Visitor made most of visit he didn't plan

By JEFF JARDINE
jjardine@modbee.com

last updated: June 30, 2008 04:30:10 PM

By the time Don and Margie Luke leave Modesto, probably sometime next week, Don could be considered an expert on the McHenry Mansion and the Modesto Irrigation District.

Ah, the things that can interest a person when he's stranded in a strange town on the other side of the country.

You see, a monthlong stop in Modesto wasn't supposed to be on the Lukes' itinerary. They are residents of Fairfax, Va., which is about 10 miles east of Washington, D.C.

After taking an Amtrak train across the country, they planned to tour Yosemite National Park, see the sights and bask in the grandeur, then return home by June 20.

They're still here. The Lukes made it out West easy enough, getting off the train at Colfax. They rented a car and spent the night of May 27 in Mariposa before heading to Yosemite Valley the following day.

"We went to the visitor center, the museum and saw the movie (about Yosemite)," he said.

That's where their ordeal began.

Margie suffers from multiple sclerosis, which has affected the right side of her body. She needs a wheelchair to get around.

"As we came out of the movie, the front legs of the wheelchair channeled (in a groove in the pavement) and she fell out," Luke said.

She said she was OK, and some bystanders helped him get her back into the chair.

"We went to get lunch, and about halfway through she said, 'My leg hurts,' " Luke said. "We went to the (park's) medical clinic, they X-rayed her leg, and sure enough, it was broken."

She took an ambulance ride to Modesto's Doctors Medical Center and, since being transferred again June 2, her sightseeing has consisted of the four walls of her hospital room, and the hallways and therapy rooms of Kindred Hospital in downtown Modesto.

"It could be worse," said her husband, the eternal optimist.

When Margie is resting or is in her physical therapy sessions, her 70-year-old husband kills time by visiting some of Modesto's tourism hot spots, including the McHenry Museum and the McHenry Mansion.

The retired engineer found himself fascinated by MID's distribution system and the politics that led to its creation.

"They don't irrigate like that back home," he said. "We have some dams, but they're for drinking water — not irrigation."

He'd love to see firsthand how farmers irrigate their fields, and stopped by the MID office to pick up some brochures.

The things we valley folk take for granted ... . I'm sure most valley residents drive past flooded fields and never consider the engineering that went into building the dams and canals that deliver the water.

I equally suspect most Modestans know very little about the history of the city, and would suggest the vast majority of residents never think about visiting some of its treasures.

Sharon McCarthy has spent most of her life in Modesto. But she'd never set foot in the McHenry Mansion until she retired from her job with Stanislaus County in 2001 and became a volunteer at the mansion. Same with the McHenry Museum a block away, where she now volunteers.

"That wasn't until 2003 or 2004," she said.

It's the same for the Lukes when they're back home, Don Luke said. They live within a short subway ride of the nation's capital. The Civil War battlefield at Manassas (also known as Bull Run) is just a few minutes east of their home.

Yet, about the only time he visits those tourist attractions — George Washington's home at Mount Vernon, the memorials and the museums — is when a friend or relative comes to visit.

"They'll want to see that stuff," he said.

On the road, on vacation, it's a different story. He loves to absorb as much as he can about different cities and places. And he hasn't given up on Yosemite, which he hasn't visited since he was a civilian engineer working at bases along the West Coast 45 years ago.

It's unfinished business, as far as the Lukes are concerned.

"We didn't get to see any of it, other than the visitor center and the museum," he said, referring to their trip, albeit stalled, in progress.

The plan is to get Margie well enough to fly home, where she'll check into a rehab facility similar to Kindred. Then, assuming she's healed enough to travel again, they plan to take the train to a family wedding in Dallas in October before continuing on to Merced for a return trip to Yosemite.

"I've already booked it," Don Luke said.

As for Modesto, it probably won't be on their itinerary the next time.

Been here, done that.

Jeff Jardine's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays in Local News. He can be reached at jjardine@modbee.com or 578-2383.

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