On Sunday, September 19th, I left San Diego for a trip to the Washington D.C. area and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Joining me were my wife Betty, daughter Mary Ann, assistant Ralph, and caregiver Chris. We flew to Dulles Airport, then headed to the Ritz Carlton in McLean, where we stayed through Wednesday the 22nd.
We had most of our meetings in my suite, and most of our lunches and dinners in the hotel restaurant. Despite that, my first misfortune of the trip was when I fell in the elevator and banged my head. I was taken to the emergency room at Fairfax Hospital and patched up. After that, my primary method of conveyance was by wheelchair to avoid a repeat performance.
I had many enjoyable meetings and meals with many different people while I was in McLean, including Ty Grigsby, who has been an important contributor to the new book, Jay Killeen, George Otchere, Matt Tobriner, Walt Havenstein, David Binns, Jim Russell, George Ullrich, Gif Munger, Billy Bingham, Bill Chadsey, and Steve Fisher.
Wednesday morning we flew to Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was a pleasant thing for me to return to the University of Michigan and meet with the people who are working on the FED-sponsored entrepreneurial ownership program there. The University is magnificent, and the architecture is very distinguished and well-planned. I spent a lot of time in the Engineering Department, where I saw some student robotics demonstrations and visited their particle accelerator. This excited me since I used to run an accelerator at General Atomics.
The visit to the University was capped off by a reception at President Coleman’s home, followed by dinner at the historic Clements Library.
Although I had an enjoyable trip, I was ready to return home on Saturday, September 25th. My plans are to repeat this circuit once a year as long as I can.
I also took some time to see my old house in Grosse Ile. The present owner and I are corresponding now by email. I hope to spend a little more time visiting my childhood haunts in future trips. I won’t at all mind returning to the University of Michigan next year. I took many photos during the trip and I will post some soon.
— Bob