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16

6 Editor’s Note

8 In the Valley

12 Calendar of Events

13 Cache Profile

14 Cache Cusine

28 Photo Gallery

Departments

16 Cache Valley Cruise-In

22 Ride the Vomit Comit

32 Jim Rowe

Features

22

32

5July 2011

6 August 2011

MAY 2011VOLUME 8, NUMBER 4

July 23, 2011

Publisher Mike Starn

editor Jeff Hunter

Advertising Director Kyle Ashby

Sales Manager Debbie Andrew

DesignerAshley Carley

Circulation Director Russ Davis

Production DirectorPaul Davis

Finance Director Chris Jensen

Cache Valley Magazine is published 10 times annually by Cache Valley Publishing LLC and inserted in The Herald Journal newspaper. Subscriptions are available for $12. Please write to:

Cache Valley magazine P.O. Box 487Logan, UT 84321-0487

or e-mail Jeff Hunter at jhunter@hjnews.com

To advertise, please call Debbie Andrew at (435) 792-7299 or email dandrew@hjnews.com. For photo reprints call (435) 792-7299. Visit us on the Web at cachevalleymagazine.com.

All rights reserved. Reproduction of Cache Valley magazine in whole or part is strictly prohibited without consent of the editor or publisher.

Volume Eight, Number Seven

Cover Photo by Jeff Hunter

A participant car in the 2011 Cache Valley Cruise-In heads up Logan Canyon towards Bear Lake during the annualpoker run to Garden City.

editor’sNote

Is it just me or

have I spent a lot of

time in this space

the past six months

or so talking about

the effects of a

very long, very wet

winter? Well, since the temperature is

now hovering near 90 degrees every

day, I’m not going to complain anymore.

I will, however, use it as an excuse.

You see, originally the cover story

for this issue was going to be on the

fly-fishing scene in and around Cache

Valley. But inasmuch as the unusually

heavy spring runoff has left most of

the local streams flowing extremely

high and muddy well into July, it just

seemed like a good idea to postpone

the story rather than try and find a

seven-and-a-half-foot-tall, 500-pound

fisherman with really good life insur-

ance to wade into the raging Logan

River and serve as a cover model.

Fortunately, we made the decision just

days before the start of Logan’s biggest

summer event, the Cache Valley Cruise-

In, so it only took a few minutes to

come up with an idea of for a new cover

story. Now in its 29th year, the Cruise-In

packed ‘em in again this Fourth of July

weekend, thanks to nearly 1,000 different

vintage cars and some vintage rockers

in the form of the Beach Boys.

And most importantly, the weather

was superb. By the time the awards

ceremony got underway late Saturday

afternoon, there was scarcely a bottle

of water to be had

anywhere near the Logan-Cache

Fairgrounds as the day got hotter and

hotter.

While it certainly would have been a

glorious day to go fishing, it didn’t strike

me until later that evening during the

annual Cruise-In parade on Main Street

that I could have done both. As the hot

sun finally got low in the clear-blue sky,

Gary Fronk, a Nibley neighbor of mine,

and his family drove past in his red

Amphicar — an amphibious automobile

that was built in Germany in the 1960s.

Gary says his Amphicar, which

comes complete with twin propel-

lers mounted under the rear bumper,

doesn't drive all that well on land, but

while hanging around it during the

car show, people couldn’t stop talking

about it and taking photographs of

the restored beauty.

And when you think about it, could

there be a better vehicle to take a cruise

in at the Cruise-In than a car that’s also

a boat?

jhunter@hjnews.com

Buy Local First

7August 2011Buy Local First

8 August 2011

LOGANinTheValley

T he last time I walked up this staircase I was wearing a

leotard and pink tights,” I mumbled. The kind-faced direc-

tor turned toward me with a grin. “Memory lane, huh?”

The moment felt almost sacred as May's late-afternoon sunlight

poured through large-paned windows warming the wooden floor-

boards of Logan's Whittier Community Center. Honestly, I recall

little about the building — but I remember how the light came in

through the windows. As a five-year-old, I took my first and final

ballet class with the Cache Valley Civic Ballet. My family moved

to Preston, Idaho, before I could continue my training, but the

memory of that enchanting building stayed with me for the next

two decades.

Today, conservative stiletto heels replace my soft pink ballet

slippers; pin-striped dress slacks substitute my toile tutu. But I am

still here to dance, that is for sure.

“Look out!” a firm hand yanked me backward by the elbow.

“Those taxis are crazy. You've got to stay up on the curb, Idaho

girl.” With a smirk, my dance partner sprinted onto the crosswalk,

and I had to run to catch up, clutching my duffel bag and over-

stuffed purse.

Los Angeles had a rhythm of its own. Yellow cabs, longboards,

and pedestrians crisscrossed at every bustling intersection. My

destination was the Sheraton Delfina Hotel in Santa Monica where

my partner, Matt, and I were meeting up with our ballroom dance

students for their first Arthur Murray Dance Studios competition.

My year-long internship with the international dance franchise

had been the highlight of my college experience. As a student at

Brigham Young University-Idaho now interning in Santa Barbara,

my fellow dance instructors couldn't pass up an opportunity to

poke fun at my small-town instincts.

A minor in ballroom dance led me to Southern California where

my 30-plus dance students ranged from just-walked-in-off-the-

street beginners to life-long dance enthusiasts. I loved every group

class, private lesson, dance party, competition, and event. Teach-

ing was my calling. And the area boasted an unmatched lifestyle

this country girl seized with outstretched hands, toes pointed.

This farm girl had just gone urban.

I woke up to the roar of snow plows and the whine of over-

worked windshield wipers. December 27th was Grandma Gun-

nell's birthday, the last one we would share with her before the

leukemia won. And the family van was packed tight with kids, gift

wrapping, and cardboard boxes. For me, this fun-filled visit was a

little more permanent. I was moving in.

After a sleepless graduation, I had packed my old Volkswagen

until it closely resembled a sardine tin, took one long, soulful look

at BYU-Idaho, and hit the gas — hard. London. That was the plan.

Yes, red phone booths, British accents, and a master's at the Uni-

versity of London was the confident next stop in my action-packed

future. My time in Los Angeles awarded me the confidence to

believe in big dreams. With my application packet now tucked

safely under my seat, nothing was standing between me and the

humming, energetic metropolis.

By the time I turned down the stereo, I had missed Mom's first

phone call. I picked up her second attempt. Forty-five miles later,

A R E I N T R O D U C T I O N

9August 2011

images of skyscrapers had

faded to tree-lined avenues,

Big Ben reshaped into Old

Main, and tour buses flowed

into milk trucks.

I was no nurse. Writing and

dance classes hardly pre-

pared me for the after-effects

of chemotherapy. Literary

analysis, editing exercises,

and tango practice were

replaced by doctor's appoint-

ments, prescription-filling and

meal preparation. My sweet,

loving Grandma fought the

disease like a champion. I

held her hand the day she lost

sight in her left eye. I threw her

wheelchair in the trunk and

chauffeured her to the Blue-

bird Restaurant the day she

reserved enough strength to

“get out on the town.” I ordered

her beloved Sizzler lobster

when we needed to celebrate

anything happy. It was one

miraculous day at a time.

London travel guides were stacked on my bed stand, saved for

the end of the day and perused slowly — the way one savors the

last warm chocolate chip cookie.

Little by little, I realized my layover in Logan, Utah, was becom-

ing my destination — something I never scheduled in my plan

book. Grandma was teaching me the definition of character, and

our time together was much too precious to miss. How could I

have guessed Logan was about to offer me the biggest opportu-

nity of my life?

