A continuation of events surrounding the drug war and related social issues of Baja California and Mexico. Keeping an eye on Seig Heil Trump. We are still trying to restore all blogs from 2006 which were hacked by Linton Robinson and his team, famous for supporting the Baja Trump Towers on one of his real estate sites. Highlights of Paris-Simone's favorite music !!
Let's take a slight break from AMLO hurling insults at the US State Department and a guy we all (oh right, except for AMLO and the Trumpistas) admire, Anthony Blinken. We can talk about that soon enough. But I am beginning to think that the more Putin goes down the tubes, the angrier AMLO becomes and verbally attacks and thrashes out at the United States as if on cue. Weird, huh ? Not so weird if you think about it.
Muddy Waters
Have any of y'all been on the Mississippi Blues Trail ? Rolling Fork, Mississippi which was absolutely devastated by this weekend's Tornado is according to their Mayor, "gone." Don't tell anyone down there Muddy Waters wasn't born there, he is one of their pride and joys. But it's all gone now.
Throughout the town, memorials have been built and devoted to him, even a little shack was replicated of his birthplace. All gone.
Looking at the pictures of the disaster, I saw the one of the owners of the Dairy Bar standing in front of their flattened life's work and passion. Gone. By chance, I found this report, I think you might enjoy it:
How can these people bear another slap in the face? Light a little candle, say a prayer for all of them that they receive the help they need, that some how they are lifted up. Oh...regarding that other subject I am sick to death talking about - he needs to concentrate on his own problems and get this damn country down here on track, jerk.
Another storm coming in here, waiting for the details....although it doesn't look so far like a big one.
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Update/edit: Go to any of these spots to help these folks out:
I mentioned yesterday that I do not believe Trump would go to prison on Tuesday as he predicted, and of course he did not. The fool isn't even indicted yet, but he is preparing to play this out and milk it to the extreme for the attention, relishing and wallowing in martyrdom and to show us what tough guy he is. He wants to be handcuffed. But you already knew that.
And then, there are those with the bum scoop and peddling misinformation - BTW, Zeta also published the AMLO misstatements:
"Right now, former President Trump is declaring that they are going to arrest him," López Obrador, who is also known by his initials AMLO, said during a press conference. "If that were the case...it would be so that his name doesn't appear on the ballot."
Meanwhile, Business Insider is reporting the Grand Jury will not meet today on Thursday...but I haven't read that anywhere else....unsure if this will change;
Okay, aloha. Do I think Trump is going to prison today as he predicted over the weekend ? No, and maybe I'll be proved wrong - but after his big announcement I immediately thought - this is just more of his hot air and an attention getting device. The fact that he was attempting to rally his morons was sickening. We'll see. If I'm wrong, I'll turn you on to some really good organic blueberry juice.
Haven't been here the knee has been horrible - however I am sitting on great reports which hopefully if the electricity doesn't stay out forever I'll be able to pass along, but am thrilled with the recent Biden veto which is one of them.
Just a hint - crazier than shit down here with AMLO attempting to rally his troops over the weekend at the Zocalo. Mike equates AMLO followers to Trump followers, you get the drift.
Updater/edit @ 4:00PM:
Good one from Therese Margolis of Pulse just received as an email:
Well, you can see another reason we want to leave - obviously violence from the top down, es la verdad.
end edit.
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Most importantly at the moment is the big storm I mentioned a couple of blogs back, man it is rolling in. The massive black clouds forming over the ocean are ominous, and everyone is spooked around here - Paris, Rubio & Totsie have been hiding since yesterday.
So be super careful, here is the latest:
(over and out for now)
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Update/edit - 4:10 PM:
Was it a dud? Right now the sun is out, no rain and no wind. Last night the wind howled and it rained into the very early morning hours, hard. dunno, we'll see. Naptime with Paris then we're making Indian Curry Chicken.😉😉
end edit.
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Update/edit @ 7:37 pm:
International into Playas from El Mex: I'm pretty sure this is the section where they did extensive stabilization work over a year ago - located prior to where the old Army outpost was back in 2009.
