The Adventures of Me & My Shadow #65 in VA, MD, PA &
NY 10/01/01
1249 miles this trip, odometer now 12,196 total, miles this year
11,763.
From VA Beach, VA, Hi Everyone!
This is another DUMB animal adventure on sex that took place
when I was about ten years old. The word "rape" as it
relates to sex was not yet in my vocabulary. Rape at that time
in my life was a plant that was sowed with the oats that would
provide forage for the cattle after the oats were harvested. This
adventure involves a mare horse that was being bred by a jackass
to produce a mule and it happened on my Uncle Harry's farm. The
jackass is less than half the size of the mare so a shallow pit
was dug to lower the mare so the jackass could reach her. The
mare had a halter on and was tied with a very short rope to a
post at one end of the pit. A big hansom stallion was then led
over to her for some "foreplay" at that time it was
called teasing. This was to make her more receptive. When she
was hotter than a firecracker the stallion was led away and this
ugly little jackass was led around the corner of the barn. He
brayed to get her attention and I can still see the fear in her
eyes when she looked at him coming over to mount her. I think
you will agree with me, she was raped, or it could be called cruelty
to animals. I also felt sorry for the stallion, getting shot out
of the saddle by a lowly jackass.
I'm sure some of you might not be aware of some facts about
mules for reasons unknown to me, all mules are female. These mules
go through life without ever having sex; there are no second generation
mules. All mules are stubborn, so if you are stubborn you night
have some mule genes in your system.
Now for my adventures this month. It is sure nice to be
putting miles on the old GMC again. The trip to Richmond went
well, except for an electrical problem. I stopped in Newport News
to fill up with $1.279 gas and when I tried to leave I had no
12 volt DC power. I checked the batteries and they all showed
12.5 volts. After taking the inside of the glove compartment out
and moving the wire bundle up and dawn a few times I got the power
back. I must have a corroded connection behind the fuse panel.
I got to my friends Norm & Carol Eby's place before dark and
Norm took me to Floyd Spencer's to get the car I was to use. The
reunion went well but because of the mess up in NY that grounded
all the aircraft a lot of the Iron Angels that were to fly in
called to cancel so we only had a few there. I enjoyed visiting
with my old friends and there were a couple new first timers to
the reunion and I enjoyed swapping sea stories with them. I'm
looking forward to seeing them all again. Because of the small
turnout, the banquet on the last night was moved from the hotel
restaurant to the Anna Bell Lee, a river cruise boat. The food
was fantastic. The entertainment was good but the volume was way
too high. I was way in the back and without my hearing aids in
I was uncomfortable. I don't know how those up in front could
stand it. I believe it would be worth it to make a trip to Richmond
just to have dinner on the Anna Bell Lee but take some ear plugs
along.
After the reunion I stayed at the Eby's another day to
fix a computer problem and to put the dash on the coach back together.
I had taken it all apart when trouble shooting the electrical
problem. My first destination was Silver Springs, MD to visit
my older brother Dean and his wife Betty. I have never been too
close to Dean and I hadn't seen him for some time. When we were
young we lived in two different worlds. He was the smart collage
kid and I was the dumb high school dropout. When he was in collage,
I was working and I loaned him a small amount of money a couple
times. I was glad to do it expecting to someday get it back but
it never happened. WW2 came and I enlisted in the Navy, he ended
up going into the Army Air Force. He was trained as a navigator
on a B17 and went to England. He flew his first mission on D day
and was shot down a few weeks later. The Germans amputated his
left arm and he spent 8 moths in POW camps. I was in the South
Pacific servicing PBY flying boats. After the war I was out of
the Navy for a couple years and we met quite often. I never felt
comfortable around him, I got the feeling that he thought he was
above me and had no time for me. I enjoyed my other brother and
my sisters but I could never get close to Dean. He got his degree
and went to work at the Naval Ordinance Lab at Silver Springs;
MD and I went back in the Navy. We both got married and started
families. I was stationed in VA and when traveling, if we were
in the DC area we would stop at Dean & Betty's for a visit.
Dean & Betty never stopped at our place. So I assumed they
had no desire to see us and we drifted further apart. I did enjoy
this visit with Betty and two of their sons Brian & Brennen
who came over for dinner but I was unable to visit with Dean.
He now has Parkinson's Disease and it is impossible to carry on
a conversation with him. Betty and I even argued politics without
getting mad. Dean and Betty have always been democrats, the kind
that if Christ was a republican and the Devil was a democrat,
they would vote for the Devil.
My next destination was Niagara Falls KOA for the GMCMI
Rally so I headed north and west. I had some time to kill so I
stopped to do some shopping. I noticed the engine was running
cooler than normal so I got a new thermostat. I'll install it
when I get to the rally. I checked into the Brushy Creak Campground
a couple days to kill time and get this adventure story started.
As I came North in PA and NY I noticed that Mother Nature has
started painting the green leaves the bright colors telling me
that fall has fallen and winter won't be far behind. It is time
for me to join the birds and head South. I arrived at the rally
two days early with good weather and found a lot of the coaches
already there. The good weather lasted till the rally started
and then it turned bad with rain and wind and the temp going down,
I hoped it wouldn't snow. We ended up with about 300 coaches,
many of them first timers so I enjoyed visiting with old and new
friends.
I had a different kind of adventure in the men's rest
room. I went in to take a leak and found a cleaning lady busy
cleaning. I asked her how long she would be. She told me to go
ahead and do what I had to, she wouldn' t mind. It reminded me
of an adventure I had in a woman's rest room in Seattle in 1946
when I was assigned duty at an R&R camp while waiting to be
discharged from the Navy. On a dance night the hostess asked me
to fill the Kotex dispenser in the ladies' restroom. I got a box
of Kotex and blocked the door open and went in when a woman coming
out told me the coast was clear. I just got started filling the
dispenser when the traffic picked up. It was like they didn't
see me, I couldn't believe it.
Shortly after the rally got under way the rain started,
not constant but intermittent. We had our coffee & doughnuts
each morning and it rained. We had some interesting seminars and
it rained. We had ice cream socials and it rained. I gave a seminar
on GPS and it rained. We had a Corn Chowder lunch and it rained.
The only day it didn't rain was the last day. I guess it knew
I would be heading south. The trip south to Va. Beach. VA went
well with good weather but the rain I thought I left in Niagara
Falls was here in Va. Beach to greet me. You GMC drivers might
enjoy a picture of a picture that was on the bulletin board of
a GMC with a heavy load.
I now have to find a way to get on the internet and send
this letter. When I was in the hotel in Richmond trying to get
on the net I got things all messed up. It now looks like I'll
have to open a new account, get on the net and then close the
new account.
I have a Doctors appointment for the fifth to see what
I can do to get my heart to pump more blood. I'll fill you in
on that in the next letter.
Till next time, Dallas or Dad if it fits.
Me & My Shadow & Gus on the road
