On 6/25/2012 4:49 AM, gtr wrote:
> 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.
>

Well at least you picked up better singer/songwriters.