Road Trip from HELL!

:at September back in '69


I got drafted on a Wednesday, proposed to my College Sweetheart that night.  By telephone.

Three days later, we got married.

A couple of weeks later, I reported for duty, and saw my wife on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Then it got interesting:

After Basic Training and Infantry School, and NCO School, (graduated "top 5", as an E6 Staff Sergeant), and then it was time for my first posting: I went to Anniston, Alabama (Fort McClellan, home of WAC school and National Guard Basic Training) where I was a training officer.  I was allowed off-base housing, so I rented a private home from a local NCO who was on leave and I enjoyed connubial bliss with my wife (after paying her airplane ticket)

I would get off work at 1800, go jump in the community swimming pool; the neighbors complained that I usually jumped into the pool wearing my sweaty fatigues, but I ignored them.

Then I got a 3-week leave, plus travel time, so we decided to drive from Alabama to Oregon so we could save money.  Also, we had purchased a 1969 Ford Maverick ("The last car you can buy for less than $2000!") and we drove from Alabama to Oregon in three days ... taking turns driving, nonstop.

The car didn't have a radio, but I had bought an 8-track player and hot-wired it into the ignition system (lucky I didn't burn the car up!) so we listened to the only 3 8-track tapes I could find.  To this day, I cannot listen to Creedence Clearwater music without cringing.

We drove straight through from Alabama to Oregon in three days .. non-stop.  We took turns driving.

We stopped somewhere in Texas, when we just didn't have the energy to continue.  Just ... pulled off the road, turned off the car, and went to sleep.   We were awakened by a state trooper (whatever they call them in Texas), who was concerned that we had both died.  He had a helluva time waking us up!

We explained the situation to him, and he looked at us as if we were crazy people.  At that point, he was correct.  But "we were young, and sure to have our way", so we were advised to pull further off the road and kindly suggested that we "get a room".

My wife was asleep, and I was driving, when I passed a sign which said:

GRAND CANYON ... NEXT EXIT

I thought, this may be my last chance to see the Grand Canyon.  But instead of waking her up and discussing whether we should take the scenic detour, I just ... drove on.   I've always regretted that decision.

Finally we got to California, hit the I5 Freeway north, and got to Oregon where we could see our families sometime in the late afternoon after we-didn't-know-how-many-days of driving.

A few days later I reported for duty at my home town (Pendleton, Oregon) after visiting my parents.  gave the car keys to my wife, went to the Greyhound Station, and was eventually (after a year in-country as a training NCO in Georgia) assigned to my next duty station.  It was, not surprisingly, the First Infantry Division in Dian, South Vietnam.

But while I was serving in Viet Nam, I got a letter from my wife.  She and my sister were touring .. somewhere touristy ... and while backing out of the parking lot they bumped into a tree and dented the rear of that damned cheap-ass Maverick.

The mechanics had to replace the trunk lid.  It had folded up like .. well, a Campbell's Soup can would have been embarrassed.

Two years later, after I was back home, I was entering a freeway ramp (in the Maverick) when the hood suddenly just ... popped up!  Apparently, the double-lock hadn't functioned, and a gust of wind just flung it up in my face.

We got rid of the Maverick.

I got a really good trade-in deal in a well-used 1965 Chevrolet Corvair Convertible ... with custom-build dual 2-barrel carburetors!   The fabric roof leaked (especially after our neighbors cut the fabric roof to steal BUPKIS from the glove compartment) and the dual-carburetors were never tuned because no competent mechanic would touch them.

But damn!  It LOOKED FINE, especially in the summer when it wasn't raining.

Did I mention I live in Oregon .. the center of the Great Pacific Northwet?

Man, when it comes to cars, I sure can pick 'em!

Biden Confirms Suspicions; He IS A Dork

Dopey Joe Biden confirms all suspicions that he is, always has been, and remains as dumb as a stump.  (For any stumps which may be reading this, I apologize for the comparison, which denigrates the integrity and intellect of actual native-born stumps ... which are the remains of dead trees, as opposed to the remains of dead political careers.)

(See: "DORK")

"My mother believed and my father believed that if I wanted to be President of the United States, I could be, I could be Vice President!" said Vice President Joe Biden.  [source]

 Here, ex-vice president Biden blandly adopts an opinion and immediately refuses to justify his decision:

Biden Gave A Lengthy Endorsement Of Kavanaugh Accuser Until One Question Caused Him To Walk Away | The Daily Caller: Former Vice President Joe Biden emphatically supported Kavanaugh accuser Dr. Christine Blasey Ford Monday night, faltering only when a reporter asked him about the credibility of a claim made over 35 years ago. “What I’m going to do is I’m not going to answer any more questions,” Biden said, deflecting a reporter’s question asking whether it was significant that the assault claim refers to an incident that allegedly occurred when Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was 17 years old. “I’d be happy to talk about Ireland,” Biden added during his remarks to a group of reporters at Irish ambassador to the U.S. Dan Mulhall’s residence.

(But he's a master at changing the subject when asked questions which would require him to think.)

Perhaps Biden's most important contribution to American Society is that he provides material for late-night talk-show hosts.