240923 Youngstown New York

The drive was 432 miles, the longest leg of our journey.

We were tired by the time we got to Youngstown, New York. We were both shocked by the small size of the Village. The population was barely over 2 thousand people. It was the polar opposite of Youngstown, Pennsylvania.

We were out of gas and beer by the time we rolled into town. The village was so small you could blink your eyes and miss it. I fueled up the truck and went inside to pay for the gas and get a 12 pack of beer. John stayed outside to speak to some young men hanging around outside the convenience store. I assume he was lecturing them on the value of living a good and moral life and to go to church on Sunday. He came in after his lecture and bought a huge bag of potato chips and a bag of cheese puffs. I thought that was odd, but let it go for the moment.

We stopped a few miles outside Youngstown and set up camp in a small roadside park. We were drinking our beers when I ran out of smokes. I was going to go over to the truck for cigarettes when John offered me a smoke he had. I took it and lit up the cigarette. It was very strong and I coughed; I asked John, “where did you get these?” He replied “from the young men outside the convenience store”. By the time I finished that smoke, I was feeling pretty good. John gave me another and then I was really feeling great! I was terribly hungry though, so John opened the chips and the cheese puffs. We were chomping them down when I looked up into the sky and I thought I saw a flying saucer. The saucer landed close by us and out came some strange looking creatures. They came over and picked me up and then took me to the saucer and we flew away. They put me on a table and started probing me. I yelled “stop” but they ignored me and kept on probing me all over. It was horrific!

I woke up screaming; it was all a nightmare, brought on perhaps by those smokes John had given me. I vowed to never smoke them again.