One Saturday evening, some friends invited me to WhySound, a

local music venue where a favorite band was playing. I parked on

Federal Avenue and hesitantly walked toward the gathered crowd

outside the building. I grew up in the northern end of Cache Valley,

but I had no idea this popular alley even existed.

Later that week, I met a friend at the Factory Pizzeria for a birth-

day celebration. As I descend-

ed the staircase, a crowd

danced to the rockin' band. I

spotted my friends at a corner

table. As I moved through the

party, I felt something crunch

under my heeled boots, when

I looked down to investigate I

realized peanut shells littered

the floor!

Two weeks later I was

sipping African Nectar tea on

the deck at Crumb Brothers

Artisan Bread. The natural

landscaping of blue wildflow-

ers, tall grasses, and swaying

shade trees surprised me with

its sophistication. It hit me.

Maybe I didn't really know

Logan at all.

Apparently, a reintroduction

was needed. As a child, a trip

to Logan meant Grandma's

house, school shopping, and

picking up Dad from work.

But now I was discovering it's

specialties: an impressive arts

scene; cultivated dining offerings, refined educational opportuni-

ties, and a progressive, entrepreneurial spirit.

That enterprising energy whispered to me. With each passing

week, I felt a citizenship growing. Logan offered so much, and I

had something to give as well.

Standing in the well-lit dance studio of the Whittier Center, I

shook hands with its director as he handed me a set of keys. “Wel-

come to the Whittier.”

Today, Logan is home. My new adventure, FreeStyle Dance

Company, is growing each month. And I look forward to every

dance class, wedding couple, and salsa night with a sense of own-

ership. I still keep my passport in the top drawer of my desk, but for

now, I am content discovering Cache Valley one more day.

Erica Colvin

Preston native Erica Colvin is back in Cache Valley and enjoying it after experiencing different parts of the country for several years.

10 August 2011

T ucked away in the middle of the guest book

is a ringing endorsement for The Loft on

Center from a couple who actually only live

a few miles away from downtown Logan.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," the excerpt

reads. "What a great time! We holed up and watched

all those movies we missed raising kids and being

busy."

While The Loft certainly has its share of regular visitors from

faraway locations like Denmark, The Netherlands, Seattle and

Southern California, the 1,125-square-foot "executive suite"

is getting more and more popular with locals who are simply

seeking a brief escape from their everyday life.

"We do have quite a few people that come who live in Lo-

gan," notes Jerry Hughes, who owns The Loft on Center with

his wife, Anita. "They just want to get away from their kids for a

weekend or an evening or for their anniversary.

"And most of them end up saying that they felt like they

weren't even in Logan, but some place far away," Anita adds.

The Hughes purchased the small building at 90 W. Center

in 2004 in order to accommodate an office for GEO/Graphics

Inc., a cartography consulting company that Jerry founded in

1985. They originally planned to build an apartment upstairs,

but then realized if they rented it out, they wouldn't have ac-

cess to the space.

"So, we thought we'd just do a little bed-and-breakfast

thing," Jerry recalls. "We were staying in one over in Hawaii

at the time, and thought, We can do this. We could make our

place this nice."

"We just started trying to make it cute, and it just got better

and better," Anita says.

As the owner of her own interior design company, ABH De-

sign, Anita went right to work and created a beautiful, self-con-

tained unit that includes a living room, a full kitchen area and

a spacious bedroom. The Loft's most unique feature, however,

is the large, two-tiered deck on the north side that overlooks

Center Street and 100 West.

Reminiscient of the popular deck at The Owl a half block

to the east, The Loft's outdoor space is decorated with trees

and flowers and includes furniture, a sun umbrella and a gas

barbeque grill. The deck helps make The Loft a prime location

for big events like graduation and birthday parties, bridal show-

ers and even an annual Oscar night party for the Academy

Get away from it all ... right in downtown Logan

Lofty expectations

11August 2011

Awards broadcast.

Access to The Loft is from off of the

parking lot on the south side of the

building, which also makes it extremely

convenient for patrons of the Utah Fes-

tival Opera and Musical Theatre.

"It's kind of funny because we have

people from all over that stay here, but

everyone from here always tells us they

didn't even realize it was here," Anita

says.

"Just yesterday

I brought a couple

of people up here

from the office

next door who

have been working

there for two years

but had no idea

this was here,"

Jerry seconds.

Although the

history of the

building is a

little sketchy, the

Hughes have

been told it was built in 1917 and origi-

nally housed a candy store — they found

numerous candy wrappers during the

renovation process — before it served

as an automotive garage, an auto parts

store and a small warehouse. When they

bought it in 2004, the Hughes basically

had to gut the entire structure and lower

it six inches in order to make Jerry's of-

fice downstairs handicapped accessible,

and they also uncovered a bricked-up

entrance to the old Del Mar restaurant

that used to be located next door.

Since The Loft at Center is a self-con-

tained unit that even includes a washer

and dryer, it affords a bit more privacy

than more conventional bed and breakfasts that normally

provide only a bedroom and, possibly, a private bathroom. The

Hughes don't cook for their guests, but they do bring in bagels,

cereals, fruits, eggs, juices, milk and coffee, and the kitchen is

fully stocked with pots, pans, plates, utensils and various spices.

"We basically just treat it as a retreat — a couples' retreat,"

Anita says. "We want people to come and relax and just totally

zone out."

Jeff Hunter

After renovat-ing a building in downtown Logan, Jerry and Anita Hughes of Hyde Park (bottom left) now rent the top floor out on a nightly basis. The Loft on Center includes a full kitchen and a popular deck area on the roof.

12 August 2011

toDoin Cache Valley

7/23

7/28

-30

7/25

8/20

8/4-

6

The American West Heritage Center hosts the Spirit of ’47 Pio-neer Day Festival and Handcart Progressive Dinner. The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $5.50 for every-one older than three. Activities include train and pony rides, gold panning, water games and staged gunfights. The dinner begins at 6 p.m. and reserva-tions are required. Adult dinner tickets are $12; kids ages 3-11 are $8. Call 245-6050 or visit www.awhc.org.

Preston rodeo

Spirit of ‘47 Pioneer Festival

Logan Pioneer Day Celebration

Logan City’s Pioneer Day cel-ebration takes place at Willow Park beginning at 7:30 a.m. with

An Idaho tradition since 1934, That Famous Preston Night Rodeo runs over three days beginning with a pre-show each night at 8:15 p.m. and the PRCA rodeo at 8:30 p.m. In addition to booths, food and entertain-ment throughout the day along Main Street and in the City Park, there’s also carnival and helicopter rides, golf tournament, chuck-wagon breakfast and a

Cache County Fair and rodeo

The Logan-Cache Fairgrounds will be the place to be during the Cache County Fair and Rodeo. In addition to livestock shows and contests throughout the week, there will be carnival rides, food and entertainment, including Cache County Fair Idol (Thurs-day at 6 p.m.) and a performance by country-music star Suzy Bogguss (Saturday at 8 p.m.). Admission to the fair is free. In the arena, pre-rodeo events start Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. followed by the start of the PRCA rodeo at 8 p.m. Rodeo tickets are $9 (reserved) and $7 (general) on Thursday; $10 and $8 on Friday; and $11 and $9 on

raspberry DaysBear Lake celebrates Raspberry Days with a variety of summer events, including a daily craft fair in Garden City, a parade (Thursday at 6 p.m. in Garden City), a rodeo (Thursday and Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Lake-town), 5K fun run (Saturday at 8 a.m. at Laketown) and fireworks (Saturday at 10 p.m. in Garden City). Call (435) 946-2901 or visit www.gardencityuta.us.

