chiefalen
Captain
- Joined
- May 18, 2008
- Messages
- 3,598
Anyone ever read the book travels with Charlie, i believe it to be the last work of the great novelist Steinbeck.
If i remember correctly, he buys a pickup truck and a camper that loads on the back, and goes on a trip around this diverse and great country called America.
And of all the people, in his life, know who he choses to bring with him ?
His dog Charlie. Why he chose his dog only he would know, but one can speculate as to his reasoning.
The dog doesn't try to cheat him out of money, the dog doesn't treat him rudely. The dogs only desire is to please his companion Steinbeck.
As i recall there was a hurricane that blew in, and he describes how his beloved sailboat was moored in the bay, and as he and his wife looked on as another sailboat, captained by a an incompetent fellow, quickly dropped a single anchor, upwind and to close to Steinbecks boat, and jumped into a rowboat and quickly motored to shore.
The other sailboat improperly anchored, tore loose from the anchor and ripped into Steinbecks boat and pulled it from it's anchor, dragging both sailboats to certain doom and destruction, on the waiting rocks near the shore.
And in his mind, he thought it worth the risk to jump into his tender and rush to the rescue of his sailboat, how he cut loose the offending boat, and pulled the anchor up, stating he was never able to pull the anchor up before or after this occurrence, and he motored the boat back to it's original position and re-anchored.
Then as he reached safety of the shore and his wife, he wrote how his wife always supported him in all his endeavors, and she never asked him to stop being a man, and he never asked her to stop being a woman.
This was a rather interesting fellow, Steinbeck was. And as a young man i read in fascination, transfixed, on how he described, the people and places he visited.
His truck broke down in Conn. and how he described this snotty, nose turned up woman he encountered. One must read into the lines he wrote, i'm sure she was not aware of the person she was rude to. Didn't know the man, or the people he knew, and what circles he traveled in, or his position, or wealth. Had she looked beyond the pickup truck and flat tire maybe she would be more aware.
He wrote in his book how his old dog, got sick as old dogs do, and pulled into a vet to have the dog looked at, and the vet was uncaring, and his dog sensed this and didn't want the man to touch him, and the vet gave him some pills for the dog and sent him on his way, saying he's a old dog, what you want me to do about it.
Then after many blowout tires and people taking his money at gas stations and not informing him of the danger of the wrong tires on the truck, he pulls into another gas stations, and the owner tells him he needs the right set of tires. Made to carry the load, and give good service.
So Steinbeck has the guy put the right tires on the truck and never gets another blowout. Not minding paying for what he wants, for a reasonable price, for the product, in the out of the way place he found himself in.
Ok people i know your wondering where i'm getting to with this post, and it's tiresome keeping up with the ramblings of a old geezer, such as myself, bear with me a little longer.
Charley his dog, gets really really sick, looks to be on his last leg, and might go to the big kennel in the sky, and he is beside himself with concern and grief, out in the middle of nowhere, he's not traveling on the interstate highway, because he wants to i believe, make piece with himself, maybe sensing the end is near for him also.
And he by chance sees in the dark a sign for a country vet. and pulls in hoping against hope someone will help him.
He finds salvation in a young doctor who has the knowledge, and skill, and runs his hands over the dogs body, and talks to the animal with care and compassion, saying things like i know it hurts there ole fella, and the dog looks in the doctors eyes and his masters and shows he trusts this stranger, and so does Steinbeck.
The doctor says i need you to leave the dog in my care, i don't recall what the ailment was, but he must make a decision, leave his companion with this stranger, this young doctor, or try to find another. And he does leave the dog. And he does come back to find a healthy dog waiting for him.
Heres were i'm getting too thanks for bearing with me.
I too loaded up my family not to long ago, to go on a road trip, around America, we made plans, studied maps, and try to decide how far we wanted to travel in a given day.
To entice my eldest daughter to come, she was 18 or 19 we decided, first chose Sandusky Ohio, after talking to people, and researching the first leg, it was about 7-8 hour drive. Stayed there 3-4 nights after all it was the start of the summer, my boys just got back from a week of Boy Scout camp.
