Two stupid teenagers, two semi trucks and speed only make a good recipe for disaster.

Two stupid teenagers, two semi trucks and speed only make a good recipe for disaster.
An example of an '88 VW Jetta.  Ours was dark navy blue.   Another close call... When I was 16 I got my driver’s license.  At sixteen and 2 two weeks I had my first ticket  for speeding!  I just couldn’t keep my foot out of the gas.  It was just...
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2029 Views
0 Comments

Bittersweet Memories Of Cambodia

Bittersweet Memories Of Cambodia
  On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   C is for Cambodia Cambodia was on the list of places to see before the Footloose Forester had to decide whether his sojourn out of Pakistan would turn south toward Australia, or continue east into...
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2845 Views
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Another close call with a semi truck...

Another close call with a semi truck...
This is an example of a jacknifed trailer. Yeah, well it seems like I have this...pun intended....fatal attraction with semi trucks.  See, back in 2004-5 my brother and I were on I-40 westbound headed toward Nashville, TN.  We were going to pick up some off-road tires for his Tacoma.  We were...
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  2974 Views
  1 Comment
2974 Views
1 Comment

Lipgloss brought us together... SERIOUSLY

I have been having to travel a good bit lately for work and was in Atlanta the end of February.  As I was riding down the elevator with another woman she commented on my lipgloss and how pretty it was. :-) She asked me more about it and we chatted for...
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  1967 Views
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1967 Views
2 Comments

I knew him for only a few hours, but his strength inspires me to this very day

He was a slight man, maybe 5'6", with a thin beard and short dyed hair. He took awkward steps when he walked, and his skin was tightly wrapped around his bones, as though only a step away from resembling a Holocaust victim. He was clearly in great physical pain. He strained...
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  3455 Views
  9 Comments
3455 Views
9 Comments

Ambush At An Khe Pass

Ambush At An Khe Pass
  On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Ambush At An Khe Pass   Most of the sagas about the Viet Nam War are about military operations and men in uniform, but civilian contractors in Viet Nam were not always safe.  This short...
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7256 Views
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go ahead help someone in trouble

DRIVING ALONG INTERSTATE 495 IN THE BOSTON AREA IT WAS RAINING PRETTY HARD.  I WAS TRAVELLING IN THE HIGH SPEED LANE WHEN I NOTICED SOMEONE AHEAD OF ME COMPLETELY STOPPED IN THE SAME HIGH SPEED LANE. I WAS ABLE TO SEE THE CAR IN TIME TO QUICKLY PULL OVER INTO THE...
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  1957 Views
  5 Comments
1957 Views
5 Comments

Greetings

Hello everyone. My name is Mark Garay. I am new to this site.  I was a broadcast journalist for 20 years, before venturing out on my own to create a company dedicated to preserving family histories and memories. I create broadcast quality documentaries for my clients. I build video stories around...
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  1491 Views
  6 Comments
1491 Views
6 Comments

Close call....One of many!

Close call....One of many!
Generally, this is the car I was driving at the time...But Dark Navy Blue.  1998 or so Mazda Miata. Close calls eh?  I’ll give you a close call! Back in 2001 my cousin Heather came to visit me at my home in West Knoxville, TN.  She was staying about 20 miles...
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  1684 Views
  4 Comments
1684 Views
4 Comments

Ode to the Oreo

Ode to the Oreo
The Oreo Cookie turned 100 years old today! I cannot at this moment think of any other icon of American Culinary Achievement that outstrips the familiarity of this cookie. Surely as it was for me, it was for others an integral part of my childhood. I even adopted a ritual for...
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  2042 Views
  5 Comments
2042 Views
5 Comments

Among The Redwoods In California

Among The Redwoods In California
On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Santa Cruz, California It was just another day in the woods.  Ed Tunheim, the senior forester for Cal-Pacific Forest Consultants, was in charge of several small contracts to inventory the timber on the properties of local...
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3298 Views
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Some Stuff You Just Can't Make Up

Some Stuff You Just Can't Make Up
  On the road again…. Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Maple Trees   This timely chronicle belongs in either the “you just can’t make this stuff up” folder, or the “truth is stranger than fiction” folder.  To a bridge player, you might call it...
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2355 Views
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African Wildlife....Up Close And Friendly

African Wildlife....Up Close And Friendly
On the road…again!!! Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   U is for Uganda The first sight he ever had of a dik-dik was up close, real close.  His old E-Mail nickna me “DikDik” comes as no coincidence.  It was a hint of Africa and...
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2276 Views
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Golf Is Sometimes About Things Other Than Tee To Green

Golf Is Sometimes About Things Other Than Tee To Green
  On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Golfing Where and When You  Can Living and working overseas does not mean that you have to give up the pleasures that you enjoyed back home.  Playing golf was a pleasure that was not available...
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2640 Views
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Early Ancestors

Two of my earliest ancestors that I could identify were Cassie Williams and her daughter, Phillis Smith. As the story goes, Cassie Williams was one of three slave girls in Georgia. Although I haven't been able to verify this story, or her country of origin, our family has been able to...
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  1453 Views
  3 Comments
1453 Views
3 Comments

Susan's Special Club

Susan's Special Club
Legacy Story Prompt: Describe a life-threatening close call that happened to you. Are you familiar with the cartoonist Gary Larsen? He made one superlatively funny cartoon in which two deer are standing in a forest, one bearing the image of a target/bull’s-eye prominently affixed to his body. The other deer says,...
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  1575 Views
  9 Comments
1575 Views
9 Comments

Tubing--A Close Call

As my body bounced against the rocks, my thoughts raced!  "Is this the way I will meet my demise?"

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  2865 Views
  8 Comments
2865 Views
8 Comments

A Hundred People In A Banyan Tree?

A Hundred People In A Banyan Tree?
  On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   I is for India   A hundred people in a banyan tree? The banyan tree in India is many times larger than this one While watching a sci-fi movie in which three young adventurers were...
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  2407 Views
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2407 Views
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Put On Your Dancing Shoes

Along about 1967 the tsunami of money from the Federal Government to “Education” that was created by the nerve shattering “beep-beep-beeping” of the world’s first space vehicle had reached its crest and was receding.   It was Russia’s vehicle. . . and it was called “Sputnik” or fellow traveler. Those beeps were...
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  1572 Views
  6 Comments
1572 Views
6 Comments

Learning Something Beautiful About Death

    It never occurred to me that I would actually pray for my father to die.  But watching someone suffer from cancer brings changes to people.  Especially if the person suffering is someone we love.     When my father had a lung biopsy which revealed that he had lung cancer, he...
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  1441 Views
  3 Comments
1441 Views
3 Comments