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Chapter 1 "In The Begining" (Song by I was born In My Mother taught me to read and write before I started public school which caused me some
problems because I was a rebellious little brat. In first grade I would get sent to the hallway for shouting out answers.
One time (after waiting for what I thought was all day) I left and walked home. In second grade I was told to put my head
on my desk after I refused to print in class (which I did) and carved a Jack-O-Lantern in the top of the desk with my compass.
I had to stay after school and sand the desk top so it couldn't be seen. After that I had to go to the Principal's office
and print 100 times “I will not write”. While Ice Skating on the ice rink, that the school made out of the play
ground every year, one of the older kids pushed me down on the ice so I pushed him head first into the snow bank that was
around the perimeter of the rink. I was seen by the principal and punished. These and several other incidents made my parents
decide to send me to I had a much better learning experience there,
but still my rebellious attitude caused me problems. I used to fight with my sisters on the way to school a lot and would
skip school to go to the park and hang out. In fifth grade I refused to open a textbook and got slapped on the cheek so I
left to go hang out in the park. Two of my friends and I would skip classes and sneak over to the church to “investigate”.
Probably the only reason I got away with so much is because around this time my mother went to work to help pay the bills.
My I started playing the Trumpet and taking Choir
in the 5th grade. I was good enough to get 4 gold medals in 2 years at state competitions playing solos and duets. When I
was 14 I had my Tonsils and Adnoise taken out and could no longer play the Trumpet so I took up the Guitar. I had learned
to read music while learning the Trumpet so I taught myself Guitar from While I was in While in my Junior year I worked for Ponderosa
Steakhouse running the dish washer. The manager tried to make me a cook, but I kept hitting my head on the grease hood and
I asked to go back to washing dishes. I was hanging around with Chapter 2 The Navy (See the world; ride the waves!) In the Navy I went to Chapter 3 Oshkosh Again. ("Back Home Again" song by John Denver) I got back to Oshkosh with nothing but my
gear from the Navy without any plans and stayed with my parents till they got tired of me and told me I had to move. When
I moved it was to a house that a friend’s father owned. I was allowed to stay there so I could “fix” the
electrical wiring. It turned out to be a small community of 5 - 7 people ( on and off at different times) who wanted to party together. We had all gone to High School
together and got along real good. Those who worked paid for the electricity and water and those who didn't did the cleaning,
cooking and other household chores. We were wild and crazy party animals who managed (pretty much) to stay high. We would get everyone that happened to be
at the house to go into the street and line up like bowling pins at one end of the block while one of us would try to bowl
them over from the other end with a real bowling ball. For Halloween we staged a fake black mass to scare a couple under age
girls away. The guys made up a language like Pig Latin called "ibe" to speak so the girls wouldn't know what we were saying.
One time we were playing Frisby in Menominee Park and Bruce Hoetschel fell over a trash can (in slow motion) going after a
wild toss. Bruce and I would grab a Kitchen Knife and play Mumbly Peg, Stretch or Inbetween outside for a while. One time
playing Inbetween I tossed the knife into Bruce's boot. Luckily the blade went right inbetween his 1st and 2nd toes. All he
said was "Damn it Dettlaff! I just bought these boots." That lasted the summer of ’74 till Bob’s
dad kicked us all out because we were not living up to our end of the bargain. I moved
back to Mom and Dad's and broke my R. Wrist shortly afterwards. The cast wouldn't let me play guitar so I tore it off with
Dad's Channel Locks and ended up getting it put back on as soon as Dad found out. The Intern assisting the Doctor asked if
