40 years later

[Piggymon]

Link from the old board back in 2009. You can follow the older posts in this link by clicking on the archive links at the top of the page in the link.

http://www.negril.com/discus/message...41/188793.html

Thanks for the link!

[Piggymon]

piggymon.. you still got the hair?

It is funny. I am an old fart now, but I still have a full head of thick hair. There is a little gray in it, but not much. But I am a crazy bald head now. I keep my hair short and to keep it short, I have my wife use the clippers on it every week. If I skip a week, it gets long and thick and I know I need a haircut. One thing about keeping the hair real short, I don't have to use a hair dryer or a brush. It is wash and wear.

I had long hair on my first trip to Colombia, but after that first trip to Santa Marta, I decided that discretion is the better part of valor and adopted a shorter hair style.



With the military behind us.



On my way home with my bolsa.

[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.

[Piggymon]

[QUOTE=Piggymon;76897]Hans and Eleanor, I had forgotten their names. It seems like there was a sign in the Sands that notified everyone that Eleanor was the "Brown Butch of the Beach"."

Edit, that was "Brown B*itch of the Beach". I don't know how B*itch became butch. It is either my Someheimer's or spell check fixed it for me and I did not notice. Eleanor was always nice to me and feminine so I did not want to let that Butch thing stand.

I guess now that my word was changed into a group of asterisks, I know how it was changed.

[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]

Attachment 21914

Nice pictures, PT John. I don't remember anyone wearing a sport coat in Negril, but it looks good on you. That does not look like a Red Stripe bottle you are holding or a Heineken bottle, which was brewed by the same brewery as Red Stripe, D&G. It looks like a brown long neck bottle. Do you remember what you were drinking when the picture was taken?

[captaind]

[QUOTE=Piggymon;80710]

Hans and Eleanor, I had forgotten their names. It seems like there was a sign in the Sands that notified everyone that Eleanor was the "Brown Butch of the Beach"."

Edit, that was "Brown B*itch of the Beach". I don't know how B*itch became butch. It is either my Someheimer's or spell check fixed it for me and I did not notice. Eleanor was always nice to me and feminine so I did not want to let that Butch thing stand.

I guess now that my word was changed into a group of asterisks, I know how it was changed.

Here's a video of Eleanor and I trying to do a video commercial

https://vimeo.com/57807813

[Piggymon]

[QUOTE=captaind;80727]

Here's a video of Eleanor and I trying to do a video commercial

https://vimeo.com/57807813

Cool breeze, D! That is the lady I remember. Man it is nice to see her again in a video like that. It really brings back the memories.

Thanks for much!

[captaind]

On January 28, 1986 G and I went down to the beach from the yard to get the boats ready to rent.

As soon as we got there Eleanor came up and said "did you hear the American shuttle blew up"

Only 27 years ago but it stands out in my mind

[pine tree john]

Nice pictures, PT John. I don't remember anyone wearing a sport coat in Negril, but it looks good on you. That does not look like a Red Stripe bottle you are holding or a Heineken bottle, which was brewed by the same brewery as Red Stripe, D&G. It looks like a brown long neck bottle. Do you remember what you were drinking when the picture was taken?

guessing thats a stripe bottle, long necks were around until the mid 70's.thats not me .from march of '77