Living Life to the Fullest

Do not judge a book by its cover. At 87, Lucille and Al Blaisdell are both frail. They greet friends as they arrive to sample the frozen delights of the Sunday night Ice Cream Social. As they casually socialize, one would never guess the interesting lives they have led. After weekly announcements, Al ends the gathering with a joke or two. He claims he gets them from Lucille. She laughs and shakes her head, probably much as she has done for the nearly 61 years they’ve been married.

They were born many states apart, Lucille in Missouri and Al in California. Al went into the Marine Corps right out of high school. He fought with the First Marine Division in the South Pacific and was wounded in his right shoulder and wrist during the invasion of the island of Peleliu. Al says he always had artistic talent, getting into trouble all through school for drawing in the margins of his books. The 17 months of therapy he received at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland, California, led him to sketching with his left hand.

He signed up for an educational program through the Veterans Administration and they gave him an aptitude test, “But I didn’t pass art,” he said. “The VA told me, ‘The way you draw, you’d do better as a mechanical engineer.’ I barely got through the math and chemistry and eventually I dropped out.”

Popping the Question
During the war, Lucille moved to San Francisco to live with her sister. She says, “Once I saw my first big city, I nearly turned around and went right back home.” Al and Lucille met at his cousin’s beach party and immediately became attached. One day when Al and Lucille were with Al’s mother, she said, “Why don’t you two get married?” Al says, “I turned to Lucille and asked if she would marry me and she said, ‘Yes.’”

Al worked for the government for 20 years and Lucille worked in maintenance for United Airlines.

Al continued creating pencil drawings, and Lucille said, “Why don’t you put paint on them?” He took several watercolor courses, “We had field trips where the professor would paint first and then we’d try it. I sold several paintings to other students.”

Riding Harleys
In Placerville, California, Al worked for a big lumber company and she worked in a real estate office. A teenage neighbor sparked his interest in motorcycles. Lucille told her husband, “You can buy the motorcycle but don’t expect me to ride it. But, as soon as he brought it home, I was on it.”

The Blaisdells motorcycled throughout the 1960s and ‘70s. Al says, “We had four bikes over the years. Our first one was a 1945 Harley Davidson motorcycle for $200. It was a physical wreck with a suicide clutch and rear brakes.” Their first cross-country trip in 1974 was on a BMW. They went from Sonora, California, to Maine’s Acadia National Park, and from Mexico to Canada, riding 9,000 miles.

Lucille, who is still a magnificent seamstress (And a “darn good cook,” interrupts Al), made a special tent and all-weather sleeping bags for their motorcycle trips. During really bad weather, they stayed in motels. She said they carried three clothing changes, “One clean, one dirty, and one on.” He took a complete toolkit for simple repairs, extra tire tubes, latex for plugging small tire holes, a pair of vise-grip pliers, and a multitude of spare parts for “just in case.”

Al expressed his feelings about motorcycling this way: “The key word is freedom, a freedom you just don’t have in a car. You’re in the scenery, a part of it, not just going by it. You can look straight down and see the cracks in the road, straight up and there are the clouds or the stars. You can feel the wind and sun on your face.”

Lucille added, “It was a great way to travel and we met so many nice people. We were elderly ourselves. We’d take off our helmets and when all the white hair tumbled out, we made instant friends.”

Turning to RVs
They stopped motorcycling in 1983, started RVing full time, and did that for the next 16 years. They left Sonora in a 21-foot Timberline trailer that they remodeled “to make room for a lot of junk.”
Al said, “We traveled to Grand Canyon National Park and along the Mississippi River’s shoreline to St. Louis, any place that sounded interesting. We stayed on the Colorado River’s Imperial Dam in a BLM park, paying $25 for the whole season. It went up every year as they made improvements.”

The Blaisdells bought in at the North Ranch Escapee Rainbow Park at Congress, Arizona, when it opened but continued to RV during the summer months, heading to the mountains or the Oregon and Washington coast. Flying trips took them to Alaska, New Zealand, Australia, and the Fijis.

They sold their 1997 Allegro motorhome in 2005 and now enjoy year-round nesting at North Ranch with terrific memories firmly intact. They have a room devoted to her sewing and his painting. Although he has had his paintings in various California and Arizona galleries, the walls of their home are now his gallery. He also has a scrapbook crammed with 8x10 cartoon drawings in color.
Winning Awards
He has sold many paintings, but he says, “I’m too lazy to push them. It doesn’t matter if I sell them. I just like to paint.” He claims he is not a teacher, but over the years, he has encouraged many who attend his watercolor “gatherings.”

Early in 2006, Al entered two paintings in a Veterans Hospital Arts and Crafts show in Prescott, Arizona. His watercolor, “Dog Fight 1918,” won first prize plus a special recognition ribbon, and his desert scene came in third place.

Even more surprising to this modest artist, the VA requested that he ship his painting of World War I airplanes for entry into the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival in Rapid City, South Dakota. In October 2006, this painting won first place in two events. He was to be honored by a trip to Rapid City at government expense to receive his award, but since the offer didn’t include Lucille, he declined.

Every year, the veterans of all wars are invited to join the North Ranch La Fiesta parade and Al is always first in line. He still fits into his marine uniform and wears it proudly. This year Al and Lucille were grand marshals.

Remember to treat those who now walk in frailty with great respect. Their lives are just as interesting as we hope yours is.

God Bless.

Autographed copies of Revised RVing Alaska and Canada ($16.95); Adventures with the Silver Gypsy ($14.95); Full-Time RVing: How to Make it Happen $14.95); In Pursuit of a Dream ($8), and Freedom Unlimited, The Fun and Facts of Full-timing ($9) are available through author Sharlene Minshall, Box 1040, Congress, AZ 85332-1040, www.full-time-rver.com or Amazon.com. Postage and handling are $4 for one book and $1 for each additional book.