Misc data and adventures of a Tayopa treasure hunter

[mdog]

Releventchair, are you talking about Lasalle's ship, Griffon. LaSalle and Tonti spent some time in my neck of the woods.

I haven't posted here for a long time but I still read the stories and keep up on everybody's adventures. I'll throw in a war story just for the heck of it. In one of my previous posts on this thread, I mentioned a bad typhoon my outfit experienced while pulling security for a mortar team during the fall of '68. After a couple of weeks, the weather broke well enough for the CO to call for a chopper extraction. The sun was actually shining when the choppers started coming in to pick us up but the hill was nothing but a muddy, sloppy mess. The North Vietnamese had been probing our perimeter the whole time we were up there so we were set up in a tight perimeter as the first chopper came onto the pick up spot at the top of the hill. When the mortar team started getting on the chopper, the NVA opened up on them with automatic weapons. A few guys got hit but the chopper was OK so they got the mortar team loaded and took off. I was about 30 feet from the top of the hill on the side that was getting hit hardest. I got caught out in the open so I dropped to the ground and kinda looked around for someplace to go. I was further away from the pickup spot than anybody else and I didn't want to move away from the other guys so I decided to stay put. At that time I did something that seemed like a good idea at the time. I tried to dig a foxhole with my belt buckle. I would have done anything to get a little lower. It must of looked kinda funny because I could hear a couple of guys laughing even with all the firing going on. If nothing else it gave me something to do until our gunships got the situation under control. The gun ships were making passes right in front of me and they were so close I started worrying about getting hit by our own guys. We didn't seem to be taking anymore fire and the last pickup chopper was coming in so I flipped my rucksack onto my back and grabbed another rucksack that belonged to a guy who was already loading up and I started up the hill. I took a few steps and slipped and fell on my face. I got up and tried it again with the same results. Everybody else was on the chopper and they were yelling at me to quit screwing off and get up there. The whole time I had my back to the perimeter and I was just waiting for the AK rounds to start slamming into my back. All this stuff is happening real fast but it seemed like it was happening in some kind of slow motion. I decided to take more deliberate steps and actually made it halfway there before I slipped and slid back to where I started. By this time everybody in the chopper on my side was looking at me and grinning like a bunch of goons, even the pilot. I finally got down on my knees and threw the pack in my left hand out as far as I could without letting go and then I dug the butt of my rifle into the ground with my right hand and pushed my way up. It took a few minutes but I finally made it to the chopper and crawled inside. We took off and headed east toward LZ Uplift and the land of cold showers and semi-warm food.

Rick

 

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[releventchair]

Mdog,thank you for your service.welcome home. Ahh yes Tonti of the iron hand. Lasalle sure give the trade a go. The griffon you l ikely know last seen in rough seas. I like the history of that E. W.route and w.w.h.w.and where. Research last winter on a fort turned up a dozen,over time in area. I looked over a collection a man had in area ,left him alone about it. Will be nw of sault arount mo.end. not looking to impose on forts but bringing detector just to swing a minute. I,m a few hours south of where those sailors found ea.other again when Tonti had about been written off. A survivor like yourself. Post away, Jose let us know please if we are in your way,its your thread.

 

[mdog]

Releventchair, those two guys were real men. I haven't seen anybody on treasurenet talk about LaSalle. I've been studying the part of that east-west route from Detroit over to the Mississippi. I don't want to mess with Don Jose's thread either but these two guys were something else.

 

[truckinbutch]

Relevent ,
"It's a desire to do something adventurous at a time where frontiers , in the real sense of the word , are disappearing ."
Some of the last written words of Michael Rockefeller before he became shark/croc/or cannibal crap along the coast of New Gueinea .........Lived his dream to the end ...............
Lt Hiroo Onada spent 30 years of his life fighting a war for his Emperor and never surrendered . He was finally releived from his duty by a superior officer in the 1970's .
Those guys and Don Jose have big bags of stories to pull a tale from on occasion .
Us pups are relegated to getting wood for the fire and being allowed to share , on occasion , a story of a misadventure that we survived through no fault of our own .
Jim

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

MAN, I SURE AM GLAD TO SEE ALL OF THIS ACTIVITY, AFTER THE FORMAT CHANGE. I WAS MISSIN' ALL OF THE TALES FOR A WHILE THERE. AND BY THE WAY... MDOG, WELL TOLD ADVENTURE... IF YOU CAN CALL WAR AN ADVENTURE. I WAS REALLY BEGININ' TO THINK YOU DIDN'T MAKE IT OUT OF THERE ALIVE. AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE. I'M GLAD YOU MADE IT UP THAT HILL.

