Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2003 08:37:08 -0700
Reply-To: Jim <jrasite@EONI.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jim <jrasite@EONI.COM>
Organization: http://wetwesties.org/
Subject: Frydaye NVC Re: ROAD TRIP!!
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You asked for it... This is a tale best told around the campfire.
In 1978 my first wife, Betsy and I drove across country to see her
sister in Greensboro. After a week there we decided to head up to DC to
visit the Smithsonian. An hour from Greensboro in the the little town of
Roxboro, NC there's a stoplight right at the top of a steep hill. As I
let the clutch out there's a POP and we no go. Sounds like we broke
another axle. BTDT. ('62 Chevy 4x4 Suburban with a 325 hp 327). I
jumped out and locked the front hubs and drove it around the corner to
the convenient NAPA store.
I walked in and asked the guy at the counter if he could get me an axle.
After about fifteen minutes of trying to understand each other, ("What
model?" ""Chevy K-14" "What model?" "K-14" "No, what yar model?") he
says, "Ya'll need Clayton." He disappears in the back for ten minutes
or so than comes back out and says, "He's on his way."
A while later this HUGE tow truck rolls up. Guy jumps out and proceeds
to hook up. His first words to me are, "Ya'll mind holdin' the wheel
so's I don't have to tie it down." So I hop in the truck and wife climbs
into the tow rig. Off we go with me watching where we been.
Twenty miles later we roll up in front of this shop with some of the
biggest machines I'd ever seen. Turns out to be "tree harvesters."
Drive them through the forest and rip the trees out by the roots.
Awesome! Anyway, we go into the shop and Clayton gets on the phone.
After about an hour on the hook, he says, "I found one. But it comes
from Leroy." I tell him that I don't care who it comes from, I need an
axle. He says, "Well, Leroy's colored and some folks er funny that way."
I assure him that an axle is an axle. (So, this is the south.....)
We call Betsy's sister to come pick us up and get us back to Greensboro.
While we're waiting, we get to chatting. Clayton was 56 years old and
had been to Charlotte. Once. Spent his whole life in Roxboro. Big fan of
Cale. Aha! Common ground! I LIKE Cale! (Yarborough) He's one of the
stars in the race that made NASCAR a TV sport.
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/auto_technology/1998/8/nascar_turns_50/>
A few days later, Clayton calls and says that it's finished. I ask, "How
much?" (At this point I'm envisioning $$$$. California plates,
long-hair, tie-dye curtains in the Suburban, etc.) Clayton says, "Well,
there's the axle, the seal, the gasket and the greeze. The labor and the
tow. How's about thirty dollar?"
So.... If you're ever around Roxboro, NC, look up Clayton Schul. He's a
good ole boy that didn't rip off one o' them Californie hippies. If you
can find him, you might tell him that he's well remembered.
And we didn't make it to DC......
Jim
Chris Radcliffe wrote:
>Uh huh. Uh huh. So Jim. Please tell us more about that "acquaintance"!
>It's (nearly) Friday, after all.
>
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