PEANUTS

As a young boy in western Pennsylvania I had grown up with horses but after we moved to Arizona I came in contact with a special horse, a palomino named Peanuts. The horse belonged to my uncle Jack whom lived beside us in an Adobe house. There were only two houses on Dorsey lane where we lived in Tempe Arizona. My Grandmother and Custer and Clayton and Jack and Crystal all lived next door. Peanuts lived in the back pasture. We all rode him from time to time, of course Jack got to say who could ride him or not as it was his horse. I was a very good rider so Jack let me ride often. There is one ride that I will never forget. One day I went for a ride. Now our street was dirt and went from Old Transmission road to 4^th ST. and then across to the River Bottom. There were many trails through the Brush where you could ride. I rode into the trail and went west. Now west would lead me past the Arizona State University Stadium. I rode along enjoying the day. I finely came to the back side of the Butte's where the Stadium was located between. Now if you are familiar with the Stadium in Tempe you know that there are two mountains called butts that the Stadium itself is located between. As I was coming to the first butt I decided to ride up it. Now why I decided to do this I do not know but up I rode. It was a steep climb but I told you Peanuts was a remarkable horse. We came to the top and from my vantage point I could see that there was a Football game going on down in the stadium which I could see very clear. It seemed that they could see me also because all the people stopped watching the game and looked up to where I was. The game came to a stop as everyone was watching me. Now Peanuts was a trick horse and could on command do several tricks. While you were riding him he could bow and he could stand on his hind legs and rise in the air. I was wearing my cowboy hat that day so I commanded Peanuts to rise in the air by lifting the reigns high and tugging gently. I took my hat off and waved in the air. I seemed to have made a hit because everyone was on there feet and clapping. I wheeled Peanuts around and rode down the butt at breakneck speed.  The next day the Tempe Daily News ran an article about the mysterious Arizona cowboy.

Peanuts played a major part in my life on one other occasion. Life had become nearly unbearable at home with my step-fathers drinking and carousing and then coming home and taking it out on his family especially the eldest unloved child, which is how he viewed me I was sure. Now Jack and I often rode double as well. Normally on these occasions it was Jack who rode in front and I rode in back. Jack had somehow gotten himself into a peck of trouble, something about Keys. ?? 

I'm not sure what it was all about but Jack and I formed a plan to run away and we would use Peanuts and ride north into the mountains to a town called Payson. From there we had not formed any kind of plan. Typical of young boys! Now I had run away once before. It had become so oppressive at home in Pennsylvania that I had run away believing that no one cared about me at all. I hitch hiked from Oil City to Springfield Missouri where upon the Legal Authority apprehended me and held me until my parents came and got me. Now, I know that it was my mother that was behind the search as well as I'm sure that my Stepfather would have rather I never appeared again.   How ever I will give him credit for bringing my mother to get me out of Jail. In my own defense I was headed out west to Grandma and the family and had I been left alone would have made it all the way to Tempe, Arizona by my self. However, this time was very different I was being besieged from all sides and began to be confused.

So one day, Jack and I rode off, with nothing but what we were wearing on Peanuts.

Riding North, Jack and I were riding double, now remember this is in Arizona where the temperature will reach 120 degrees in the summer, I'm sure it must have reached that or more that day. We would stop along the road north under Palo Verde trees until we had cooled off enough to continue. Now I mentioned that we had taken nothing with us that included Water. The only way we would have made it to the Verdi River was because of this remarkable horse under us. Peanuts as well as Jack and I dove right into river and drank from it (of course it was not as polluted as it is now). We slept here in the cool of the river bank until morning. There was a very Kind cow boy, that was traveling by horse had also camped near us by the river. He invited us to have breakfast the next day. I think our hunger showed as we eagerly thanked him for breakfast. We mounted Peanuts and continued our journey north.  We continued up the road; however Peanuts, as valiant a steed that he was, begin to tire out from carrying two riders for a long distance. We finally came to a small community called Sun Flower. On the right was a Gas Station and on the Left was a Ranch.

Jack and I talked it over and we decided to leave Peanuts here and continue on foot, or actually hitch hike to Pennsylvania. Jack went to the farm and made arrangements to have Peanuts boarded there until someone came for him. He left the Phone number of his Mother and returned to me waiting by the road.