I liked that cast better and the Doctor replied that "He wouldn't like it even if you put a Picasso on it.". I said "You're
right! I hate Picasso." Chapter 4 Kansas (Where's Dorthy?) I then decided to Hitch - Hike to Kansas and
visit my Uncle Kenny and Aunt Dorothy. (I know, Dorothy in Kansas. Ha, ha, ha. Funny, funny.) I got to Topeka and found out
Kenny didn't live in Topeka, but in Overbrook, 30 miles south. I guess I REALLY surprised Aunt Dorothy from the look on her
face when I showed up on her doorstep. She didn't recognize me after a lot of years of not seeing me and had no idea that
I was coming. Here I was with a full beard and moustache, long hair, in a “P”
coat, in the dark. My Uncle and Aunt put up with my ignorance about how life works and tried to teach me what I had to do
to survive in life. The first job I got was washing dishes at
Denny’s in Topeka. That didn't last long because I was late to work a lot from not catching a ride Hitch - Hiking. Then
I landed a job at Dillon’s grocery store. I quickly made friends with a coworker named Paul who let me move in with
him and his brother, to help pay the bills. I got into “Pot” pretty heavy and found I could not work while I was
high on “Weed”. I got fired from that job because I would always go to the nearest bar at lunch time and eat my
food with a pitcher of beer. The manager got mad at me and Paul for going over his head and complaining to the owners about
his son (and friends) not doing their jobs. The manager followed me to the bar and watched me eat, drink a pitcher and shoot
pool through the big window. When I got back to work he informed me that there was a rule against doing that and that I was
“immediately terminated”. I went home and Paul was there getting high and asked me why I wasn't at work. When
I told him what happened he went to talk to the manager and ended up quitting. Thinking that was a reason to celebrate, we
partied for a week and sometimes talked with the owners of the store trying to get the manager fired. Eventually there were
enough complaints from us, and others, that made the owners see what was going on and they fired him. The assistant manager
became the manager and offered Paul and myself our jobs back, but we were out of control on the partying. During this time I got to know Patrick and Virginia Martin who took me on as one of their
own. “Pa Martin” worked for County Maintenance mowing along the roads and highways. He taught me how to slow down
which I think led to my procrastination streak. He always said "Don't do today what you can put off till tomorrow. It will
probably take care of it's self.". Ma Martin bred and raised small dogs, did Macrame (which she taught me) and Tole Painting.
When I got an Applause copy of an Ovation Guitar she painted 2 Pegasus standing on either side of the sound hole in shades
of blue and white. They looked great on the sunburst top of the guitar. It wasn't long till I got a job working for
Bill Dillard Shows of St. Joseph, MO. so I became a “Carnie” from April to November of ’75 running the Trabont.
After we put the rides in “Winter Quarters” I went back to Topeka with $1,000.00 and stayed with Ma and Pa Martin
(and family). Soon afterward I met a friend of Jimmy Martin’s who was putting a sound system into a dance studio. I
started helping Steve put the sound system together and one day the owner of the studio asked me if I had ever thought of
becoming a Ballroom Dance Instructor. I gave it a few days thought and research then told him I would give it a try. With no place to stay and no income I went
on Welfare while I learned how to dance and teach. I lived in a little apartment in the back of a house on the north side
and walked to downtown across the Kansas River to get to Domme’s Academy of Dance so I could take my lessons. It didn't
take long before I took the Bronze Smooth and Rhythm tests from the United States Dance Teacher’s Association and started
to teach whatever students Joseph Domme gave to me. After a year Joe bought a class “B” liquor license and built
a club in the studio. I wound up being the manager and Joe hired Nancy to be the waitress. When it got to be too much for
me with my students and studies Joe and I made Nancy the manager. Once I got to know Nancy better we started going out together.