A word about the people of Ohio the natives, not the tourists such as myself we encountered. All wonderful, nice people and i believe, not fake in anyway shape or form. We get to their newest hotel Castaway bay i believe it was called, and my wife and kids are upstairs, and i came down to bring the last of the pillows, and what ever electronic games and such the kids left in the Conversion Van.
I was parked in the rear of the hotel, and there is a door that needs a card key, and i forgot mine upstairs, but as i get to the door these people, guests, are going in and as i get to the door the last man was entering, i was 5 feet from the door, and he just entered, and i said hold the door, i forgot my key he slams the door shut and says go around to the front, you lowlife.
I look back to see the car they just left it was, Indiana, or Illinois plates. And i know they saw me in the parking lot over 2 spots, 2 cars of people that obviously been there before because they were talking and laughing and together, talking about the drive down.
The wife i assume of the man, i can see thru the glass door, a small hall then another glass door, so i guess the wind doesn't blow all the way thru from lake Erie, turns to the man and says honey why you slam the door on him, and shakes her head, cause she and all his companions turn to look at me with my arms all piled high and camera bags hanging, i yell i forgot my key can you open the door please, they turn and walk away.
I heard them talking so i know they heard me.
.
That trip lasted more then 5 weeks went to all the national parks, maybe 36 states, met all kinds of interesting people, some nice, some not nice.
Some took my money and gave terrible service, and seemed to be doing me a favor by taking it.
As chance would have it , there is a big motorcycle get together called Sturgis, and we would be going past there to Mount Rushmore i believe, and no rooms to be had for like 500 miles around, so we made reservations way in advance, and i knew a few people that go every year.
Some from my youth who i rode with, some doctors and lawyer's i know. All walks of life, and i have never been. Driving around that area, there was a guy on a bike, on the side of the road, no cell phone service, because we were talking about it, in the van. .
Desolate area hot as the blazes, and as we slow down i'm driving i see his chain laying next to the bike, and he was leaning on the bike and stood up , looking at us, and i pulled over with my wife yelling at me in my ear , don't stop don't stop we will tell someone at the next gas, station to send someone back fro him. South Dekota plate on the bike, local guy there.
I roll down my wifes window, he looked to me to be a Native American, new Harley not cheap. I said chain snapped ? How long you been here. Sweat just pouring down his body, don't see no water bottle. Open the cooler in the seat between me and my wife, and hand him a gallon water jug a milk gallon container i filled up at the last stop and sitting covered in a cooler ice cold.
He says he lives down the road a piece and maybe 5 cars passed, all with out of state plates no one even slowed down.
Sun was right over him and can't even sit on one side or the other of the bike to get in the shade. I tell my wife get in the back and let him sit up front i'm driving him home and not leaving him.
So he hops in and in about 5 minutes drained the whole jug, ice cold and everything, and says thank you a 100 times till i tell him to stop.
About a 100 miles nothing, absolutely nothing, not a dog, cat , animal of any kind.
We get to a turnoff and off in the distance about, a mile is a mansion Mexican type. All kinds of out buildings and 2 hangers.
Blacktop driveway to the house. He says thats his ranch, been in the family before the country was a country. Says he won't take no, that we won't have a meal with him.
So up the driveway we go. And he jumps out and calls off the dogs, must have had 10. Must have triggered a laser beam when we pulled past the 2 brick entrance pillars cause, out comes these small kids and his wife, running
asking him what happened and all.
He says come in as i wanted to turn around and keep going down the road.
My wife climbs in the front seat, and the wife walks over and says to her come in please the kids must be hungry, and there is a clean bathroom for my wife to use.
So she gets out with the kids and he tells me pull around under the overhang to get the van out of the sun, and i should come in thru the backdoor.
So i pull around and he has a huge pool in the back maybe a a 100 foot metal awning type carport, with all these fancy expensive cars, and 2 hangers in the back, with a runway i couldn't see the end of where i was, but i could see the heat rising off it and i have seen enough runways to last a lifetime, so i knew it was more then enough.
