On 2012-06-25 09:55:45 +0000, dsi1 said:

> On 6/24/2012 7:27 PM, Tommy Joe wrote:
>>
>> I have not flown in 47 years since I was 17 years old. I flew
>> 5 times in a short span, once in a small plane. They're less safe in
>> the long haul than the big planes - sliding all over the place - but
>> the mere fact that I could still see the earth below made me feel like
>> we still had some kind of chance to glide in, not go down in a nose-
>> dive like the huge metal jet boxes.
>>
>> I like to hear people complain about flying complications, as
>> if flying is any different from taking a stinking land bus. It's an
>> air bus, that's all. A lot of things that were luxuries yesterday are
>> necessities today, just as today's luxuries will be tomorrow's
>> necessities.
>>
>> Anyway, I used to travel a lot - driving and hitch-hiking - and
>> I'm thinking about a trip to J'Ville to see my brother and also one to
>> NYC to see my sister, and I think I'm going to hitch hike both times.
>> Last time I hitched was about 13 years ago, to PA from NC, then a week
>> later, back the other way.
>>
>> It's incredible the people who think they know things because
>> they hear them. "Oh, it's scary, hitch-hiking today - nobody will
>> pick you up." Really? Maybe if you cut giant scars into your face
>> along with a nose ring and a vest made of chains with no shirt beneath
>> it revealing a hairy mass with a very loud tattoo below it reading, "I
>> hate people!"
>>
>> But believe me, they still stop. Oh there are period where you
>> think you'll never get out of where you're at - that you might just
>> die there - then out of nowhere someone stops, sometimes even when
>> your thumb isn't out. Everyone has a reason for stopping, Used to be
>> a lot of gays when I was younger, maybe even still today - but also a
>> lot of preachers looking for a chance to spring Jesus on you - who
>> knows why they stop? - but sometimes they stop just because they've
>> hitched themselves - and other times they'll stop because they want to
>> know if you have a license and will drive for them because they're
>> tired. I love that. Sure, it's no picnic in the rain, and it's bad
>> at night - but you don't have to deal with being confined in a moving
>> hell on wheels with a bunch of screaming children and their even more
>> annoyingly loud parents. Took a bus cross country 4 different times -
>> twice each way - vowing each time, never again. This time I mean it.
>> Unless it's freezing cold I'm ready to stand or sit in the elements
>> rather than be confined to a stinking seat with no leg room and a
>> bunch of buzzing my head to madness.
>>
>> TJ
>>
>
> My brother-in-laws would stop and pick up a guy hitching a ride - even
> today. They once picked up Robert Zimmerman in Pittsburgh or
> thereabouts. The army brats had recently come back to the states after
> living on-base in Heidelberg. They were in a couple of trucks and the
> oldest brother's wife was towing a large U-Haul to their new home. They
> didn't know a thing about Dylan since they were out of the US for so
> long. My brother-in-law asked him to sing something because he said he
> wrote songs and sung and was pretty much sorry that he asked - that boy
> had no talent as a singer and his songs were off-the-wall goofy!
>
> Anyway, the guy promised him some weed as payment for the ride. And
> what an eventful ride it was. Dylan would write a song about it later.
> One of the trucks had a tire that disintegrated on the highway. They
> also had a blown headgasket. The brothers' solution for a blown
> headgasket was to go to a junkyard and put in a new old engine.
> Somebody suggested that they just go to the Chevy dealer down the road
> and since it was freezing cold, they thought that might be a better
> idea. When they walked in, everybody was startled to see Dylan and
> froze in their tracks. The brothers were wondering what the heck was
> going on and Dylan said "Maybe they seen a ghost." The shop only
> charged them for the parts which the brothers thought was a pretty good
> deal. My guess is that there wasn't none of that "it'll be ready next
> Thursday" stuff either.
>
> Once they got to Dylan's big house, there was no weed to be found. The
> brothers thought the guy was trying to screw them over. He showed them
> the photo that was going to be used on his new record. My
> brother-in-law said that he later recognized it to be the cover of
> "Nashville Skyline." I guess Dylan felt the need to show that he
> actually was a professional recording artist and therefore trustworthy.
> All the brothers cared about was that he kept his part of the deal and
> they went out onto the streets looking for some grass. I like to
> imagine them out there in the darkness and the cold searching for some
> smoke.

That happened to me one time but it was with John Lennon.