It is a non stop full on down pour after that brief respite...Mike reported coming home that International going into Playas is partially closed due to landslide; he called Yolanda to give her a heads up, she called back and reported only two lanes are open, so be careful. Same with the back road from TIJ to Rosarito, the sides are caving in so watch out. No idea what is happening on the So. Scenic Hwy, check with Zeta.
More rain coming in all night into the morning, with thunderstorms. The wind picked up here again around 5:30pm.
Are we supposed to believe that these fentanyl pills just magically appeared in Tijuana and that China had nothing to do with supplying the precursor drugs to manufacture them ?
Apparently there are those out there who would like for us to believe that:
Going down for a nap with Paris. The good news is that I can probably take the A1C test in two months, not three and we are back on track. Be careful mid-week, another huge storm headed our way.
UPDATE/edit: The new storm information is that it will be arriving this coming Monday, heavy rain on Tuesday and into Wednesday, with a west swell...so big waves again. Then, another storm coming in the following week. Details are here on the NWS-San Diego.
end edit.
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For all of you Commander Cody & Nicolette Larson fans out there in the ozone:
I was all packed and ready to go, my primary care Doctor at SRS had released me, all tests completed and passed (and there was a battery of them), zoom class attended and physical therapy arranged...but at 2:00 this afternoonreceived a phone call from the surgeon's office that surgery would be delayed.
I have to wait another three months and take another A1C test. It appears as though the taking me completely off glimiperide and lowering my insulin since last June drastically affected the A1C results.
I cried all afternoon this has been such a bummer and it is not resolved. The best thing to lower A1C results is exercise, but shit, I can't even walk. So, going back on the voltaren for pain, going back on on the glimiperide and insulin will be increased. Testing again June.
The only good news is that Mike said I could get one of those snappy walkers with lights,a horn, brakes, a seat, wheels, a place for your luggage and back support. Some of the newer models from Australia are off road. I have to admit the one I have - the el cheapo one from Walmart which Mike bought - is beyond basic. There are no words to describe how primitive it is. Actually, SRS was supposed to issue me a good walker like they do everyone else and knowing my old cane was not doing the trick & I could barely walk and seeing Doctor after Doctor for nearly three goddamned years did they ? Hell no, that is SRS, it fucking sucks ! Cheap pricks ! Nothing new...still unbelievable I was taken off of glimiperide and insulin lowered since late last year in June by a non-specialist, scary medicine. We are changing providers next season, FAST.
So,if I really do get a new model, I've decided I'm going to practise and get involved in walker racing.
I mean look at these people - they are having a blast:
I mean like I could do that....well, not down here.
Check it out - example of a newer model of walker:
It just started raining again and is supposed to be heavy until dawn. I never remember rains like these. Just by chance I caught the following report - and I have to admit, I was wondering when someone was going to link all this snow and rain here to climate change.
On the report, you can go to the recent study from, "...NASA scientists published Monday in the journal Nature Water found that increasing frequent, widespread and intense droughts and floods were linked more strongly to higher global temperatures than to naturally changing weather patterns like El Nino and La Nina. This suggests these intense events will increase as the climate crisis accelerates, the study says."
I'm not supposed to be here - it's time for my 4:00 o'clock tylenol pain reliever nap, but couldn't let this one go. Plus, Carlos Alvarez has had some very interesting reports up for a few days regarding the Matamoros kidnappings/murder disaster which I shared with my primary care Doctor in San Diego yesterday (which left both of us scratching our cabezas), who officially released and cleared me for the surgery.
Some things according to Mike just do not make sense about this case:
1. Why in the world would you travel over three hours to sell items at a Segundo ? Unless you were providing items to others to sell. I used to go to Secondarias (more accurately "Segundos") a lot, and they were loads of fun, especially the huge one down in Ensenada. However, I never knew of gringos actually selling items. Segundos are like massive GARAGE SALES with anything and everything available. Some Mexican people purchase items for cheap in the US then take them back to Mexico and sale them for a tiny profit.
2. No reporting of any car accidents included in the US reports from Mexican sources, or Hospital reports of the potentially injured gringas.