I get to the door as he's coming out, and i said this ain't needed.
I tell you what i say to him, fill up my water jug so i can stick it back in cooler and we will call it even. I have it and a couple more in my hand empty and walk over to the garden hose to fill it up.He says no way you gonna drink that, i'll have them filled i promise with filtered water. Bring them in common after we eat.
I walk in after him thru the sliding glass door, and this woman, comes running over and takes the jugs, and he says to her in spanish something agua all i understood water, she scurries away with them.
His wife very nice already got all kinds of bread, and peanut butter and jelly on the table, and cold cuts and cheeses and mayo and mustard flying out of the fridge onto the counter tops, shes barking orders to another lady who is scurrying all over getting plates and glasses, kids are on the couch's and floor with his kids yanking away watching tv .
My wife comes out of the bathroom and walks over saying no, no we don't want to impose. The wife says she likes when people visit, talking to my wife, so he grabs my arm and says 5 minutes and they will be like friends that knew each other for years.
He says come in here away from them thy will call us when it's ready, to mush chattering.
We go into his office study and he got a cordless phone in his hand, and says what i got this for and tells me sit down i need the 2 way radio here and takes it out of the charger, and yells in the radio so and so get over here to the house bring the pickup.
Theres a back door that comes into his office / study, in come running 2 guys, ranch hands, he says the bike broke down go get it bring it back and they better not f-----g scratch it or hes gonna gut them and eat their liver for dinner, hurry up be back in 3 hours.
With that my wifey comes in and says to me and him you 2 gonna come and eat cause i ain't serving you in here go wash your hands.
Anyway the hotel we were staying at was another 100 miles down the road about a hour and a half, and we had lunch, and the kids went swimming and i got the tour of his place, not the whole ranch that would have takein a week to see, i don't know how many thousands of acres it was.
2 nice planes and a helicopter in the hangers, and he says if i didn't pick him up they wife would send out the helicopter to look for him after dark.
He says it was stupid he didn't have water with him and travels with 2 gallons at least in the saddle bags, never thought a brand new bike would snap a chain.
I guess i'm done with this post maybe more on the rest of the trip for another time.
If i remember correctly, he buys a pickup truck and a camper that loads on the back, and goes on a trip around this diverse and great country called America.
And of all the people, in his life, know who he choses to bring with him ?
His dog Charlie. Why he chose his dog only he would know, but one can speculate as to his reasoning.
The dog doesn't try to cheat him out of money, the dog doesn't treat him rudely. The dogs only desire is to please his companion Steinbeck.
As i recall there was a hurricane that blew in, and he describes how his beloved sailboat was moored in the bay, and as he and his wife looked on as another sailboat, captained by a an incompetent fellow, quickly dropped a single anchor, upwind and to close to Steinbecks boat, and jumped into a rowboat and quickly motored to shore.
The other sailboat improperly anchored, tore loose from the anchor and ripped into Steinbecks boat and pulled it from it's anchor, dragging both sailboats to certain doom and destruction, on the waiting rocks near the shore.
And in his mind, he thought it worth the risk to jump into his tender and rush to the rescue of his sailboat, how he cut loose the offending boat, and pulled the anchor up, stating he was never able to pull the anchor up before or after this occurrence, and he motored the boat back to it's original position and re-anchored.
Then as he reached safety of the shore and his wife, he wrote how his wife always supported him in all his endeavors, and she never asked him to stop being a man, and he never asked her to stop being a woman.
This was a rather interesting fellow, Steinbeck was. And as a young man i read in fascination, transfixed, on how he described, the people and places he visited.
His truck broke down in Conn. and how he described this snotty, nose turned up woman he encountered. One must read into the lines he wrote, i'm sure she was not aware of the person she was rude to. Didn't know the man, or the people he knew, and what circles he traveled in, or his position, or wealth. Had she looked beyond the pickup truck and flat tire maybe she would be more aware.
He wrote in his book how his old dog, got sick as old dogs do, and pulled into a vet to have the dog looked at, and the vet was uncaring, and his dog sensed this and didn't want the man to touch him, and the vet gave him some pills for the dog and sent him on his way, saying he's a old dog, what you want me to do about it.