Demolition DerbyKSM Music hosts its annual demolition derby at the Logan-Cache Fairgrounds. Gates open at 5:30 p.m., the pre-show starts at 6 p.m. and the derby gets underway at 7 p.m. Tickets are $8 for adults and $4 for children 12 and under. Call 753-6813.

a pancake breakfast presented by the Logan Lions Club and ending with a fireworks show after dark. Other events include a noon parade (running from Center Street to 500 West to 700 South), volleyball tour-nament, watermelon-eating contest, skateboard competition and Peter Breinholt concert. Call 716-9250 or visit www.loganutah.org.

daily parade beginning at 6:30 p.m. For tickets call (208) 852-0898 or visit prestonrodeo.com.

Saturday. Visit www.cachecounty.org/fair.php

8/11

-13

13August 2011

Can you tell me a little about CyberSym Tech-

nologies?

>> It focuses on applications of artificial

intelligences, and uses the strengths of

artificial intelligences to look for pattern

recognition. It has science, engineering and

business applications. It’s a business that’s

run out of a home office, but we do con-

tracts and collaborations online as well as in

person.

What’s your favorite aspect of the business?

>> Besides the intellectual curiosity, it’s

being able to set my own hours. I can go out

for a hike or a trail run and be thinking about

a research project. So, there’s a lot more

flexibility.You do skijoring too, right? How long have you

been doing that?

>> I think we’ve been skijoring at least 15

years. Mostly I’m just out to keep my huskies

happy. I also volunteer for the Cache Valley

Mushers at their annual K9 Challenge race.

It’s a dogsled race held in mid-to-late winter.

I’m usually a dog handler. And you have

to be there to see the excitement of those

puppies. Those sled dogs, once the first

team started getting harnessed, everyone’s

adrenaline level goes up because I think the

dogs are projecting it. How long have you volunteered for Bridg-

erland Literacy? What gives you the most

satisfaction when volunteering?

>> I’ve been volunteering over 15 years.

Being a volunteer tutor, the greatest satisfac-

tion is watching the light bulb turn on as

someone gets it, whether it’s the spelling of

a word, or just being able to clearly discrimi-

nate the sounds that make up the word. I’m

sure other people use this phrase, but I call it

the light bulb moments.

Do you have plans of stopping any time soon?

>> Oh no. I love to read and I want every-

one else to be able to have the opportunity

to read. I’ve even gone so far as to take a

graduate level course to learn how to test for

dyslexia. I discovered dyslexia is present in

10 to 20 percent of the population. Because

of my science training, (I know) there are at

least six genes (that affect dyslexia). The

genes are dominant; they affect develop-

ment of the circuitry of the brain. They do not

affect the intelligence of a person whatso-

ever. You can have a person like Einstein or

Leonardo di Vinci, who are both thought to

have been dyslexics. Where can people learn more about your

jewelry?

>> The website is Keletica.com, but it

doesn’t have a shopping cart yet. I’ll be at

the Cache Valley Gardners’ Market or the

Salt Lake Downtown Market on Saturdays. How often are you making jewelry? Where do

you find your supplies?

>> I try to make something every day. I

find my supplies everywhere, even on the

trail. One of my lines is called Wild Rocks

and they are rocks that I find on the trial – or

someone else has – that I’ll custom wrap. It

started because I had a remembrance stone

from my first-ever trail race that I made into

a pendant for myself, and I had a friend who

wanted one from one of her races and it sort

of morphed from there.

CacheProfile

gAyLeKNAPPInterview by Manette Newbold

Photo By Jeff Hunter

Business co-owner, jew-elry designer and volunteer extraordinaire, Gayle Knapp loves being involved in the community and keeping busy. When she’s not thinking of new ideas for her software development company, CyberSym Technologies, Knapp is often trail running or working on her next necklace or set of earrings. Originally from upstate New York, the 62-year-old Knapp made her home in Providence when she took a job at Utah State University teaching biochem-istry and molecular biology. Although she’s since left the university to work at home with her husband, Bruce Copeland, she says the “gor-geous” valley and mountains of this area are going to keep her here for a long time.

14 August 2011

More Visibility. Better Results

Call Debbie at 792-7296dandrew@hjnews.com

PAPA MurPhy’sJeremy Claflin can't help but smile as

he remembers the moment nearly

16 years ago when his brand-new

landlord shared his evaluation of the new

Papa Murphy's Take 'n' Bake Pizza fran-

chise that Claflin was opening in Logan.

"We signed basically a 15-year lease —

10 years with a couple of options — and

he was like, 'I don't think you're going to

make it,'" Claflin recalls.

"Obviously, more than 15 years later,

we've made it," he adds with a grin.

While Claflin admits that the first couple

of years were "interesting" as he basically

had to train the residents of Cache Valley

how to take home a pizza and cook it,

Papa Murphy's has thrived ever since in

this area, leading Claflin to open a second

location in Providence in December 2009.

"I think it's a great concept and a good

business for this community," Claflin notes.

"The college helps, obviously, but more

than that, it's the moms and the families

because it's cost-effective. Our average

price is just 10 or 12 bucks, so you can

feed the family for $15, and it's really clean

and really simple."

A native of Portland, Ore., Claflin's his-

tory with the company goes back to 1990

when he was just 18 years old. He

started working at Papa Aldo's, a take-

and-bake chain, in Oregon, just about

four years before Papa Aldo's merged

with Murphy's Pizza, a similar chain

based in Northern California, to become

Papa Murphy's Take 'n' Bake Pizza.

Claflin was a manager at a Papa

Murphy's in Oregon in 1995 when the

company offered him an opportunity

to open up a franchise in Utah. At the

time, there was only one other store

in the state, and his boss at Papa

Murphy's gave Claflin the freedom to

choose any location in Utah for his

franchise.

"I literally just picked Logan off the

map," Claflin says. "I read about it in a

book then made a couple of trips, and

this was the kind of atmosphere I was

looking for. So, I moved here in 1995

when I was just 23 years old and didn't

know a soul.

"We were the second store in Utah,

and now there's 50 of 'em. And the

Logan location is consistently first or

second in the state in sales."

Claflin says employees start showing

up about two hours before the stores open

15August 2011

Cache Cuisine

to make the dough, grate the cheese and

cut up the vegetables. He says not having

to pay for ovens, dining space and servers

allows the company to spend more money

on better ingredients.

"It's always good quality," Claflin

declares. "They don't let things like that

slide, and I think that's good. There's no

short cuts and that's one of the reasons

why the product stays so consistent."

Papa Murphy's features three types

of stuffed pizzas, five varieties of deLite

pizzas with thin crust and six kinds of

signature pizzas, including pepperoni,

Hawaiian and gourmet chicken garlic.

Patrons can also order custom-made

pizzas with a wide variety of ingredi-

ent options, as well as salads, cheesy

bread, chocolate-chip cookie dough and

a cinnamon wheel with cream-cheese

frosting. A recent additions to the menu,

a S'mores dessert pizza, includes

marshmallows, chocolate chips, and

chocolate filled crust.

The Papa Murphy's store in Logan

is located at 618 N. Main St., while the

new location next to Macey's is at 2 N.

Highway 165 in Providence. The hours

for both stores are Monday through

Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday

from noon to 7 p.m.

Jeff Hunter

16 August 2011

It’s hard to say if the 1935 Plymouth packs more punch

now or 70 years ago.

Originally owned by a determined gold miner named Andy

Andreason, the little PJ Coupe used to carry him from the

edge of the Pacific Ocean near San Diego to the Cuyamaca

Mountains surrounding Julian, Calif. Andreason would settle

at his mining claim every spring, then work it throughout the

summer and into the fall before the first snow fell. He’d then

drive the 50 miles back to the San Diego area, where he lived

near the store owned by Denise Hume’s father.

