New Mexico, Texas And Home

"I always felt that the great high privilege, relief and comfort of friendship was that one had to explain nothing."
-Katherine Mansfield

Before we spread Al's ashes at Wind River Canyon I emailed a photograph and the GPS coordinates of the location to his wife and their two kids.

A few minutes later The Master Baiter's telephone rang. Before answering he told me it was Al's wife calling.

I heard him say, "No, we haven't done it yet." and then, "Yes, I'll tell him. We'll take care of it." After a long pause he said, "Don't worry, we're happy to have done it. I'll have him call you."

Al's wife wanted to be sure that I was going to keep some of his ashes.

Once the ashes had been spread The Master Baiter and I smoked the last two joints of Purple Haze. I then called Al's wife and retrieved the bottle of Wild Turkey we set aside to drink after the job was done.


What we didn't know earlier is that Al's wife {and TheSpecialOne} had been talking with their two kids and decided that instead of us taking the rig back to their house it would be better to deliver it to their son in Texas.

Their daughter who lives near White Sands, New Mexico also wanted to see us.

I'd bounced both Al's son and daughter on my knee when they were kids. Needless to say, it was strange being at his daughter's house and doing the same with his grandchildren now that he's gone.

Earlier tonight The Master Baiter was able to arrange a flight home for us, either Sunday or Monday. Needless to say, you can't beat having a private pilot whose willing to be on call.

We won't get to Al's son's house until late tomorrow so I suspect it will be Monday.

Photographs by Kilroy_60