THAT STUFF IS WHAT DON JOSE SAID THIS THREAD IS ABOUT... SHARING STORIES AROUND A CAMPFIRE (ELECTRONIC CAMPFIRE) WITH A GOOD STRONG CUP OF COFFEE.

I LIKE THIS THREAD BETTER THAN MY OWN. IT'S ALWAYS THE FIRST ONE THAT I CHECK.

EVERYONE HAVE A GREAT DAY, LIVE THE ADVENTURE AS LONG AS YOU CAN.
GOD BLESS.

MIKEL

 

[truckinbutch]

Mikel ,
You put it better than I could . Many of us have set out on AN adventure or several . It's given to a few to dedicate a life to such behavior . Soldiers of Fortune , dedicated military men , the US Coast Guard that says 'You have to go out . You don't have to come back .' (If I misquoted the last , I'm sure someone will correct me . USCG has my utmost respect .)

 

[poorhunter78]

Well said MIKEL, Truckin.. Thank You Past/Present/Future, Military Personel

Sixteen years ago when I lived at home, Dad was still alive.. A phone call came in late at nite around 11pm.. The neighbor, Who is like part of the family.. Was out with the guys drinking and 4 wheeling, Carrying on.. He said his pickup truck was stuck and needed someone to hook up and pull him out.. So my Dad looked at me and said "You can take my truck, But don't you dare put a scratch on it BOY!!" So I was mr big stuff, Takin my dad's truck to pull out my buddies.. When I arrived where they were, There was only 1 way in.. Drive in forward.. The road was way too narrow and grown up to back the pickup in.. So I pulled up to where his truck sat.. I am in an 89 ford f-250, my buddy a 1989 ford f-150.. So he hooks his chain up to my front spring shackle.. I pull and pull just spinning, So he says "Give it a good jerk" So I ease up and let out the clutch, As soon as the chain tightened it Broke, Came back and slapped over the cab.. Busted the windshield.. I turned white as a ghost, I figured if I go home my Dad would just kill me.. So I waited for a while, Hoping he would be asleep before I went home.. I was awoke the next morning to what the %^#$# happened to my truck.. He was blazing mad.. After talking to him and explaining the neighbor would replace the windshield he calmed down a bit.. That was a $250 boo boo.. I still here about that today from friends..

Don Jose Truckin MIKEL

Theres enough to go around, Here yuh go guys and gals..

 

[truckinbutch]

I've been reluctant to post here because a lot of my misadventures were the product of bad breedin and poor raisin . Pretty much in the shadows of the fire just listening to the real adventurers . I could , if you are interested , explain the wrong and right ways of stealing chickens .
And what happens when you steal them wrong ...........................

 

[TENNESSEEGAL]

These stories are all so great!

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Good post pore guy hehheeh Has happened to more people than you realize. One day I found our local priest stuck in the sand of the arroyo. I, being of saintly character, offered to pull him out, so using my nylon strap, we hooked him up. To be safe, I had tied a big knort in the strap.

As I started to pull him out Inoticed that he was standing in line with the strap, between his car and mine. So I dutifully warned him to move out of the way. He merely waved me on, and Yep, fhe strap slipped off and like a rubber band hit our priest squarely in the 'you now where's'.

The poor guy went from white, to red, to green, and all points in between trying manfully to keep from screaming, although I did hear a few muffled four letter words sigh. Those words became my blackmail materiel.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Speak trucker, your reputation as a drunken, chicken thieving moonshiner has already been established heheheehehh

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

HI Tenn. gal, my waltz I presume? !/2 doz Red roses .

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

GREAT START TO THE SECOND QUARTER!!! DON'T BE SHY BUTCH.
THERE IS A LOT OF ROOM FOR CONFESSIONAL MATERIAL HERE...
WELCOM T-GAL... DON'T BE SHY EITHER... JUST LOOK AROUND YOU HERE...NO SAINTS.

