulance that transported Lee Harvey Oswald to the hospital after he was shot by Jack Ruby.

Everyone that I have talked to has told me to allow for at least two day to complete the tour of this huge Museum.

7.      ANNUAL BIRTHDAY VACATION

Every years since I retired in 2018, I have managed to take a trip to celebrate my birthday. In the past, I have visited places like Nashville, Pigeon Forge and Virginia Beach. This year I am looking at heading south to Florida.

For several Years I was fortunate enough to be able to vacation with my friends Pete and Valerie Ramey at the Norfolk Southern Lay By on Anna Maria Island. I enjoyed those trips and have longed to return and spend some time in the Sunshine State. 

For this trip I am looking at traveling down the east coast of Florida, visiting St. Augustine, Daytona and the Space Coast. I am looking at making this another 7–10-day trip.

8.      GULF COAST ADVENTURE

When I took the Los Angeles Amtrak Adventure off the Board, this is the trip that replaced it. I haven’t done a whole lot of planning on this trip and if it stays on the board, it will more than likely be a late August, early September Trip or maybe even a November/December Trip.

What I have looked at for this trip is maybe visits to Tallahassee, Florida, ad Mobile Alabama before Heading back north through Mississippi to Memphis and heading home on Interstate 40.

This trips has the possibility of turning into a longer Mega adventure by continuing west along the Louisiana Gulf Coast with stops in New Orleans, and Baton Rouge and maybe on to Houston, College Station and Dallas before heading back east through Arkansas or Northern Louisiana.

I have a feeling that if this does turn into a mega adventure it will be pushed back to 2026. But we will wait and see.

Right now, my first solid 2025 trip is My March Madness Adventure to Raleigh. I don’t have anything planned for February but that could change if I get cabin fever and want to take a short weekend or 5-day spur of the moment trip.

Well, that is where I stand for 2025. Nothing is etched in stone, and it is safe to say not all these trips will stay on the board.  But as of right now all, except for the Amtrak – Los Angeles Trip, are still very much under consideration.

It’s going to be interesting over the next few weeks to see which ones drop off and which one turn into reality. I hope you will check back from time to time to see where 2025 takes me. Until then ENJOY LIFE’S JOURNEY.

LOOKING BACK AT 2024 - PART 4

 

FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA

AUGUST 16-19, 2024

August saw me hit the road for another little Weekend Trip that I didn’t really do a lot of planning. I knew I wanted to make the Fredericksburg area the hub for this adventure and made hotel reservations for a couple of nights in that area. My thinking was I could make a an easy drive up to the Springfield Metro Station and maybe take the Metro into Washington D. C. For the Day.

On the way to Fredericksburg, I stopped at the New Markert Battlefield and the Virginia Civil War Museum.  Then it was off to Warrington, Virginia to visit the grave of John Singleton Mosby, who was known as “The Gray Ghost” of the Confederacy.

My plan for Saturday was to drive up to Springfield and Take the Metro into Washington. But there were several protest going on around the National Mall and the last thing I wanted to do was get into that mess. So I opted to revisit the National Museum of the Marine Corps. I also stopped at the Quantico National Cemetery where I visited the grave of Watergate Figure Charles Colson.

Sunday was my last day in Fredericksburg so I took advantage of the Light Traffic on Interstate 95 and headed to visit a few cemeteries in Northern Virginia. Among the notable people that I visited was, United States Senator Robert Byrd, Presidential Aid Lyn Nofzinger, Author William Safire and Hall of Fame NBA Coach Red Auerbach. By early afternoon, traffic was beginning to pickup and It was time to head west out of the Northern Virginia Area.

One the way I decided to return to the Holiday Inn, in Charlestown, West Virginia. Before leaving and making my way toward home I decided to spend the morning touring the Harper Ferry National Park. I had visited Harpers Ferry several years ago and took this opportunity to return to the site of John Brown’s Raid in 1859.

After spending the morning at Harpers Ferry, I wrapped up this little weekend trip and headed home.

TIME FOR A REUNION

OCTOBER 11-13

The College Football Season began the last of August and with me being a Wake Forest Demon Deacon Season Ticket Holder, the opportunity to travel was limited. However, I did make time to travel back to My hometown of Tazewell to attend My 50^th High School Class Reunion.

The last reunion that I had been to was our 20^th back in 1994.  Since then so many of my friends and classmates have passed on. While I have managed to keep in contact with some of them on Facebook, a lot of them I have seen in 50 years. I was really looking forward to this weekend.

We started the weekend on Friday night by attending the Tazewell – Virginia High Football Game at Bulldog Stadium. This was a great warm-up for the main event on Saturday Night.

More than 50 of my former classmates gathered at the Red Barn at the Historic Crab Orchard Museum. What a wonderful Night it was visiting with friends and classmates and hearing about what they had been up to for the past 50 years.

Sunday morning several of us go together for a little informal breakfast before saying our goodbyes and returning or our lives. It was an absolutely wonderful weekend. I hope we don’t wait another 50-years to do it again.

BIRTHDAY AT THE BEACH

OCTOBER 15 – 18, 2024

My final trip of the season was a birthday visit to Virginia Beach. Every year since I retired in 2018, I have made it a point to take a short trip for my Birthday. One year I ended up in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge Area. Another year I spend the week in Nashville. Even during Covid I managed to get out of town and just drive around the remote areas of Virginia and West Virginia.

This year My niece and I headed down to Virginia Beach. While there was a chill in the air and we didn’t spend a lot of time on the actual beach, we did enjoy our time at the ocean. On day we did make our way across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and spend several hours on the Shore.

While on the Eastern Shore we visited the Historic Custis Tombs, where the ancestors of the Custis Tombs Women who generations later married George Washington and Robert E. Lee. We also visit the historic area of Cape Charles before making the trip back across the bridge to our Virginia Beach Hotel.

I also found time to visit the First Landing State Park and the Cape Henry Lighthouses. These sites are on Fort Story, which is an active Military Base and I had to go through some security screening. After spending a couple of hours visiting the historic sites, it returned to the hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon walking around and visiting some of the shops and cafes.

Our trip to the beach was my last trip of 2024.

I finished out the year attending Wake Forest Football and now Virginia Tech Basketball is occupying my time.

Even though I didn’t take any really long trips this year, I enjoyed the shorter, more structured trips. These 2024 adventures saw me travel a total of 5,553 miles and visited 6-states. What does 2025 have, well I do have some plans. Like always, I have a bunch of stuff on the planning board. I will let you in on some of the places that I am looking at early in the New Year, but you will have to stick around throughout 2025 to see what made the cut and where I go.

Until next then,  I hope everyone has a Safe and Happy New Year.