Seriously, Came Out Like Old Faithful

When I was a young one, my parents took my brother and me on a road trip to Yellowstone. My uncle lived in West Yellowstone, managing a pizza parlor, so it was combination see a park/visit relatives trip. I think that personally I was mostly excited about a claim to a number of states that I was going to see; Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. At one point, I remember my Dad saying we could make a slight detour and hit Utah as well, but my mom shot it down. I think my love of the road trip comes from Dad.

I learned that Ore-Ida (the company that makes some outstanding Tater Tots) stands for Oregon and Idaho as it stands right on the state lines. This felt like one of the riddles of the ages had been solved for me. I remember thinking that I couldn't wait to get back to school to tell the kids.

While walking down the sidewalk in West Yellowstone, doing a little souvenir shopping (I got a postcard of a Jackalope - part jack rabbit, part antelope; essentially a rabbit with antlers), Tom came walking out of a store.

Tom was my best friend at this point in grade school. Neither of us had any idea that the other was going to be in Yellowstone and this seemed like a miracle on par with learning the meaning behind Ore-Ida.

Tom and I used to do a thing in class called "Buck Bucks". We would sing a song using only chicken noises. This was a big hit with the 3rd grade audience and we were often tapped for requests. One memory that I have of Tom is him chasing us around at a birthday party, all sugared up, with this toy that had a thumb trigger and a twirling face that had what looked like sparks in little red windows when it was twirling. He was shrieking, "Dr. Shocker!" After about his 15th "Dr. Shocker", Tom threw up birthday cake all over the floor.

Years later we would have a severe falling out after a Heart concert and I would never see him again.

Well, there was that one time at the water park, but that's another story.

The good part of this story is that right now I have a bag of Ore-Ida Tots in the freezer. I’m gonna get a six pack of PBR and have me a Wednesday night.