3. No reports of potential relatives of any of the gringas living in or abouts Montemorelos, Nuevo Leon where they could have possibly been travelling to .
According to this ABC video, the Mexican authorities have listed the nationalities of all three women not as gringas, but as Mexican citizens:
Unless I completely missed it, I never saw in the US press any indication that any members of the group of four kidnapped in Matamoros where two were murdered were at any way involved in drugs or drug dealing. We were led to believe they were all squeaky clean.
This aspect of that case was covered numerous times by Carlos Alvarez of Zeta: That," ... according to El Universal and based on a Reuter's review of South Carolina State records, three of the four US citizens have criminal records related to drug trafficking, sale and consumption, as well as possession of firearms...Eric James Williams who was shot during the kidnapping is the only one of the four Americans who has no criminal record."
" ..according to Mexican authorities there have been convictions for drug-related crimes against Brown and Woodard. Woodard was convicted five times between 2007 and 2016 for drug offenses Almost all were misdemeanors, but included one of manufacturing prohibited narcotics with the intent to distribute them. Brown was convicted twice in 2015 for possession of small amounts of marijuana or concentrated cannabis, records show.
The data also showed that Williams was convicted in 2017 for the manufacture and distribution of cocaine.It is not clear if the Mexican authorities have other evidence that could point to a drug-related motive for the kidnappings, which occurred in broad daylight. According to El Universal, Zindell Zazille McKinley Brown and Shaeed-Hakim Woodard have histories related to manufacturing and dealing in drugs, robbery with violence and possession of a weapon.
Lastly, El Universal has reported that according to South Carolina Court Records, Lefaria Lateefa Washington has a history of drug manufacturing and trafficking, theft of property and threatening an official in the performance of his duties."
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Does any of this matter? Yes. Maybe the group in truth was on an innocent outing with no intention of buying drugs when they were attacked, I don't think we will ever know. You would think that if in fact they went to Matamoros to buy drugs, they would have been armed and they were not. However, despite leaving a sour taste in our mouths over their sordid past and reexamining their motivations - no one deserves to be kidnapped and shot down like dogs in the street, left to bleed to death then thrown into the back of a truck. I noticed the information gathered by Reuters from the South Carolina State records dates back to 2017. That is over five years ago - since that time,there have been no recorded arrests and they might have gone clean with the help of family and professionals. We don't know - I would like to think that due to no current arrest recordings, there was some type of redemption along the way.
Just sayin y'all.
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Yes, we have no bananas !
OMGosh...AMLO says Mexico does not produce or consume Fentanyl !
Brian sent over a link the other day on the "Stagecoach Chile" blog regarding some aspects of the brutality of the drug wars here in Mexico. Another problem I did not address while briefly chatting with him was that I think there is simply no audience/ market for the drug war news: everyone knows about it and everyone is basically burned out on it. Importantly; everyone is nervous and everyone is scared. There is an incredible amount of anger as opposed to sadness over the direction Mexico is going under AMLO; not to mention the half-million angry Mexican people who demonstrated in the Zocalo against AMLO's repressive measures. Oh right...500,000 people just in Mexico City - and yet the number was minimized by the AMLO sycophants to merely 90,000. Of course it was minimized.
Beautiful
"Very little tolerance" indeed: have you noticed that journalists and politicians alike all across the nation who do not tow the line have simply vanished ? (Even Morenistas) Poof, gone. It will come as no surprise to any of us that AMLO's unification of the guard and Military is also being looked at askew and rather shall we say, authoritarian. Anything remember - perceived or real deemed to be askew is plainly put, crooked. Nervous yet? Problem is or one of them at least, the drug guys ain't nervous, at all. They are on a roll.
Still, there were 140 plus executions in Tijuana last month and we are off to a roaring start this month of March. And even still, there were several killings in the States due to lack of and sloppy gun control. But before we all fade away into denial, it would probably be a good idea for y'all to keep abreast of local and national events in both countries.
Be prepared to be pulled over and searched by the Mexican Army with automatic weapons entering Mexico at Chaparral in TIJ (and these guys are rough) - especially if thou art a gringo. Why do I get the distinct feeling AMLO gave the order to do this because he just does not like gringos - except he liked Donald Trump. What a sketchy disaster.