“He did that for years,” Hume says of Andreason. “Then

when he got too old to drive, my dad would take him up there,

drop him off, and then go back every two weeks to check on

him and bring him supplies. Then when the first snow came,

he’d go up there, pick up Andy and bring him back down.

“My dad did that for a number of years,” Hume continues

before adding, “and Andy always had a permit to carry dyna-

mite in his car.”

Despite the regular presence of TNT, the Plymouth outlived

Andreason, who willed the car — and his gold-mining claim

— to Hume’s father after he passed away. Apparently a little

less excited than his late neighbor to drive up and down a

treacherous mountain road with a crate full of explosives, the

PJ Coupe just sat behind his house for seven or eight years

gathering rust.

“I have an older brother and a younger sister, and I was

the only one that jumped up and down and said, ‘Dad, you

can’t do this to this car! You can’t let it just sit there!’” Hume

says. “Then one day, someone came and stole the bumpers

off of it, so he called us and said, ‘If you guys want it, come

and get it.’

“That was 1980.”

Fast forward 31 years. Denise Hume and her husband,

Larry, are sitting on lawn chairs in a shady spot at the Logan-

Cache Fairgrounds on July 2, just enjoying watching people

walking by and routinely stopping to admire the fully rebuilt

Plymouth at the 29th annual Cache Valley Cruise-In.

“People mostly love the color and want to know what color

it is,” says Hume, who is currently serving as the vice presi-

dent of the Over the Hill Gang car club in San Diego. “Some

people say it looks black; some people say it looks purple;

some people say it looks cherry; some people say it looks

root-beer brown.

“It’s actually called black cherry mica, and it’s a custom ’06

Lexus color that you had to request. It wasn’t a color that just

went out on the showroom floor, and it shows really well on

this fat-fendered car because of all the curves and humps and

everything.”

Story & Photographs by Jeff Hunter

17August 2011

After first acquiring the PJ Coupe,

the Humes spent about five years tin-

kering with it, trying to get it back to its

original look as much as possible, but

it still wasn’t “dependable.” Therefore,

they decided that once they retired,

they were going to completely rebuild

the Plymouth and “street rod it.”

That time finally came in 2005, and

Denise Hume quickly reels off a long list

of the vintage vehicle’s impressive new

features: “Now we have a Chevy 350

small block in it with a Chevy 350 turbo-

transmission with a gear-vendor, under/

overdrive on it. There’s a Ford eight-inch

rear end on it with a Mustang coupe front

end, and we also have air conditioning,

power brakes, power steering and power

windows.

“We did it all because we wanted to

drive it and enjoy it,” Denise continues.

“And we definitely do.”

Apparently. Her and Larry drove the

1935 Plymouth north more than 800 >>

Above left, Valley Channel announcer Eric Olsen looks over Larry and Denise Hume’s 1935 Plymouth PJ Coupe prior to the Cache Valley Cruise-In’s award ceremony. Top, a hot rod struts its stuff for the crowd. The last original member of the Beach Boys still in the band, Mike Love belts out “Catch a Wave.”

18 August 2011

2011 ‘36 Chevy Standard Coupe 2008 ‘68 Dodge Charger 2004 ‘57 Bel Air Tudor Hardtop 1997 ‘41 Ford Phantom Woody

Don Young of Salt Lake City adds some shine to his 1965 Chevrolet Convair.

miles to attend their first Cache Valley Cruise-In, and the

couple has plans to head out for another car show in South

Dakota as soon as they leave Logan.

Their 2011 jaunt through the Western United States dwarfs

their longest car trip ever, however. Along with fellow Over the

Hill Gang members Guy and Esther Allen, the Humes “drove”

all the way to Hawaii two years ago.

“We shipped our cars to the Big Island and spent a little

more than two weeks over there,” Denise says. “We put

about a 1,000 miles on the cars driving around.”

“It was great,” Esther Allen confirms. “We drove the cars up

to Long Beach and you can get two cars in each container. So,

all we had to do was take a carry-on bag on the plane and get

on and off.”

Unlike the Humes, the Allens are Cruise-In veterans, hav-

ing made the trip to Logan about seven times since 1997.

They come up to show off a red, 1936 Ford 5 Window Coupe

that’s on its fourth engine and surpassed 362,000 miles on

the odometer on the way up from California.

“We’ll keep coming back as long as our bodies allow us to,”

Esther declares. “We really like it up here. Everybody’s very,

very friendly and the Cache Valley Cruisers are just a superb

club. They treat us really well.”

A member of the Cache Valley Cruising Association since

the second year of the Cruise-In, which started in 1982 and

was known as Logan’s Run until 1990, Lynn Zollinger says

this year’s event showcased 921 different vehicles.

“That’s up a little bit from previous years when we had

about 800-850, so we felt like we did well and had a good

event this year,” says Zollinger, who has been in charge of

advertising for the Cruise-In the past eight years. “Our max

was around 1,130 about 10 years ago, but we had a very

good show and felt like we were quite successful.”

This year’s Cache Valley Cruise-In got under-

way on Thursday, June 30, with the annual poker

run to Garden City and the shores of Bear Lake in

the early afternoon. A concert by the Beach Boys

later that night packed a huge crowd into the ro-

deo arena at the fairgrounds, while blue skies and

lots of sunshine blessed the final two days of the

event, which culminated with an awards ceremony

and the ever-popular parade up and down Main

Street on Saturday night.

“That always takes me back,” says Jerry

Strahan. “I grew up in Pubelo, Colo., and it was

a big cruising town. We think it’s pretty neat the

way the town supports the Cruise-In and shows

to watch. We always have a good time here, and

I hope they’re able to keep doing it for a long time

to come.”

A member of the Colorado Cruisers car club

Give-Away Cars Over the Years

19August 2011

‘41 Ford Phantom Woody 1991 ‘56 Ford Thunderbird 1987 ‘55 Chevy 1985 ‘74 Chevy Vega

Cruise-In goers look over a 1960 Nash Metro belonging to Connie Steed of Idaho Falls.

based in Craig, Strahan is part of a five-car, 10-person con-

tingent that has been making its way west for more than a

decade. Now living near Denver, Strahan and his wife started

out at 4 a.m. on Wednesday, met up with the other Colorado

Cruisers in southern Wyoming at 9 a.m. and pulled into Lo-

gan at about 4 p.m.

A huge Chevrolet Camaro buff, Strahan drove over in a

1982 Camaro marked as a pace car for that year’s India-

napolis 500.

“It’s not a particularly fast car,” Strahan admits, “but it is

kind of a historical car. This is Gordon Johncock’s car. They

gave it to him after he won the race in 1982.”

A placard near the front of the car includes documentation

that Johncock did, in fact, own the Camaro until selling it in

2004. Strahan, who also owns a 1969 replica Indy pace car

as well as two other Camaros, says he doesn’t mind if people

at the Cruise-In get “touchy-feely” with his cars.

“Everyone of these cars is driven,” he points out

while looking over the five vehicles from Colorado

lined up in a row. “So, we let kids sit in our cars

and do pretty much whatever they want, just as

long as they don’t scratch ‘em or lean their belt

buckles against them. These aren’t trailer queens.

They’re cars that are driven and enjoyed.

“We’re got a wide range of cars here,” Strahan

adds, “and it’s really fun to just sit here and watch

people come up and down the line. One guy will

walk past the first one and go to the second car

and think it’s the neatest one. The next guy will

skip the first three and think the fourth one is

awesome.

“All the car people have different tastes and have

their favorites.”

While many of the cars on display at the Cruise-

In trigger nostalgia for days gone by, the vehicle

Greg Brubaker brought up from Layton brings about much

different memories. His 1944 Willys Jeep with U.S. Army

markings has military veterans recalling conflicts of the past

— often before they even see the Jeep itself.

