Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Into the Mohave Desert !!!!!!..

I had moved to Los Angeles,Calif. to live with my Dad. It was 1981, I had left Northern Va. again, to go and get  a fresh start in life. Or so I thought, so , My older sister and had a moving company pack us up, and we flew to LA. A few days later our stuff would be there. I was  a 20 years old, and I landscaped, and roofed, and I also had been an Office Manager , for the roofing company,when I left. So, finding a job was not going to be hard... Yeah right. Well, the landscaping crews out there were a lot different there, then in Va. There were cracks made about me being a girl, and the nasty comments just kept going.. I ran a crew back East , and the guys were truly pretty considerate of me. I pulled my weight, and they seen that so they were just eager to get to know me, rather then cut me down, or harass me. So, I jumped around from job to job. In the meanwhile, I had this friend Al, who had moved to Arizona years prior, so I called him up to say  hello, and it ended up, me making plans to visit him. I thought I would just make a day trip of this and It was around the Beltway. I even asked this old timer that lived across the street, how far he thought it was.. Buckeye Ariz. , and he said 5 hours. Another person said 6 hrs. and I heard 10 hours, but I did not take head to that. I just said to AL, I would lv at 3pm, and to expect me. I had 24 dollars, and a 3/4 ton PU truck, I had just bought, and had painted Black, with no radio, yet. I had 3 gas tanks, and I had them filled up. I had a couple packs of cigarettes, and left. Well, some 200 miles into this, I was seeing signs- Not to over heat for the next 10 miles up!!! Well, Fords were notorious for that in those days, and another one saying Dead mans river, and snake Ravine Way... I was like Holy Crap!!!. Oh, and the Arizona State Prison... Those signs read.. Do Not pick up hitchhikers...lol, then it dawned on me , Escapees!! I had a pick-up bed, and my window  clamp to lock it was broken.. Anyway, it was getting dark, and I just kept driving... I finally got to Al's home , at 1 am.. I said I will have 1 beer, and a cup of coffee to go!!! I wanted to drive the majority of those 10 hours in the day!!! I had no music so every ping n ding coming from the truck, made me stay on hi-alert, since I had only owned the truck a few  weeks if that. I was determined to get home during the day. I needed money, and he only had 4.00 dollars, he gave it to me. So, we chatted, on why his wife n kid left, she was my best friend, shes one of the 1st people I met when we moved from New york to Va. So, we said our Good-byes, and I was off.. Well, I drove through the Mohave Desert again, in the night, I hit Palms Springs and all my tanks were on E.... So, I stopped at a gas station , knowing I had 256 miles to go, I had no cigarettes and no gas.. I put the $4 bucks in my tank, and asked the lady, if she would take my Title to the truck, and my license, for some gas, and I would come back 2morrow, with what I owed her. She said she would have to ask her Manager, who was due in any moment. So , I sat on the curb right outside the door, and waited. Well , just then a cab pulled up, and the driver got out, and started to put this awesome leather piece of luggage down right in front of me, and then 2 more pieces came out of the trunk, and just then this Bette Midler look a like, and loud mouth Red head get out of the cab, she saw me, and some how, I ended up telling her I had 3 tanks, and none of them had gas enough to get me to Southern La. well, with that she said if " you get me to Hollywood I will fill those tanks up, and by you smokes" I was like no problem!!!  Well, in  few minutes, we were on our way !!! What a break... We, never made it to Hollywood, she had a friend in a town right next to where I lived with my dad, but we ended up a this bar drinking, and shooting Pool, and tying cherry stems with our tongues and winning bets. We had a blast, and we ended up best friends for the next 9 months...

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