6-18 Newport, Ore./ Newport, Neb. -- 1,300 Miles Later!

To my drummer boy, John T.

Our nite in Valentine was a booming experience to say the least. When we landed and a local cop gave us directions to the city park, we settled in to clear, hot, creek side settings among more cotton wood trees. We dry camped again and after working on the water pump, again, I took a nap and later dinner was consumed. I was still too beat to get the generator going so we just went into r/r mode. It was very warm and as the nite replaced the day we sorta settled down but lo and behold! Booooom! Boooooom!!! Baaarrroom! Man, the skies lit up and kept lighting up and booming! Gail ignored most of this and just kept sawing them trees down. Lady, a different story! She got so scared I finally let her up on the bed with us and she finally calmed a little but not until the storm had blown over. I got some of the thunder on my little recorder but could not get the flashes of lightning. There were several warnings over the radio station that we were listening to and I recorded them also. Finally calmed down and the morning was clear, humid and warm. I did the routine and left out @ 0600. The roads leveled off and after the 20 mi. post it became very flat but there was a right shoulder wind that kept a slight brake on me as I huffed and puffed to keep a 10mph avg. going. Gail caught me at the 40mi. post and I told her I would keep going till I couldn’t go any more. At 50mi. the road eased more easterly and the wind let up but the heat came up and I was able to clip off another 25mi. We came to the oldest park in Neb. Established in 1938 it has served travelers since and is kept up as a preserve and forest for all of us weary travelers and so we are spending the nite here. Thanks Folks. Skywalker, Skywalker not too many days we will be in the state of Wisconsin so I will see if I can see any Cheese heads. Love you and miss you, over and out.

In 1963 I got my discharge from the U.S.M.C. and headed north from Camp Pendleton. I stopped in Winters, \Ca. to visit my Dad and ended up working for him and with him for the next several years. When I got to Lake Co. that summer I met up again with my old buddy Bob Hammon. He lived on Sylar Lane and had a motorcycle shop along the creek. We used to sit around evenings and share stories and a beer or two and play music. John White was in high school and was learning to drum so he would come around and sit in with us. The Prather Brothers also had a band and so we had some good times even back then. As the years went by, John and I began playing more music together and eventually we ended up as a duo. The Indian and the Cowboy. What times we had over the years and after about 16 years we finally gave it up. Age has something to do with it but I thank this cowboy for all the years and great music. He just recently retired from the County after umpteen years of driving the road sweeper. Bless you Buddy and your wife Carol. She works for a dental office in Clearlake. We’ll play more tunes down the road.


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