Many years ago in 1968/1969, while my family was living in Placerville, CA., my dad was commuting to Sacramento, CA each day for work. This was about a 30 mile commute. The main thoroughfare was good ole Highway 50. The venerable old Highway 50 stretching from Sacramento, CA to Ocean City, Maryland. Some people call stretches of it "the most boring road in America." This may be true, but we lived off of some of the most picturesque sections.
The trek from Sacramento in those days covered wide open spaces, the rolling foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and into the mountains once you passed Placerville. On the other side of the Sierra Nevada's was Nevada. In the middle was the tourist and gambler destination of South Lake Tahoe, CA and Stateline, Nevada. Stateline boasted a couple of casinos and hotels in those days. Highway 50 saw a lot of traffic to South Lake Tahoe. It still does.
On one particular evening, my dad was returning home from work. Getting on the highway he spotted a hippy couple, backpacks and all, thumbs out, hitchhiking a ride to Lake Tahoe. It was getting late in the evening and in the fall of the year so my dad offered them a ride to Placerville. They accepted. They tossed their backpacks in the back of my dad's pickup and hopped in the cab.
When my dad reached his turn off in Placerville it was already dark. He pulled over and the couple got out, grabbed their packs and went on their way. It wasn't until the next day that my dad noticed that their hunting knife had fallen out of one of their packs. Too late now to try to return it. This was my dad's unexpected gift. I imagine it looked something like this:
These days, after 41 years of use by my dad, the knife looks more like this:
My dad has respected this unexpected gift. I just wish and hope that the poor fellow who lost it could know that it was not lost but has been put to good use over these past 41 years. Who knows, it may last another 41 years.
Respect to all.
D.
1 comment:
I never heard that story before.
Jeff
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