Chapter 5
Cars ! Cars ! Cars ! - My Glorious old Caddy !
1959 Caddy - mint green and white ...
... all the bells n whistles and then some!
Back in 1965 this was a real 'Land Yacht' cum 'Boat' – I drove it only on weekends for about a year!
My music pal Jim and I would 'camp' in it whilst visiting musician pals in SoCal over the weekends ..
I would get the car on Friday night around 6 at Pat's car lot - on my weekend "Liberty" from Camp Pendleton .. then drive to Riverside, about an hour, pick Jim H up at March Air Force Base, then head to one of our musician friends to jam music - all over the Inland Empire & Berdoo!
If we arrived too late to go inside and play music - which would happen from time to time - we would park in front of their house and crash in the Caddy!
When everyone was up and stirring in the morning, we'd go inside for coffee and breakfast - then virtually play music all day, night, or weekend until someone would edge us toward the door, or just toss us out ! It seems that not everyone can appreciate the subtleties and nuances of a loud Bluegrass Banjo for hours on end ... but I digress !?
Worn out or down, we would crash in the now infamous “Crew Canoe” – as it was playfully called – when we were out of musicians to jam with .. usually from total exhaustion. Instruments safely stashed in huge trunk, we would make pallets for sleeping on the seats. It was like home - with an ice chest for drinks and snacks. Folks suggested a mailbox on the fender !
Jim had the back seat .. and I took the front .. it sure wasn’t that comfortable for sleeping .. not nearly long enough for us to stretch out. By pretzel-ing and sleeping at kittywhumpus angles, we could eke out enuff rest .. but we would wake next morning .. cramped and stove up .. but still rearin' to pick and jam ... with any souls around! After a few cups of stout java … we were back into it .. music til we dropped. Sunday nights - it all went in reverse - Jim back to March Field, Me back to Pendleton.
Whenever we got tossed from someones house – when mom had visitors, or dinner, or such – we would decamp to the ever popular nearest local 24 hour 'Washateria' or laundromat - great places for acoustic band practice! We could jam and play our acoustic stuff there - Banjo and Guitar - .. nobody around to bother - sound insulated .. warm .. and secure .. we would play till the wee hours !
The "Caddy " would be parked in front of the laundromat - the huge trunk held all the instruments and cases ! The ol' canoe was always beckoning to be used as a bunk house - whenever we dropped from exhaustion!
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All photos: free, public domain, or by permission
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