LIVE THE ADVENTURE, AND GOD BLESS ALL.
MIKEL

 

[poorhunter78]

Good post pore guy hehheeh Has happened to more people than you realize. One day I found our local priest stuck in the sand of the arroyo. I, being of saintly character, offered to pull him out, so using my nylon strap, we hooked him up. To be safe, I had tied a big knort in the strap.

As I started to pull him out Inoticed that he was standing in line with the strap, between his car and mine. So I dutifully warned him to move out of the way. He merely waved me on, and Yep, fhe strap slipped off and like a rubber band hit our priest squarely in the 'you now where's'.

The poor guy went from white, to red, to green, and all points in between trying manfully to keep from screaming, although I did hear a few muffled four letter words sigh. Those words became my blackmail materiel.

Don Jose de La Mancha

Poor Guy just had to learn the hard way, Blackmail Huh.. Well You could tell us a little about Blackmail Jose.. Truckin Butch, Come on.. Type away buddy...

 

[rockhound]

Reminds me of the time my brother-in-law and myself were at the beach. He was driving an old station wagon at that time and we had driven over a lot of hard packed sand. He must have thought that car was invincible and started out on a large sand bar where we intended to do some fishing. We hadn't gone 10 feet until we got stuck in the loose sand. We tried everything to get out but the more we tried the deeper it sunk into the loose sand. Not another vehicle or person in sight and it was a long walk back to our motel room. We decided to fish a while and see if anyone came along, rather than walk back to the hotel in the heat of the day. About an hour later we heard a vehicle coming across the sand bar. It was a brand new Jeep wagon. As he pulled up along side us the said,"if I had a rope I'd pull you out". My brother-in-law always carried a chain in his car, and told the man he had a chain. The man cringed at the thought of him wrapping a chain around his new Jeeps bumper, as he had no hitch on it, but allowed him to do so. He pulled us out and we tried to pay him for his coutesy, but he just wanted to get as far away from us as possible. We did catch some nice spots that day and they made for a nice fish fry afterwards. rockhound

 

[truckinbutch]

The proper way to steal chickens , I was taught by my longtime friend , Jim Brock (a great American that also taught me how to steal your radio and leave your music) is to sneak quietly into a chicken yard after dark . You prop all gates and doors open on your way in to where the chickens are on the roost . If you get to the roost without disturbing the birds you 'verwy carefully' tickle the fingers of one hand along a roost pole . The sleeping chickens will simply step up on to your arm until you have as many as you can hold . As long as you can hold that arm level and make no abrupt movements ,you can turn and fill the other arm . Then you have to quietly exit the premisis and travel far enough away that the owner can't hear before you sack or kill the chickens .
Nobody had 'splained that to my buddie Eddie Thrasher and me the first time we stole chickens/got shot .......
I gotta go check the still , it ain't chuggin right . I'll continue on a later post . Least I shared the right way first so that any of you wannabe 'Ernest T's' might avoid becoming shot .

 

[snakeyes]

How many here can remember full service sevice stations ? When I was in highschool I used to hang out at one of these fine establishments along with a couple of my buddies and my older brother. They used to actually work on cars there, any way back to my story. They had a machine there that you could clean your spark plugs and test the spark. Now this is where the fun comes in, They also had a scope on a tri pod they used for alinging the front end of your car. Will I hooked the wire from the spark plug tester to the scope, and called my brother over to look at the girl across the street, while he was looking through the scope I pushed the button on spark plug cleaner, I saw a blue spark that looked like lightneing jump from the scope to my brother, got him right between the eyes, I think that thing puts out about 20,000 volts, once he was able to pick himself up off the floor, he chased me for about 2 blocks, I was laughing so hard I could barley run,he beat my ass pretty good, but I still get a chuckle everytime I think about that. I hope I'm not repeating my self I think sometimes my memory is slipping

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

sheesh you posted -->JUST LOOK AROUND YOU HERE...NO SAINTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I is too

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

SORRY PADRE~ JOSE.... I MEANT THE REST OF US. YOU GOTTA AGREE ABOUT THE REST OF US.

MIKEL

 

[poorhunter78]

Got good news today Everyone, Poorhunter is gonna be a Daddy Again! Wife is Pregnant.. 2 out of 3 pregnancy tests came back positive... Wooooo Hoooooooooo.........