I'm going to be out of circulation for a few weeks - wish me luck with the knee - so here are at least some of the Mexico links:
These guys both are hot, hot, hot:
Easily understood, in English. Read it like the the Bible:
I know I've been promising to post this and since our electricity is still on (although there is once again no TIJ potable water) and we are headed for more cold and rainy days ahead with a clearing out on Thursday, finally the recipe ! You can serve this to company, people will rave, add a tossed crispy green salad on the side with warmed up corn tortillas and sliced lime for folks to squeeze into their chile. I heat up the beans in a side pot juice and all with added fresh cilantro cuttings.
The weather here - we did have south winds but not enough to create white caps on the sea. So far, 3.2 inches of rain so we have faired better than we initially thought. Paris, Rubio & Totsie are loving it, they just cuddle up close under the blankets; three more Doctor's appointments coming up and the required class I have to take prior to surgery is on Wednesday.
Okay, let's do this:
Ingredients you will need:
A 3 to 4 pound tri tip roast, fat trimmed, cut into two inch (large ) cubes. You can get the "organic" Harris Farm tri-tips at Sprouts have the butcher trim it for you.
2 cans beef consome. Consome, not broth.
1 cans of chicken broth (Have a little extra on hand in case you need it)
2 to 3 largest cans of canned whole tomatoes
1 large jar of Herdez hot salsa - actually the Herdez salsa down here tastes better
3 large serrano chiles sliced & diced
2 onions mooned
1 large bunch of cilantro
25 large sliced garlic cloves - figure on having 2 large garlic heads on hand
2 to 4 green bell peppers
1 heaping teaspoon of cumino
Bowl of flour seasoned with salt & pepper
Liquid crisco oil about 1/2 cup, do not use olive oil. May use Canola, Saflower but NO OLIVE OIL.
1 Largest can of Pinto beans, undrained
1 Largest can of Black beans, undrained
1 can of Garbanzo beans, undrained
First, prepare the base:
In very large pot pour in the salsa, tomatoes, beef consome, chicken broth along with 5 of the sliced garlic cloves, the 2 mooned onions, the bunch of chopped cilantro ( saving some to throw into the beans)the teaspoon and a little more (just a little) of cumino,the one sliced serrano chile. Stir and turn to low, allowing it to simmer.
In frying pan, pour in the crisco oil, adding the remaining two serrano chiles and 20 cloves of sliced garlic. The serranos and garlic should cover the bottom of the pan. cover and put aside.
Cut your tri tip into large two inch chunks, make them thick.
Place the chunked beef into the bowl of seasoned flour and coat well.
Turn on the oil, garlic and serranos on low and let cook for about 3 minutes. Don't burn them.
Add the flour coated beef, the pan should be full. Keep the heat low, cover and brown for 8 minutes.
Uncover and using a fork & large spoon, turn the meat over and again, cover and brown for another 8 minutes.
Meanwhile, check your sauce, by now it should have come up to a boil, just turn it down and stir.
After the second eight minutes, move the frying pan off the heat, move the sauce over to where the frying pan was.
Using a serrated large spoon, gently remove the large chunks of tri tip along with juices for flavor (plus garlic and serranos) to the sauce.
Now everything is in one large pot. Bring all to a boil, turn the heat to very low (maybe use a smaller burner), cover and cook for one hour.
You may want to add more canned tomatoes or chicken broth, but leave room for the green peppers.
You will need to check and stir this every 10 to 15 minutes so it doesn't stick.
After one hour, turn it off. Before serving, bring back to low boil, add the chunked green peppers (two will be plenty, save two for the next night.) The added green peppers will take about 15 minutes to cook on a low boil.
The beans: Just open the cans, these are the very large cans of pinto and black and I throw in garbanzos with all their juices, sprigs of cilantro and let come to a boil in a separate pot.
Serving: Add amount of beans and their juices to your bowls, top with hot chile mixture.
