When A Lie Comes True

When I made my pilgrimmage to North Carolina two years ago to visit "The Last of the Mohicans" filming sites and, among other things, sit for two hours beside the waterfall at right, I had concocted a fib in my head wherein if anyone (i.e. Attractive Women) asked my purpose for visiting the Tar Heel State I would advise I was writing an article for a Chicago magazine wherein I was drafted to visit the filming sites for a few of my favorite movies. My fake itinerary? First, Elizabethtown, KY for, obviously, "Elizabethtown" (which I did actually pass through on my way to North Carolina). Second, North Carolina for "Last of the Mohicans" (which was, of course, actually true). Third, Maine for "The Myth of Fingerprints". Fourth, Oregon for "Without Limits". That was my ready-made lie that I, as expected, was never able to use since I rarely ever ran into attractive women and the one time I did she naturally asked nothing beyond, "Would you like another beer?"

But strange things have been afoot since my creation of that tall tale unused. For the very next summer my beloved sister wound up working for Americore in Maine, allowing me the opportunity to visit Andover, ME and Bethel, ME and sit in the same gazebo as Julianne Moore and James Legros and commune with the spirits of Warren and Daphne and all the rest. And, lo and behold, the following year - or, as it's also been called, this year - where should my sister end up but (yes!!!) Oregon. Roseburg, Oregon, in fact, smack dab in the middle of Eugene and Coos Bay, the filming locations for "Without Limits".

So yes, this week I'll be jetting out to the Pacific Coast where, amongst many other things, I'll make a visit to legendary Hayward Field, Pre's real-life "second home" and also the site of this past summer's U.S. Olympic Track & Field trials, where a great deal of the movie's scenes were filmed. I'll also have an opportunity to visit Pre's Rock, the place where his tragic car crash took place and people now visit religiously to leave flowers and old race numbers.

Don't ask me why these things keep happening. Perhaps next year my sister will somehow end up working on the Warner Brothers backlot, right next to the set of The Hit Pit. (Hint: Hilary Swank hit a speed bag there.)