Friday, August 24, 2012

If it's Friday it must be LBC day

Fridays are the day the LBC tests the theory that if you lock a bunch of people in a room and give them a single topic upon which to expound they'll offer as many flavors of commentary as there are people in the room.  This weeks topic is "The oddest place you've slept in/on"

I've pondered this question quite some time now and come to the conclusion that when it comes to sleeping I am flat out boring.  Damn - that kinda sucks!

Best tale I can recall is back in 1976 whilst driving cross country to set up the family tent for Lynn, dog Sherman, cat Mr Peabody and myself in Connecticut I spent a night - along with said animals - Lynn was still in California   at home - at a fleabag no-tell motel in rural Pennsylvania. The back of the room backed up to woods populated with numerous thin trunked trees of a type I never ascertained. There were no curtains over the windows.  All I can say for sure is the animals were freaked out all night and I barely slept at all.  Every horror flick ever made used these woods as a model for the "don't go in there - you're about to die" scene. If it was an episode of Star Trek I surely would have been wearing the red uniform.



When the wind blew, there were branches scraping windows and the roof. I swear on several occasions there were sets of eyes glowing as they stared at Peabody, Sherman and me - I only hoped the tiny splashing sounds were not drool as said critters tried to decide if we were a late dinner or would be breakfast.  I suspect after seeing my circumferentially challenged self they were out looking for a large freezer so they could plan several meals.

Naturally the guy that ran the place looked like the banjo playing kid in Deliverance's older sibling and the only sound out of the radio was Hillbilly Howdown - this of course being long before I moved to Texas and aquired a faux appreciation of country music.  You know the stuff I mean - play it backwards and you get your job back, your girl back and if you're really lucky you get your dog back.  TV was nothing but snow.  Cable was in its infancy and I suspect only available in areas with substantially larger populations.



Finally, after what seemed like an eternity there was sun.  Light.  Yay. 

 I packed up the animals, tossed them into the Plymouth Fury and beat feet the hell outta there. We spent the next few nights with my buddy Stuart in his apartment in New Jersey - Stuart being an engineer with Bell Labs in Holmdel who would go on to be a major player in a somewhat minor invention called the cellular phone.  Needless to say he had a lot of fun at my expense.

That's my tale of how to not get a good night's sleep. Check out what the other LBC members had to say on this week's topic.  Anu, Delirious, gaelikaa, Grannymar, Maxi, Maria SF, ocdwriter, Padmum, PaulRAmana The Old Fossil and Will.

5 comments:

  1. You almost had me scared by all the noises and peeping eyes, I am a poor old wan living alone, remember!

    Those word verification thingys are horrendous today! Grrr. I changed it four times and had to hit ctrl + several times to make anything of them.

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  2. I'm like you, boring in the sleep site category - but, I must admit, you can sure take boring and make it interesting! I was dreading the woods and wondering if your were going to make it.

    Of course, the fact that I was reading what you had written took some of that suspence away.

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  3. This is quite a tale, Rummy. It has everything; boredom, fear, wonderment, mystery, laughter… See, you had a story to tell after all.
    Blessings - Maxi

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  4. Maxi is convinced that only I can come up with eerie stories like that! Just read her comment!!

    Man, you are full of surprises.That is one spooky night you had alright. Like the Bates Motel!

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  5. Great post - love it.

    This stood out for me:
    "this of course being long before I moved to Texas and aquired a faux appreciation of country music. You know the stuff I mean - play it backwards and you get your job back, your girl back and if you're really lucky you get your dog back."

    Lovely stuff.

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