Way out of order: The Indy trip

First let me say, never, ever buy a Chinese disposable camera. The results can be seen right here. The camera was horrible, but because I left my digital camera home for the special weekend in Indianapolis, I had little choice.

Despite my shortcomings in the camera-bringing department, the weekend had some other ups and downs as well.

Mostly it was a chance to honor the father of Patricia, Diane and Joan Uleskey, who died in July 2009. John "Red" Uleskey was a proud member of the U.S. Army's 75th Division Association and attended many of their reunions.

Each year at the reunion, the members take pause to remember those who are no longer with us here on earth. This was Red's year to be remembered at the memorial service and we wanted to be there to represent Red.

We all got to the Wyndham Hotel in Indianapolis on Friday. Joan and I by car and Denny and Diane by air. Patricia and Keane were unable to attend, but were with us in spirit.

'There was a nice dinner on Friday night that included an Elvis impersonator, which was fun. (It was obviously the 'fat' Elvis he was impersonating). The next morning it rained, but with several hours to the memorial service we decided as long as we were in Indy, we should stop by and pay homage to 'The Track."

The four of us piled into "The Beast" (the name our granddaughter calls the Tahoe) and drove over to the Indy Museum for a little sightseeing. It was there that they sold me the crummy Chinese camera for $12. That's why there are no pictures of Elvis, didn't have the camera yet.

I liked the track museum, especially after I found a mention of Ralph DePalma, a former Indy car racer I met much later in his career and very early in my life. My Dad took my picture with the race car driver who made history by leading the Indy 500, running out of gas and then pushing his car over the line to finish, but obviously not first.

The memorial service was very touching and it is sad to hear the long list of names of World War II men who have died just in the past year. They are departing us at a rapid rate. Each name is called and a member of the Association brings up a red carnation, lays it on the table and then pauses to salute.

My picture of the member saluting was so bad I can't even put it here. A real disappointment for sure.

On Saturday night there was a semi-formal dinner that included the installation of officers for the next year followed by a DJ and dancing. It was a nice day all around.

Sunday started off well with us joining other members of the Association for a farewell breakfast and a World War II medic from Buffalo, NY regaled us with tales of the Battle of the Bulge while we ate.

It was after breakfast that things went south for Joan and me. I walked out to "The Beast" to start loading luggage and when I closed the back door after putting the bags in I heard a terrible noise from the passenger side of the car.

As I rounded the side of the car I found that someone had smashed out both the passenger window and back passenger window. That ended our plans to drive Diane and Denny to the airport and started a three-hour process of calling the police, making a report and getting the windows fixed so we could get home.

When the window glass repair guys showed up in an unmarked mini-van with three sets of identical glass for the three victims of the vandalism (yes, there were two others all GM products with the identical windows) my crap detectors started to quiver.

The detectors went into high gear when I learned this is the same company that the hotel calls for glass vandalism which had spiked in the past week. No other damage to the car, the windows were relatively easy to fix, but not cheap at about $480 per window. Not accusing anyone yet, just sayin'.

Talked to a nice detective on Monday morning (Sept. 30) and relayed my suspicions. No one was hurt but it was a pretty big annoyance.

The trip home after the glass repair was uneventful, except of course for the terrible call that cost the Detroit Lions a victory in the game against the Bears. That was crime that needs to be investigated as well.