Don and John

While we were in Escondido we met a couple of young men named Don and John who had just gotten back from Vietnam. My sister Karina was involved with both of them - but mostly John. (That definitely put a strain on Don and John's friendship.)

Don and John both loved the desert. Or to be more precise - they loved tearing the heck out of it in 4 wheel vehicles :-) ... Keep in mind that this was 1969 and the concept of "communing with nature" was somewhat different than it is today. (See the original Woodstock documentary for examples of what I mean.) But more on that later... (Haha - I said moron...)

When John got back from Nam his mom bought him a gas station. I don't know if he asked her for it or if she just figured he could use it - but that was how he made his living. I'm pretty sure the station was on the NW corner of East Valley Parkway and North Rose but it's definitely not there anymore...

Aside: I'm actually quite proud of the fact that I haven't talked about cars very much in my first 179 blog posts... The truth is that I remember the make, year, model and color of the cars owned by almost everyone I've ever known... Yes - cars have been a lifelong obsession but I usually don't talk much about them because it makes people's eyes glaze over... But my blog has gotten to the point where I'm approaching "driving age" so the topic of cars is going to come up more and more often :-)
I should also mention that the only reason I didn't have a learner's permit at that age was because California required Driver's Ed and there was always a waiting list and I was never at one school long enough to get into the class... Of course, none of the other students knew how young I was so when people asked why I didn't have a license I'd tell them it got suspended for street racing or something :-)

But back to the story:

John drove a 1968 Mustang GT 390 fastback (highland green) with a 4-speed. (Almost brand new at the time.) It was "modified" and was pretty darn quick (and loud)... He also owned a "desert destroyer": A "sand rail" powered by a 394 Olds V8. It had two rear axles, both driving paddle tires. (You don't see many setups like that.) It would go really fast in a straight line - and it broke down a lot :-)

Don drove a 1964 Ford Econoline van with shag carpet in the back, and his desert "plaything" was one of the weirdest dune buggies I've ever seen. It was a home-built rig based on the remains of an old BMW Isetta (air cooled 2 cylinder engine). Not very fast but it would go almost anywhere...

So one day in the summer of 1969 John, Karina, Don and I set off on a 2 day road trip. John and Karina were in the Mustang (pulling Don's buggy on a trailer) and Don and I were in the van...
Our "provisions" consisted of some snacks, two coolers filled with beer and 5 gallons of Red Mountain wine ($1.37 a gallon at the time - I have no idea why I remember that)... So yes - we were spending 2 days in the desert with nothing but alcohol to drink :-)

Don had the obligatory 8-track player in his van and a vast collection of tapes. I specifically remember listening to The Stones (Beggars Banquet), Country Joe and the Fish, Steppenwolf and Credence Clearwater - all at max volume - as we drove along and talked about Nam and high school and being wasted. It was a good time :-)

We started out north through Temecula, over to Hemet and San Jacinto and up past Yucca Valley to Joshua Tree... We got there around noon and ate lunch in this greasy spoon diner out in the middle of nowhere... It was one of those places that made you ponder whether your immunizations were up to date - although it looked like it might have been pretty nice back in the 1940s...
And after lunch we headed off into the desert, unloaded the buggy and Don and John took turns tearing up the terrain with my sister or I riding shotgun... I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive... I mean - when I'm confronted with a 6 foot drop off my instinct is to turn back rather than just driving off of it :-) And if I'm heading along at the bottom of a gully and encounter an obstacle my first thought is not to run the left tires of the buggy up onto the gully wall (putting the buggy almost on its side) to get around it... But I managed to not totally freak out - mostly because I had a pretty good buzz going by then - thank you Red Mountain :-)

Eventually we got hot and tired so we packed everything up and headed to Indio for dinner... BTW: Did you know that Indio is below sea level? Freaky...

When we got to the restaurant Karina asked the waitress a question about how the "tuna melt" sandwich was made. She wanted to know whether the bread was toasted or grilled. The waitress didn't know, so Karina asked her to please go back to the kitchen and find out - which she did...
Then Karina asked her what kind of cheese they used. The waitress didn't know, so Karina asked her to please go back to the kitchen and find out - which she did...
Then Karina asked her whether they melted the cheese onto the tuna before or after they put it on the bread. The waitress didn't know, so Karina asked her to please go back to the kitchen and find out - which she did...
Then Karina asked her whether they grilled the sandwich using butter or oil when. The waitress didn't know, so Karina asked her to please go back to the kitchen and find out - which she did...

Finally - Karina said "OK ... I'll have a turkey on rye ..."

Now - I have no idea if Karina was just messing with the waitress or if she was really serious - we were all a bit soused at that point. But when she ordered that turkey sandwich John, Don and I totally lost it... Yeah - the three of us were doubled over laughing - Karina didn't even crack a smile - and the waitress looked as if she was contemplating a violent crime :-)

To Be Continued...