We are now in the second week of our tour. Last week we stayed around the south MA. This week we’re heading out to PA, Ohio, and MI. From MA we drove south near ’bout to NYC. There we turned west. That put us in PA.
I’ve always thought TN Hwy 40 had too many trucks. But PA coming out if NY is nothing but trucks. Especially now that I’ve had my closest brush (and I do mean Brush) with death by truck
When we were on hwy 80, 100 miles east of Ohio, we were behind 3 trucks. All in the right lane. (to make this easy to follow as possible I’m giving them names.) The first one I’ll call “Leader”. The middle one is “Tanker”. The rear one is “Roy”. Jack was driving, I was passenger seat.
Jack likes his cruise control. So we were passing at a steady speed. Leader seemed to be not going fast enough so Tanker was following Leader too close In the same way Roy was following Tanker too close. About the time Jack gets beside Roy’s rear wheel, Tanker starts to pass Leader.Tanker either sees us or something that makes him pull back in. But not until Hot Rod Roy has closed the gap. When Tanker pulls back in the right lane,Roy is accelerating and right on Tanker. We are alongside Roy. Roy, seeing our lane as the only way to avoid rear ending Tanker begins passing Tanker. The mtnz of PA have guard rails very near the lane of traffic. THERE WE WERE!!!!!!
Roy is doing a balancing act between Tanker and us. We are doing a balancing act between the guard rail and Roy. Each could be equally hazardous. We continued blowing our horn and moving over as close to the rail as possible. I could have read a newspaper if it were on that truck. Seriously!!!! When Roy made contact with us, I was surprised the card didn’t move or even respond in any way (I was not surprised he made contact with us). One heartbeat later (which was pretty quick at that point) he had passed, we were behind him and we were free!!!!!!!
At the rest stop we examined the car. The nick on the mirror is the Point Of Contact!!!!
This is the deal….to all my friends who are always saying “Be careful out there”. Thanks and keep on telling me. And every once in a while, Thank God. I will, too.
May 3rd, 2012
I am and will be eternally grateful for Jesus and what He’s done for me. But at this moment in time, I’m glad for this fried egg, toast, tea, and the pipe(tobacco) I’m going to smoke on my back porch!!! Lent is over!!!!
Every year I have a Lenten formula
1-I do not add salt to food (if it’s in the recipe I leave it in. I just don’t add salt) Needless to say, eggs have not been fun. But today…..
2-I don’t add sugar. (same rule) I’m from the deep south, so it hurts not adding sugar to tea!!
3-To keep it from becoming a negative experience, I pray for 50 people a day. Keep in mind, I have 7 children and 12 grandchildren. Then God sons and Daughters. Siblings, in-laws, parents, etc. So it’s not that hard to do. So, when I lie down at night and remember how bad that egg tasted without salt I turn it into a good thing and run through those names. While I don’t expect God to slap me for the times I slipped, and I don’t expect rewards for following my self imposed rules, I do expect those prayers to make their lives better in whatever way God sees fit.
I think next year I’m going to early church again, so I can come home, eat fried egg with salt, tea with lots of sugar , light up my pipe, and be thankful for the people of love . HAPPY HOLIDAYS
April 8th, 2012
(Notice it is not “Baseball”. It is Base Ball!)
This is a px of their 1866 team. They have a club house with 4-6 big rooms for functions and dinners. That’s where I performed last night. About 50 people, no mics, and a great town. Jack and Wepecket records sponsors concerts monthly. The next month’s show is Jeff Warner from Portsmouth, NH. He is one of my favorites. Tells great stories, plays bones, banjo. I’m thinking about staying up here just to hear him!!! (Don’t tell my wife! She expects me home tomorrow?!?!$
March 4th, 2012
Interesting thing happened crossing the border into Canada. Adam Hayes (co owner of Frank Jones Corner) was driving and I was in the passengers seat. When we drove up to the booth and handed our passports, Adam referred to himself as “driver/bodyguard”…..
” Why don’t you pull your car into this area so we can search it!”!?!?!?!?
“What are these?”
“Those are CD’s. I picked those up in North Carolina for my friend in Toronto. He had them pressed in North Carolina , and asked me if I would bring them up.”
“I see 50 per box , 8 boxes. That’s 400 CD’s They are packaged for sell and not promotion. So we’re gonna figure he’s going to sell them. If we figure $5.00 each x 13% sales tax. That’s a little over $200.00 . If you go into the next room she’ll figure it up and take the money.”
“Are you saying I have to pay $200.00?”
“Someone at the desk will tell you exactly how much.”
“Sir, these are not mine, and I’d be happy to leave them here. First, let me call my friend to tell him I’m leaving his CD’s at the border.” But I didn’t have his #!!! However, I was supposed to play at the Orangeville Blues Festival in 4 hours. The organizer of the festival, Larry Kurtz, was good friends with Brian Blain, owner of the CDs. I did have his #, (sort of)
So, this is the picture…..
Brian has a new CD, and I’m entering the country with 400 old issue, overrun CD’s that he doesn’t expect to sell. The Canadian Customs wants ME to pay $200 tax on them. I’ve called the organizer of the festival (hundreds of people, 30 bands, 5 stages) and left a message with a Canadian Customs call back # asking him if he’s seen Brian. I didn’t expect it to work, but what on earth was I going to do?!?!?! I could see no solution Wait!!! Maybe I’ll leave half of them here, just pay $100, collect it from Brian and say “Sorry”. Besides, time was wasting I was suppose to be performing North of Toronto in 4 hours!!!
Before I could execute my ” leave half behind” plan, the cashier pecked on some buttons and said “$57.00″ God Loves Me!!!!
I handed her $60.00.
“Oh, I’m sorry Mr Dillon I made a mistake.”( Oh, no! Does that mean God kinda loves me?”
In US money, that’s $64.00. I gave her another $5, kept all the CD’s, knew God really loves me and got the hell out of Dodge.
June 8th, 2011
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“Down at the Rite Aid.” …
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