{"id":2192,"date":"2023-09-20T01:14:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-20T01:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/?p=2192"},"modified":"2023-08-19T13:32:19","modified_gmt":"2023-08-19T13:32:19","slug":"chap-10-hint-of-trouble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/?p=2192","title":{"rendered":"Chap. 10 – Hint of Trouble"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chapter 10<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Hint of Trouble Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Traveling down Interstate 5 from Portland to Sacramento we continued to be blessed with warm shirt-sleeve weather.  The rain had stopped.  We were going to Sacramento to visit Ken Vardaman, Max\u2019s ex- brother-in-law.  Sally, of course, was skeptical about doing this without Max on board.  But, on the phone, back in Boulder with Eloise, Max explained to us why we would really like meeting this guy: \u201cI was in medical school at the U back in the early \u201880s.  Reagan was President.  Contra-gate was going on.  Lisa, later my bride, was selling kisses with a sign, \u2018Make Love, Not War,\u2019 at a softball tournament.  It was a benefit raising money for the Nicaraguans battling Reagan\u2019s Contras.  I got back in line for a second kiss, got her number; six months later we got married.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cLisa grew up in California.  She and her brother Ken were big-time anti-war activists in the \u201860s.  Ken\u2019s still big into that.  Just a few years ago I had to bail him out again \u2013 protesting something I don\u2019t remember.  He seems to get busted with Hollywood celebs, so he\u2019s well-connected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Ken was expecting us and had heard about our antics to date.  He couldn\u2019t stop exclaiming how excited he was to be in the company of agitators, 60s rebels, intent on stirring up trouble all over the land.  Though some of us tried to downplay the agitators\/stirring-up trouble part, Ken convinced us we needed to make the Land Yacht a primed-for-TV-spectacle, \u201cJust add Rainbow Racing Stripes.  This is not Montana.  You guys will be welcome up and down the Coast, and the more trouble you stir-up the more popular you\u2019ll be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Ken lived by himself in a small apartment but had lined up some friends to take in those not sleeping in the Land Yacht – which was in the shop, and not just for racing stripes.  California, we were told, has electric charging stations every 50 miles.  Sally, after being shown the numbers (she was a successful investment advisor after all), was convinced to lay out the bucks to have the Land Yacht retrofitted with a plug-in battery to save money on fuel costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Patty was one of those farmed out to a friend while the Land Yacht was getting its makeover.  Patty was a locally (in Minnesota) famous movie producer.  Patty liked western wear, flannel shirts, a sparkly belt, and cowboy boots.  A short, amply-figured, dark-haired beauty, Patty claimed she got on the bus \u201cbecause I\u2019d rather live with five guys than one.\u201d  Truth be told, she was between movies and on a quest to find something or someone to become part of her life story.  Patty was good at egging us on to do things we\u2019d never do at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Patty stayed with a movie maker friend of Ken\u2019s who convinced Patty she was in the midst of her next great film and should start videoing everything about the Land Yacht and its adventures for all the world to see:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \u201cNot just the panoramic views, that\u2019s a given on any road trip,\u201d she told Patty, \u201cbut the     chance encounters, a road trip where you get lost, get entangled in unplanned events.  Movie-going Americans are starved for the next great road trip movie, a Thelma & Louise <\/em>or Easy Rider<\/em> – a time before Siri was giving directions.  Too many zombies today only doing what they\u2019re told to do.  Think of your RV as seven weirdos doing whatever you want, getting along with everybody – or nobody, traveling across Georgia O\u2019Keeffe\u2019s weirdest landscapes.\u201d      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Skip was also farmed out to one of Ken\u2019s friends, a guy named Gordy.  At the time Skip had no idea how fateful Gordy would be to the Rumpkins’ future. On departing Sacramento, he didn’t even know Gordy’s last name. It wasn\u2019t until we were on the East Coast, months later, that Skip told us that the guy he was staying with, Gordy, was once a fugitive from justice and had done serious time for being part of a revolutionary gang<\/em> known<\/em> as<\/em> the<\/em> SLA<\/em>.  Although Rocky was clued in early, Skip was correct in his assessment that any connection of the Land Yacht to the SLA might scare off some of us from any further \u201ctrouble-making.\u201d  Even Skip might have called the whole rest of the trip off \u2013 if he knew then how much the SLA, and Gordy, were going to become part of his future.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, we motored on toward our unexpected confrontation with terrorism.      Leaving Sacramento, Ken gave us the names of his Hollywood connections, and the videographer Patty had stayed with said she\u2019d join us once we got to L.A., \u201cGo get some good footage,\u201d she said firmly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter 10 A Hint of Trouble Ahead      Traveling down Interstate 5 from Portland to Sacramento we continued to be blessed with warm shirt-sleeve weather.  The rain had stopped.  We were going to Sacramento to visit Ken Vardaman, Max\u2019s ex- … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2192"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2756,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192\/revisions\/2756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}