|
|
For a brief period of time during the mid-80's, there arose a situation in which several men and women from the Kansas City area decided to car pool together to and from Civil War events. This was a decision based not solely on saving a buck, but to enjoy each other's company during a particular long drive to a far away event. These long drives, into areas of Illinois, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and the far corners of Missouri, became known as "The Cocktail Flights." As with most true life adventures, this odyssey had humble beginnings.
Around late '82, Higgy was telling me about a living history program going on out at the John Wornall House in Kansas City that us 10th Missouri boys could participate in. It seems every October, there was a "night after the Battle of Westport" tour on the house property. The Wornall house had been used as a hospital as well as Union headquarters during the October 1864 battle. Hig said we could set up a Federal camp during the day, talk to people, then participate in a candlelight program that evening. Volunteers to the historic site, or docents, would take a group of people through the rooms of the house, explaining how the family lived, etc., then go outside where the soldiers would be eating, mending clothes, writing letters, playing cards, or possibly attending to the burial of the dead. The docents and those on the tour found that the candlelight program was greatly enhanced by the addition of the reenactors. We came back to the Wornall house at various times during the year; not just during the anniversary of the battle. During the month of February and May, 1983 we had tents set up on an attempt to recruit new members to the hobby. Many of us also attended a Victorian Christmas at the Wornall House on more than one occasion. It was at one of these functions that I met Constance Soper.
Connie could have been a one room school house teacher in another life. She was an attractive divorced lady in her mid-to-late 30's who lived with her two teenage sons in Liberty, MO. She was also an intelligent, sophisticated gentlewoman. Soon, she began asking us over to her house-especially during the Christmas season. From 1982 to 1990, Connie Soper hosted a Christmas party at her Liberty home for any and all who wanted to come. Reenactors and their families from all over Kansas City would come to Connie's huge house to drink popskull, exchange Christmas ornaments, eat "little jap pillows", and generally have a great time. Towards midnight, about ten or twelve would "ride the stairs"-link arms and legs behind each other like cars on a train and bounce ass' down the stairs. (God! what a glorious time and how quickly it all fades away with the passing years. I've never had a better Christmas fellowship since those held at Connie Soper's).
Connie had a Chevy Suburban-a huge vehicle that could seat about 10 adults. She suggested early in 1983 that we use it to go to events, fill it with any who wanted to go, and share the gas money. In the years that followed, the Suburban was used at least a couple of times a year. Sometimes a small U HAUL trailer was connected to the back to carry items such as 3 wall tents and their tent poles, rope beds, garments for at least 3 ladies (later on kid's clothes), chamber pots, folding tables, camp chairs, and cooking gear. Once these ladies items were loaded, the boys would add their muskets, traps, uniforms, etc. to the trailer. Higgy had a wooden bread box that Maki had built for him that could easily hold a plastic cooler full of beer. Hig's box-otherwise known as DEER LODGE was in the vehicle with us, along with any snack foods we wanted to munch on during the trip. On these trips, Hig was the driver; usually had DEER LODGE next to his elbow and would periodically dip into it for another cold one. He is about the only soul I met who could drink himself sober. The alcohol never seemed to affect him or his driving ability. This is how the "COCKTAIL FLIGHT" was born.
To pass the time on these trips-and most were several hours at least in distance as mentioned at the beginning on this chapter-required some diversions. As a teacher of special education students-Gail Higginbotham would orchestrate most of these diversions in the form of sing-a-long's, charade's, word association games, story telling (one person would begin a story, then each person would add to the story with words, sentences, or phrases). Sometimes we would simply listen to the radio or cassette tapes. Connie had a collection of FRESH AIRE/MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER music, plus some HOOKED ON CLASSIC we listened to. The play list also included Civil War Songs and even a YOU ARE THERE radio drama on Gettysburg. On the later, it was as if CBS reporters were on the scene in Pennsylvania in 1863 describing the battle to a radio audience.
The very first COCKTAIL FLIGHT centered on going to Wilson's Creek, Missouri on the evening of Friday April 22, 1983. The passenger's of Flight One included: Gregg and Gail Higginbotham, Bob and Mona Talbott, Connie Soper, Erik Hansen, John Maki, and Newton Hughes. We left Hig's house in Independence, complete with U HAUL trailer as mentioned. By the time we got to Wilson's Creek, it was raining hard and too wet to set up any tents. At the time of this event, Connie was sweet on Roger Johnson-a member of the Confederate 9th Texas. She left to find his camp and shack with him for the night. The rest of us opted to leave the U HAUL trailer at the site and look for a motel room. On the outskirts of Springfield, Missouri we found a dingy, drab motel; Hig dubbed it the NO-TELL MOTEL. It was barely a cut above the motel near Trading Post, Kansas we stayed at in '80. Hig marched into the manager's office to ask for a single room with two beds-the rest of us ducking out of site so's we couldn't be seen. After a moment, Hig came back and drove around the side and we scurried quickly into an opened room. It had two beds, a bathroom with bugs in the tub and a refrigerator that kicked on about every half hour with a loud rattle. Mona and Gail shared one bed, while Hig and Erik Hansen flopped in the other. The rest of us flopped on the floor. Erik stripped to his skivvies and started rolling cartridges in bed; sometimes he'd have to dig black powder from his belly button. Except for the noise of the refrigerator, we spent an uneventful night.
The only other famous story involving the drive in the Suburban occurred during the trip to Pilot Knob in September of '86. Gail Higginbotham got a bit nauseous as we drove through the winding mountain highway in the Arcadia Valley and stuck her head in a paper sack full of orange peels. It may have cured her, because she did not upchuck.
As already mentioned the Cocktail Flight's in Connie's Suburban didn't last too many years. As he got more and more into the box manufacturing business, Maki saw a need for his own vehicle and bought himself a small Mitsubishi pickup truck late in '83. The following year I bought a similar vehicle, but mine was silver and John's was gold. My family was getting more involved in the hobby (including daughter Katie who was a toddler at this time), and we felt the desire to travel as a family. Connie and Roger Johnson were still an item and they may have felt the need to travel as a couple. Then the 125th anniversary reenactments were upon us and the trips became a mini-vacation. Finally one day in 1990, Connie sold her big home in Liberty and moved into a smaller place. She also sold the Suburban.
In the next chapter I will discuss both the Wilson's Creek and Champion's Hill 1983 events in some detail. Something happened at both of these events which became part of Holmes Brigade folklore. To a lesser degree these episodes involved Gregg Higginbotham, so I will attempt to tell the tale as I heard it.