STEREO -
A combining form borrowed from Greek, where it meant “solid”, used with reference to hardness, solidity,
three-dimensionality in the formation of compound words: stereochemistry; stereogram; stereoscope.
Also, especially before a vowel, stere-
Greek stereós
-ODYSSEYA long series of wanderings or adventures, especially
when filled with notable experiences, hardships, etc.
Dedication
I’d
like to dedicate this work to my friends who were part of this book, to
my parents who always said that I should write a book, to my wife who
always knew that I could write a book and to my two daughters who will
one day read these stories.
God help them all.
Author’s Note
All
of these stories are real.
Many are presented in a stylized
format but are nonetheless based on actual events that happened in my
life. In developing my writing skills and sharing my stories with
others over the many years I tried several types of styles.
All
stories are presented in chronological order, more or less, though some stories may
overlap other stories or one or more stories may occur during other stories as they are
being told. Such is life and life, if it is anything then it is
anything but linear.
I hope that you enjoy reading these stories as much as I enjoyed living, writing and sharing them.
Thanks
I’d
like to thank God for my talents and my skills as well as the wisdom to
employ these gifts as I have done over these many years. I’d also
like to thank God for letting me live as long as I have, to survive
some truly horrific automobile and motorcycle wrecks and to have
allowed me to walk away from so many bad situations and accidents
without much more than a scratch. It’s a safe bet to say that
without Him I wouldn’t be here today.
I’d
like to thank my parents, Don and Pat, and my sister, Courtney, for
being the best family a boy could ever have when growing up. I
wasn’t the easiest son to raise or the nicest brother to have but in
hindsight I think I turned out all right.
I’d
like to thank my grandmother, Deloris Stubbe, for buying me my very
first car, that wonderful 1978 Chevrolet Camaro Rally Sport, way back
in the late spring of 1984, when I was still just 14 years old.
My grandmother gave me the keys to my first, fast car and to the open
road that would become such an important fixture in my life ... my
grandmother gave me the keys to adventure and the ability to just ...
drive.
I’d
like to thank my wife, Cynthia, for putting up with all of my
eccentricities and idiosyncrasies since the spring of 1993, for
believing in me and for being so supportive all these many years.
Of all the adventures that I’ve been on in my life she’s still my
favorite adventure of all.
I’d
like to thank Flynn and Cody for being my more than capable partners in
crime in a well spent youth, especially from 1986 to 1992. If we weren’t swinging wrenches,
rowing gears, dancing on pedals, burying needles, killing tires, wasting
irreplaceable fossil fuel products, rolling
bones, drinking whiskey or being above average hooligans then we weren’t having a good time.
I’d
like to thank my best friend, Bill, for being the brother I never
had and for sharing in some of my high speed adventures along the way,
whether he wanted to or not ...
I’d
like to thank Pam for showing me how it never should be, Marie
for what we shared, Debby Lee for what time we had together, Joy because
it could have been, Katrice because it wasn’t, Kelly because it
almost was and Cynthia because it finally is.
I’d
like to thank Mrs. Mauldin, my eleventh grade English teacher, for
liking what she read of my first written stories way back in the fall of
1985 and for encouraging me to write more as well as more often.
I’d
like to thank all of the readers of my stories since the fall of
1984. From spiral bound notebooks to typed pages to computer
printed sheets and now to the Internet ... Your
words of praise and encouragement as well as your
critiques and comments have made this volume of work both possible as
well as continuing. Oh, what a long way this has come from pen
and pencil scribblings front and back on the sheets of single subject
spiral bound
notebooks.
And finally …
I’d
like to thank the Pontiac Motor Division of General Motors for building
excitement … or at least Pontiac used to build excitement and when
Pontiac did build excitement it was glorious while it lasted.
Gone but never forgotten … rest in peace and thanks for all the great
memories, Pontiac Motor Division (1926 to 2010).
