Another unexpected Animal Species on the Island and some long ago Memories

Bear, Moose, Porcupine and now……..SKUNK. What else is running around here? The skunk I learned about today when talking to a neighbour who had had the pleasure of seeing it right smack in the middle of their lawn. Shall we bunker tomato juice now? Just as a precaution in case Molly has a meeting with that black/white intruder?  How in the world are skunks coming to this island? I kind of doubt that they can swim with all their feathery splendor. Or did they live here long before mankind set foot here? It will remain a riddle. With the summer slowly moving into the fall season I some times check on the temps in Holtville,CA.  105F – it’s way too hot there, but nevertheless my thoughts are often there. The South-West got into my veins way back in 1996 when I travelled from L.A. to Denver,CO in an old clunker of a 1972 Dodge Polara. The one in this picture wasn’t mine but almost the same colour. Unfortunately a drunk ran his pickup into the trunk of my car while it was parked in Denver. It was beyond repair and was later sold to a guy from Boise, ID. Even though that model never won any design competition it was a great and smooth running car with a big 360engine. Once, I was in Southern Colorado with it and just coming back from the Great Sand Dunes at Blanca, my engine was running hot. It had done that before. When I stopped at the curb in Blanca I looked around and discovered a garage on the opposite site. A stand on the curb announced that the customer could expect friendly service here. So I left the Dodge and ventured across the street. Inside the shop I met two guys. One was an Indian. It turned out he was the boss and owner of the 7C’s repair shop. I asked him whether he could help getting my hot-engine problem fixed. I heard him ask what car it was I had trouble with. Pointing out the door I told him about the 1972 Dodge Polara. His face broke into a great big smile when he said: “Bring her right in. We love those.” A couple of days later I asked Joe, the boss, whether the “7Cs” was some sort of a chain. Grinning he said: “No, but one day it might” The man had ambitions! While the guys had a ball with my old clunker I was confined to a motel in town, from where I took regular walks over to the shop to inquire about the progress of the works. It turned out that my radiator was clogged up and in order to get that fixed they had to send the thing over to a shop in nearby Alamosa. Two days later I was back at the shop and heard the bad news. The Alamosa shop had blown my radiator to pieces. ‘Kaputt’ with other words. So a new radiator became necessary. It was`put in over the next days and I could continue the great journey with 500 dollars less in my pocket. Outch! Despite all that trouble I still think of this great adventure as one of my best-ever travels in the South-West. Maybe it is standing out because it was a time when I did not have much money and traveled in a very moderate way. One of these old buildings housed the 7Cs in 1996 4 years later I came through Blanca again. This time in a rented motorhome with Bea in the passenger seat and mother watching the rear. Of course, I had to stop at that shop and see whether Joe, the boss was home. Surprisingly everything was locked up and nobody around. The shop had closed for good. And that, folks, is the reason why I’ve never been in any “7Cs” shop again. Thanks for coming a ways along.