It wasn't long till we were seeing a lot of each other outside of work. In 1977 we got married by one of the students of the
Academy in the studio. We had a reception in Topeka for our friends and one in Chicago for our families. We took a short Honeymoon
in Oshkosh and went back to work in Topeka. Chapter 5 Married (With HER children) After about one year of being married I moved
in with Mom and Dad, got a job working at Paine Lumber Co. and rented a house. Then I had Dennis, who was married to my middle
sister Carol, fly from Chicago to Kansas City with me to drive and help Nancy and myself move to Oshkosh. On the way the car
broke down so we got a tow bar and tried to bring the car back, but the front
driver’s side wheel bearing went out so we had to leave it. Dennis and I went back to get it and it was gone. We checked
at the Highway Patrol office and they had no record of it being towed. We found it at a little garage and found out that they
had taken the wheel off and started working on it without anyone’s permission. After a short time with Nancy and myself
working, I opened my dance studio in the front room of the house. Once I sanded the floor smooth and put a sealer on it I
was ready to go. Didn't have many students, but we were able to take 2/7’s of the rent off our income taxes. When Nancy
and I started to have knock down drag out fistfights every night of the week I went back to Domme’s Academy of Dance
to get away. Chapter 6 Topeka and Freedom I started waiting tables at “Top Of
The First Club” and learned how to cook table side dishes in the beginning of 1980. I worked there for 2 years and then
2 years at “Topeka Country Club”. It was in the spring of ’80 that I met Sherry Orlene Derby. I was with
Sherry for 4 years until I found out she had been screwing my biker friends every time we had an argument for the last year
we were together. I got into tropical fish and eventually had
1) 55 gal. tank ( for my community of fish), 2) 30 gal. tall tanks ( for breeding Cichlids), 3) 10 gal. tanks ( for breeding
Groumis) and a special tank I made (for breeding "Siamese Fighting Fish"). I got into Macrame and was making plant hangers,
speaker hangers and wall hangings. I got into building model "sailing ships", Incense Oil burners and candle making. I bought
a German Shepherd mixed pup from my friend Red that was pure white and named her Crystal. Sherry kept asking who would get the dog if
we broke up and I would tell her "I paid for it, it's MY dog and I will keep it.". She started crying while we were at Red's
and I said "Fine! You keep Crystal and I'll take that dog!" pointing to another pup from the same litter. Red didn't charge
me for that one so I took it to the vet and found out that he had worms and fleas so bad that he was Anemic. After nursing
him back to good health the rest of the litter died of Parvo so I named him Lucky. A couple months later I told Sherry to
let the dogs in an hour after I left for work, she didn't and Crystal wound her chain so tight she choked herself to death.
Lucky earned his name again because he was tangled up in the same kitchen chair without the seat or back on it. After I broke
my wrist and couldn't work he went with me every where. One time I took my friend Randy Bodtke and
his friend Bob Bigalow to a house that Bob said was his Grandmother's. Unknown to me he went through the field at the back
of the house, to the liquor store (which was next to the Harley store) and tried to rob it with a .22 survival rifle. Bob
calmly gets into the car and says that his Grandmother isn't home. I try a shortcut to my place, find out that the road doesn't
go through, turn around and go back to the Highway. All this time I'm under trees and didn't know that there was a "Copper
Chopper" looking for us. I get on the Highway and head for home, get a half a block away from the house and get pulled over.
By the time I put the car in park, turn off the car and turn around 3 TV vans and what looked like the entire police dept.
showed up. There were all these guns pointed at me and I was told to get out of the car with my hands in the air, walk away
from the car and lay face down on the street with my fingers interlocked behind my head. The police went to look in the car,
but Lucky wouldn't let them in so they told me to call the dog. I did and he started coming to me, they said "Don't let the
dog get to you." so I told him to laydown and stay which he did and was still there when animal control came to get him. (I
trained him VERY well and had offers for him from officers of the Topeka Police Dept.) Randy and I told Bob that if we had
to go to prison over his stupidity he didn't have to worry about getting there. 4 days later Randy and I were out partying
with our friends. I broke my L. Wrist while hitting a wall,
because Sherry was coming onto one of my friends right in front of me in our apartment! I was so mad I could have killed her,
but I punched holes in the wall instead. I made a lot of holes before I hit a stud! I still tried working at Topeka Country
Club with a cast on, but couldn't manage to serve without spilling things off of my tray so I went on Welfare and wound up
getting approved for Unemployment too. I had it made for a while getting 2 checks, but was found out by my Welfare case manager
and when asked what the date was that I last recieved an unemployment check I lied, cashed my last check and partied with
my friends for a few days. In 1985 I left Topeka because the police learned to put a name with my face on sight, what was
on my record and who I was hanging out with. Time to get the hell out of Dodge! lol. Chapter 7 The Getaway I hitch-hiked to Texas and stayed in Amarillo
