Re[2]: [at-l] Sure-Thing Hitchiking

[Bob Cummings <ellen@clinic.net> (Bob Cummings)]

During the Korean War for three months I was stationed at an Army Testing facility in the desert of
southern Arizona. Yuma was 35 miles to south. The nearest town to the north was 60 miles away.

About eight miles from the base was a small fishing camp on the Colorado River that sold cold beer.
On days off I would walk the
eight miles across the desert, drink a couple of brews and then walk back, exploring the desert
plants, rocks and searching for "sidewinders" (desert rattlesnakes)each way.

One day an old guy in a Jeep pulled up and offered me a ride, which was a bit of surprise because I was
hiking across country and there was no road in miles as far as I knew.

Well, we got talking about autumn in the desert as compared to the east. It soon developed we were
both from Maine. He had lived as a boy in a
house a tenth of a mile from the house where I was born and grew up -- and had dated my
mother when she was going to high school.

Weary