“It’s the preservative on the canvas,” Brubaker says of the

unmistakeable smell of vintage military equipment. “Every

army guy that comes by here instantly recognizes it.”

A World War II buff, Brubaker says he purchased the Jeep

three years ago to help honor veterans who may have spent

time driving and/or riding in one of the 650,000 such vehicles

built during the early ’40s. Equipped with a scabbard for an

M1 Garand rifle, an M1911A1 .45 automatic pistol, a ma-

chete, a field telephone, a helmet and an ammunition box,

the Jeep also has a small trailer and the markings of the

Guinea Short Lines to match the Stinson L-5 reconnaissance

airplane that Brubaker also owns and flies. >>

Give-Away Cars Over the Years

20 August 2011

Above, a pair of classic cars move into position for the Cache Valley Cruise-In awards ceremony. Top right, a couple enjoys a ride in a hot rod during the poker run through Logan Canyon. Left, the Beach Boys deliver their classics in front of a packed house at the Logan-Cache Fairgrounds.

21August 2011

“I’ve had a lot of people come by and share stories,” Brubak-

er says. “But I haven’t ran into a World War II veteran yet.”

“Hey,” a nearby onlooker probably in his 60s suddenly

blurts out, “they were still driving these a long time after that.

I had a good time in one of these.”

A few rows of Detroit steel over from Brubaker’s Jeep, Don

Young of Salt Lake City is polishing the hood of his 1965

Chevrolet Corvair. A member of the Bonneville Corvair Club,

Young owns “two-and-a-half Corvairs,” but the black ’65 was

his first.

And second.

“I was the original owner, then I sold it in 1972,” Young ex-

plains. “About 10 years later, I saw it in a repair yard one day

and immediately knew it was mine, so I bought it back. Then I

waited 18 more years to restore it.

“It has a lot of personal history for me; it holds a great deal

of significance. It was my first car, the car I took on my hon-

eymoon and the car I taught my wife how to drive a standard

transmission in.”

Beloved by their owners, Corvairs hold a unique place

in American history thanks to Ralph Nader’s inclusion of

the cars in the opening chapter of his book, “Unsafe at Any

Speed” in 1965. Unable to completely overcome the percep-

tion of it being a dangerous vehicle, the cars with rear-mount-

ed, air-cooled engines went out of production in 1969.

“Most everybody that comes by had one or knew someone

who had one and it elicits a lot of memories for them; they

really enjoy seeing them again,” Young says as he sits in a

chair to enjoy the shade of a large tree.

“But a lot of people have never heard of one and don’t

know what they are. I had one fellow that stopped and asked

me if it was a lot of work to move the engine to the back,”

Young adds with a chuckle.

22 August 2011

Inside of an army-green jumpsuit with my name tag attached to the chest, my heart raced and my breath panted as I was completely overwhelmed by amplified anticipation. I was ready. Four little motion-sickness pills slid down my throat preparing me for the ultimate ride, better than any roller coast-er or amusement park attraction I have ever experienced.

Utah State University’s Get Away Special Team was chosen along with squads from 13 other schools across the country to conduct original experiments aboard NASA’s microgravity aircraft — a Boeing 727 better known by its ominous nickname: the “Vomit Comet” — in Houston the first week of June. As a student and journalist, I tagged along to witness this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The flight started with an overly dry mouth, a slight side effect from the motion-sickness pills. Sucking on a single Life Saver — a name rightfully suited for the situation — the specially modified airplane took off. Like an ordinary com-mercial flight, I sat with the rest of the students and NASA employees, strapped into coach-style seating. I was unique in the sense that I was calm, yet excited. Sophomore Matt Wallace, on the other hand, hummed and kept his eyes

closed to prepare himself.Once the plane leveled out, the seatbelt light was turned off

and the students left their seats to prepare their experiments at the front of the plane. We were then all instructed to sit as the aircraft climbed at a 45-degree angle. My body felt as if it was enveloped by the plane. This was nearly two Gs. Now twice my body weight, I lifted my hands and arms to experi-ence the sensation: exhausting.

The plane wrapped around the top of the parabola and plummeted. For a 25- to 30-second free fall, everyone and everything not bolted to the floor floated up. We were weight-less. My initial reaction was that the “Weightless Wonder” simply dropped from under me. I screamed and then giggled, both from fear.

Without gravity telling me where my feet go, I did not know which way was up and which way was down. The inside walls, floor and ceiling were conveniently identical so it was easy to get turned around. My hair and airplane earrings came alive like Medusa’s snake-filled head, a look I would like to pursue.

I was not the only one floating in awe. Wallace, a mechani-

IStory by Anike Pullens

23August 2011

cal engineer who has been apart of the GAS since January of this year, was speechless. His eyes did the talking. They popped out of his skull as a Looney Tunes character’s eyes would when squeezed too tight or startled. His bulging eyes explained the feeling that is unex-plainable.

“As soon as I became weightless, I felt like I was falling, like the ground had been yanked out from under me,” Wallace said. “After I got over that, I had this surreal feeling, this other-worldly sensation of floating and being detached. My relation-ship with the world was entirely different.”

Before passengers became sick — hence the reason the aircraft has been dubbed the “Vomit Comet” — everyone wearing a green jumpsuit pondered in amazement as they floated towards the ceiling. In the midst of the physical bod-ies of the first-timers hovering about the aircraft, there seemed to be a surplus of mixed emotions floating past as well.

“I remember the first parabola just felt like a mix of ‘Huh?’ and ‘Whoa!’” said Ryan Martineau, a sophomore at USU. “To me, it just felt like for the first time in my life I was free from a constraint that I didn’t know I could live without.” >>

Utah State’s Get Away Special Team in Houston included Ryan Martineau (flyer), Rob Barnett (flyer), Matt Wallace (alternate flyer), Landon Hillyard (fly-er), Iggy Matheson (flyer), Jenica Sparrow (flyer) and Troy Munro. (ground crew and veteran flyer).

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The organization that offers this unique experience is NASA’s The Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program stationed at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. It is an annual activity that offers a nationwide opportunity for students to get involved with hands on experiments that they produced. Founded in 1995 by aircraft operations manager, George Abby, The Reduced Gravity Education Flight Pro-gram, was created as an imitation of similar European space agencies’ programs. Universities and colleges have been se-lected from 49 of 50 states including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to participate in this microgravity opportunity.

The RGEFP offers an exclusive look at how engineers work in space and on ground at JSC. Students also obtain a vast knowledge of how normal Earth-bound experiments will react when in space or other reduced gravity environments.

Sara Malloy, Lead Program Coordinator for the Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program said, “When you sit in a classroom and read a book, that is a good knowledge base but that doesn’t give you a real world experience.” RGEFP offers just that.

This year, 65 proposals were submitted and Utah State University was selected in the top 14. The seven members of the GAS team that traveled to Texas consist of mechani-cal engineers with an aerospace emphasis and one electric engineer; Troy Munro, Landon Hillyard, Jenica Sparrow, Ian “Iggy” Matheson, Rob Barnett, Wallace and Martineau.

The GAS team’s experiment, Follow-up Nucleate Boiling On-flight Experiment or FUNBOE 2.0, is a more advanced

NASA’s weight-loss program Aboard G-Force One, weightlessness is achieved through a series of aerobatic maneuvers called parabolas.

Specifically trained pilots fly the airplane level to the horizon at an altitude of 24,000 feet before beginning to pull up, gradually increasing the angle of the aircraft to about 45 degrees before reaching an altitude of 34,000 feet. During this climb, passengers will feel the pull of 1.8 Gs. Next the plane is “pushed over” to create the zero gravity segment of the parabola. For the next 20-30 seconds everything in the plane is weightless. A gentle pull-out follows which allows the flyers to stabilize on the aircraft floor. This maneuver is repeated numerous times, each taking about ten miles of airspace to perform.

