Ted the traveller

Ted the Traveller

Heading south out of Havasu City, about 20 miles beyond town, we come across a Mesa on the east side of the freeway that had a few R.V’s “ boondocking “ or dry camping. Dry camping is when you park up your motorhome out in the cuds where there are no facilities and rely on your own resources. We decided to pull off the freeway and stay for a few days. We found a fairly flat piece of ground and set up camp. The weather was perfect so we sat outside, with a cold beer and enjoyed the day. A black Honda saloon rolled by then pulled into our camp. The driver side window rolled down and this was our introduction to Ted.

Ted was about my age. He asked if we left Utah to escape the snow then asked if he could join us for a chat. “Please yourself mate “ , says I. He gets out the car and on his left leg below the knee is this clamp like / jig looking thing with bolts and pins and rotators on it. His leg looked like something out of Robocop. There were 2 pins laterally through his knee and then 3 pins were in a line going through his shin. The whole thing was then held together with bolts and swivels. He stands up straight and I ask “ what the funk happened there ? “. He looks down shrugs and says “Oh I got in a tumble with a car and the car won “.I asked him if he wanted a chair and he declined , hobbling round to the back of his car, he pulled out a chair and a beer. Then he hobbled over to us and sat down. Seems he had been crushed by a car a year ago and the clamp thing was the end result. I asked him when the “jig “would be taken off his leg, “ when I decide “, he said ,looking down at it. Then I realized Ted had been on the “sauce “ a bit longer than before the sun had set over the yard arm. He was well drunk innit ?

He starts getting real deep and philosophical. We talked about politics, religion, you name it , it was on the menu. I might add, at this point Mrs. Ellis retreated to the inner sanctum of the bus. She doesn’t suffer strangers lightly. Ted had left home at 16 and hopped on freight trains across America. There was a phrase he used to describe travelling on freight trains and when I asked him the next day, he couldn’t remember what it was. He told me of the people he had met along the way. Ted had got a job on the oilfields and never looked back. He had a gripe with how America was turning out. People were losing the ability to talk. Not communicate but talk.” Any fucker can send an e-mail or a text but ask him to talk to talk to someone, look that person in the eye,, different story “.”People ask how you are doing but they don’t really want to know how you are”. Talk about interesting, this fella had me enthralled. On meeting him for the first time and seeing him living in his car you would think he didn’t have a pot to piss in but that wasn’t the case. He had won a large settlement, which he was living off and had decided to go on the road and find the “real America “.

After about an hour we called it a day as Mrs. Ellis wanted to take the Ginge for a walk before it got too dark. Ted put his chair away and got in his car to park up and sleep. He then made the mistake of driving into the camp next to us. This camp consisted of some big R.v’s and 5^th wheels. They called the Police on Ted. The officer shows up and after talking to Ted drives off.

The next day Ted apologizes to us for any upset he caused us. I told him he didn’t have to apologies as he didn’t upset us. Seems he thought it was us that called him in. He didn’t even remember driving into the other camp. I was surprised as I didn’t think he was that drunk. Mrs Ellis went into “ officer mode “ and told him about being drunk while  driving and its all fun till he drives off the Mesa. The mad part was Ted didn’t recall our big discussion and he ended our chat with “ well sometimes when I am drunk ,I have been known to use big words and get ahead of myself “, then with a shrug and a “ you guys have a great day “ he was gone. Off to wherever else he thought he needed to be to find the America , that he was looking for.

Be safe Ted,,,,,,,and get that leg looked at.