Chapter 4

They left Lodi rising 17. After the 'incident' at the park, they bought a vehicle ... NOT a new vehicle. Billy had a minimum of mechanical skills.

In 1963 cars had carburetors with adjustment screws, distributors had points and 'timing', some cars had valve adjusters, some trucks had so much room between the engine and fenders a mechanic could climb in and stand with both feet on the ground to change spark plugs and the like. Billy could do that and was reasonable at it.

Both of them could drive a standard shift and use a clutch. They both liked Vans.

A good VW van ... a split window, was a collector in 2001, and that was out of their reach. Besides, a split didn't go uphill worth a rats ass ... nowhere near enough power.

However, in the early to late sixties, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Defense, both bought a pile of Dodges ... Vans, cars, pickups, and BIG trucks ... heavy haulers all.

The Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and the Park Service bought Town Wagons, Power Wagons, D200 and D350 pickups in two and four wheel drive ... and stick shift.

They weren't fancy ... a glovebox door, a heater and an AM radio were the extent of luxury. But they were ALL sturdy and they went ANYWHERE.

The Airforce bought Town Wagons and Four by Four pickups by the hundreds, so did the Navy.

The Army was still into big trucks and little jeeps.

In Armadillo, the Airforce had a huge junkyard with row upon row of wrecked or wornout Dodge Town Wagons and short box 4x4 dodge pickups. Sometimes the wreck was a cracked windshield and sometimes it was a rollover down a mountainside ... and everything in-between.

Texans love OLD Chevrolets and certain old Fords but they have no use for Dodges.

The pile of wounded Dodges got bigger every year until about 1978 or '79 when the military got smart and bought vehicles with resale value.

They started getting every option made because civilians would buy the used ones.

The pile of Airforce vehicles kept growing. As Dodges wore out they were shipped to NewCastle Wyoming, and Armadillo Texas, and a couple of other places. But we're interested in Amarillo.

That's where Billy and Wili stopped to regroup and regenerate.

Before Wendy and David became taillights in the distance, Wendy stopped and bought some Christmas wrapping paper, a couple of check sized boxes and dug into the wealthy duffle.

She took two bundles of pre 1928 hundreds and 'gift' wrapped them. She included bows and fancy ribbons and generally had a ball packing a hundred thousand dollars split between two christmas presents.

The note taped to the presents said, "Do not open til Christmas ... I'll know if you do and send Karma after you." The note in the box said ... take one bill to a collector and see what you can get for it.

She handed Wili the gifts and hugged her. Wili slipped both of them in her paisley back pack and mostly forgot about it.

While Santa was having fun, David and Billy were moving Goodwill Furniture into a garage apartment not unlike the one David had had in Lansing. A heated 24 by 24 two stall garage with a one room living space above it.

Bed in a corner, a sink, a shower, a Porta-John, a two burner stove with an oven just big enough for two cornish game hens or a small chicken and a small fridge. An Aladdin mantle lamp for light and a 13 inch TV for entertainment. Two chairs and a drop-leaf table and they were good to go.

Wendy paid the rent and utilities for six months in advance..."So I won't worry about you being in a shelter."

Billy and David unloaded the '40 sedan delivery and searched the Dodge pile for a usable Town Wagon and a 3/4 ton short box 4x4 pickup with a shot body but good running gear.