A chance meeting at the rest stop pay phone
I was using the 800 phone number to talk with my friend Dan Nelson... keep in mind that in 1991 it cost a small fortune to call long distance. And being that I lost $2.75 on a 15 second wrong number when trying to reach Dave Hillis.... yeah that toll free number was a real benefit.
Conversations with Dan were always filled with jokes and innuendo. I hadn't noticed the woman standing behind me, waiting to use the phone... that is until I hung up and turned to leave. She was smiling, and i wondered if any part of my conversation with Dan was inappropriate. I asked her why the smile? She told me that I talked funny. I asked her to guess where I was from [a question I had asked probably 25 times sine leaving MA]. Typically people said New York. Carol said "Massachusetts". Impressed, I asked how she knew...? "Well, that truck has a MA license plate, so I figured..."
We had a nice conversation and she invited me to come by her workplace the following night for dinner, telling me that the food was really good at a really good price. As my scheduled allowed (ha ha) I did just that, stopped by the following evening. I found the food as she had described, and a restaurant meal a nice diversion from my typical meal cooked on my camp stove. Carol invited me to join her the following day, as she was taking her daughters, Sally and Molly up to her friend Connie's farm, to milk cows and hang out. Alright, another night in Northern CA, and another adventure.
I went back to the ocean side area where I had found a number of large recreational vehicles a few days before. In the morning I was approached my a guy asking if I could jump his camper, as his battery was dead. Sure thing. We accomplished the jump, and he told me that, although he didn't have any cash on him he wanted to compensate me when he got some, and would i give him my address? I offered him my business card, and he told me that he was a Walton, of the Wall Drug family and that I'd be handsomely rewarded! He must have lost that business card... oh well.
I went to Carol's house, and we went to Connie's farm where I gave it my best shot, to milk a cow. It was laughable, which I found really surprising, considering all that I've.... well you know.
I stayed in Eureka for a bit more than two weeks. Carol, Sally and Molly were my tour guides and my hosts. It was a welcomed break from my extended drive, waking up wondering where I was, where I was headed and what might be next. A little continuity in a world of randomness. In the local paper I spotted an advertisement for an Albert Collins show at Arcata University, and bought us tickets. Assuming that, like Boston, the general admission tickets would require arriving early to get the good seats, when we arrived there was only a few people there. Honestly I thought that we were in the wrong place. When the doors opened we had our choice of any seat in the house. As I brought my camera, we took our place in the second row to avoid getting booted on the off chance they objected to me taking pictures. I got a great shot of Albert which he autographed in the spring of 1993, at a show at Nightstage.
Carol and I remained friends and whenever I'm in the area (1995, 2022), we hang out. This friendship is a part of my trip dear to my heart. She's best described as 'cool'.
Conversations with Dan were always filled with jokes and innuendo. I hadn't noticed the woman standing behind me, waiting to use the phone... that is until I hung up and turned to leave. She was smiling, and i wondered if any part of my conversation with Dan was inappropriate. I asked her why the smile? She told me that I talked funny. I asked her to guess where I was from [a question I had asked probably 25 times sine leaving MA]. Typically people said New York. Carol said "Massachusetts". Impressed, I asked how she knew...? "Well, that truck has a MA license plate, so I figured..."
We had a nice conversation and she invited me to come by her workplace the following night for dinner, telling me that the food was really good at a really good price. As my scheduled allowed (ha ha) I did just that, stopped by the following evening. I found the food as she had described, and a restaurant meal a nice diversion from my typical meal cooked on my camp stove. Carol invited me to join her the following day, as she was taking her daughters, Sally and Molly up to her friend Connie's farm, to milk cows and hang out. Alright, another night in Northern CA, and another adventure.
I went back to the ocean side area where I had found a number of large recreational vehicles a few days before. In the morning I was approached my a guy asking if I could jump his camper, as his battery was dead. Sure thing. We accomplished the jump, and he told me that, although he didn't have any cash on him he wanted to compensate me when he got some, and would i give him my address? I offered him my business card, and he told me that he was a Walton, of the Wall Drug family and that I'd be handsomely rewarded! He must have lost that business card... oh well.
I went to Carol's house, and we went to Connie's farm where I gave it my best shot, to milk a cow. It was laughable, which I found really surprising, considering all that I've.... well you know.
I stayed in Eureka for a bit more than two weeks. Carol, Sally and Molly were my tour guides and my hosts. It was a welcomed break from my extended drive, waking up wondering where I was, where I was headed and what might be next. A little continuity in a world of randomness. In the local paper I spotted an advertisement for an Albert Collins show at Arcata University, and bought us tickets. Assuming that, like Boston, the general admission tickets would require arriving early to get the good seats, when we arrived there was only a few people there. Honestly I thought that we were in the wrong place. When the doors opened we had our choice of any seat in the house. As I brought my camera, we took our place in the second row to avoid getting booted on the off chance they objected to me taking pictures. I got a great shot of Albert which he autographed in the spring of 1993, at a show at Nightstage.
Carol and I remained friends and whenever I'm in the area (1995, 2022), we hang out. This friendship is a part of my trip dear to my heart. She's best described as 'cool'.
