The Northern half of Israel is totally different
than the South. The North is a more lush
and tropical setting with banana trees and citrus groves everywhere. One area by the Dead Sea called En-Gedi even
warns hikers to beware of Jaguars and hungry monkeys.
As you make your way mid way down, you come across a
place called Masada. There is a movie
about this place that is more interesting than I can tell so rent it. This is however where I found a coin from the
Byzantine era at the base area of Masada.
When on top of Masada, you can look over to the Dead Sea. This is supposed to be the lowest place on
earth…13ft below sea level…something like that.
After that, the place starts getting back to the desert terrain again.
I could go on and on about Israel but who
cares. Go there yourself if you can or
look at the pictures in my photo album.
I will try to put some of the better ones in this paper.
OK. I was in
Israel for close to 2 years.
Unfortunately, before coming over, while working with dad, I had signed
up for delayed enlistment in the Air Force.
I was to be in boot camp, Lackland Air force base, San Antonio Texas
July 10th. Did I forget this part?
This won’t take long. I signed up to be an air traffic
controller. During this time, there was
a need for controllers in America so I thought I would make my millions doing
this.
I went through boot, and due to my position, I was
required to take 4 more physicals than the other people during the course of
boot and tech school. I was in 2 month’s
and 15 days when I took the last of my physicals. On the last one, I was told that my left ear
had missed a tone on that hearing test do-hickey and I had failed the exam…no
problem, give me a different job…something good. They gave me grass cutting…GRASS
CUTTING!!!!!!!4 years of grass cutting!
Either that, or an honorable discharge with medical. I told them that I would take the honorable
but not with a medical reason. This
might hurt me in the end. The guy in
charge told me that he would take care of it…and then I was out. That’s it…my military career.
Well, when I came home to Colorado, it was the
middle of September. September is cold
and snowy in Durango…at least it was that year.
Julie picked me up at the airport in Durango. I was kind of hoping to stay with her and her
family for a little bit. Unfortunately,
Jeff, her husband, had a big case of “something up his butt” and said I
couldn’t stay. Julie and I talked him in
to letting me stay one night though. The
next day I ran around town with Julie looking for a car. I ended up buying a $1,500 Pontiac Astra
station wagon for transportation after I borrowed the money from the folk’s
long distance. (At this time, mom and
dad had completed the Israel job and had moved right into another position in
Venezuela).
For the next few months’, I lived in my car in the
middle of winter, parked along the side streets in town during the nights and
working a Taco John’s during the day. I
worked a lot of shifts so I could stay indoors where it was warm too. During my spare time, I would run over to
Julie’s house while Jeff was at work and take showers.
My memory and time frames start giving out at this
point in time. I do remember that I had
called Suzie (from College) to see how she was doing. She was now working for an airline in Chico
California in reservations for Pacific Express airlines.
Somehow she talked me into coming out to Chico and
attending the airline school to become a reservations person also. It cost $5,000 and 3 months. I took the opportunity and headed out to
Chico.
Chico is on the Northern half of California by the
way. My Pontiac was a faithful piece of
metal until the last 100 miles of the trip…it’s all uphill. The clutch was going out and the blown head
gasket was too much for it to stand. I
pulled into the airline school parking lot and it gave up the ghost. As a side note…it stayed there 4 years after
I had left in the same spot until some one finally called it in as
abandoned. They’re quick in Chico. Anyway, I had to borrow her bicycle to get
back and forth to school. After 3
month’s of school, I passed with flying colors.
School was pretty intense so I didn’t get a job while in school. I was slowly running out of money. Can you tell that things had been on a
downward spiral since the Air force?
After graduating, everyone goes into reservations to
start their “career”. After a few years
in this position, you can move up to ticket counter agent and work at the local
airport in Chico. Actually it was more
of an airstrip than airport…it was small.
That year however, the company was short agents. They picked 4 people out of our class to be
ticket agents. Why they picked the new
people I don’t know. I know it made a
lot of people mad. This position meant
more money and prestige and I was one of the people picked. I thought…cool!, more money, and I’m right by
the airport…OK! Unfortunately, it wasn’t
this airport I would be working at.
Los Angeles International Airport was the
choice. The airline had gotten set up
there right across the isle from Pan Am.
Of course this meant moving to L.A.
And we had to pay our own expenses.
Remember now, I have little to no money and no car for transportation. Just when things are looking up…
A friend of mine drove me down to L.A. I had enough money to stay a couple of nights
in a hotel just off the main drag by the airport. Payday was just around the corner in 2 weeks
and I figured I would get something before to long so I wasn’t worried about
it.
Two weeks is a long time. Have you ever been on standby or delayed in
an airport? You know the chairs in the
waiting areas at the gates? Not the
plastic ones…the cushy ones with the coffee stains…yep, those. If you pick the ones in the corner with the
armrests that fold up, they make a pretty good bed. Who would know…lots of people in LAX sleep in
chairs at all hours of the day. I
blended in great. I also lucked out when
I found that one of the main janitor closets was no more than 20 feet from the
counter. This baby had it all. It had hooks for hanging things and it had a
shower basin for ringing out mops and a hand held showerhead. Heaven I tell you…heaven. It was so good that I never bothered getting
an apartment…not that I could afford one or get back and forth to work.
I would still be living in hog heaven today if the
company had filed bankruptcy 3 months after I started. One day you’re living high…the next morning,
you’re on the streets of LA.
This was in ’82 / ‘83 I think…don’t ask. I took a bus home and I don’t remember chain
of events. At some point, I went to a
town of Goodyear where my folks had gone after completing their tour in
Venezuela. They were working as
apartment managers there.
I went and stayed there with them and helped out and
also took a job in a circle k store on the corner up the street. I did the 3:00p to 11:00p shift. This left me all day to run and work
out. I had started to run in Israel and
the service and kept it going. I ran 5
miles a day and lifted weight at the local gym.
I didn’t have any friends to speak of.
I knew one gal who worked as a dancer who came in the store a lot and
that was it.
We were here until dad again answered an ad and
found himself and me in Tucson at a company called Exportran. They were hiring for a project in Doha
Qatar…the Persian Gulf area. Mom stayed
in Goodyear until dad sent for her.
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