| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
richfed
Into the 60's
USA
Status: offline |
 Posted - April 09 2003 : 1:23:25 PM
|
April, 1971 ... just about exactly 32 years ago. Can it really be? Where have the years gone?
Anyway, let me introduce you all to Lola ... the car. My first car. Lola was a 1963 vintage, white Ford Falcon station wagon - manual - shoot! I forget what you call it! Had to do with ignition. I'm not a car person.  - Anyway, you had to pull this little thing out before starting 'er up. We had the roof painted in red, white, & blue stripes. In black magic marker, all over the roof, folks would leave their autograph ... hitchhikers signed it, many of you probably signed it. What a car! We had a "Drug Store" sign hanging from the rear view mirror - Hash - $20 - Acid $3 - etc. I forget the actual prices, but it was quite the conversation piece. I got the car just after turning 19 [prior to that, we rode my Mom's Caddy. My poor Mom!], from my Uncle Joe's used car lot in Brooklyn ... It was my pride & joy. Had it for all of 7 weeks, though that doesn't seem possible!
What a wind bag I am ... sorry!
To the Blue Ridge ...
I don't remember a lot of this Frankie Baby ... You and I and Doof took a ride down to Virginia - the Skyline Drive. Remember that milk shake place in Front Royal? 50 flavors. My favorite - the maple walnut. Excellent!!! The few times I've passed through that town since, I've looked for that place, but alas ... no luck. Front Royal is much more built up now than it was in '71.
We were riding along the Blue Ridge, and the car was making a weird noise. We slept that night in the car, at an overlook. I remember the wind blowing like crazy & thinking we'd wake up in the Shenandoah Valley somewhere. Well, we survived the night & started out again. Somewhere along the way, we lost the brakes. On the Skyline Drive with no brakes. Pretty interesting. I believe we got off at the first chance we got, and that was Route 211, near Luray ... just let the car roll on down for several miles down to the flat land. As it finally was approaching a stop, I pulled over onto the grassy shoulder. For some reason, I recall pulling over to the left. Is that possible, Bean? At any rate, the car came to a halt and immediately the front end - driver side? - went down. That's when you said, Frank, "Either we drove in a ditch or the front wheel fell off." As luck would have it, it was the latter ...
We somehow got towed to Warrenton, Virginia to have it fixed, but, continuing in the good luck trend, they didn't have the part & it had to be ordered. That was OK, we didn't have the money either ... it was going to cost about $95 to fix it.  I asked dear old Mom to wire $$ [have I mentioned my poor Mom?!?].
So, we had a few days to kill ... what to do!
Well, we almost got killed [remember jumping in the ditch when those loonies drove by, ran us off the road, throwing cherry bombs, or something at us?], we saw Easy Rider - and could truly relate! - what else did we do? OH! We hitched to Washington, DC!
Either on the way there, or back, we were picked up by a couple who informed us of the big demonstration & civil disobedience to occur a couple of weeks hence - April 24, to be exact [I've never forgotten that date, and think of it every year!]. We would return! Skin & Foch accompanied us there, but that's a whole 'nother story!
Frank already mentioned the guy at the Scientology place - HOW in the World did we arrive there? - with the gun ... weird. But, I remember little else. We maybe went to the monuments area. But I do remember this ...
We needed a place to sleep, so we trucked over a bridge and set up a camp in a wooded area, just across the Potomac from the Pentagon. We set up some sort of primitive camp and eventually went to sleep - or I did, anyway. I awoke to a blazing fire, in the middle of the night, being furiously fed by Doof. I could see a black mass off to the side. Frank was perched in a tree. I got up, took a leak, and crawled back in my sleeping bag and went back to sleep. Must've been good stuff we smoked before we turned in!!!  The black "mass" was a black bear!
On that note, I'll turn it over to you, Bean ... maybe it'll jog some more memories!!!
Lola was eventually fixed, I might add, and we did return for the demonstration on the 24th ...
OH! Throttle! Manual throttle ... I think!
|
Rich
What a long, strange trip it's been! |
|
|
Bean
Still Hangin' At The Mailbox
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - April 10 2003 : 01:02:23 AM
|
OH Man where do I begin...Yup I think it is almost exactly 32 years ago, it was over Easter if I remember right? Let's see where did we buy that drug store sign...was it woolworths or some head shop, in any case we must have been real head cases looking like we did and to top it all off drive through the south with a car painted up and that infamous sign dispalyed in the window...we should have just had a bull horn on top of the car with the announcement blasting " hey, we're anti-establishmnet radical hippies from NY who like to get high and are carry drugs so please follow us and arrest us as soon as possible "...instead we got even more attention !  