Note: Despite using 3 large serranos and the Herdez salsa, this isn't hot hot. If you think it is, add one tablespoon of sugar to the chile mixture. Also despite the large quantity of garlic, this is not garlicky at all so don't worry.
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Yes, we are still watching the world...here's a good one:
I agree with Mr. Penn regarding the Oscars...and several other issues.
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I have an early Doctor's appointment, so I can't really hang out...the knee is gone I'm afraid. Another appointment next week and the class plus I'm supposed to be doing special exercises prior to the surgery. At some point, don't know when, we'll pick up where we left off. You guys have the links.
I did want to post the stagecoach chile recipe, maybe late tomorrow when we get back. It's not vegan, but boy is it good when it is so cold. Speaking of which batten down the hatches, more super super cold air for days with rain on the way going into the upcoming weekend. Brrrrrrrrr...
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That's St. Michael in the background with his troops, keeping a watchful eye on the guys.
Update 02/20: Limping out the door, but completely caught off guard by this one: Our Joe Biden actually went to KYIV!!! Here are the updates:
Well, it's going to be big; we are counting on prolonged electricity outages and potential damage (like losing the roof again) so hold on to your hats. Also, big surf, but I would think this is going to be mostly storm surf. I'm going to put up the video and the report from NWS. You can find the videos under "News Headlines".
We can always do some more Robert Plant....watch out for bad road conditions....
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Update/02/22:
We did not have 80mph winds, but it was spooky windy all last night until early this afternoon, so the roof is OKAY ! Just traces of rain, nothing great, the big one is coming in on Friday. It is cold. But I saw this & wanted to share it with y'all...a pretty bitchen version of "When the Levee Breaks" - you'll have to hit the link at the very bottom. And check out Sebastian Robertson from Mission Beach, cool.
Speaking of Mission Beach, does anyone out there remember the folk-coffee house on Mission Boulevard from wayback, The Heritage? Then, of course, there was the rockin Bath House. So here's the other version, enjoy:
“When The Levee Breaks” is a powerful, thought-provoking and emotionally-charged classic by Led Zeppelin, from their Led Zeppelin IV album. The song is a rework of the 1929 original release by Kansas Joe Mccoy and Memphis Minnie about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927; the most destructive river flooding in U.S. history.
“It seems that little has changed since 1927, or even 2005 with Katrina. It’s still a really powerful track, both musically and lyrically,” John Paul Jones.
Legendary multi-instrumentalist, John Paul Jones, is accompanied by Stephen Perkins of Jane's Addiction, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks and over 20 musicians and dancers from seven different countries, in this Song Around The World version featured in Peace Through Music: A Global Event for the Environment.
Feel the impact of these compelling lyrics and let the music move your spirit! "
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I will add: if this does not give you goosebumps, I don't know what will:
I'm probably not going to put uppictures of the aftermath of the most horrifying 7.8 Turkey-Syria earthquake - there are plenty of those along with recent videos in the news coverage links below.
Still not completely coming out of the shock, although as the days drift by I'm feeling a little less numb but constantly haunted by the magnitude of suffering and misery, it is an emotional rollercoaster. Mike was at his desk the beginning of the week when they first started digging out the bodies and when they showed the small bodies of the children being carried away, he broke down and cried.
How can anything ever seem normal again ? I suppose to many people, life goes on.
Meanwhile it is late here and I do want to come back and update this tomorrow with news from the Mexican Rescue Teams; even BBC did a report on them - these guys are buff to the max.
Every morning Mike leaves the Sky News on for me, here it is for y'all:
Unsure of what happened to the balloon over Latin America, but for sure the partee in Mexico City has been cancelled and Carlos says to Xi Jinping, Putin and AMLO: "You guys are uncool."
Eeegads, now there's one over Latin America : I heard the balloon was going to land in Mexico City
where AMLO will be holding a huge welcome, mucho mucho mucho fiesta and formal dinner with Mariachi Bands for the balloonists ! Santana was invited, but he declined. He said (or so I heard) was that "....ALL OF THIS IS JUST VERY BAD VOODOO, BLACK MAGIC & HOPES AMLO CHANGES HIS EVIL WAYS." Well, that's just what I heard.
