r
The Professor has ciphered his tim e allocations
fo r w ritin g this Hults' thing and figures he'll "double-
dip" one or tw o more o f these pieces to m aximize his
time at the machine. I f I give my readers another
snippet o f quasi-historical stuff, I can sandwich it into
that opus I'm hacking out fo r the Arts folks. Pardon my
sloth, gentle readers, but I'm fra il and computer-screen
weary.
I thought I'd have a peek at hitch-hiking this time. In
my youth days, hitch-hiking was a way o f life. Some
old rattle heap invariable broke down, was stolen, or
simply didn't exist. As a teen-ager, some event or
diversion demanded attendance. W ith no wheels, the
thumb provided the only solution to a pressing problem.
One could hitch-hike in another day. Honest, clean-cut
youth gypsied the roads w ithout fear o f social stigma.
N ow only Road Indians, Meth freaks, wine wasters, and
the homeless take to the macadam.
Oh, there was a m ild degree o f incipient danger and
social sneering that attended thum bing in the older time,
I'll grant you that. But civilized people could
participate N ow only hugger muggers and scum balls
lurk the highways. W ould you pick up one o f those
skulking dogs? No.
We had techniques. W earing a baseball uniform
helped. A soldier's uniform virtually guaranteed a ride.
50's and 60's people remembered Norman Rockwell.
H itch -hikin g was M iddle American and A-okay. That
wouldn't w ork today. Martha Steward doesn't like
hitch-hikers, that's obvious.
We had tricks. Some kid would grab his parents' car
and d iive a bunch o f us to the Cannon Beach Junction.
We'd park the car by the old Union 76 Station and pop
the hood; the kid who needed a ride to Portland or other
parts sat in the car. A few heads leaned into the motor
cavity and feigned motor repair. One earnest, tidy, glib
sort (usually Norman W ilcox) stuck his thumb out and
waited fo r a sympathetic driver. When a m otorist
stopped, he would spin a sad tale o f motor trouble and
the poor kid in the car who desperately needed to v isit a
dying relative. Shamefully, this ploy almost always
succeeded.
H itching had its bad Juju even then. One tim e A lv in
Hyde and I teamed up to thumb to Cannon Beach from
The City. W e wallked to the cemetery at Sylvan. In the
early '60's everything west o f Sylvan was the country,
fa ir game fo r hitch-hiking. The day was lazy and
spring-like. A lv in stuck out his thumb, and Bang! an
elderly gent in a '49 Desoto coupe took the bait and
ground to a halt by the side o f the road.
We ran up to the car, opened the door, and scrambled
inside.
"Howdy, boys," a grizzled old duck greeted us.
"A in 't this a fine day!" A w h iff o f Dago Red and bad
underclothes permeated the air. "I'm takin' this here car
to the coast to unload her. Haven't driven in fifteen
years since I lost my license! This old girl's been sittin*
in a field fo r ten years. Look at that grass growin* in
there. Say son, (to A lv in ), could you reach under the
seat and reach me that wine. I'm powerful thirsty."
A lv in glanced at me and tightened his chin, giving me
"the look." He hauled out a gallon o f Fam iglia Cribari
in a big paper sack and handed it to the driver. The old
boy slung it over one shoulder and gulped fo r the better
part o f ten minutes, slaloming the car down the highway
in both lanes. Oncoming cars honked at him.
"There's my friend Jake!" he'd say as some irate
m otorist layed on the horn. "Boy, I've got a lo t o f
friends! You boys ain't scared, are ya !"
"Jesus," A lv in whispered to me, "we've got to get out
o f here!"
The old boy lay down the bottle and commenced
gum m ing and drooling over a Pall M all straight.
"Here, lig h t this fo r me, would ya? I'm havin' some
trouble here."
M y innards gave a peristaltic twinge as A lv in lit the
spittled smoke.
Just before Oney's Restaurant we squealed through
that long hairpin curve above the Nehalem R iver in the
oncoming lane. A loaded log truck ground down on us
from the other direction.
'Good C hrist!" yelled A lv in , and grabbed the wheel
ju st in time to save our lives.
When we got to Oney's a m ile down the road, my
je llie d knees and fib rilla tin g heart nearly failed me.
"I'm going in fo r a beer and some grub. You boys
cornin' in?"
"We live just over there," I told him "Thanks."
A lv in and I scrambled out like two rats from a house
afire and headed fo r the drainage ditch and the tim ber
beyond.
"You boys ain't scare, are ya?" A lv in yelled
hysterically. "That was somethin' crazy."
WHERE TO GET AN EDGE
M y friend V io le t Thompson died Saturday. For
the past thirty years, V i and her husband Don occupied
the Wave Crest Hotel, a place o f refuge fo r a vast and
scattered assemblage o f guests and friends. Those who
were fortunate enough to spend time in that special
place cherish the memory as I do.
Their conception o f the hotel as a gathering place, a
place fo r sharing ideas, flights o f imagination, good
food and good fellowship persisted throughout those
times. M y gratitude to them both is w ithout bounds.