In addition to achieving zero gravity, G-Force One also flies a parabola designed to offer Lunar gravity (one sixth your weight) and Martian gravity (one third your weight). This is created by flying a larger arc over the top of the parabola.

Source: www.gozerog.com

The Get Away Special Team shows off its experiment in a hanger (above), and then prepares it prior to taking off on the “Vomit Comet” (right).

25August 2011

version of last year’s FUNBOE and a followup of the original initiation in 2001. The purpose of FUNBOE is to record data processed when water is heated by thin wires and chips.

“Basically the experiment looks at some of the fundamental parts of a system that affect boiling water in microgravity on thin wires and our little 2D chips,” said Munro, the USU team’s leader. “The main goal is to transfer heat with boiling.”

The purpose of doing it in micrograv-ity is that it will provide more accurate results of how the water and technology would react in space. “Gravity is a factor in boiling — hot bubbles go up, cool wa-ter goes down — and so testing without it makes the data we collect relevant to space application, where gravity is not a factor,” Martineau said.

FUNBOE 2.0 is an $8,000 project that could help further space explora-tion. The need for a more cost-effective and reliable thermal management sys-tems are on the rise if mankind wishes to continue space exploration and this

research will enhance the ability of sci-entists and engineers to design those systems applied in space.

“Our results can be used in future space flight and exploration,” Sparrow said. “Nucleate boiling is a very interest-ing concept and could become really important to living in space. We are doing something that will actually make a difference.”

“If FUNBOE is tested successfully, future technology could be improved significantly,” Martineau added.

Established in 1976 by R. Gilbert Moore, the GAS team is responsible for making USU the university that has sent more student-built experiments into space than any other university in the world.

For over 30 years the Get Away Special team from USU has con-ducted microgravity research to enhance mankind’s ability to explore space. The data collected from this experiment will provide for a more solid understanding of nucleate boiling behavior in space which allows for >>

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the proper design of heat manage-ment systems for spacecrafts.

“FUNBOE is a very ambitious experi-ment,” Martineau noted. There have not been any other universities working on this kind of experiment. The only other similar efforts were contributed by a few scientists in China.

“It is carried out primarily by under-graduate students,” Martineau con-

tinued. It contains ideas that have not been specifically tested or tried. We’re not just verifying we’re trying something new to see if it can help improve current heat transfer models and designs.”

For a complex experiment, it was an incredible success. “We have enough data to keep us busy analyzing it for months, and we have the satisfac-tion that the setup design fulfilled its

purpose to decrease needed motion between test cycles,” Martineau said. “We have only had an opportunity to review small portions of the 13 hours of video and generated graphs, and so far we can’t say we’re sure about whether we got what we needed. We’ll be in good shape for that at the end of the summer.”

Though the GAS team traveled to Texas to conduct pertinent research and experiments, they were able to play around on the aircraft, as well. For parabola 31, instead of complete Zero-G, passengers felt what Neil Armstrong felt when he walked on the moon: Lunar gravity. The 32nd and and final parabo-la was Martian gravity. I can safely say I have an idea of what it feels like on the moon and Mars, which is actually very similar to Earth. Reduced Gravity Education program manager Douglas Goforth said: “Your objective is to focus on your experiments but make sure to take a moment and sit back to truly take it in because it is an experience of a lifetime.”

I made sure to marvel at the fact that I was where astronauts often train before they go into space. I marveled that I was witnessing what it felt like to be absolutely weightless. Goforth joked that it is “the world’s fastest weight-loss program.”

The “Weightless Wonder” has also been used by the big shots in Holly-wood. Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment used one in the movie “Apollo 13” for filming scenes involving weightlessness. I wonder if Tom Hanks

27August 2011

or Kevin Bacon got motion sickness. About half of all the first-time fliers got a little queasy or worse, but none of the fliers from Utah State “puked for science.”

I did not get sick either. In fact the only feeling of exhaustion I possessed was from the unstoppable laughter. Some say it is like being in water without the resistance. To be absolutely weightless was wonderful. Maybe that is why they call it the “Weightless Wonder.”

Hillyard, who has been on the GAS team since August 2010, said the first time he experienced Zero-G it felt like they were all falling.

“It is, by far, one of the most memora-ble sensations I have ever had,” Hillyard declared. “I will never forget seeing a drop of water float in front of me.”

28 August 2011

Above middle, a Ragnar Wasatch Back participant mo-mentarily slows down near Avon. Above, 5-year-old Brooklyn Curtis gets aquainted with a bunny she caught at Clarkston’s Pony Express Days. Right, Logan Stam-pede receiver Jesse Yarger, center, celebrates a touch-down with teammates Logan Hull and Steve Macleod (1) during the Stampede’s 20-13 loss to the Utah Bears.

Left, Bill Stegelmeier of Logan helps Brit-tany Taylor of Kaysville fly a large kite af-ter sunset on The Quad at Utah State Uni-versity. Below, a couple of boys fight it out at Nibley’s Heritage Days celebration at Gibbons Park.

29August 2011

Celebrating Summer

Photos by Jeff Hunter

Following a longer and wetter than normal winter and spring, Cache Valley residents couldn’t wait to get back outside again and Father’s Day weekend provided the perfect opportunity to get reaquainted with the sunshine. For the most part, beautiful June weather was the norm at a variety of activities from the Summerfest Arts Faire in downtown Logan, to town celebrations in Nibley and Clarkston. There was also the wildly popular Ragnar Wasatch Back relay race, a Logan Stampede football game and a special event honoring Brent Carpenter and the 50th anni-versary of the Cache Employment & Training Center.

Above, 10-year-old Isabella Perez fixes a beverage at Izzy’s Lem-onade Stand just up 100 East from Summerfest. Top, Baylie Den-ning of Layton enjoys a ride on a product from Awesome Ham-mocks of Boise during Summerfest.

30 August 2011

Above, a young girl cleans up with water from a fire truck after playing in foam provided by firefighters in Clarkston. Right, a runner from team Never a Little Behind gets ready to slap the relay bracelet on a teammate at the Paradise checkpoint.

Right, Cache Valley icon Brent Carpenter leads the pack around Willow Park during the Bike with Brent event on June 17. Below, a girl en-joys the view from above the crowd at the Sum-merfest Arts Faire.

31August 2011

Above, a large group of kids chase after chickens as part of Clarkston’s Pony Express Days celebration. Below left, 2-year-old Zoe Hodge gets ready to Bike with Brent.

Above, Logan Stampede quaterback Mike Jenkins (14) is sacked by Utah’s Aaron Oswald during their RMFL playoff game in Smithfield. Left, Chandler Lowrey secures an elusive pig at Pony Express Days in Clarkston.

32 August 2011

JIMROWE

Local guitaist Jim Rowe has

rubbed shoulders and played

with numerous music legends.

Everyone feels a close association with popular music nowa-

days, but Jim Rowe of Smithfield was fortunate enough to

actually rub shoulders with some giants of the music business

starting in the 1950s.

“I wasn’t just lucky,” Jim Rowe explains during an interview at

KSM Music on 400 North in Logan. “I was blessed … because I

had the chance to know so many of my musical heroes. Looking

back on it, all I can do is marvel at the great life that I’ve had.”

The list of those important figures in Rowe’s life includes

legendary performers like Merle Travis, Roy Lanham and Chet

Atkins; musical innovators like Les Paul, Paul Bigsby and Leo

Fender; and his father, Ed Rowe.

