Billy Jack

This time last week Lib and I were in our campervan at Cervantes for our last night on the road before returning to Perth for the weekend. The camp kitchen at the RAC caravan park had to be seen to be believed so new and flash were all the facilities there.

There was a mountain of paperwork and emails to attend to on our return but I will try to copy and paste an email from Rickyralph and my reply as I feel it will provide a valid update in precis of the last few weeks and some of my current thoughts. I know RR will not mind me sharing to a wider readership.

RM

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Yesterday, 7:01 PM

You

G'day Mate,

                          Looking forward to hearing you regale stories of your holiday west. I've been trying to get a dvd of the 1971 classic " Billy Jack " but to no avail. Would love to see it after all these years. Did you know that Tom Laughlin was actually married to the freedom school teacher Delores Taylor in the movie. I didn't know that. Tom Laughlin died in 2013, aged 82 years. He was married to Delores for 60 years. Back in the 60's/70's he opened his own freedom school which was a big hit and still going. He was an activist and did a lot of good work helping people all his life. He ran for president in 2000,2004 and 2008. At the time hollywood didn't like his take on the movie and wanted to change some things so he bit the bullit and went alone changing nothing. The rest is history.

                                                                                       RR

C

Carey

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Today, 11:42 PM

RE BILLY JACK 

I recall that I much liked that movie and the theme song 'One Tin Soldier'. Thinking about it brings memories back. We were at the drive-in I think Toorak, to watch it for the second time. Before it started we were buying food and bumped into Mike Pfifer's parents. I remember saying to Mr Pfifer that it was a great movie. Several times over the years I have wondered if they enjoyed it, and also why they were at the drive-in to watch it. I think Mrs Pfifer had a drinking problem and maybe that was Mr P's way of getting her out of the routine. Funny the things you think of. Of course that was the last time I saw them and they are probably both dead now. More than a decade later and when I was planning to go to to a Camberwell reunion thing I tracked Mike Pfifer's number from the contact list and rang, only to find from his wife that Mike had recently died from cancer. I would have told you this before. At the time I rang, Mike's father was there visiting his grandkids and she put him on. I didn't really know what to say and felt a bit of a goose. I think he told me his wife had died and he lived on the Gold Coast. Life has its sad side.

I often suffer with some "blues" when these thoughts come back to me about things from the past. There are many things I'm not happy about concerning the past, things I regret and would like to have my time again to correct my actions or do so much better. And things I would have liked to have said to people before they passed. I manage to quickly get back on top of it, a good technique I use is to run the jingle of the "The Beverley Hillbillies" through...."Now listen to my story of a man named Jed...etc etc". It seems to blow away my blues  and make me realize that as young people we were/are thrust into a world and situations that left/leave us swimming to stay afloat and not go under.

And that we did Pilgrim, and there's no point recriminating over the past. We have learned, survived and have acquired more savvy. Not perfect by any means, but less mistakes now and more regard for other people and the plight and feelings of others. And importantly, we are much less vulnerable to bullshit.

Yes our trip was fantastic, loved every minute of it. It has been a hard week, returning Monday evening, two big work days Tues Wed then a lot of running around today tidying up many loose ends. A big day picking stuff tomorrow to finish off the week's orders as I did none today.

On our trip, after a night at a B+B (Ascot on Swan) in Perth quite close to the airport, and picking up our camper the next morning, we did two and a half days driving to get to Coral Bay just south of Exmouth. We stayed there three nights as we felt it was so beautiful and to go further north would be further to come back. From there we went back south for two nights at Denham, which we loved also, then south to Kalbarri for two nights before going to Cervantes for our last night with the van. Cervantes is only two hours or so from Perth and we did this as we were to get the camper back before 3pm. We did so and by 2pm were in a cab to take us to our appartment in West Perth which was excellent for two nights as we enjoyed Perth for the weekend and rested up. We bussed out to our same B+B near the airport for Sunday night, by this time feeling that Terry and Evelyn the proprietors were old friends as they made us so comfortable and drove us to restaurants and picked us up at the airport on arrival and took us out there to depart.

It was a great trip.