Seeing Steve Hartmann tonight on the evening news, and his piece about Charles Kuralt's story on the Chandler Family Reunion really got my nostalgia wheels turning.

Over the years, 'On the Road' was always the highlight of any CBS news broadcast. I think I must have seen 'em all. I want to think I watched The CBS Evening News because of Walter Cronkite, but I'll bet it was just as much because of Kuralt. I'd love to have a DVD of the whole 'On the Road' series, if such a thing exists. I became addicted to CBS Sunday Morning from the getgo with Mr. Kuralt.

Once again I'm reminded just what we lost when he died, on Independence Day in 1997. He died too young, a victim of too much food, too much booze and too many cigarettes. For a while a big fuss was made over his three-decade extra-marital affair with Patricia Shannon, especially in his native North Carolina. In fact, many people there and in the conservative South still have not forgiven him. But for me, that just made him even more interesting.

I felt awful when the On the Road series ended, worse when he left Sunday Morning, and worst of all when he died. Something else died with him, the idea that good news can be compelling. As a matter of fact, I can remember just about every one of those Road stories, but very, very few other news stories have stuck somewhere in my memory banks.

Thinking about Charles Kuralt reminds me that the man was a national treasure.