Then after many blowout tires and people taking his money at gas stations and not informing him of the danger of the wrong tires on the truck, he pulls into another gas stations, and the owner tells him he needs the right set of tires. Made to carry the load, and give good service.
So Steinbeck has the guy put the right tires on the truck and never gets another blowout. Not minding paying for what he wants, for a reasonable price, for the product, in the out of the way place he found himself in.
Ok people i know your wondering where i'm getting to with this post, and it's tiresome keeping up with the ramblings of a old geezer, such as myself, bear with me a little longer.
Charley his dog, gets really really sick, looks to be on his last leg, and might go to the big kennel in the sky, and he is beside himself with concern and grief, out in the middle of nowhere, he's not traveling on the interstate highway, because he wants to i believe, make piece with himself, maybe sensing the end is near for him also.
And he by chance sees in the dark a sign for a country vet. and pulls in hoping against hope someone will help him.
He finds salvation in a young doctor who has the knowledge, and skill, and runs his hands over the dogs body, and talks to the animal with care and compassion, saying things like i know it hurts there ole fella, and the dog looks in the doctors eyes and his masters and shows he trusts this stranger, and so does Steinbeck.
The doctor says i need you to leave the dog in my care, i don't recall what the ailment was, but he must make a decision, leave his companion with this stranger, this young doctor, or try to find another. And he does leave the dog. And he does come back to find a healthy dog waiting for him.
Heres were i'm getting too thanks for bearing with me.
I too loaded up my family not to long ago, to go on a road trip, around America, we made plans, studied maps, and try to decide how far we wanted to travel in a given day.
To entice my eldest daughter to come, she was 18 or 19 we decided, first chose Sandusky Ohio, after talking to people, and researching the first leg, it was about 7-8 hour drive. Stayed there 3-4 nights after all it was the start of the summer, my boys just got back from a week of Boy Scout camp.
A word about the people of Ohio the natives, not the tourists such as myself we encountered. All wonderful, nice people and i believe, not fake in anyway shape or form. We get to their newest hotel Castaway bay i believe it was called, and my wife and kids are upstairs, and i came down to bring the last of the pillows, and what ever electronic games and such the kids left in the Conversion Van.
I was parked in the rear of the hotel, and there is a door that needs a card key, and i forgot mine upstairs, but as i get to the door these people, guests, are going in and as i get to the door the last man was entering, i was 5 feet from the door, and he just entered, and i said hold the door, i forgot my key he slams the door shut and says go around to the front, you lowlife.
I look back to see the car they just left it was, Indiana, or Illinois plates. And i know they saw me in the parking lot over 2 spots, 2 cars of people that obviously been there before because they were talking and laughing and together, talking about the drive down.
The wife i assume of the man, i can see thru the glass door, a small hall then another glass door, so i guess the wind doesn't blow all the way thru from lake Erie, turns to the man and says honey why you slam the door on him, and shakes her head, cause she and all his companions turn to look at me with my arms all piled high and camera bags hanging, i yell i forgot my key can you open the door please, they turn and walk away.
I heard them talking so i know they heard me.
.
That trip lasted more then 5 weeks went to all the national parks, maybe 36 states, met all kinds of interesting people, some nice, some not nice.
Some took my money and gave terrible service, and seemed to be doing me a favor by taking it.
As chance would have it , there is a big motorcycle get together called Sturgis, and we would be going past there to Mount Rushmore i believe, and no rooms to be had for like 500 miles around, so we made reservations way in advance, and i knew a few people that go every year.
Some from my youth who i rode with, some doctors and lawyer's i know. All walks of life, and i have never been. Driving around that area, there was a guy on a bike, on the side of the road, no cell phone service, because we were talking about it, in the van. .
Desolate area hot as the blazes, and as we slow down i'm driving i see his chain laying next to the bike, and he was leaning on the bike and stood up , looking at us, and i pulled over with my wife yelling at me in my ear , don't stop don't stop we will tell someone at the next gas, station to send someone back fro him. South Dekota plate on the bike, local guy there.
