chapter 406

10/25/2015

Short Story

back to the future

Long story short: in Mrs. Vincent's fifth grade class in Virgil, I first met Tracy Short. We became best friends through high school and into our college years. I introduced him to the girl he is still married to on a double date to the James Bond Goldfinger movie at the Homer Drive-in.

He had to complete his military requirement serving at Army Corps of Engineers MACV in Da Nang '70-71 while I was at Fort Gordon. He became President of Short Homes, Inc in North Carolina so our contact was severely limited thereafter.

We did the Great Road Trip to Montana in August 1965 to visit buddy Bob Hammer. This shot was at La Crosse Wisconsin camping in the rain on the way out. Tracy's '65 Pontiac Bonneville convertible with the cut out exhaust switch so he could rumble that big V-8 on occasion. The brown cooler is the one the Black Bear tore into at Yellowstone taking the Rainbow Trout we caught in the Flatheads. Dad's tent and camp gear. Reminiscence of bar hopping in Missoula and Bozeman, cigar chomping, door open going down the road upchucking. Oh boy. A few other trip shots in Chapter 389.

We were called the Three Musketeers in Virgil. With Bob living in Montana we hiked the mountains there to some nice Rainbow trout fly fishing. Bob took the 30-30 rifle for Grizzly protection. Since moved to Seattle.

In 1968 after college graduation I bought a '65 blue Corvette roadster and Tracy also bought a '65 Silver one. Only difference, he still has his 47 years later. Dang. With the 30 year anniversary of "Back to the Future" I'm reminded that DeLorean designed the '65 Pontiac GTO and GM wouldn't let him soup up another Pontiac which would take sales away from this Corvette.

So, it was a surprise when Tracy's wife FaceBooked me a week ago Tuesday (en route from Canada to North Carolina) then called to see if I was home for a visit the following day. Spur of the moment, but yes, it worked out, and a great get-together.

Tracy came for an overnight with his son Craig (above). After a few beers at the Dinosaur, I invited myself to stay at Craig's house in Honolulu (or on his 37 foot sailboat). Invitation accepted. Bucket List in progress. Maybe I can even be part of his crew when he sails from Washington to Oahu (I saw Kon-Tiki, I'm ready) . Craig's wife, Cara, is the Executive Director of AccesSurf down there. This nice Waikiki Video explains.

Bottom row, second from right Ray Stevens (aka Davy Crocket) showed up at Mom's funeral last week.

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