for a few months. Then I moved on to Austin where I played and sang on the streets by the university till I got a job at (of
all places) a liquor store. Even though I worked I still lived on the streets and played for the others who lived on the streets
and the passersby till it got too cold. While I was on the streets I hooked up with a guy that worked in one of the restaurants
that we street people sat at for coffee in the mornings. We shared the rent on motel rooms till one day I came "Home from
Work" and found that he had not paid rent and left with my guitar. I got fired from the job at Dan's Liquor when
I argued with the manager about the way I was doing the inventory. He wanted me to write down the size of the bottle, the
name of the manufacture and the price each time I made an entry. I (on the other hand) was writing down all the sizes, then
all the manufactures and then all the prices. He got mad because I wasn't doing it HIS way and I wanted to know WHY it made
any difference. Later I found out from the assistant manager that he wanted it done THAT way so I would learn the prices of
the individual products. At the same time I got my income tax refund
check and the assistant manager told me of a used furniture store that had a guitar for very little money. It turned out to
be a Yamaha FG335. The owner didn't know what the guitar was worth and I got it for $95. Chapter 8 Off To The Races From Austin I went with "R.D." to Lake Bistineau,
La. which is a log cabin resort on Lake Bistineau. R.D. and I worked at a racing horse stables as stable hands. We started
at 5:00 am and would stop around noon, go to a "groomers" house and drink beer and smoke pot till it was time to do the evening
chores at 3:00 p.m. till around 5:00 p.m.. We would take 45 minutes to get to work and 2 hours to get home, because on the
way home R.D. would put his old logging truck in "Granny Gear", let it idle, we would open the doors, turn up the radio, drink
beer and smoke pot. His Girlfriend didn't like THAT too much. When that job ended, because of the racing
season being over, I headed back to Topeka. On the way trough Arkansas hitch-hiking I was picked up by a couple heading to
a big keg party. They asked me if I was in a hurry to get to Kansas and if not would I be willing to play and sing at this
party. I said "No I wasn't and no I didn't mind." and off to the party we went. The party was planned for 50 people and only
10 showed up. I ended up staying there not much longer than it took us to polish off the beer and food. Chapter 9 Lets Play "Mommy" When I got back to Topeka and had no place
to stay my biker friends set me up with Lila Peel who wasn't spending much time at home with her children, because she was
out partying with the "Bros" all the time. I moved into her place and became "Mr. Mom" so her kids wouldn't get taken away.
I took care of her 2 daughters ( 7 and 11 years old) and her son ( 2 years old) while she was gone. On one of the rare occasions when Lila stayed
home for a while I went with a friend called Grizzly to a party at Steven Byrd's house. Griz had run into a telephone pole
on the way there (he was racing down dark gravel back roads without the headlights on) and Steve towed Grizz's truck to his
place. We worked on the truck after the party and I got to know Steve, Tracey and their kids. Steve was heading to Deep Water,
MO. and invited me along. I figured "What the F---! I'm tired of taking care of Lila's kids and want a change anyway". Chapter 10 Living For Free I soon started working at American Automotive,
in Osceola, MO. taking apart starters and generators, cleaned up the parts and sent them to someone else to be repaired and
sold. Steve and Tracey moved to Osceola, bought a house, so I bought an old Ford pickup and moved to a nice little trailer
not far from work. When I lost that job for coming in late once
too many times I moved onto government land that the Army Corps of Engineers said would be under water after they built the
Truman Dam. The land looked like the previous owners had just packed up their personal belongings and left everything else!
There were boats, old autos, outhouses and a couple of the 10 or 12 houses still had furniture in them! It was about 4 miles
away from Steve's house and I would visit them once or twice a week. I would fish for my breakfast and forage while
I hunted. I would use Steve's .22 for small game and his .303 for larger game. I would dry the meat of rabbits and squirrels
for "jerky" (incase I had a bad day hunting) and the larger game I would take to Steve's, butcher it and put it into the chest
freezer. Then I ended up staying with a guy in Lowery
City at a little 2 bedroom house in a rural farming area. The 2 of us would play guitar and drink every afternoon; then go
"shining" all night whenever the freezer got low on meat. For a while we and the neighbor across and down the street ran "Trot
Lines" for catfish. Each of us could have 2 lines with 40 hooks apiece, so during the Catfish season we ran the lines in the
morning and evening. Average catch for the day was about 150 lbs. of Blue, White and Steel Head catfish. After each run we
would clean the fish cutting them into Sandwich sized portions, throw them in the chest freezer and once a month take them
to Kansas City to be sold to restaurants. When he died of a Crystal overdose I decided to go to Nashville, TN. Chapter 11 Where Do We Go From Here? I ended up in Knoxville, in '86 or '87, instead
where I worked at Lay's Packing Co. which, at the time I started, slaughtered cows and hogs. I started as night clean-up through
a temp. agency and would get off in time to sit at "The Rendezvous" till they closed. I met Terri and lived with her for approx.