I roll down my wifes window, he looked to me to be a Native American, new Harley not cheap. I said chain snapped ? How long you been here. Sweat just pouring down his body, don't see no water bottle. Open the cooler in the seat between me and my wife, and hand him a gallon water jug a milk gallon container i filled up at the last stop and sitting covered in a cooler ice cold.
He says he lives down the road a piece and maybe 5 cars passed, all with out of state plates no one even slowed down.
Sun was right over him and can't even sit on one side or the other of the bike to get in the shade. I tell my wife get in the back and let him sit up front i'm driving him home and not leaving him.
So he hops in and in about 5 minutes drained the whole jug, ice cold and everything, and says thank you a 100 times till i tell him to stop.
About a 100 miles nothing, absolutely nothing, not a dog, cat , animal of any kind.
We get to a turnoff and off in the distance about, a mile is a mansion Mexican type. All kinds of out buildings and 2 hangers.
Blacktop driveway to the house. He says thats his ranch, been in the family before the country was a country. Says he won't take no, that we won't have a meal with him.
So up the driveway we go. And he jumps out and calls off the dogs, must have had 10. Must have triggered a laser beam when we pulled past the 2 brick entrance pillars cause, out comes these small kids and his wife, running
asking him what happened and all.
He says come in as i wanted to turn around and keep going down the road.
My wife climbs in the front seat, and the wife walks over and says to her come in please the kids must be hungry, and there is a clean bathroom for my wife to use.
So she gets out with the kids and he tells me pull around under the overhang to get the van out of the sun, and i should come in thru the backdoor.
So i pull around and he has a huge pool in the back maybe a a 100 foot metal awning type carport, with all these fancy expensive cars, and 2 hangers in the back, with a runway i couldn't see the end of where i was, but i could see the heat rising off it and i have seen enough runways to last a lifetime, so i knew it was more then enough.
I get to the door as he's coming out, and i said this ain't needed.
I tell you what i say to him, fill up my water jug so i can stick it back in cooler and we will call it even. I have it and a couple more in my hand empty and walk over to the garden hose to fill it up.He says no way you gonna drink that, i'll have them filled i promise with filtered water. Bring them in common after we eat.
I walk in after him thru the sliding glass door, and this woman, comes running over and takes the jugs, and he says to her in spanish something agua all i understood water, she scurries away with them.
His wife very nice already got all kinds of bread, and peanut butter and jelly on the table, and cold cuts and cheeses and mayo and mustard flying out of the fridge onto the counter tops, shes barking orders to another lady who is scurrying all over getting plates and glasses, kids are on the couch's and floor with his kids yanking away watching tv .
My wife comes out of the bathroom and walks over saying no, no we don't want to impose. The wife says she likes when people visit, talking to my wife, so he grabs my arm and says 5 minutes and they will be like friends that knew each other for years.
He says come in here away from them thy will call us when it's ready, to mush chattering.
We go into his office study and he got a cordless phone in his hand, and says what i got this for and tells me sit down i need the 2 way radio here and takes it out of the charger, and yells in the radio so and so get over here to the house bring the pickup.
Theres a back door that comes into his office / study, in come running 2 guys, ranch hands, he says the bike broke down go get it bring it back and they better not f-----g scratch it or hes gonna gut them and eat their liver for dinner, hurry up be back in 3 hours.
With that my wifey comes in and says to me and him you 2 gonna come and eat cause i ain't serving you in here go wash your hands.
Anyway the hotel we were staying at was another 100 miles down the road about a hour and a half, and we had lunch, and the kids went swimming and i got the tour of his place, not the whole ranch that would have takein a week to see, i don't know how many thousands of acres it was.
2 nice planes and a helicopter in the hangers, and he says if i didn't pick him up they wife would send out the helicopter to look for him after dark.
He says it was stupid he didn't have water with him and travels with 2 gallons at least in the saddle bags, never thought a brand new bike would snap a chain.
I guess i'm done with this post maybe more on the rest of the trip for another time.
