Hello From North LA County

[ksman75]

I got shipped around so much, I didn't bother to own a car. My ship spent long months in the then Todd Shipyard getting gutted and refitted, with me sleeping "aboard" although the ship was out of the water. I hitchhiked into the city, hiked the beach, went to a movie, etc. Bought a bike, but soon sold it after navigating the Terminal Bridge traffic, so aptly named. In retrospect, it was a pretty grim life, but when you're young, it's all exciting and hopeful, even when it isn't. At least I had liberty (time off) to wander at will, bus into L.A. to see the Lakers play, including Wilt Chamberlin at the time. Saw the Moody Blues in concert, though my haircut was not right for the times. I did leave the military with enough savings to pay for grad school out-of-state tuition,once graduated a new red VW bug, and eventually a downpayment on a house for my new wife and me.

It's funny you mention the Moody Blues. When I was working at Vandenberg AFB, my girlfriend had a friend that worked at a record store in Santa Barbara. He got lawn tickets for himself and his girlfriend and the two of us. One of the best concerts I ever went to. The worst...ELP in the basketball arena at KSU in Manhattan KS. Absolutely zero acoustics. Nothing but echo over echo over echo.

Talking about haircuts, I was stationed at Fort Riley KS. Manhattan was about 20 miles away. I was an electronics technician on the TOW and Dragon anti-tank missiles. Didnt matter. To the locals, we were all "grunts", and just higher on the evolutionary scale than an amoeba. Girls wouldn't even look at us, and every one had a "daddy with a shotgun". It was those damn haircuts that gave us away!

But I wouldn't trade the 2 1/2 years I spent there for anything. Best phoesant and small game hunting, and fishing you could ask for!

 

[chopper]

Welcome from Oz.
For 35 years I was a slave to cigarettes, up to 40 a day.
Quit attempts were white knuckle torture.

Switching to a pipe made quitting easy because a puff on a pipe was better than nothing.
It didn't take long to adjust. That was over eleven years ago.

Now I can go most of the day without a smoke when otherwise occupied and I hardly notice.
No longer do I crave so I'm smoking way less.

Smoking a pipe gets better with experience.

 

[Dudditz]

Welcome from New Jersey.

 

[GothPiper]

Welcome from fabulous Las Vegas!

Lancaster, eh? Always good to see a fellow Mojave Desert rat on here