4 years while I moved to the "Tank House" where I would use steam pressure to move the "Unfit for Human Consumption" scraps
to a cooker, then extract the tallow from the meal and grind the meal. When Lay's stopped slaughtering I got laid off and
went through the temp. agency again to get work at a company that made plastic Kayaks and boats of several kinds. That didn't
last long for some reason I don't remember. Terri and I started working for Book
Warehouse and with 2 incomes we were able to buy a microwave, TV with built in VCR, a refrigerator and a car for me. We left
that job to go to Nashville, but that didn't work out so we went back to Knoxville and Book Warehouse. When I quit that job I left Terri because
I got tired of her ex-husband and his relatives beating me up and I ended up alone on the streets living at the mission. I
had earned a reputation as a solo artist playing guitar and singing in a few bars and at The Lone Star Cafe I would play for
drinks and tips when there wasn't live entertainment. When there WAS live music I would play during the bands breaks doing
requests. I shot a LOT of pool in those days and was "pretty darned good" ( or so I was told). There was a guy that would
come into The Rondezvous, buy my beer, cigarettes and food (if I was hungry). If I was shooting good he would take me to where
the "Money Games" were and place side bets on me. On a good night he would share the winnings with me and always made sure
I was well taken care of. Chapter 12 Let's Go See Mickey! From Knoxville I went to Orlando, Fl. where
I discovered "Labor Pools". I started out working for Handy Man as "unskilled labor" and immediately started buying tools
so I could work in the Trades. (Manual Labor was not for me!) At the time there were 5 labor pools and I started working for
Industrial Labor Inc. because they had more contracts with Sea World, Universal Studios and Disney Land doing construction.
I became a Carpenter, Electrician, Plumber's Helper, Rod Buster, Erector of Scaffold and Pallet Racks, and anything else that
was needed. I was working for R.B. Kirlan (out of Industrial) converting Super Foods Central Distribution Warehouse to Walgreens
Central Distribution Warehouse when I landed a job with Notoco Enterprizes working
on pallet racks and conveyors. We traveled around the midwest working in
warehouses and living in motels and hotels at Tim Noto's expense. Lots of long hours enabled me to buy a truck with a camper
shell from Tim and a LOT of tools. I had that old truck fixed up with 5 loading dock pads that I were given to me while working
at one warehouse. Whenever I would get tired while driving from one job to another I would just pull off the highway and crawl
in the back and sleep on those pads. We were working a job in Forest Park, IL. when Chris Goodwin and I decided we would rather
work for another company and stayed in a motel in Maple Park, IL. while working in Chicago and the surrounding area. I got my second D.U.I. in Batavia, IL. and
lost my job so I sold my truck and tools to pay for my motel room, the towing and storage, a bus ticket back to Orlando, FL.
and had $400 in my pocket when I got there. Chapter 13 After Intermission The first month after I got back to Orlando
I just drank and slept in the bunk I rented at a bunk house just off the corner of 18th and Orange Blossom Trail. (O.B.T.;
sometimes called "The Trail".) When I ran out of money it was time to go back to Industrial as
"unskilled labor" and build up my tools again. I got paired up with Donna T and moved in with her for a while. It was
nice coming home to a nice meal and a big hug and kiss, but after a time I would come home to hungry kids and mom would be
at Poplars drunk. After a while of that I stopped sleeping with her and took one of the bed rooms for my own. One day I came
home from work to the usual hungry kids with no mom and found out that my guitar and 2 that I was holding on to for friends
were gone. Not long after THAT I moved into a trailer. I was working as a Carpenter and got
taken on by Ron Angland setting roof trusses on apartment developments. I bought a car (even though I didn't have a driver's
liscense), a cheap classical guitar and started messing around with the "Crack Whores" which is when I started smoking crack
and got together with Casey. I was heading down to Stroker's when Casey
stopped me asking if I could buy her a beer. I had known her for several years and knew she was married to Sonny so I told
her if she came with me to Stroker's I would buy her more than "A" beer. (I wanted to find out what was going on.) We got
to talking, she told me that Sonny had kicked her out and that she was sleeping in front of "The Coffee House", which was
a "soup kitchen". I told her that no friend of mine was going to sleep there while I had a couch for her to sleep on and after
we closed the bar we went to my trailer. She slept on the couch for a week when another friend who lived in the trailer park
came over asking for a place to sleep because her and Jim were arguing. Casey and I agreed that Casey would sleep in my bed
with me and she could use the couch. Casey slept with me 3 nights before she came
right out and said "Tonight when you come home you're going to give me some of that". I did and we were a couple; so she chased
off all the crack whores and we started smoking crack together ourselves. A couple months later I went to jail, sold my car,
fell behind on the rent and lost the trailer. Casey and I found 35 acres of woods and I built a Bisquine house in the middle
of it. We would collect glass, plastic and aluminum as well as do odd jobs to make money. Then Casey's dad in St. Rose, LA. got sick
and her mom bought her a one way non-refundable bus ticket to go there. I and Craig worked on Casey's truck getting it ready
to make the trip to meet her and worked for one of the vendors at the local fleamarket to save up some money for the trip.
