Four Motorcycle Generations

Dad was always proud of the motorcycle pictures and usually had them displayed in our house. I thought I should share.

Rex Howell McBride

1979 - Spencer Avenue

Modesto, California

Gerald Lee McBride

Unknown Year / Location - Auntie Mariann, can you help with that??

Russel Ray McBride

1915 - Near the corn fields, Ohio

I've turned into Rex...

I don't know how many of you are familiar with Dad's habits and the way he did even little things. Dad had so many pill bottles, that he started putting labels on the tops of the containers as shown below. When he came to visit, he'd sometimes ask me to get in his backpack and get him a "C" pill and two "H" pills. It was quite easy to do.

It's funny to me how much I'm realizing that I'm EXACTLY like him. Because this container of medicines is MINE, not Dad's. I found it so much easier to label my prescriptions, vitamins and supplements than looking at the name of each one. Dad was certainly onto something there. I now find myself sometimes asking Ryan to get me an "F" pill or an "M" pill for my headache or back, etc. Quite handy.

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Dad had many uses for bleach.

I remember him telling that sometimes when he couldn't get a shower, he'd take a washcloth and splash a little diluted bleach on it and call that a shower.

Another time, we were driving down to Tombstone Arizona in the brown van which had no air conditioning. It was summertime and quite hot. Dad stopped at a KMart in Lake Havasu AZ to buy some bleach cleaner and a block of ice. We emptied out our ice chest as instructed by Dad. He put the block of ice in the ice chest and poured a little bleach and water in there. He then asked us to give him all the pillow cases. We were confused to say the least. I thought he was starting a load of laundry right there in the van. Fifteen minutes later, we were all wearing our damp bleachy pillow cases around the back of our necks to cool us off. The bleach was to keep everything fairly sanitary since we were all sweating.

So, I've recently had a bout of stubborn Athlete's Foot. I remember Dad had it alot and would always splash a little bleach in the shower after he was done using it. He said it was mostly so he didn't give it to anyone who showered after him. Considerate and strange I guess. But I found myself in my shower, splashing bleach on the shower floor to try to control things a bit. It seemed completely normal to me to have a bleach product in the shower, but Ryan thought it was strange. I had some "Rex-isms" to explain to him.

Dad was certainly adaptable to almost any situation. I find myself in odd situations trying to adapt and I think I'm a better person because of the example he was to me.

More LDS Misson Pics

Rex & His "5" Girls

Grandma told me that Dad always liked this picture. I was quite pregnant with the twins and we knew they were girls. We didn't know their names at the time. Grandma was the one to take this picture. We were on our way to hit a buffet dinner (of course) at Golden Corral and I think it was in honor of Dad's birthday.

Grump-Pa would be ashamed!!

Today for lunch, the girls had macaroni and cheese. Towards the end of the meal, Ady asked for Peas.

"You really want peas??"

"UH-HUH!"

I warmed some up and both girls ate a steaming heap of peas to their little hearts' content.

Their Grump-Pa Rex would be ashamed!!

Mission Photos: Elder Probst

Dad always talked about Jerry Probst. "Elder Probst and I were serving together and ..." "Jerry Probst said to me..." I never new they called him Chip Probst. Interesting. We even went as a family in the early 90's to the Probst home in Utah and hung out with their little family for a day or so. Going through some of Dad's things, I came across some wedding announcements, one from my Uncle Bert, one from Charlie Gay, and one for Jerry Probst and Juliette Evans. Dad told stories of riding his motorcycle from CA to UT for their wedding.

I wish I knew whatever happened to Jerry Probst. I have sent a message to Brecken Probst on Facebook hoping that she might be Jerry's daughter. We'll see.