A Footnote to Real Survival

Find the trail.  Can't find it?  Never mind.  You can always make your own. The next human being is on the other side of the mountain.

    

Slim Williams and his dogs.  If you squint he looks like Clark Gable.

          Yesterday's blog on Slim Williams (scroll down a page) and my Uncle John needs a footnote. 

          Recently, Discovery Channel had a reality show about trekking in the Alaska Wilderness called The Alaska Experiment  Ordinary people try to survive in the wild. 

           They are tracked by helicopters.  They have guides, fleece, parkas, gps, gas matches, cell phones, hi-tech boots, radios, high tech tents, sleeping bags, etc. etc.

    

            John Logan and Slim Williams had none of that.  Sure John started out looking like a page out of a 1939 Abercrombie and Fitch ("the greatest sporting goods store in the world") catalog.  They dumped all that fancy stuff in a few days.  Their one canvas tarp was their ground sheet,tent and when there was a river to cross, their boat.  Their tools were a rifle and an axe.  They didn't have nylon anything. Which makes their trek of 2,500 miles through the wilderness all the more impressive. And John's diary, written every night in pencil by the fire, a rare document of what survival takes when you really are on your own without another soul for a hundred miles.

                      On that note, the blog is off to Florida for a few days trek by rentacar to friends, family and sandy shores.  We will not be taking a rifle or an axe.  Do not send search parties. 

 

                       But wait, don't go. There's a ton of goodies here. Last week's Blog, for example,  Frank Lloyd Wright's last private house and his big mistake.

        

                     Scroll down for the beauty of a blizzard in New York City the wacky wonderful Coneheads at Silverstone. Or the flip side of that madness to the days of dope and meditation in The Volvo Years.
    

                  if you missed the all-time-record-breaking-hit- monster blog, The Real Allard Story:give it a click.  No, I lied; the tribute to the women who are as"sweet as honey and smile at you like you're made of money," attracted even more hits. And If you missed the 1979 Polish Grand Prix now's your chance.

Or, click on bob judd on the top of this page or slip down the right hand column to click on such gems as  my favorite, How You Look at the Sky.   Or The Kythera Chronicles to shake hands with Barbarossa.

Or just cruise through the links on the lower right hand side of this page, maybe come upon some unexpected little gem like  an excerpt from The Candle,  In Praise of the Belleville Midgets,  The Midgets of Belleville. Part II,  Truth in Grass: a Kansas adventure, The Story of the Larned Eagle Optic, Hollywood Calls, You Pick up the Phone, Hollywood Calls, you pick up the phone part 2 maybe my favorite My Short Happy War in Afghanistan or no, wait, wait, Fangio and the Maserati 250 F for the priceless video of Fangio in a polo shirt and helmet, absolutely relaxed driving a Maserati 250F around a beat up old race track with no run off, no barriers, no safety nothing.  My lunch with Rob Walkeris a good one even though it leaves out the Betty Grable stories. 

       You wouldn't want to miss My Short Happy War in Afghanistan

 

             Then there's Erno Goldfingers house-and-mine, which throws in Ian Flemming, no extra charge. Riding around Laguna Seca with Jackie Stewart was picked up by Jalopnik.com.

              Or Uncle John's Prayer.

               Or Clarence Judd Head-Butts a Truck.  Truck dies. That's a good one. 

             And, of course, the one that started it all, Truck Story.

               Then Virgin calls, and Forrest goes to Hollywood to star with an Electric car. And Forrest does a shoot in bed with Virgin. That one is a lot of fun. 

                Although, you might want to take a look at Pheromone Dreams to see what they are doing in bed in front of a film crew. While you're there it's just a short hop to Nurse Pelvis. 

            Or take a dip in the world's largest concrete freshwater free municipal swimming pool.

           And for a fine rainy afternoon divertimento, click on my dance with a prima ballerina.

 

              For a tasty bite with bon mots check out my friend, Gerry Freeman's foodie blog as  Hungry Gerald globe trots from spa to boites.

             Or go visit Elif Batumen, San Francisco's brightest and funniest writer, a fine lady to curl up with for a good read.  Here's Elif's homepage.

             Enjoy, Have a ball.  See you Monday, January 31 when Juddstory will return.