We got as far as Tallahasse, FL. when the truck broke down and hitched a ride moving what we needed to keep to a "Good Samaritan's"
car. He took us right to the apartment complex in St. Rose and we slept the night in the car. Chapter 14 Hi Mom!!! When I went in to meet Casey's parents her
mom thought I should reimburse her for the cost of the bus ticket and Casey's living expenses. I could not see why I should
pay her, because I didn't want Casey to go in the first place! After a heated discussion Casey, Craig, I and the guy with
the car went to Lake Charles camping, fishing and drinking (till Casey and I ran out of money) when Craig hooked up with the
guy (and his car) and decided to leave. They asked around an found out that Lafayette had programs for the homeless so they
dropped us off there. Casey and I got Craig to rent us a locker at the Day Center since he helped us drink up OUR money. We
found some woods, started camping out and recycling like we had been doing in Orlando. After it started getting cool Casey went to
work at a seafood store and I started working for Labor Ready. That was good for the winter and we started camping out again
when Casey quit her job the following spring. I was working for Labor Ready at the Waste Water Treatment Plant as a Form Carpenter,
got a motel room for the next winter and got hired on by the company. For Casey's birthday I bought her a Miniature Schnauzer
who we named JoJo. When that job was over we went back to camping
in the woods, recycling and doing odd jobs around the neighborhood. We were befriended by several of the "neighbors" and would
help them out when we could. Dusty would let us sit and watch TV, take showers, sleep over (if the weather was bad) and gave
us a Golden Retriever and Irish Setter mix who we named Sassy. We would clean up the Speedway parking lot, empty the trash
cans and throw away the empty boxes for Cheryl to get beer and tobacco. Then one day out of the blue a friend of ours
named Steve wanted to jump a freight train to go out west. Casey and I decided to pack up camp to go with our 2 dogs and Steve
to CA. because Casey told us she had some land in Redding. We hopped a freight, got thrown off in Texas right after we crossed
the state line from LA., got back on the next morning and got off in El Paso. Casey and I found an abandoned house not far
from the mission so that we could sleep together with our dogs and Steve stayed at the mission. Casey and Steve got food stamps, but I couldn't
because I didn't have an ID card. We would sell the food stamps so we could get tobacco and beer while we rested up for a
week. After a week we were back on the freights heading for CA. and the first place we stopped was in Indio. Chapter 15 "Go West Young Man" In Indio there was an abandoned drive in where
the homeless would camp out and there we pitched our tent while Steve stayed at the mission. Casey and I found a place that
was good for "panhandling" and that's how we made our money. Then one day Casey, Steve and I were going somewhere, I had crossed
the street that ran passed the drive in, Casey had JoJo and for some reason she let him off the leash. Well JoJo comes running
towards me even though we hollered at him to stop, he ran into the street and a car was speeding by. JoJo rolled underneath
the car and laid in the middle of the street like he was dead. I ran to him and he was alive, but he was hurt. Christmas Eve
Day we call the Sheriff's Office and report the incident, a patrol car comes and gives me and JoJo a ride to Thousand Palms
where the only Vet that's open is, tells me "When the Vet's done call the Sheriff's Office and I or someone will get you and
bring you back.". When the Vet got done telling me $100 just to X-Ray JoJo and
that it WAS the hip; I called the Sheriff's Office and waited outside the Vet's office. About an hour later 3 squad cars show
up, I explain the situation, repeated what the other officer told me, and was
told "There's the railroad tracks; when you get to them go left.". I went to the tracks, took off my hooded sweatshirt, tied
JoJo up in it, put the hood on my head and headed down the tracks carrying JoJo like a Papoose. After walking a long while
I took to the road and began hitch-hiking, got a ride with a man that worked for UPS who gave me a ride all the way back to
the drive in and came to our camp. We sat and talked for a while then he left to bring us back something to eat and some beer.