We were both sad that we had to leave Peanuts but we both agreed that this was best. We begin walking along the road and soon a car stopped at our signal that we wanted a ride. We convinced the person that we were going to visit family in Pennsylvania and needed to hitch our way there. The couple was going to Payson which fitted our plans exactly. They dropped us off at the main road in town. We began walking north to try to catch a ride north to Flagstaff, for you see we had made up our minds to go there. As we were walking along a Sheriff's car pulled up and he began to question us. Just then a call came into his radio about a small plane that had crashed on the mountain. So he drove away and we continued north. Finally a man in a pickup truck picked us up and we rode in the back all the way to Flagstaff.   From Flagstaff we headed east along Interstate 40. Now a little bit about hitch hiking. Late in the last days it became unsafe to use this method of travel. However at this time it was an accepted way to get from one place to another, if you did not have transportation of your own. And it was relatively safe to do so. Eventually it became increasingly dangerous for both the hitch hiker and the person whom picked them up. 

Knights of the Road, as 18 Wheelers were called in those days, would stop and pick us up and give us rides a long distance. By the next morning we arrived in Albuquerque. We were both very hungry but unfortunately we were also very broke. We wondered around town looking for some work that we could do. I went into a meat Market and ask for work. The owner said yes that I could help around the store. I worked all day and I think I received the hansom sum of $20.00. By this time it was getting late and we stopped and ate. As we were walking out of town we saw a Drive Inn Theater. As we felt rich at the moment we decided to go. We watched the movie, ate some popcorn and as the movie ended we were being bombarded by drops of rain. We took off running as the rain became stronger. We came to an ally behind some businesses and saw standing there two plywood boxes about 5' X 3' X 3'. As fast as we could we moved the open ends of the boxes together and crawled inside. The boxes were filled with Excelsior. A little rain came in but for the most part we slept very dry and snug that night. When we crawled out from the boxes the next morning we awoke to a beautiful sunny day. We got back on the Highway and continued east across the Texas panhandle, then across Oklahoma and on into Missouri. Our last ride dropped us off just outside of Springfield. We started to walk the few miles that were left to town. As we approached there was a carnival off to our left in a field the attraction was irresistible and we thought we might get some work so we could get something to eat. The first thing we came to was a crowd of people around two sides of a four sided booth. We walked around to the empty side so we could watch and see what was happening. People, mostly young people like us, were putting nickels in a slot made from wood forming a ramp down to a large board with small squares with numbers from 1 through 5 painted on it. The numbers were placed in a random order and the coins would roll down and roll around until it came to a stop. Now, if the coins were to land squarely in the center of one of the squares, which were just the right size for it to fit, then the happy person would receive the number of nickels indicated by the number on the square. However if it landed on the line, any line it was retrieved by the person running the game. Well there were two people running the game, one on each of two sides, and they were working with two hands, scooping up coins as fast as they could and occasionally handing out a few nickels. It soon became obvious that the owners were making money as fast as they could pick it up. They wore aprons to collect the coins into but you could see that were bulging with coins. Now, the two people were older and I don't remember what there names were but one was a woman and the other a man. The third large board was vacant and needed someone to work it. I spoke up and ask the woman if they could use another worker. She looked at me quickly, but in those few moments I could feel her size me up. I quickly explained to her that we were just passing through on our way to Pennsylvania but needed to make some money. She invited me into the booth and indicated an apron under the counter. I put it on and started to work. Now, I understand today that this activity was gambling and not approved by Jehovah, but at the time I thought it was just a game. While I was working Jack wondered around the carnival and in a short while he too had a job. The carnival closed on Sunday night and it must have been Friday that we started because I think we worked for three days sleeping in the tents at night.  We dismantled the tents loaded everything on trucks and begin to travel to our next destination. Unknown to either Jack or I the concessions we were working for happened to be owned by two different owners. During the night the two groups split up and Jack's boss went northeast and the one I was with went southeast and so Jack and I became split up. Jack went to Dixon Tennessee and I went to Sulfur Louisiana. I stayed with the Carnival traveling around the southern United States until winter when they went into winter quarters in Houston Texas. About this time I was getting very lonely for my family especially my mother and brothers and sisters. I also was missing out on meetings and was beginning to suffer. I decided to go to the Greyhound bus station and call home from there. I asked my mother if I could come home and the excitement in her voice told me everything. She said "Of course you can come home." She sent me the money to get a bus ticket and I headed back to Arizona.  When I returned home there was Peanuts munching on grass in the field behind the houses. I had learned that my step dad had gone up to sunflower and fetched him home. Jack had gone to Pennsylvania where he met up with his sister Elaine. She shipped him home on a bus before school had started, but I started school late and had to make up the work I had missed.