THE 75th ANNIVERSARY OF BLAINE, WASHINGTON in 1959

 I lived in Blaine through the 1950s.  Kindergarten teacher Bess McMillan chased me down the road when I ran away on my first day of school, and carried me back to remember and love me even until I hitchhiked to Blaine and visited her in the late 1960s.  I went to school there from Kindergarten through fifth grade, and remember all my classmates and teachers well.  Those were the days we kids played outside, and rode our bikes all over the place.  

There are a number of Blaine experiences here in the Butter Rum Cartoon.  But perhaps my favorite event of all was Blaine's Diamond Jubilee in 1959, the year before my family and I moved away.  The whole town was magical then.  Men sported beards and wore black derbies, and were arrested for fun if they didn't comply.  There was a parade and all sorts of celebrations.

There's an official book all about the Jubilee and the history of Blaine's 75 years leading up to it.  My dad was among the many who contributed to it.  And it's fun to see ads from businesses that were active when I lived there and frequented such places as Royal's and Amsberry's.  I'm taking advantage of the fact that this 100-page book isn't copyrighted and am sharing it with you.  To begin, click HERE.

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To see the complete contents of the Butter Rum Cartoon, click HERE.

TRAVELING TO NOWHERE

 While stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina in 1971, an Army buddy, Mark Bergquist, and I used to spend weekends with impromptu adventures. One weekend we hopped a freight. It wasn't as easy as it sounds.  We waited for the train at a railroad crossing in Fayetteville.  Finally when one came, the barrier came down to stop the traffic, and Mark and I ran out in front of everybody to hop the freight.  But the train was going just slightly too fast for us to have the nerve to grab on.  After all the freight cars went by, there the two of us stood, looking like fools.  I didn't look to see the people laughing.

But we waited, we waited for the next train, and ran out in front of everybody again.  This train was a bit slower, and I managed to grab onto the ladder at the end of an empty coal car.  I scrambled up the ladder and dropped down inside the car, and was surprised and thrilled to see Mark had done the same thing at the front of the same car!  We ran and shook hands in celebration.

But after only about a mile, the train pulled into a railroad yard and Mark and I had to do all sorts of acrobatics to escape with our lives. 

We ran into the woods after getting out of the yard, and after trudging through the woods we came upon a barge in the river, untied a metal dinghy off the back end, and journeyed in it down the river, all night. We had no way to steer or control the boat, so let the current take us along, and it was fun, not having a clue where we were, other than North Carolina.  Along the way an owl hooted and we tried to mimic it.  For the rest of our time at Fort Bragg this owl hoot was our secret call to each other.

In the morning we grabbed an overhead tree and climbed down it to the bank. We began walking. 

After awhile Mark stopped, eyes wide, and said, “Look where we are.” All around us were thousands of marijuana plants, towering over our heads! Moments later, we were looking down the barrel of the young farmer’s gun. As he directed us to his house, another young man joined him, also with a gun. Mark and I were fully aware that we might have come to the end of our adventuring.

The two men had us go into their house. They had talked with us during the walk back, and continued to talk with us in the house. By now they were smiling. They put their guns away. We had a very cordial visit, and eventually Mark and I left to try to find our way back to Fort Bragg. I won't confess why they let us go, with smiles and waves.  

The two of us had many other adventures, but above was only one of them, on one weekend.  By the way, we later learned that there's a dam further down that river.  If we hadn't happened to get off the dinghy when we did, we would have lost our lives before trespassing in a marijuana farm.

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For the complete contents of the Butter Rum Cartoon, click HERE. 

I WOULD READ IT

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For the complete contents of the Butter Rum Cartoon, click HERE.

 

Waterville, Washington

 When Micki and I left Bellingham WA with our toddler Leif for our 4,000 mile hitchhiking trip, we had our first unease soon after going over the Cascades, right there in Washington.  We had gotten a ride with an old man and were nearing the little town of Waterville.  But then the man turned off the highway and began driving up a hill.  Micki and I looked at each other with the same question in our eyes, but assumed the man knew of a shortcut.  At least that's what we hoped.  But we climbed further.  Finally on the top of what we now know is Badger Mountain, we stopped; and the old man proudly showed us a beautiful view of his beloved Waterville.  He thought we'd like it, and we did.  Yes, it was out of our way, and yes, he should have eased our minds and told us what he was doing, but to this day, I really like that little town of Waterville.

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For the complete contents of the Butter Rum Cartoon, click HERE.

WAITING

 

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For the complete contents of the Butter Rum Cartoon, click HERE.