This thread has been inspired by Linda Carter, the Queen, aka rackmsuckr.
Her thread is GREAT and the stories have been fun.
For some of us AZers, we have road stories whether we call them road stories or not. I consider a road story any pool trip that is an overnight stay in the quest of cueing whether it be gambling, tournament play or simply sweating other gambling matches. The only prerequisite to this thread is it has to be about YOU.
My story probably won't be as exciting as many of your stories but ....
Once upon a time, a long, long time ago..........
It was actually 1979. I had purchased a very small, new car, a Datsun B 210 complete with a/c and standard shift; a cool $5500.00. Bobby Hedrick, a pool player from Jackson, MS and I decided to make a road trip in my new ride. With the wife's permission (I married an angel), we set out on the road for at least 7 days maybe 9 if things went well. Our goal was to travel light, play hard, win a few dollars to cover expenses and see if we could make it on the road without having to spend much money.
Bobby was an experienced road player and at this time I could run a rack maybe every Fat Tuesday, although I was a determined competitor picking my spots. I had learned to become particularly adept at playing the gambling pinball machines and could beat most machines which had the tilt mechanism set at a reasonable point. So the game plan was for me to play the pinball machines (I was barred from playing them in Jackson, MS) and Bobby would be the pool player. We traveled at light speed across the Mississippi heading for Augusta, Ga where Bobby had some action lined up for him. Along the way we would stop at different pool halls seaching for easy action and loose pinball machines with good tilt mechanisms in them. I had developed a skill where I could hit the pinball machines with extreme force but tilt them seldom. This allowed me to play a little better than most people and besides that God gave me the reflexes of a Mongoose and the eyes of an eagle. So watching that ball go this way and that and knowing when to hit the machine to make the ball fall into the hole was a gift that paid dividends even at $.05 per game. They had just come out with the machines that cost $.10 a game and they were my favorite.
Anyway, I get to playing a $.10 a game pinball machine and run it up to a little over $150 or 1500 games. Sorry that I don't remember the names of the places or even the cities. We were in Bobby's country and I wasn't familiar with traveling in this part of the country. I'm wailing away on the machine looking to win more because the machine doesn't tilt that easy and I am just winning again and again. Finally the owner, who didn't know me from Adam, walks up to me and says 'THE MACHINE IS BROKE". I look to the side and I don't know he is the owner and I tell him, "No, it's not broke, it's working fine." Bad answer.. He bellows at me that at the end of the game he was turning the machine off because 'IT IS BROKE. Nobody beats my machines like this. It must be too loose and can't tighten up", he cried. Well at this point, I was just hoping to get paid and pay us he did. He had a couple of other pinball machines but they tilted a little too easy for my taste so we passed on any further hospitality and went on down the road. Bobby and I ate and lived "high on the hog" for those 9 days, eating steak until we couldn't stand it any longer. Bobby beat everyone he played, although he didn't bet very high. He and I won enough money to pay for all of the motels, food, gas and other expenses for the nine days and we each had a little over $100 more than we left with when we returned to Jackson.
But that isn't the end of the story and if you aren't bored to death yet, bear with me. We are in Augusta, Ga and driving into the town we are getting close to the motel Bobby wants us to stay at. Back then, I carried a freshwater fishing rod and reel with small amount of tackle everywhere I went. I am looking out the window of the car and I see this beautiful dark water underneath these bridges and overpasses and there isn't a boat in the water nor do I see any marinas or backdown ramps. Now I don't have a boat but I have the passion and so a few more blocks and we cruise into the parking lot of the motel and check in. It is about an hour before dark and I ask the check-in lady if she knew anything about the water by the bridges and the overpass holding any fish, particularly Bass. She says "no honey, no body fishes in them there waters". So I ask her if she thinks I could walk down the road and fish by the side of the bridges and she says "sure but you are just wasting your time". I ask her if I go down there and catch some fish, do you want me to bring them to you". She said "Sure, bring all you can catch", cackling all the while, knowing that I had about 45 minutes of daylight left. I promptly grabbed my rod and reel, a couple of plastic worms and a broken-tail minnow and trotted off to my city fishing hole while Bobby unloaded the car and settled in. Bobby didn't care to go with me so I literally ran off down the road, knowing that time was precious. It is about 3 city blocks away and I am out of breath by the time I reach the shoreline where I could make a couple of casts. I had the broken-tail minnow already on so I started casting. On my first cast I land a 2 1/2 lb bass. With no net, string or way to contain the fish, I cut a reed down and threaded it through the bass's gills and laid him in the shallow water's edge. I repeated this three more time before the mosquitos and the nights abyss had swallowed my whole. One of the bass weighed about 4-5 pounds and I was tickled to have four bass in less than an hour. So I drag the four fish back to the motel and it is already dark when I enter the motel and the check-in lady, knowing that I din't catch anything says "Whadya get honey?" When I showed her the stringer of fish on the reeds, she backed away like she was scared but finally took the fish and as I recall she didn't cook them for us but she did take them.
Shortly after that trip, my wife, son and I moved back to New Orleans and I told my new neighbor of my trip to Augusta because he had a brother who lived there. A few months later my neighbors brother sends him a newspaper article about the waterways I fished and how they were recently discovered to have numberous largemouth bass.
Well, I told you it wouldn't be that exciting but we sure had fun. VBG
I look forward to hearing YOUR ROAD STORY.
JoeyA