In her quiet and thoughtful way, V iolet influenced by
example, illustrated w ith humor, piqued curiosity w ith
query. "W hy is that," she would insist. V i had scant
time fo r sloppy thinking, far less fo r contemporary
conceits and superficialities. She has been a confidant,
teacher, sounding board, and the best o f frie n d s-tru ly
the finest kind.
"Just because you find yourself in the m inority," she
would tell me, "that doesn't mean you're wrong! Lots o f
people out there who make the decisions are idiots,
that's obvious. Stick to your guns. There are lots o f
ways o f doing things, but most o f them aren't the right
way."
Vi's interests ranged wide. She read tw o or three
books a week, kept abreast o f contemporary issues,
challenged one to engage in considered action. A vast
repository o f information, she served as a keen
intellectual resource when questions o f history or
philosophy arose. She rarely erred.
" I f you had only one day left on earth," she would
ask, "what would you do?" ,
I would confess some confusion about those matters.
"W hy, plant a tree, o f course," she would tell me,
sm iling gently.
V iole t didn't have the opportunity to plant her
beloved Sitka spruce trees this spring. For those o f you
who knew her, I would suggest taking her part this
spring and planting a spruce seedling in a place close to
your hearts.
"That's ju st fine," she would say.
SMon - (5al 9 am - 6 pm
57 Cooperative Clore
CFoods Qrocery
Astoria Uane
, )
3 2 5 -0 0 2 7
Q o o d fo r y o u ... Q o o d fo r tbe P ia n e ti
The reward o f energy, enterprise and thrift is. . . taxes.
W illiam Feather
C annon Beach: Jupiter's Rare and Used Books,
Os bum 's Groceiy, The Cookie Co., Coffee Cabaña.
Bill's Tavern, Cannon Beach Book Co., Hane's
Bakerie, The Bistro, Midtown Café, Once Upon a
Breeze, Copies & Fax, Haystack Video, Mariner
Market, E spresso Bean, Ecola Square & Cleanline
Surf
M anzanita: Mother Nature's Juice Bar,
C assandra's, M anzanita News & Espresso, &
N ehalem Bay Video
T illam ook : Rainy Day Books
B ay City: Art Space
Yachats: By-the-Sea Books
P acific City: The River House,
O ceanside: Ocean Side Espresso
L in c o ln City: Trillium Natural Foods, Driftwood
Library, & Lighthouse Brewpub
Newport: Oceana Natural Foods, Ocean Pulse Surf
Shop, Sylvia Beach Hotel, Green Gables Bookstore/
B&B, & Canyon Way Books
Eugene: Book Mark, Café Navarra, Eugene Public
Library, Friendly St. Market, Happy Trails,
Keystone Café, Kiva Foods, Lane C.C., Light For
M usic, New Frontier Market, Nineteenth Street
Brew Pub, O asis Market, Perry's, Red Bam Grocery,
Sun dance Natural Foods, U of O, & WOW Hall
C orvallis: The Environm ental Center, OSU
Salem : Heliotrope, Salem Library, & The Peace
Store
A storia: KMUN, Colum bian Café, The Community
Store, The Wet Dog Cafe, Astoria Coffee Company,
Café Uniontown, & The River
S ea sid e: Buck's Book B am , Universal Video, &
Café E spresso
Portland: Artichoke M usic, Laughing Horse
Bookstore, Act III, Barnes & Noble, Belm onts Inn,
Bibelot Art Gallery, Bijou Café, Borders, Bridgeport
Brew Pub, Capt'n B eans (two locations), Center for
th e H ealing Light, Coffee People (three locations),
Com m on G rounds Coffee, E ast Avenue Tavern,
Food Front, G oose Hollow Inn, Hot Lips Pizza, Java
B ay Café, Key Largo, La Pattisserie, Lewis & Clark
College, Locals Only, Marco's Pizza, Marylhurst
College, Mt. Hood CC, Music Millenium, Nature's
(two locations), NW Natural Gas, OHSU Medical
School, Old Wives Tales, Ozone Records, Papa
H aydn, PCC (four locations), PSU (two locations),
Reed College, Third Eye, M ultnoma Central
Library, and m ost branches & the YWCA
Ashland: Garo's Java House, The Black Sheep,
Blue Mt. Café, & Rogue River Brewery
C ave J u n ction : Coffee Heaven & Kerby Community
M arket
G rants Pass: The Book Shop
(Out o f Oregon)
Vancouver, W A The Den
L ongview , WA: The Broadway Gallery
N a se lle , W A Rainy Day Artistry
N a h co tta , W A Moby Dick Hotel
D u vall, W A Duvall Books
j
B ainbridge Island , WA Eagle Harbor Book Co.
S e a ttle , WA: Elliot Bay Book Co., Honey Bear
Bakery, N ew O rleans Restaurant, Still Life in
Frem ont, Allegro Coffeehouse, The Last Exit Coffee
H ouse, & Bulldog News
S a n F ra n cisco , CA: City Lights Bookstore
D en ver, Co: Denver Folklore Center
N ew York, NY: The Strand Book Company
W ashington , D.C.: Hotel Tabard Inn
(Out o f U.S A .)
P aris, France: Shakespeare & Cie
B righ ton , England: The Public House Bookstore
“A sm all paper for a sm all planet.”
| r~U PPER-LEFT-E DGLul
if
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