Plus I nearly forgot; at the Hospital, going under a member of the crew trying to get me to relax said, "80's music, who was your favorite, who do you remember?" Half asleep, it took me awhile to gather my thoughts and it took me forever to answer him and he was surprised when I finally did and blurted out, 'Had to be Los Lobos.'
West Swell next few days
Meanwhile, the South Bay area and No. Baja are supposed to get hit pretty hard by this new storm; schools will be shut down in Tijuana and throughout the region on Monday - so be cautious especially for landslides (especially down here), slick roads, flooding and crazy drivers. Of course, we'll be lucky if the electricity stays on, so here are some links to hold you over:
I've been hiding since the Monterrey Park massacre - that and a terrible cold which who knows where I picked it up from, running around in flip flops in atypical icy weather.. Monterrey Park hit me hard; a fantastic Asian community with so much to offer, so much all the families have been through leaving their homelands with dreams in their hearts.
As you know already, the violence did not stop there:
At the current rate, the USA is making Mexico with all her troubles look like a cake walk. For an unexplained reason (s) I thought maybe 2023 would be a better year for everyone. So far, I've been proven wrong. With the exception that so far this last month in Tijuana we are at a low execution rate - only 127.
But the most vile, shameful and sickening event came once again, from the United States: the murder of Tyre Nichols at the hands of his "brothers". A huge blow to the struggling Black community.
Neither place really is an enviable place to live, but for the time being, we are doing the best we can.
I'll be back, the good news is that I have a tentative date for the knee replacement surgery - Tuesday, March 14 at the Coronado Hospital. Still have appointments coming up, plus I have to attend a class on this procedure...afterwards going to stay in a rehab facility.
"1965... Dylan wrote this on a road trip he took with some friends from New York to San Francisco. They smoked lots of marijuana along the way, replenishing their stash at post offices where they had mailed pot along the way. He started writing it after they got to Mardi Gras in New Orleans and partied there the night of February 11, 1964. Dylan claims that despite popular belief, this song is not about drugs. In the liner notes to his 1985 compilation Biograph, he wrote: "Drugs never played a part in that song... 'disappearing through the smoke rings in my mind,' that's not drugs; drugs were never that big a thing with me. I could take 'em or leave 'em, never hung me up."
The Byrds version is based on Bob Dylan's demo of the song that he recorded during sessions for his 1964 album Another Side of Bob Dylan (Dylan's version was not yet released when The Byrds recorded it). It was The Byrds' manager, Jim Dickson, who brought in the demo and asked them to record it - the group refused at first because they thought it didn't have any hit potential.
When The Byrds did record it, they took some lyrics out and added a 12-string guitar lead. "Kudos to Roger McGuinn for taking on 'Tambourine Man,' which didn't knock us out when we first heard it," Byrds bass player Chris Hillman said in a Songfacts interview. "Bob Dylan had written it in a very countrified groove, a straight 2/4 time signature, and Roger takes the song home and works with it, puts it in 4/4 time, so you could dance to it. Bob heard us do it and said, 'Man, you could dance to this!' It really knocked him over and he loved it."
"Mr. Tambourine Man" changed the face of rock music. It launched The Byrds, convinced Dylan to "go electric," and started the folk-rock movement. David Crosby of The Byrds recalled the day Dylan heard them working on the song: "He came to hear us in the studio when we were building The Byrds. After the word got out that we gonna do 'Mr. Tambourine Man' and we were probably gonna be good, he came there and he heard us playing his song electric, and you could see the gears grinding in his head. It was plain as day. It was like watching a slow-motion lightning bolt.".. #TheByrds#RogerMcGuinn#DavidCrosby
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And a small sidenote: We played & sang this at the 1969 High School Graduation with me on guitar& vocals, Elaine Carnerie on vocals an two others at Midway Adult School (who had given me two scholarships). I was sent there to Midway kicked out of OLP & Clairemont High for running away from home a couple of years earlier.
So,yea I missed the prom. What a gas, my friends and I hitched to and then hopped a freight from Santa Barbara (by the big tree no longer there) to Frisco. Never regretted it.
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