Tag: Dad
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Earnest Ernest
Of all the thrift stores I stepped into, this one had me calling hello as if I was walking into the bungalow of a buddy I’d known since grade school. All I had for inspiration was Meredith saying once, “I’m surprised you’ve never met EJ with all the times he and Earnest came to shows…
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Hello, San Francisco
I cruised west through the city listening to my San Francisco mix, starting with The Grateful Dead’s “Fire on the Mountain.”
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The Alphabet Game
I was standing on a bluff in high grass overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Children slid down the steep dunes on burlap sacks marked with logos for old beer. The ride ended at a beach where more children fueled a bonfire with record albums.
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Rogue River
The night of bourbon made for tough sledding behind the wheel. Two energy drinks and three hard face slaps got me through Portland, Salem, and almost to Eugene, my eyes drooping and closing and opening in panic after I snorted the snort of a man falling into deep sleep.
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Johnny’s Used Goods
The next stop on Fender’s Magical Mystery Tour was three blocks from Pike’s Fish Market. I did not catch a fish, but I did watch a guy catch one. The slime on the scales shimmered in the morning light. Raw sea stench. The smiling faces of people happy to be alive.
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Paul’s Story
The only Seattle things I knew to do were catch a fish, visit the Space Needle, and watch the Mariners play. The fish market was closed, the Space Needle wasn’t striking my fancy, and the Mariners were off, starting a three-game set against Texas tomorrow.
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Checking In
It started with darkness. Eyes closed. Air like lifeblood sucked in at slow, even intervals. Any thoughts occupying the front and back of my mind were cleared, not pushed down. There’s a difference.
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Big Sky
I left Three Forks on June 27th, tempted by signs for Big Sky an hour south. It made sense and checked all the right narrative boxes.
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I-25 N
“You get on I-25 North until Wyoming, then keep going until you cross into Montana, where you’ll pick up I-90 West. Run through Bozeman, keep on through Idaho, which is really that narrow northern portion, the handle of the meat cleaver, if you turn your map clockwise, and then into Washington.
Mike Writes 