The sun was setting on the McKenzie River Highway and I had two kayakers cold and ready for a brew. While Peter and I made it to the shuttle car, Tommy's lost drain plug left him stranded in a backyard somewhere near Eagle Rock. As I cruised down the road, I breathed a sigh of relief when I spotted Tommy looking like a fool as he waved his arms like a drunken sailor. I hit the blinker and pulled to the shoulder to scoop him.
Quick on the draw, he was in the car before I could help him get his kayak on the racks... but there was no kayak to load. When I leaned in to ask its whereabouts, I was startled at the sight of a dirty weathered man parked in my passenger seat.
"I ain't mean no harm man," he tells me. "There's a little store three miles down the road, can you take me there?" Befuddled I agree but explain that he's out once I spot my buddy. "I ain't mean no harm man," he assures me.
His name's Ted and I try to piece his story together with little success. "What year's this car man?" he asks. I tell him it's a '73 Ghia. "When they're still ion charged," I can't tell if it's a question or a statement and nod my head. "You know like a burst in the atmosphere?" he says.
I chuckle and nervously eye the weird electronic device protruding from his old purple pack while he continues to brokenly ramble. I ask what it is but his attention is soon transfixed on the grass stain on my jeans that he equates to marijuana. "Weed man. You should smoke a joint you know." Please... please don't pull out a joint I thought. Whatever this guy was smoking, I wanted none of it.
"You know what... JOHN Lennon," he bursts. What else could I do but nod? I was trying to focus on finding Tommy, but how could I focus when Ted was lecturing me about how bears from Alaska--where he's from--are bigger than Oregon bears and want to eat he and I. That's when we pulled up alongside Peter's car at the putin and I had to give ol' Ted the boot.
He asked how far away the store was. Neither of us had any idea, but I told him about a mile as I'm fairly sure it didn't matter.
While I was a tad nervous the entire time, I was happy to cross paths with Ted. It's these random encounters that keep me separated from the "daily norm." What should have been a ordinary run down the McKenzie became an experience.
I wonder if he found that store?