The next day he came with his wife and 2 children bearing food, clothes and a little money. After we had been there for about
3 weeks Steve went into the program that the mission offered him so Casey and I decided to head on to Redding. We met a guy named Johnny and his girlfriend
(while panhandling) who were headed to Oregon and talked him into letting us ride with him while we supplied the gas, food
and tobacco because he was broke. Johnny stopped at his Uncle's for the night and Casey and I found out there was a grocery
store on the other side of the block. We cut through the field and panhandled to get beer and tobacco before we went back
for the night. We went through Redding and then Casey says that she doesn't know how to get there or what the address is so
we continue on with Johnny till he tries to straddle a rock in the middle of the road and punches a hole in the transmission
pan. We decided to limp on back and fix the tranny pan at his Uncle's keeping a close eye on the oil level. (The old "fill
the oil and check the gas" routine for real!) We get to his Uncle's and he starts working on plugging the hole so Casey and
I cut through the yards to go to Modernway Market and do some panhandling. We get tobacco and drink a quart or 2 of King Cobra,
go back to find our stuff stacked on the porch and are told that Johnny left. So here we are stranded in Bakersfield!!!
Casey and I stayed with Johnny's Uncle until we can find a place to hide and sleep so we don't get him in trouble with his
land lord. Sleeping in an abandoned garage where the crackheads came to smoke their stuff we couldn't leave anything and carried
everything with us in a shopping cart, 2 dogs and a shopping cart for recycleables. Later we found a small walkway between
2 buildings, talk to one of the renters and "move in". When it started getting cold I got a job with Bill Little Construction
and we moved into the Sunset Motel and Trailer Park with my first check. The first room flooded when the hot water
pipe in the floor sprung a leak, moved to another room and eventually into a trailer. Casey's Dad became very ill and died
so Casey's mom sent her a bus ticket again so she could be there for the funeral. While Casey was gone I got tired of the
way Bill Little treated me, quit working for him and started working for Bob Patel as the maintenance man and maid to cover
the rent till Casey got back. Little did I know at the time that Casey's family had no intention of buying her a bus ticket
back to Bakersfield so Casey had to get her own way back. When she got back she took over the maid work which I had been doing
so I could concentrate on fixing up the 100 year old motel. We worked like that for 3 years before Casey
got real sick. In 3 weeks time she went from my fiesty, loud mouthed, opinionated common law wife to my 90 year old grandmother.