And yeah Richie I remember the milk shake place sort of like a eat in Dairy Queen but do you remember that they had an intercom on every table so that you could communicate directly to the kitchen and place your order...needless to say we got thrown out of there rather quick as soon as I opened my BIG MOUTH as usual, I can't remeber what I was saying but I was being totally rude, lude and obnoxious over the intercom, ( do you rememeber this Richie? )
Yeah and I rememeber the wierd noise, and than realizing we had NO freaking brakes while crusing on down the Blue Ridge Mt. highway, as my life was flashing before my eyes I remember smoke billowing out from the front of the car as you correctly stated you did pull over to the left on the beautiful road with rolling hills and green grass and then all of a sudden KA-BOOM the front of the car suddenly sank...now mind you we were all tripping and stoned when this hapenned and I said in my usual sarcastic voice " I think we either went in to a ditch or the front wheel fell off " and if I remember correctly I was the first one out of the car and started lauging hystercically at what I saw which was about 25 feet of strewn nuts, bolts, washers, springs, and assorted hardware and then a front tire parallel to the ground, at which point Richie and doof got out of the car and we all just sat their laughing almost to the point of crying in total amazement and bewilderment...it was truely a kodak moment and the scenery was just so amazingly serene and beautiful...
yes on to Warrington Va....is that where we made friends with a girl in the local McDonalds when we ran out of Money and she kept giving us free coupons for free food..?
OK once in Warrington, Va...oh yeah I remember on the way hitching there we were run off the road by this car full of kids causing me to jump in to a creek while I was holding your cassette player, remember that Richie? I think it still worked though...and then there was the car that stopped ahead of us to pick us up but as we approached started pelting us with Cherry Bombs, you were correctumondo on that my man, rememeber the old Black guy who picked us up and was swaying all over the road and we found out why as he pulled a bottle of Whiskey up from under the seat and offered us swigs, we opted to get out, only to find ourselves hitching on a road with 3 young prety girls who we talked to but we knew no one would ever give us a ride with them hitching on the same road so what we did if I remember right was hitch in front of them and it worked cause I think we got picked up first but then the same person who picked us 3 up saw the girls and stopped for them too and cramped them in the back with us so here we were with 3 pretty girls who were pissed at us for hitching in front of them now they are sitting on our laps in a strangers car...I forgot what happened next, I think I put my hands some place and an altercation broke out as usual...Richie do you remember the details here?
OK now in Warrington,
I can remember sitting on some steps getting high early in the morning only to look behind us and see that we were on the steps of the local police station and court house. not a very wise thing to do for 3 hippies from NY while in the South during that particular time in world history...we might as well put bulls eyes on our heads and spot lights on us ! OK some how we managed not to get in any trouble at least for the time being, so later that day or evening we decide to go see a movie at the local hic in town theatre and it turns out to be Easy Rider...just our luck...anyway the theatre is filled with all the local kids and red necks and at one point I got up to use the bathroom or buy some food or soda and I over hear a lot of people talking about the hippies from NY in town and in the theatre...errrr they were talking about me and US....OK I go back and tell Richie and Doof what I heard and that I think we are going to be the main attraction later that night but we still stay for the end of the movie which you know how it ends, where the hippies Dennis Hopper and what's his name are killed by the red necks in the pick up truck well at this point in the movie I remember the theatre bursting out in applause and at that point I knew we better hi tail our asses out of there and fast...I remember running down the street with some people chasing us and running through or past a family in their back yard having a cook out and someone pointing at us and saying " it's the hippies from NY " we were famous, a legend and we had only been in town 1 day!!!
And Richie that blazing camp fire you talked about awakning too was cause I was freezing so bad that night I was using any thing we had to burn and keep the fire going,I think that was me not Doof feeding that fire cause I rememeber tossing some of our cassettes and other crap in to the fire...the camp that we set up in the national forest that was pitch black with the bear was another night...or am I totally confused,?