Originally a native of Missouri, 74-year-old Jim Rowe and his

wife Pat moved to Cache Valley in the late 1990s. Prior to that

time, he was a longtime resident of California. In the 1950s, the

Rowe family lived on the outskirts of Hollywood in the midst of an

enclave of the best and brightest members of the rapidly expand-

ing entertainment industry. As a teenager, his ticket into that circle

of artists and music innovators was the fact that Ed Rowe was

acquainted with guitarist Merle Travis.

“Back then, music was a great common denominator among

people who might not have otherwise rubbed shoulders at all,”

Jim Rowe recalls. “I mean, I was just a kid in the ’50s and my

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dad was just a back-porch musician who played guitar,

mandolin, banjo and fiddle. He didn’t play any of those

instruments really well by modern standards, but he

did okay for that era.

“Since Merle Travis and my father were old friends,

I was accustomed to being around Merle when I was

growing up and we also became close friends.”

Travis was a country and western singer, songwriter and

musician whose career spanned nearly 50 years start-

ing in the late 1930s. He was a popular radio performer

throughout the 1940s and 1950s, appeared on television

variety shows in the 1970s and recorded numerous solo

and collaborative albums. Travis’ best known composition

nowadays is "Sixteen Tons," which was a Number One

hit on the Billboard Country charts when sung by Tennes-

see Ernie Ford in 1955. Travis is widely acknowledged as

one of the most influential American guitarists of the 20th

Century and his combination of thumb- and finger-picking

style inspired many artists, including Chet Atkins, Scotty

Moore, Earl Hooker and Marcel Dadi.

Travis’ trademark was the use of a thumb pick,

which freed his fingers to pluck melodies.

His playing style incorporated elements

of ragtime, blues, boogie woogie, jazz

and western swing music. It was also

marked by rich chord progressions,

rapid key changes and a wide vari-

ety of harmonics. Chet Atkins once

described Travis’ unique gift as being

able to “… play two bass strings simul-

taneously on the one and three beats,

which produced a solo rhythm that

was reminiscent of the great Afri-

can-American guitar players of

the past.”

“Knowing Merle Travis was

the main reason that I took up

the guitar,” Rowe emphasizes.

“I got to hang out with Merle a

lot as I was growing up, so I had

the advantage of seeing and lis-

tening to the way he played.

“I started out playing an ‘Arthur Godfrey’ ukulele,” Rowe

laughs, referring to the well-known radio and television

host of the 1950s. “It was a little plastic thing with buttons

on it that let you play the chords when you pushed them.

After about two weeks, I realized that there was a lot

more to playing music than pushing those silly little buttons.

After that, I started playing guitar for real and I just sort of

picked up the knack from watching adult performers.”

While Rowe’s friendship with Travis endured into the

1980s, that musician was by no means the only entertainer

with which the teenager became acquainted decades ago in

Los Angeles. Many of those artists — people like Bob Wills

and Tex Williams — were headliners at the nearby Riverside

Rancho, a huge dance hall on Riverside Drive near Griffith

Park.

“In public, the bands those guys led played mostly western

swing music,” Rowe explains. “But, if they were just sitting

around the house with you, they could play the hottest jazz

you ever heard.”

Another entertainer that Jim Rowe met was Bob Nolan,

one of the original members of the Sons of the Pio-

neers, a famous musical ensemble founded by

singing cowboy Roy Rogers. Nolan lived in

Burbank and the young Jim Rowe deliv-

ered newspapers to his home.

“On days when I would find famous

musicians practicing at Bob’s house, de-

livering newspapers usually stopped dead

right there,” Rowe admits. “I would just sit

there and eat it up …. Roy Rogers would be

there occasionally. Johnny Bond was also

there sometimes; he was a musician and

sidekick of Gene Autry who lived about

six blocks away. So I was getting

to meet all these people casually

and then I’d see them on a movie

screen a week later or hear them

on the radio. This was in the mid-

1950s, before television was big.

Nowadays people can’t imagine

life without television, but I was

getting plenty of entertainment >>

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without the boob tube because I was blessed with the rare experi-

ence of knowing all of these people … My dad usually had to drag

me out of Bob Nolan’s house to finish my paper route.”

Jim Rowe also met Roy Lanham around that time. He was a

guitar ace who led a band called the Whippoorwills starting in

the 1940s. A decade later, Lanham and his band were hosting

radio broadcasts with guest stars like Tex Williams, Rex Allen

and Johnny Bond. He was also an in-demand studio musician.

Roy Rogers asked Lanham to accompany Dale Evans on her

iconic recording of "Happy Trails." Lanham also backed up the

Fleetwoods on the million-selling singles "Come Softly to Me" and

"Mr. Blue" in 1959. In the early 1960s, he joined the Sons of the

Pioneers, after the death of founding member Karl Farr.

“Roy Lanham and the Whippoorwills were light years ahead of

their time in the 1950s,” Rowe recalls.

The teenager also had a unique opportunity to witness one of

the most important musical developments of the mid-20th Cen-

tury: the evolution of the electric guitar.

In the years immediately following World War II, the popularity

of Big Band music of the 1930s declined. Small combos playing

boogie-woogie, rhythm and blues, western swing and honky-tonk

music needed a new kind of amplified guitar that would give a

single musician the power of an entire string section. Amplified

archtop guitars had previously been used by dance bands in the

1940s, but those electric instruments tended to feedback at the

high audio volumes that were needed to command attention in a

roadhouse or dance hall.

One of Rowe’s heroes, jazz and country musician Les Paul,

was among the first innovators who tried to respond to this new

demand for louder, cheaper and more durable guitars. Paul’s

custom-designed answer to that need was the Log, which was

a solid piece of 4x4 lumber with a bridge, guitar neck and audio

pick-up attached.

From an aesthetic point-of-view, the Log certainly wasn’t ap-

pealing. When Paul first began playing his invention in public, he

was often called “the nut with the amplified broomstick.” But the

Log did solve two of the main problems with previous amplified

guitars. The first of those was feedback, because its solid-wood

core did not resonate with the amplified sound. The second

problem was the ability to sustain sound, since the energy of the

Log’s strings was not dissipated while generating sound through

the guitar’s body.

35August 2011

For the sake of appearances, Paul eventually disguised the

Log’s rough edges by attaching wings cut off a hollow guitar

body. Even with that concession, the Gibson Guitar Corporation

showed no interest in marketing a solid-body guitar based on the

Log when Paul first approached them in the early 1940s.

A few years later, Merle Travis got into the electric guitar act by

asking Paul Bigsby of Bigsby Guitars to create a solid-body instru-

ment that Travis had designed. The result was a guitar that had

the same ability to sustain sound as a steel lap guitar because its

strings were anchored to the solid body of the instrument rather

than to a tailpiece.

The Bigsby-Travis guitar — which is now on display at the

Country Music Hall of Fame Museum in Nashville — was

completed in 1948. Shortly thereafter, a similar solid-body ampli-

fied guitar was developed by Leo Fender of the Fender Electric

Musical Instruments Corporation in Fullerton, Calif. The almost

simultaneous timing of those two events provoked a still ongoing

debate over whether Fender copied his guitar design from Bigsby.

Fender was a California native who had first showed an interest

in tinkering with electronics as a teenager. He had started a radio

repair business in 1938 and quickly developed a solid reputation

with local bands and orchestras for designing and building reliable

microphones and amplifiers. During World War II, Fender formed

a partnership with Clayton “Doc” Kauffman, an inventor who

had previously been employed by Rickenbacker Guitars. That

corporation had specialized in manufacturing steel lap guitars

for a decade. Music historians point out that Rickenbacker had

also developed a prototype solid-body electric guitar in 1935 —

dubbed the Spanish B — which suggests an alternative source of

inspiration for Fender’s similar 1949 guitar design.