She couldn't remember our friends at all and couldn't remember me half of the time. She was in a world all her own, she wouldn't
eat (not that she ate much before), wouldn't drink anything but Pepsi or Coke, couldn't get 4' to the bathroom without crawling
and would sit there for hours on end. I found a wheel chair so I could take her with me while I worked, but (even with the
help of friends that lived there) I couldn't watch her and work at the same time. I called her mom, explained the situation,
she bought Casey another bus ticket and arranged for a charity organization to pay for my bus ticket because Casey couldn't
manage the trip without help. When I got Casey to New Orleans her sister came to get her, I helped load Casey into the van
and was told I couldn't stay with them (not even go to their house to take a shower)! After I checked out the homeless situation
in New Orleans I took a bus to Lafayette so I could I could be close by to keep up on what was going on with Casey. She was checked into the hospital for
tests and the doctors told her family that "Too many years of malnutrition and dehydration had made her brain shrink". Casey's
family blamed me for that!!! I couldn't get her to eat more the whole time we were together and the only thing she would drink
was beer! Casey did what she wanted to and there was nothing I could do or say to make her do otherwise. After I found out that Casey wasn't going
to get well again I jumped a freight and headed back to Bakersfield, got removed from the train and put in jail overnight
for "impeding railroad property" in Del Rio, TX., started hitch-hiking till I got a ride with a salesman for a radio station
somewhere in Yuma, AZ. who bought me a bus ticket to get back to Bakersfield. For the first month or so I did my recycle run
and stayed in my trailer drinking from the time I woke up till the time I passed out. I worked very little for Bob, but he
understood and kept me on because he knew that I knew what I was doing when it came to maintenance. I began messing around with the crackheads
again letting some come in out of the heat or cold, take a shower, get something to drink (and sometimes eat). After a while
my trailer became a "Party Pad" and things were getting out of hand. One day
I got tired of it, walked up to Bob and told him that I wasn't going to work for him any more. I called Animal Control to
come and get Sassy and Baby (a black Chow and Rotweiler mix that Casey "just had to have") telling him that they were left
in my yard. I don't know why, but people used to put dogs over the fence into my yard quite often so it was nothing new to
them. Even though the man KNEW the dogs were mine he took them giving me a wink. Back to "camping out". Shane and Eunice (friends that knew
me and Casey before she got sick) who were camping next to me became concerned about me and forced me to seek help because
I couldn't (or wouldn't) do anything but recycle and drink myself into a stupor. A fellow from Kern Linkage took me to the
V.A. Office (when he found out that I was a Veteran) and the man there called the V.A. Hospital in West Los Angeles to tell
them that I was coming. A van was leaving the next morning at 5:00 a.m. so Mike (I think that was the man's name from Kern
Linkage) showed me a park not far from the office that looked good for sleeping. I went and panhandled to get beer and tobacco,
was given a bottle of wine by a couple that "dumpster dove" and was set for the night. I had problems getting to sleep so
I went back to the office and slept right behind the van so I wouldn't miss it. Chapter 16 "After The Thrill Is Gone" (Song by
Stevie Winwood) I went to "The Haven" for 6 months after being
told that I was too ill to go through the R.T.C. Program and not ill enough to go to the "Dom". While in the Haven a friend
showed me how to set up an email account with Yahoo, I learned how to use a puter and started getting all kinds of free accounts.
I now have at least 5 email addys, more than 3 web sites, I belong to 14 groups on MSN (one of which is my own), 5 groups
on Yahoo, I have My Space on MSN, my Yahoo 360 site and accounts that I can't even remember. Shortly before I left the Haven
I got the sugery done on my L. Wrist and went to the Dom to recuperate for 6 months. While there I worked in the puter room
to earn a little money. When I left there I went to the West Side Residence Hall in Inglewood so that I had somewhere to live while I got a job and could stand on my own 2 feet where I stayed for another
6 months. I worked for almost 4 months at Pioneer Magnetics Inc. for Matrix (staffing agency).
After 1 and a half years of V.A. Recovery Programs I moved to Milwaukee, WI. the 22nd of May, 2006 to stay with Starlan
Jones (Star, whom I met online) so that I could be closer to my family. Chapter 17 Back To The Basics I have been in Milwaukee for about a month
and am going to get my first check from Human Resource Services for working at Bay View Industries (from 9:30 p.m. to 6:00
am, Sun. thru Thr.) this Thursday the 15th of June. Well the 14th I got woken up at 2:35 p.m. and told by Shannon at HRS that
BVI felt I wasn't motivated enough and didn't really want to be there. NO MORE JOB THERE! Oh well, time to find another one.
I have been trying to help Kimmy get a job and meet some people in Topeka, KS. and last night (6/19) I went to FREE411.com
to find the phone #s of some friends there. I found James Martin at 2050 Clay and called them. It is the same Martins that
I knew when I lived there. Pat (Jr.) told me that him and "Ma" were just talking about me a few days earlier and that "Pa"
died in '89. I didn't get to talk to Ma because she had gone out (shopping I think). I had Kimmy on YM (Yahoo Messenger) all
this time and told her to contact them, get to know them and I believed they could help her. If no other way than to help
her keep her sanity. Her cat is VERY ill, she doesn't have any money and thinks she will have to put the cat to sleep. LEARNING IS THE WAY TO GO. LET'S GO. |
