DALLAS - I peer through the window of history and see a painful memory in the reflection. Suddenly I’m staring back on November 22, 1963.

MOUNT AIRY, N.C. - The man walking towards us along North Main St., was whistling a familiar tune. It’s one you hear being whistled a lot in this sleepy little town nestled in the shadow of the stunningly beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.

MIAMI BEACH - My impatience with the lack of attention being paid our table at Jerry’s Famous Deli in trendy South Beach was beginning to show when a server came up from behind and assured me: “I’ll be right with you, sir.”

MOUNT AIRY, N.C. - Fans of the old Andy Griffith Show will surely remember the lovable town tippler named Otis who would lock himself in jail when he went on a bender.

PENSACOLA, FLA. - In his younger years, Denis “Deej” Kiely was every bit a Top Gun fighter pilot as the one Tom Cruise portrayed in the iconic film.

WILMINGTON, N.C. - There are few cities in America as lovely and charming as this Southern Belle.

ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA - It’s still 20 minutes before 11 (a.m.) when we hop in our VW Bug rental car and make a bee line for this city’s eclectic River Arts District, where Asheville’s landmark 12 Bones Smokehouse restaurant is located.

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. - A door opens and a blast of hot desert air rushes into the spacious room with the low-slung slanted ceiling. In the doorway, an old man wearing a neck brace appears.

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. - Some people howled when Jim Wilson announced plans to create a beach for dogs at beautiful Fort Desoto Park.

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. – I arrive at what’s called “the loudest hole in golf” and I’m greeted by silence.