Wasted trip

After arriving in Holdenville As quickly as I could I went to the armory to talk with them about IG Inspection and let them know I was in town and would be there.   When I walked in they said” what are you doing here?”   I said you sent me a letter and told me I had to come.   They said “ we sent you a second letter telling you not to bother”.   It seems they found some way to “ file me away” and in other words don’t call us we will call you.  You got to be kidding.  All of that for nothing.

We had a problem we had to come up with transportation back to Washington.   There was a car lot on west main operated by a guy named Gentry.  He had a 1960 Impala Convertible. Blue with a white top.  I made a deal to trade in my Ford and buy the car.   I took it to Jimmy Huffman’s garage and put some air shocks on the back and a trailer hitch on it.   Problem solved.  Now time to check on what really matters.   I called my former girlfriend Bobbie in OKC.  I can’t really remember if she was already married or just very seriously involved with her future husband.  Either way I was out of the picture.   I called my former girlfriend Robin at OSU.   Made arrangements to go  See her.  Drove to Stillwater the next day lookin good in my new car.  Feeling pretty good,I was on the road with a rock and roll band.   Well she wasn’t too impressed.  She was all involved in the college life.  Hmm I guess things change.  Well back home I went , thought things over and decided I was ready to go but still had over a week left.  I just loafed around town the rest of the time you know just being cool. Ha  Well about a week before time to leave Gary Nieland called.  The job in Arizona had fallen through for some reason.   Guess what?  We were going back to Yakima.  After all that it was for nothing, we could have been working all this time.  Plus we drug that trailer back for nothing and still had to drive all the way back.  We were young, excited and would not be deterred

Time to go.   We were all ready I think.   The weather was good so we decided to go over the Colorado mountains again.  We did fine til we got just ready to head over Monarch pass again.   We stopped for gas and spotted a puddle of transmission fluid under the car.  We limped into Canon City Colorado to a Chevy dealer where they got us right in and put transmission seals in.  Now this was not in my budget.  I really can’t remember if at this point we had to contact Nieland for money but the trip wasn’t over.   So after a few hours delay we are off again.   Made it over the mountains to Grand Junction Colorado and had a flat on the trailer.   No big deal right?  Well no except that the wheel was ruined and we had no idea what kind of wheel would fit.   The guy at the place that was fixing the flat sent us to half a dozen salvage yards but no one had the right wheel.  Next option put a new axle under the trailer.  How much we asked?   Uh well Hello Gary Nieland we are stranded in Grand Junction Colorado and need money.  He wired us money we got the trailer fixed and were on our way.  I think that was the last time we broke down but I’m really not sure.   We finally made it back to Yakima, broke, worn out, and in debt.  The only good news I could think of was I was through with the National Guard.

We settled in to a routine and was having fun.  We had great crowds so finally things were going well.  People usually don’t believe me when I say it’s a hard job but it is.  When you’re playing every night here’s your daily routine. You almost always start at 9:00 pm that means for me you get to the job at 8.   You play til 2:00 am   Time you eat something  and settle down it’s about 4 before you go to bed.   Usually get up at 12 noon because rehearsal is at 1:00    Rehearse til about 4:00 then you rest A little, eat dinner, shower shave and do it again.   We practiced every day except Saturday and Sunday.    All that said it is fun though and the people are almost always really good to you.  It’s funny though in Boise there was no problem finding a girlfriend.   You might have to take a butt whooping from her husband but there was plenty of opportunity.  However in Yakima I think all their women was raised in a danged convent.  I mean they were not in the least interested in fooling around with the band boys.   I mean you could get a date after some effort but god help you if you tried to kiss her. I may be exaggerating just a little but not much.  Nieland was married so he wasn’t worried about it, but lots of times after work you would find the rest of us in the lobby playing pinball or just hanging out.  Maybe even playing hop scotch on the checked tile.  Yeah we did that.  See I told you it was an exciting life.  I did finally start going with a girl there.  Her name was Gail and if I saw her parents today I would say.  “ I assure you,you raised a VERY-good girl”ha

Next time:more Yakima stories and the only place we ever bombed