40 years later

[Piggymon]

I stayed at Mrs. Rubys in 69 and 70. The flight from Miami was $56. round trip and the exchange rate was .80 to $1. US.
The Reef was spectacular back then. I enjoyed seeing the Conch Shell hill in the beach photo. That is something that we don't see much of any more. You are spot on about Mrs. Ruby. She was like a mom to so many of us young travelers.

Nick, I read a post in the linked archived thread by you. You wrote that you hitched hiked down to Miami from Pittsburgh to save money the first time you visited. I used to hitch hike down to Miami from Pittsburgh and back to save money too. Took my girlfriend from CMU with me a couple of times too.

Once while hitchhiking back from a trip to Negril, my buddy and I made it as far as the Cumberland Gap in Maryland. One had to get though the mountains to get between I-95 in Washington DC and the PA Turnpike. It was winter so it gets dark early. We were stuck at a lonely spot with few cars passing us. It had not been cold earlier in the day, but as it grew later and the sun dropped lower, it got colder and colder. We did not have warm jackets on, just short leather jackets more appropriate for Miami than Pennsylvania. Where we were hitchhiking at there were no gas stations or stores around that we could go to get warm. During this trip, as part of the energy crisis, there were no gas stations allowed to be open on Sunday. And this was Saturday evening, so if we did not get a ride soon, there was not going to be any rides available for a day. Since we were on the return leg of the trip, we were broke, so getting a hotel room or catching a bus was out of the question. As we were jumping up and down and beating ourselves with our arms in a vain attempt to keep warm, a car driven by a young guy finally stopped. He was heading west but he was worried about not being able to get gas on Sunday. My buddy told him that if he got us to his father's house, he would get him enough gas to get to his destination. He got us home and my buddy siphoned enough gas to get our benefactor to his journey's end.

[lisapat]

Hard to believe this was a few years before americans en masse had even heard of Bob Marley and the Wailers, much less Chris Blackwell, I wonder if folks even knew what "reggae" was back then....Calypso, I'm sure...guess James Bond and Harry Belafonte were all folks could relate to the island then

[Rambo]

our first was in mid 80's and a store like Best Buy had 2 Bob Marley Cassettes, and this is Rockford, Il I'm referring to...ask most people, the reply was who?

[garysteph1018]

Piggymon this is the stuff books are made of! Your first set of pics, the one of the little girl, made me smile... I'm guessing she & I would be ab the same age... wonder where she is now I so enjoy the back in the day stories & oh how I wish I could have some of my own. These stories make me so jealous, but at the same time they make me adore JA even more!

[Piggymon]

Piggymon this is the stuff books are made of! Your first set of pics, the one of the little girl, made me smile... I'm guessing she & I would be ab the same age... wonder where she is now I so enjoy the back in the day stories & oh how I wish I could have some of my own. These stories make me so jealous, but at the same time they make me adore JA even more!

That was one cute little girl. She was not too sure about me. I loved the bit of the dirty look that she was giving me. Her slightly older brother was very friendly.

If you like stories about back in the day, reading this forum and doing some searching, I found that a guy who posts on this forum wrote a book about what Negril was like back in the day. Of course it is a novel and so it has a bit of The Boxcar Kids or Robinson Crusoe flavor to it, but there is a still a lot of good information and it captures the spirit of the times very well. I downloaded it from Lulu for $10 and read it that same afternoon in one sitting.

Island Odyssey: Ghetto Flowers in Paradise

By Francis Oliver Lynn
http://www.lulu.com/shop/francis-oli...-20592072.html

Perhaps you would like to download a copy and read about the good old days in Negril.

[Nick]

Piggymon. That Chalice brings back some memories. When I first reached Mrs. Rubies after taking de bus from Montego, My friend and traveling buddy Pete the Freak went out looking for revolutionaries and returned with these Rasta guys. well it was dark and with no electricity then on Red Ground we lit a hurricane lamp, a mosquito coil and the Rasta guys broke out the chalice. There seemed to be a competition to see who could make the largest cloud and then inhale it. Thank God there were no cars back then because I ended up earning my nick name for that reach, "The guy who slept in the road all night long" Oh and BTW that Photo of Paul is priceless. You might want to send him a copy. I wish I would have brought a camera back then, but when you are young you never figgure that things will change.

[original spanky]

paul mccartney- we heard they were at the sundowner when we were there in 74. Piggymon think that was when u saw them ?

[Piggymon]

1974 sounds about right, OS. I had been going to Negril for a while, actually every chance I could get, but the beach was still mostly wild and unclaimed.

[Piggymon]

Piggymon. That Chalice brings back some memories. When I first reached Mrs. Rubies after taking de bus from Montego, My friend and traveling buddy Pete the Freak went out looking for revolutionaries and returned with these Rasta guys. well it was dark and with no electricity then on Red Ground we lit a hurricane lamp, a mosquito coil and the Rasta guys broke out the chalice. There seemed to be a competition to see who could make the largest cloud and then inhale it. Thank God there were no cars back then because I ended up earning my nick name for that reach, "The guy who slept in the road all night long"

I remember lighting one or two of those mosquito coils and sliding them under my bed before I went out on the town so that the mosquitoes would be suppressed by the time I staggered home after a night of drinking rum and cokes. It seems like they were made in China or Hong Kong. I seem to remember a picture of a fish on the box.

I must have forgotten to light them up one night, because I woke up with a bunch of mosquito bites, all on them on the tops of my feet, in the middle of the night. The itching was driving me crazy and I didn't have anything for bites. Then I remembered that I had a stash of coke and how it was good at making things numb. I wet a finger, dipped it into the blow, and rubbed it over the bites. Worked like a charm and I was back asleep in no time.

[Piggymon]

Hey all you 70s Negril folks, here is a novel set in Negril in the early 70s - it'll stimulate memories and perhaps inspire you all to start writing your stories - it's all great stuff! I took my experiences and created a fictional novel - it was fun to write, lots of great experiences to draw from - we all have them, especially the 70ers!
Francis Oliver Lynn (Fren-mon): Island Odyssey Ghetto Flowers in Paradise

PAPER BACK
https://www.createspace.com/4258190
E-BOOK
http://www.amazon.com/ISLAND-ODYSSEY.../dp/B005TVG54A

I read the entire thing in one sitting and I must say that the book really captures the essence of the times.