Big John wasn’t big on conversation and that was fine for me, I could ramble on with stories all day long.
We were headed north for Springfield, Illinois. My old friend Kevin had suggested I go by there to see where our president Abraham Lincoln was born and raised. Going there didn’t get me much further east, but I wasn’t in any hurry, not any more. The drive was 93 miles. Halfway there we stopped at a roadside park. There were 2 attractive 20 something ladies having lunch. We forgot to stop and grab some food for ourselves, so John and I drank some beer. John and 1 girl took a stroll, while I bored the other one to tears with my navy stories. A half hour later John and the young lady came back and both of them had big smiles on their faces. I can only surmise what they had been doing, but I could remember what put smiles like that on me when I was first married to Joyce. The girls left and we finished off our beers before heading for Springfield.
We saw the sights, Lincoln’s home, his monument, his library and the Capitol dome. All that walking makes a man awfully thirsty, so we stopped at a local watering hole. Inside, we got a lot of stares and a few “Youse 2 ain’t from around here, are ya.” We also found out that the locals didn’t appreciate us being in their establishment. 6 of them approached us with menacing glares on their faces. John and I stood up to face them. John dropped 2 of them, while I took on 1. I soon discovered that while I remembered all of my karate moves to use on the 3rd one. I found out the moves were not effective when used in slow motion from a 79 year old man. I got a few bruises on my face and a sore gut from his punching. John stepped in and rapidly flattened the 3rd guy. The others slithered away. The bar owner had called the cops and they were on their way. John carried me out, put me on the passenger side and started the truck; we headed east in a big hurry.
No comments:
Post a Comment