OT*****Re: Hello, it's me..

[Ric Moore]

On Sat, 2006-09-09 at 19:52 -0700, Tony Alfrey wrote:
> Ric Moore wrote:

> > You don't have a pickup truck? How do you survive? 
> 
> Well, in California (at least in the cities) a pickup truck is not 
> required.  We let 'other people' carry stuff around for us!  Besides, 
> there are no elk or cows that we might be required to haul around (for 
> making barbecue, for example).  Now, if you were living in Manhattan 
> (that's in New York City, not to be confused with Manhattan Beach, in 
> CA) you wouldn't need a car of *any* sort; you would ride the subway, or 
> take a taxi, and for dinner, you order take-out!  Most 'real' 
> Californians never get east of, say, Santa Fe.  Sometimes they'll go to 
> New York City, but they'll skip all that stuff in between.  Where the 
> barbecue is.

Ha! Real Texans, and other students of history, know California's story.
It's made up mostly of displaced redneck Okies and Cornhuskers from the
Depression Era Dustbowl who are firmly in denial, acting like they are
all that and a bag of chips. A pickup truck is what brung the Jeeters
and Joads to the Land of Milk and Honey. Now it's the Land of Bilk and
Money, by their descendants. :) 

When I lived in Helena Montana, most of the inhabitants lived in fear of
the invasion of Californians. They demanded bike trails, public
transport, disco's, coffee bars, bistros, pesticide-free veggies and the
freedom to build out where the bears and cougars lived, without
consequences. Like the family dog becoming a meal for a bear. Call 911!
Call 911! Right. Nature has a way of being up close and personal. 

Interesting story, Missoula, which is the western Montana State
University town where "A River Runs Through It" was filmed, became a
liberal haven for displaced Californians. They wanted (demanded) a bike
trail be built up the little 2 lane state road 83 that went through 100
miles of National Forest up past the eastern side of Flathead Lake to
Kalispell and made a huge fuss about it. It was paved with snow and ice
for 10 months of the year, but you couldn't tell them that. So, to prove
a point, they had to actually bike the route in some numbers, complete
with flags and fanny packs waving in the breeze, directly in the way of
proper motorists who were trying to get somewhere. Two of them got
literally greased by a log truck, which was never caught (fancy that!),
the rest scattered like chickens and that put an end to the bike trails.
<evil grins> Montana had no sales tax as they didn't have stupid things
like speed limits and bike trails. 

Got a great story about a family of New Yorkers visiting Montana too,
but I'll save that one for another day! Montana'ns are just Texans at
heart, used to the extreme cold. We had three seasons there, July,
August and Winter. Ric


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My father, Victor Moore (Vic) used to say:
"There are two Great Sins in the world...
...the Sin of Ignorance, and 
...the Sin of Stupidity.
Only the former may be overcome." R.I.P. Dad.

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