I thought that was the morning we sat for hours on the side of the road playing knock the bottle over with the rocks until finally somebody picked us up and dropped us off at that diner and this us when we had not eaten anything in over 24 hours and between you, Doof and me we ordered enough food for 12 people so much that it could not all fit on the table...first of all we walk in to this diner dirty, long hair & looking like the total degenerate hippies we were and the diner is filled with all these local country bumpkin red necks eating their morning breakfast so as soon as we walk in all eyes are on us, then we order like 3 or 4 breakfasts each and the all come out at once we had to put food on the window ledge next to our table because it would not all fit now here comes the funny part, since we were all starving we started to dive in to the food like Vultures and before I got the first bite in my mouth I somehow slid all the food in front of me off the table on to my lap...and I swear the place went almsot to a dead silence as everyone looked at us with food covering me and the floor, it was definitley a scene right out of a movie...I think we just ate our food including the stuff that was on me and left as quitely and as quickly as we could...not sure where we headed or how we got where ever we headed next...every moment back then was a new exciting adventure, I wish I could relive those momemnts over again.Life on the road, " New Morning " Good Morning America how are ya..."
OK Richie take it away your turn to add to this, correct and re order the sequence of events, and the missing details, or rearrange the stated details...> When you are having this much spontaneous fun it's hard to keep track of the details....Bean still Trucking.
" It's been a long strange trip " or Space Trucking round the stars.... Come ON, Come ON, Let's go space trucking !
|
Edited by - Bean on April 10 2003 02:10:41 AM |
  |
|
|
richfed
Into the 60's
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - April 11 2003 : 06:58:59 AM
|
Lots of memories in there, Bean ...
I do remember spending a night in a National Forest, but I'm pretty sure the bear story is as I recounted it. Actually, I have no real memory at all, just the memory of the "oral history," so to speak. Always recounted it that way through the years, so that's how I believe it went down. We'll have to get a third opinion from Doof one of these days!
Meet you in Front Royal for a milk shake! Whaddaya say?!? |
Rich
What a long, strange trip it's been! |
|
|
|
Bean
Still Hangin' At The Mailbox
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - April 11 2003 : 12:25:53 PM
|
Ahhh, Richie if only it were that easy I'd be there in a shake...one of these days I just may suprise you and show up on your front steps!
So do any of the my other re-acounts of our old tales sound familiar?
Your Bean still...you have no idea how I miss those days,
" Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end "
and speaking of those days check out the new pictures from Arthur in his photo album and ElenaR also added a new one of Eddie Abbromowitz and voted him the best Afro...I don't know Jeffery, Arthur and even Foch sported some pretty mean Afro's too in their days! |
Edited by - Bean on April 11 2003 12:29:16 PM |
|
|
|
neilbeatle
Still A Babe
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - May 16 2003 : 03:17:36 AM
|
| THIS WAS SUCH A CLASSIC CAR YOU HAD RICHY WITH THE CURTAINS AROUND THE BACK WINDOW. AND YOU HAD SO ACCURATE DRUG PRICES POSTED IN THE CAR THAT THEY WERE USED IN YOUR LENIOR BUST MENTIONED IN THAT NEWSPAPER FRONTPAGE. THERE WERE SOME NICE MEMORIES WITH LOLA BUT I DID NOT SHARE YOUR CAR BREAKING DOWN NOR DID VINCE. WE CAN HOME BUT BUS WITH A CLEAN RECORD, NOT LIKE THE LENIOR 5. |
neil a facci |
|
|
|
Bean
Still Hangin' At The Mailbox
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - May 16 2003 : 04:55:00 AM
|
I don't know Foch, I kinda feel like Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter after reading your above post...or like the name of that old TV Western series...
Branded !
|
Edited by - Bean on May 16 2003 04:57:11 AM |
|
|
|
richfed
Into the 60's
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - May 16 2003 : 1:07:39 PM
|
Hey Foch!!! Good to see you pokin' your head in here once in awhile!!
Yes, you and Vince had the good sense to ride the ole Greyhound home rather than head to them thar hills. But, in retrospect, I wouldn't change a thing!!! [Except maybe to force you & Vince along!!] 'Twas fun!
Beanie ... I still have my brand. I wear it proudly. Time has not faded IT! Wish I could say the same for my memory! |
Edited by - richfed on May 17 2003 5:58:44 PM |
|
|
|
Bean
Still Hangin' At The Mailbox
USA
Status: offline |
Posted - May 17 2003 : 11:46:02 AM
|
Me too Richie...I guess we're both still letting our " Freak Flags " still fly high in one way or another, or as Ray Davies said in the Kinks song " I'm not like everybody else "
...Bean who once he gets started he goes to town... expecially if I'm fueled with some tequilla, Jack Daniels, or our old stanby's of Bali Hi, or Boones Farm like in the early days...did I forget Colt 45( remember the Colt 45 drinking party at your Moms house one afternoon? ) or the let's mix every alcohol we can find together in McCowski's garage and drink it ? |
Edited by - Bean on May 17 2003 11:47:22 AM |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Ridin' Lola On The Blue Ridge!
