Da's Uncle Luther

Went to visit his daughter in Portland last month.

It was a pretty big deal.

He is 86, we think, but he had never flown

on a jet before

So in order to preserve his perfect record, he

took the bus.

Meridian to Portland, with 25 stops along the way.
It took him a week to get there, because he got confused
in St. Louis, transferred onto the wrong bus
and wound up in Pittsburgh the next morning.

At that point, he panicked at the thought of having to
negotiate all of the stops between Pennsylvania
and California, so he hitchhiked up to Boston,
had a bowl of beans and

took the train.

I don't want to think what that was like for his fellow
passengers

Luther's daughter is Missy Jean and Da says that she is
a nice lady. Uncle Luther is ok, too as much as an
86 year old farmer can be, who before last month
had never been further from Okalona, Mississippi
than a trip he made to the state fair in Jackson
back in 1964.

The visit didn't go very well. Jean has became a west
coast girl in her years away from Oklaona.
You know the type? Slim, good hair, nice condo,
fancy furniture, uppity friends. Luther just simply
didn't fit in with the people Jean hangs with,
most of whom had never met an 86 year old
476 pound watermelon farmer.

I think what ruined
the visit was the night Luther got tanked up on corn
whiskey during a dinner party Jean was throwing for him,
lost his footing and stumbled, while trying to get up the stairs
after excusing himself at 8:45 pm, which was a half hour
past his bedtime and, well ...

Maybe it's best I just show you
what Jean will always remember about the visit
her Dad made to San Diego.

He certainly made an impression on her friends.