A comparison

This is me now, with a photo of me in Basic Training.

As a fashion note, in the photo in boot camp, I am actually not wearing pants. True Fact.

Rick's cars #3: The Chevy Panel Truck UPDATE

Here it is. I'll scan this later for a cleaner image -- This is just a photo of a photo.

This was shot out in the forest near Steilacoom, Washington, where Gayle and I were living at the time. The truck was great for going out on the old forest roads -- it was nearly indestructible. We had a couple of chaise lounges in the back for relaxing and we spent a lot of time out in the woods.

You can see the lettering I did on the side. I'd forgotten that I'd also written "East Bhumphuk, Egypt" on the door. That one always got grins at the stoplights.

Something cool to note is that little triangle near the mirror on the door. That was called a "smoker's window." It swiveled open to allow ventilation in the car, or to let out smoke. (Some folks calls it 'Oklahoma Air-conditioning' but I calls it a Sling Blade. MMmhhmmm.) They used to be on all cars, and I can't, for the life of me figure out why they ever got rid of them. I haven't even smoked in 6 years and I still miss them. You could drive in the rain with that thing cracked and not get wet. No chance of that now. Get a clue Detroit! (steps down off of soap bo.x)

Also visible is the Miller Hi Life pony bottle of which I was so fond back then.

I'm dating this picture in 1981. I'd gotten married in 1980, so I know its after that. But, I'm also wearing my $80 (in 1980 dollars) color-changing Ray-Ban glasses that I bought in Germany. I got in a fight with a guy one afternoon and he punched me in the eye, destroying the glasses, and that can't have been to long after this was taken. It also means I was still working in the Mess Hall as the clerk/shift leader. They weekend I got clocked was right before I got moved back over to the Cavalry Troop as a Squad Leader. Also, I think we switched from Miller to Ranier pretty soon after this.

Fashion of the day: Bib overall painter-pants. The bandanna on the head and the lack of a shirt were purely me.

That's how we roll

"If you don't have a dog, ya hunt with a cat."-Vance Deniston

Back in New Mexico and Colorado, people took it upon themselves to adapt their vehicles to the surrounding terrain, hence, these two fine examples. The Lincoln Mark III was 'living' across the street from me when I lived by the airport. The Firebird was seen in the area of Silverton, Colorado. Low-rider, schmo-rider, give me a homemade 4-wheel drive any day. Good job boys.

My 4th vehicle

When I saw the post of Ricks truck I almost spit my coffee all over the computer. I also had an industrial type truck in the 80's and it is the Travel-all I traded for the Norton motorcycle. This is a '73 but mine was a '70 International that I bought from a jeweler who was living at "The HiWay House Motel" on Central Ave. in Albuquerque. Mine was decked out with all the New Mexico trimmings of the day. This included, but not limited to, the canvas water-bag (filled) hanging from the side mirror, a lantern hanging from the roof inside in the back and complete set of Indian and Mexican blankets for the overnight stays, wherever I might be. The International had some type of rear-end that would engage the second drive wheel if one started to spin and was equipped with TALL tires that nothing would stop. The options ended with wipers and a heater, that's it. I loved that beast of a truck and traded it to 'Buster' who lived in the Manzanos up off of south 14 in the heart of 'plague' land. I dropped off the truck and rode the Norton back to town with no license plate, lights or brakes. I miss that truck.

A bikers life, 80's style in Albuquerque

"New Mexico is like a whirlwind, sometimes you don't know whats happening."-William Bonny, aka 'Billy the Kid'

When my little brothers car caught fire and burned up in moms driveway, I gave him my 1972 Caprice Classic. The car still holds some kind of record for being the largest 'land-barge' known to man but he was grateful for the ride. That left me with only my motorcycles and winter was coming. I rode to work on my Honda 750 from the west side to M&M Honda in the heights in a blinding snowstorm with 3" snow on Interstate 40. Swanny said I was nuts and he was probably right. A Little later I was trying to get my life together and quit drinking for a spell. That's when I met Bridget in Arizona. She moved to Abq. where I was sharing a house with a student of photography at the University. The pic's at the bottom show the house by the Univ. that we lived in. The top is a apartment that we had at San Mateo and Montgomery. We were both trying to put our lives back together and it was working for a while. AA meetings, 5th Chapter bike club and road trips. Everything was cool. Some old ways are hard to get away from and I think we both had our own demons to deal with. When we stopped being honest with each other, the old behavior crept back in. I'll speak for me on this, I wasn't being honest and using behind her back. I turned in my patches to 'Big Tom' and kindda hung around with them for a while but it was never the same. Bridget had a friend who was trying keep her straight and that meant get away from me. I came home and she was gone, lock, stock and barrel. Two days later I was in Virginia with my dad and a week after that got help for the problem and said goodbye to meth forever. The biker girl from Arizona went on to get her stuff together and salvage the relationship with her daughter. She even found me through the net and sent me copies of these pictures and my 'ol biker cutoff denim, thanks Bridget. Over twenty years later, I find shes married and happy out west and I'm married and happy out east. Right on.