Around that time, Ed and Jim Rowe met Leo Fender through

their friendship with Merle Travis and Paul Bigsby. Although Jim

Rowe admits that his relationship with Fender was “never very

close,” he nevertheless had the extraordinary opportunity to play

a prototype of the inventor’s classic Telecaster guitar “when it was

just a plank of wood.”

Recognizing that contemporary musicians wanted a guitar that

was easy to hold, tune and play, Fender’s original instrument was

a single-pickup, six-string guitar with a detachable maple neck

and a plain, white body made of pine wood. The first hand-crafted

models of the guitar were called Esquires and they sold for the

then princely sum of $154.95. >>

36 August 2011

By the time the Fender factory went into full production in 1950,

its solid-body guitar had evolved into a dual-pickup instrument. To

distinguish these later models from the original Esquires, Fender

dubbed the dual-pickup guitar the Broadcaster. That name was

later changed to Telecaster to avoid a legal dispute with Gretsch

Musical Instruments, which had previously marketed a Broad-

kaster line of drum sets.

“Like a lot of people, I suspect that Leo may have gotten the

idea for his electric guitar from seeing the guitar that Bigsby made

for Merle Travis,” Rowe acknowledges. “That’s been a huge

debate in the music industry for decades. But — no matter how

he got started — Leo Fender deserves a lot of credit for spotting

the potential of the electric guitar and running with it. That’s why

Fender is the giant corporation that it is today.”

Playing that prototype Telecaster wasn’t

Rowe’s only experience with early Fender gui-

tars, however.

A short time later, Rowe was performing as an

amateur novelty act — “the kid with the gui-

tar” — on a live radio variety show produced by

music promoter Cliffie Stone in Los Angeles. The

professional musical duo of Speedy West and

Jimmy Bryant were regulars on the same show.

“I knew those guys from going around to the clubs in L.A.

with my father,” Rowe says. “Speedy played a lap steel guitar

and Jimmy had a Fender Telecaster with the serial number 02. I

don’t remember who had 01, but I did get to play 02 sometimes

when we were both appearing on that radio show. Whenever

the microphones weren’t live, I’d be over in the corner, rocking

on Jimmy’s guitar.”

Fender went on to great success with his Stratocaster, Jazz-

master, Jaguar, Precision Bass and Jazz Bass electric guitars.

Recognizing their earlier mistake, executives of Gibson Guitars

convinced Les Paul to design a competing electric guitar that

bore his name. But the 1960s were less happy times for Travis

and Rowe. Travis’ career went into decline during that decade

Above, Merle Travis is best remembered for writing the country classic “Sixteen Tons.” Left, Rowe now lives on the southeastern edge of Smithfield with his wife, Pat.

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37August 2011

while the artist struggled to overcome his dependency on alcohol

and drugs. In the meantime, Rowe ended up serving as a combat

photographer for the U.S. Navy in South Vietnam.

The decade that followed, however, proved to be an artistically

productive period for Travis. The advent of country music variety

shows on television created opportunities for him to connect with

a new generation of fans. Travis appeared regularly on "The

Porter Wagoner Show," "The Johnny Cash Show," "Austin City

Limits," "Grand Old Country" and "Nashville Swing" among other

programs. He performed on the 1972 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album

"Will the Circle Be Unbroken" and contributed to the soundtrack

of the Oscar-winning documentary "Harlan County, USA." Travis

also enjoyed a successful artistic collaboration with Chet Atkins

during that time. Toward the end of the decade, he signed with a

new record label and produced several albums.

“When I got back from Vietnam in the 1970s, Travis and I

became close friends again, just as we had been when I was a

teenager,” Rowe says, remembering those happy times. “I’d go

over to his house and we’d just sit there – eating pizza, drinking

beer, pickin’ and grinning.

Around the same time, Rowe bumped into Les Paul when the

legendary guitarist was making a promotional appearance at a

music store in Los Angeles. The pair spent a pleasant afternoon

playing music together and swapping stories about their mutual

friendship with Travis.

“One of my most treasured mementos is an autographed photo

of Merle that he sent to me just a couple of weeks before he died,”

Jim Rowe recalls. “He’d had a hard life and it finally caught up with

him in 1983. Merle was only 65 years old when he died from a

massive heart attack.”

Jim Rowe’s other treasures include a copy of "The Atkins-Travis

Traveling Show," an album of duets that the artists released in

1974. Their collaborative effort won a Grammy Award in the “Best

Country Instrumental” category that year. In the early 1990s,

Rowe was invited backstage to visit Atkins at an L.A. concert >>

38 August 2011

to reminisce about their memories of Travis and discuss the cre-

ation of that best-selling album.

Despite those vivid recollections of his youth in Los Angeles,

Jim Rowe says that he is now happy to be living the quiet life here

in Cache Valley.

“We had come to Utah a couple of times for vacations because

Pat’s children lived here,” he explains. “Eventually, it reached the

stage where we just didn’t want to go back to California … When

Pat and I moved here to Cache Valley a few years ago, the first

thing I did was check out all the local music stores and that’s how

I met Kevin Moore, the owner of KSM Music.

“KSM Music is like my White Owl,” Rowe laughs, gesturing

toward the rows of guitars hanging on the music store’s east wall.

“Some people go to that bar to drink beer. Instead, I come to

KSM to fondle guitars.

“I’ve been lucky enough to find some really fine instruments

here in Cache Valley … I’ve got a classic Fender Telecaster in my

guitar collection at home that I bought right here at KSM. A young

guy brought it here to trade in on another guitar. I almost felt bad

about buying it, because I was pretty sure that the previous owner

didn’t realize the value of what he had. I picked up a beauty of a

Les Paul guitar the same way a couple of years ago.”

Jim Rowe says that he is more a “guitar listener” than a guitar

player nowadays as a result of an injury to his arm a few years

ago. The Smithfield resident fell into a diabetic coma and lay with

his right arm trapped under his body for 20 hours before being

discovered. When he awoke 12 days later, Jim Rowe’s attending

physicians initially thought that they might have to amputate his

arm at the shoulder.

“My arm was pretty useless for a while right after that injury,”

he says. “But the doctors took tendons out of my foot and used

them to rebuild my hand and my forearm. Because I lost the use

of a lot of nerves and tissue in that arm, playing a guitar is now

very difficult for me. It’s particularly hard to play thumb-style with

a non-operative thumb. But that’s the way I learned to play as a

kid, because that’s the way that Merle Travis played. I’ve never

been able to use a flat pick. I can’t hold one; my fingers just

don’t want to do that.”

Rowe is nevertheless still seen regularly at KSM Music,

browsing any new guitars that come in and trying them out as

often as not.

“A friend listened to me playing a while back,” Rowe says with a

smile. “Then he quipped ‘Gee, Jim, you play almost as badly now

as you did before you hurt that arm.’ I took that as a compliment.

“I can still play a little and I’m grateful for that. After all, who

wants to be Cache Valley’s first one-armed guitar player?”

Rowe was playing instruments at an early age growing up in Los Angeles.

Photo by Jeff Hunter

Rowe nearly lost his right hand after hurting his arm following a diabetic coma.

Photo courtesy of Jim Rowe

39August 2011

Photo by Jeff HunterA gutsy bullfighter finds himself in a frightening spot during the very first event of the Hyrum Star-Spangled Rodeo on June 24.

Despite the close call, which came after aiding bull rider Taylor White, the bullfighter finished the rodeo.

Hit us with your best shot! In each Issue we feature a new photo from you, so send your most impressive photograph, of any sort, to valleyviews@hjnews.com.

CacheBack

Photo by Jeff Hunter

40 August 2011