Mike, An Old Friend!
Well, my Old Friend, Mike, has apparent Supernatural Powers that prevent me from successfully completing this Project......a Project upon which I have worked, on & off, since before his Birthday, last September 27..........
Mike! I know you is Out There! Why, Oh Why, won't you let me Post yer danged Picture, Huh?
The Pic I wanted to post is of my two friends, since around 1961.....Mike & Tom! The pic was taken in 1998, a Reunion of the Three of us, especially in that neither Mike nor I had seen Tom better than 20 years.
Since then, I have moved to Mike's old stomping grounds, SE Arizona, and Mike has become somewhat reclusive!
But he still works with John Madden, in the Awatukee District of Phoenix!
Mike and I met when he and I lived in the far SW outskirts of Phoenix, now known as the Inner City.....Maryvale! Mike lived on a rambling old farm house just west of Cartwright Elem. School #1 and I lived in one of the new cookie-cutter homes, just north of the school.........
I grew up shy & suspicious of anyone who wanted to be my "friend" so I rebuffed Mike's hand of friendship a few times at first..........a mistake that I will be forever grateful to have overcome!
Mike and I explored the depths of Arizona back when it was still a wild and wooly outpost of the USA! I can think of few areas in Arizona we have not delved deeply into, Honest! Usually, in Mike's old '58 Ford Ranchero!
We did a lot of primitive camping.....we called it "back-packing" but had no access to "modern" equipment. Most of our hikes, some as long as 2 weeks in the back-country, were sustained by the local Army/Navy Surplus stores, where one could buy a perfectly good pair of combat boots for $5! Yep! Military & Government Gear all the way! No firearms, as I recall, until the later years, like 1965-66, when we blazed the trail up Barnhardt Canyon, in the Mazatzal Mountains........there, I packed a .357 Mag. Revolver but I never gave a thought to firing it! Our time was spent just trying to negotiate the talus slopes and 5oo foot cliffs!
We did a heap of Rockhounding, too! Mike got me into this hobby........Agate! Mike knew where the most lucrative fields in Arizona were! We found, literally, tons of gemstone quality rock throughout Arizona.....all Legal, too!
Sooo many miles with Mike! I could write a Book! Honest!
But, as Life usually does, things change........we seldom communicate any more! Mike is aging! I am aging! Tom, up there in the Verde Valley, is aging! Very real chance that the Reunion of '98 was our last........
Still! I am here to Report, my Friends! My Old Friend Mike, as Well as my Old Friend, Tom, made my young manhood a success!
And, I sure do hope to see him again in this life!
Now, if only I could win the Lottery! I think I would buy me a couple of them petite Japanese girls, you know! 22 years old, five foot nothin'..........
Mike! I know you is Out There! Why, Oh Why, won't you let me Post yer danged Picture, Huh?
The Pic I wanted to post is of my two friends, since around 1961.....Mike & Tom! The pic was taken in 1998, a Reunion of the Three of us, especially in that neither Mike nor I had seen Tom better than 20 years.
Since then, I have moved to Mike's old stomping grounds, SE Arizona, and Mike has become somewhat reclusive!
But he still works with John Madden, in the Awatukee District of Phoenix!
Mike and I met when he and I lived in the far SW outskirts of Phoenix, now known as the Inner City.....Maryvale! Mike lived on a rambling old farm house just west of Cartwright Elem. School #1 and I lived in one of the new cookie-cutter homes, just north of the school.........
I grew up shy & suspicious of anyone who wanted to be my "friend" so I rebuffed Mike's hand of friendship a few times at first..........a mistake that I will be forever grateful to have overcome!
Mike and I explored the depths of Arizona back when it was still a wild and wooly outpost of the USA! I can think of few areas in Arizona we have not delved deeply into, Honest! Usually, in Mike's old '58 Ford Ranchero!
We did a lot of primitive camping.....we called it "back-packing" but had no access to "modern" equipment. Most of our hikes, some as long as 2 weeks in the back-country, were sustained by the local Army/Navy Surplus stores, where one could buy a perfectly good pair of combat boots for $5! Yep! Military & Government Gear all the way! No firearms, as I recall, until the later years, like 1965-66, when we blazed the trail up Barnhardt Canyon, in the Mazatzal Mountains........there, I packed a .357 Mag. Revolver but I never gave a thought to firing it! Our time was spent just trying to negotiate the talus slopes and 5oo foot cliffs!
We did a heap of Rockhounding, too! Mike got me into this hobby........Agate! Mike knew where the most lucrative fields in Arizona were! We found, literally, tons of gemstone quality rock throughout Arizona.....all Legal, too!
Sooo many miles with Mike! I could write a Book! Honest!
But, as Life usually does, things change........we seldom communicate any more! Mike is aging! I am aging! Tom, up there in the Verde Valley, is aging! Very real chance that the Reunion of '98 was our last........
Still! I am here to Report, my Friends! My Old Friend Mike, as Well as my Old Friend, Tom, made my young manhood a success!
And, I sure do hope to see him again in this life!
Now, if only I could win the Lottery! I think I would buy me a couple of them petite Japanese girls, you know! 22 years old, five foot nothin'..........
posted by Norm! | 1:50 PM
1 Comments:
Norm, I am glad to have you as a friend, As my memory serves we did a lot of "backpacking" and the three of us enjoyed the out of doors tremendously. I hope you hear from Mike and give him my regards I have not heard from him since our reunion. I read and enjoy your blog daily, and have enjoyed hearing about your family since I haven't heard anything in so long. Glad your there. Take care Tom
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