Rick's cars #3: The Chevy Panel Truck

Mine was a 1970 Chevy C-15 Panel Truck. It was flat-black with a peace sign spray painted on the roof. I bought it off a coworker who had converted it from an automatic to a 3-speed. In the conversion, he'd put the linkage in backwards, but since I had never really driven a standard (aside from the three-on-the-tree Impala, it didn't even faze me.

The most annoying thing about this thing was that the air-cleaner -- one of those steel mesh and oil affairs -- was missing a bolt and whenever I made a left, it tilted, sucking in too much air, and killing the engine. I had to be sure to pop the clutch quickly as I finished the turn to restart the engine.

It had about 3 feet of play on the steering wheel and, virtually, no suspension. When driving on the freeway, the entire vehicle might be at as much as a 30 degree angle to the road.

I did a bit of customizing on this puppy. I got an old-fashioned coca-cola bottle opener and mounted it on the dash. Also installed a 360 degree beverage holder -- designed for a boat, but perfect for driving on the logging roads in Washington's old growth forests. I'm thinking I actually might have a genuine photograph of me and this truck.I'll have to track it down.

On the side I got some vinyl letters and wrote out "Dr. Gonzo's Space Truckin' and Haul-Assin'." I added a phone number which was the local number for weather reports.

The truck was left by the roadside one night after I'd lent it to a friend and he ran out of gas. It got side-swiped, shearing the gasline and rendering it vaguely useless. iirc, I sold it for scrap.

When driving a Mini made you different

You may note that on the sidebar to your right (my left), there is a link to a mini-cooper page. Why? Well, back in the 70's our good friend, Ben Zimmerman,who was a little older than us (Vance can explain the whole link of Ben, Eve, and etc.) had a Mini. Like, an original Mini, not these pansy-assed things on the road these days (although the ones these days actually haul ass.)

Vance would borrow it on occasion and we'd go tooling around (This photo is of me riding shotgun sometime in the winter of 76. Vance took the photo and, hence, is not driving, though the car is moving somewhere.... Hmmmm). It was great for throwing donuts in reverse (though not as good as throwing donuts in reverse in an Army Jeep in 4WD.)

In the spring of our Senior year, I had a cast on my leg from toe to crotch. In the Mini, I HAD to sit up front, but was only able to do so by wedging myself in there. Vance used to drive that car down Montgomery Blvd at 90mpg. The damn thing only weighed in at 200lbs, and when he'd hit a man-hole cover, or a pebble, we'd go airborne for a couple hundred yards. It was exhilarating and terrifying to me because I was basically trapped in that seat.

I think this was probably the first car in which we played Road Rallye.

Another great feature of this car was in going to the drive-in movies. You could roll up the windows and do bong hits, trapping all the smoke inside. Wicked cool.

Oh, and here is a picture from the time Vance rolled the damn thing trying to negotiate a turn in the men's room at the Drive-In Snack Bar.
"Ladies and Gennelmens. Can I have your attention please. The snack bar will be closing in ten minutes and after that it won't be open no more."

We took a different trail

After high school and a failed attempt at art school in Denver, I became the biker who could repair typewriters. At this time I was working for Albuquerque Public Schools as a repairman for the typewriters in the high school classrooms. I also was drifting down another path that would get real weird, real fast. Meth was all the rage and I was knee deep in the shit. I left the repair gig and went to work in a motorcycle dealership where I met Swanny. We rode all over the state with some 'colorful' characters and partied down. I'll be going into this era of my life this weekend. This was also a strange time for Rick and I and soon after this era we didn't see each other for years. Meth was such a wonderful drug, you could shit-can your life in 11 seconds.

Start children young 'in the arts'

As a youngster, Rick was drawn to art work. Ricks first dog, 'Blizzard' was not so fond of Ricks talent. Though the family pet would lay for hours and act as Ricks canvas, the baths that would follow were pure hell for the animal. As is evident by the circle around the dogs eye, Rick was a fan of the 'Little Rascals'. Rick is also credited with designing his own pajamas.

Jobs I had

I was employed by Celtic Thunder singers for a summer in 1978. Right after that I became fat, gray and not so handsome. But back in the day, whew! Enjoy the music and catch Celtic Thunder on your local public television channel. Cheers! Check the following link for a sample of my singing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIajAxOaA0A