• Happy birthday Russ, you are getting old, but not as old as me.
Yeah, but I'm not that far behind you. Thanks for the birthday wishes, Steve; it’s always good to hear from you. You've been a good friend and mentor. Your email was returned to me and I didn't want to send this to you via Facebook's inadequate mail/messenger service so opted to post it here. Very few people read my blog, so we're mostly safe.
Do you remember that first week when we met in Buffalo so many years ago you told me, "You can fake a back injury in a football game and avoid the draft, why waste any of your life in the Army." I always thought it was so strange that the last game of the season I didn't fake it; it actually happened that I tore two ligaments and cartilage in my right knee and that got me out of military service. Your power of suggestion worked incredibly in that case.
When I think of you I think of all the fun we had. It seems now that we always had a good time. So today I’ve had a lot of fun remembering, here's what I came up with.
When I first arrived in Oregon in June 1970 you took me in and gave me a place to stay. I think we went water skiing at a friend of yours on Lake Oswego that first week and I was so impressed, I thought that was just so cool.
Other memories…
• $30/month for rent, unbelievable in this day and age.
• Living behind and working for Mr. Jones at his little roadside convenience store.
• You helping me fix my $85 car, a 1958 two tone green and white Chevy Bel Air; replacing the clutch; replacing the heater, in the old garage out back. Can’t believe now I actually did it with your advice.
• My one week job selling a sewing machine and making one sale and $135.
• My job at the “Palm Springs European Health Spa”, I remember you visiting me there.
• The Mormon guys you BA’d while they were trying to proselytize me.
• Jabo and his incredible Hawaiian nudie movies. He wanted me to make one. It didn't happen.
• Visiting your best friend, Jim, the fisherman at his home on the Oregon Coast. I think that was the first time I'd ever watched cable TV.
• Attending Vortex, the one and only week long, State of Oregon sponsored rock festival on the Sandy River. I remember seeing this incredibly beautiful girl standing with the river up to her knees. I wanted to talk to her but as we were both stark naked, I couldn't for the life of me think of what to say.
• You taking flying lessons and sometimes taking me flying; “touch and go”.
• Your advice to “get my union card” and finish university.
• Going to PCC; getting a school loan for $1,000 that lasted me a little more than two terms.
• I remember our first trip to Timberline Lodge and your immortal first skiing lesson which consisted of, “OK, see you at the bottom.”
• Night skiing at Bachelor. Your iguanas. Nicole. Rita. Butch Cassidy, Sundance and your guns. I remember you bought one later from my father-in-law.
Then there was the time we went out to the airport to see Wes off to his new teaching job in the Philippines. God, that was a good time. He was in rare form that day. Remember he had that, “You dirty rat" routine, I seem to recall he did it several times along with others, that now escape me, but I'll always remember how good I felt to be part of the group and having so much fun. And that pretty well sums up how I felt about all the time I spent with you and the guys there on Taylor Ferry Rd.
Of course nothing can compare to our “Road Trip” 14,000 miles in ten weeks across the U.S. and Canada, camping out. Well, I can remember at least one motel we stayed at.
I'll never forget that trip, but know I’ve forgotten parts of it. What a journey! I'm so glad you let me tag along even though I had nadda for money and had to mooch off you as opposed to sharing expenses. It was an adventure of a lifetime and all that much the better to have shared it with you. We had so many experiences, good times and laughs along the way.
Some of the things that stand out in my mind are...
• You meeting me at the airport in LA., I was so relieved that you showed up.
• Sleeping on picnic tables in the desert. Weren’t there snakes? Buying a tent the next day at an Army Surplus Store.
• The rainstorm in Tulsa, OK and stripping down to our shorts and pushing the car out of the small pond that had formed around our little rented VW hatchback.
• Our trip to Juarez, Mexico; “25 positions $25” and your comeback, “How about 1 position for $1”
• The girl in Texas who just suddenly began rubbing my feet in the car. I know she wanted to rub something else but there was no time on the schedule and I didn't want to leave your bus.
• The week we spent at IU in Bloomington. Mucho Grande Chee Chees Man.
• The attempted robbery I almost slept through and then being unable to escape from my sleeping bag. You waving your gun around. The conversation
“I’ve got a big stick”
“I’ve got a big gun.”
“OK then, you win.”
• Sleeping in the back yard of the girl’s house after the robbery. Making out with "Mucho Grande" in the tent.
• You going home with me to visit my family in Indianapolis.
• Horseback riding with you, Glenn, his road manager and the musicians. Will never forget that horse, he was a monster.
• The IU football game we attended.
• The scenery that fall in West Virginia
• You giving me shit for giving money to a homeless guy on the street when I had next to nothing myself.
• Getting stuck in the field in Canada and having a farmer pull us out with his tractor and going back to his home and meeting his family and have breakfast.
• Peeing on frozen boots to warm them up.
• Corks and slugs.
• Met some girls somewhere, went to their home; made up some incredible bullshit story about ourselves. I think we became owners of a huge cattle ranch, but the details elude me.
• Showering at universities, always fun, always an adventure.
• "Leaving the material".
• Taking and incredible bowel movement by the side of the train tracks and the highway somewhere in Idaho after being constipated for four days.
Finally, amidst all these memories came one more. I need to make a confession. Not long after I arrived in Portland you introduced me to a beautiful blond girl, can't remember her name but she was a friend of yours and I think she had a sister as well. Anyway, we went on a date. I told her I believed in reincarnation and that I believed I've lived many lives before this one. She told you and when you asked me about it, I denied it. I'm sorry I did that, I lied. I do believe in reincarnation and I believe we're all connected. My Theology makes a lot more sense to me than the faith I grew up with. So as Maxwell Smart would say, "Sorry about that, Chief."
I know there's more but these are the things that come to mind 43 years later, I guess I’ve lost the rest. But I’ve never lost the feeling and I just wanted to say “Thank You.”
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