Early Years of Marriage

November 7, 2011

I got married when I was just a couple months away from being 20 years old.  I got pregnant and had Mike when I was 24 years old.  So there were a few years in there when it was just David and I.  During that time we had our Manx cat Dingo…best cat I’ve ever had.  Smart cat… very active cat.  He died shortly after we moved to Mayette.  He got kidney failure…the vet says most likely from us making him stay indoors at the new house and having to use a cat box.  We also had a parakeet… the cool thing about the parakeet was it could swing on his perch with a little metal bell attached and make the TV channels change.  Back then the remote to the TV was way different than today.  You had to be close to the TV and aim it directly at the spot on the TV where it was set up.  Anyway, somehow the metal bell would make the TV channels change.  Back then the remote also had buttons to adjust the color on the TV… color TV’s were weird in the late 60’s/early 70’s.  The picture was always green or red, and no matter how much you adjusted it…it still had a tint of green or red. 

I also bought a couple of chickens at our house in Windsor.  A Rhode Island Red Rooster and a Plymouth Rock Hen.  I thought I had to protect them from the neighborhood cats…until I saw the rooster take off after a cat that jumped into our yard once.  That rooster was fast…and mean!!   In fact, I had to get rid of the rooster when he got so mean that he started chasing ME!!  He came right into our living room after me once—sorry rooster, you are going to become soup!!!  And he did…a friend took him and cooked him up.

Back in those days we all did a lot of ironing.  I did more than some—because David insisted that I iron not only his work shirts – but also his work pants!!   I ironed all my clothes as well as all his.   I also cooked up a big batch of potato salad every week so David could have a bowl of it in his lunch each day.  Along with the potato salad I usually made up tuna for his sandwich.  Each night I cooked a home cooked meal…even though most of the time David did not come home “on time”.  He either worked late or went out with his buddies.  But he wanted dinner on the stove when he got home!!   Mind you…we didn’t have microwave ovens back then…he just heated it on the stove and ate his dinner late. 

I enjoyed it when his buddies came over and they all sat around talking “truck stories”.  From what I understood the biggest problems with trucks in the 60’s was lack of power and brakes that failed.  I remember hearing how the breaks would start on fire and the driver had to find anything he could to put it out…including urine.  Maybe that’s where the saying “piss on it” came from. 

David had a friend by the name of Kenny Goforth, he was married to an Indian girl named Rosalie.  I really liked the two of them.  Kenny was BIG, and usually always happy.  I guess he was a good low-bed truck driver, with no fear.  He’d take his truck anywhere—up highway 1 along the Sonoma Coast or down to SF going the wrong way on a One Way Street.  Kenny and Rosalie lived in a shack out by the Riverview shop.  There was a row of shacks there and all of them had Indian’s living in them.  Going to their house was like visiting a third world country.  Washing machine out front… plumbing didn’t work… the shacks were built with single wall construction. 

Another of David’s friends (and co-worker) was Robert Shepard.  He was married to Marilyn and had 3 kids.  Robert is a sad story.  When he moved to Sonoma County and got hired on with Riverview he only drank wine…and not all that much of it.  David and Robert really got along and David encouraged Robert to drink beer and hard liquor.  Pretty soon Robert was drinking WAY more than David.  Eventually Robert and Marilyn got divorced and Robert moved on to drugs.  The last time I saw him he was working at a rental agency as their mechanic and living in a one room shack off of

Santa Rosa Ave.

  Even David said Robert was one of the best mechanics in Sonoma County back when they first met.  It was pretty sad that David got him into drinking and Robert just couldn’t seem to stop.

David had a bunch of other buddies that he knew from growing up out at Jenner.  We’d see them off and on during those first four years of our marriage.  There were some great stories of growing up out at Jenner…but I know I can’t do justice to the stories so I won’t try. 

Larry and Rodney ended up closing Riverview Transportation and at that time Bill Von Arx and David decided to start their own trucking company.  Vonnel Transportation.  I was still working as a nurse’s aid during that time…so I didn’t have anything to do with the company.  Much as David thought he knew everything about everything…he apparently didn’t know about paying taxes…because the IRS shut down Vonnel Transportation.  The IRS just came into the lot and slapped white stickers on the trucks and posted that they were all going up for auction.   David was a bit scared..he hired a tax attorney that basically said… “You should have paid your taxes”.  The trucks all got auctioned off and Bill Von Arx bought a few of them (how does that work…I don’t know).  Anyway Bill then opened Von Arx Drayage and David went to work for him.  

Somewhere around that time I gave birth to Mike and we moved to

Mayette Ave.

  Around the same time Linda Von Arx divorced Bill and Bill moved into a small travel trailer in one of those trailer parks on

Old Redwood Highway

.  Bill then hired me to do his office work and I worked out of his travel trailer (with baby Mike).

 Bill Von Arx owned his house…it was in his insane uncles name since Bill was the conservator of his uncle and had total control of his uncle’s money.  So… anyway Bill got to move back into his house and Linda had to move away with the kids. 

I really enjoyed dispatching the trucks… Bill did low-bed trucking.  I got to know the names of all the pieces of equipment and I got to know a lot of the area around northern California.  When they needed a pilot car I got to drive.  I really enjoyed that.  I had a small sedan and I built a plywood platform in the back seat.  I padded it and covered it with fabric.  I would just put Mike back there with his toys and a bottle and I’d drive all over Northern California.  I got to go to the Sierra’s, to Ft Bragg, up around Eureka… a lot of nice places.  Mike loved having the whole back seat area to him.  He just played, ate and slept.  It was all padded…he was safe!!

One time David and I were taking a school house up to a small town outside of Eureka.  Bill had the contract for the portable schoolhouses back then.  I learned that portable schoolhouses were wider and much heavier than mobile homes.  Furthermore the way they transported them to lift the schoolhouse onto a dolly that had wheels on either end.  That means that the “trailer” you are hauling has wheels on the end…not near the end…but right on the end.  That makes cornering a bit tough when you are out in the “boonies”.  So…anyway Mike and I in my car were piloting David along a very thin road.  David told me to go at least a mile or two ahead of him and stop anyone I come to and tell them to get off the road – because he was coming and the schoolhouse took up the WHOLE road.  Mind you, this was the early 70’s…men were still men…and they didn’t want any woman telling them ANYTHING—especially men out in the woods.  So…I’d see a pickup coming towards me, I’d put my hand out holding a flag and then stop in the middle of the road.  I’d let the driver know that he needed to get off the road since the schoolhouse was coming.  Most thanked me and did as I said… one guy told me where to go and just kept driving.  David said it was great watching that guy run off the road when he came towards him.  David’s basic attitude was “Bill owns the truck; I’m going to keep going, if the truck gets wrecked…oh well”.  So…we went along for quite a few miles like that.  Then…we came to a bridge.  Not just any bridge, but a ONE WAY BRIDGE…that came off the road at a full 90 DEGREE ANGLE!!!   OOPS!!!   NO way was that school house going to make that turn. 

I was parked on the other side of the bridge… telling all the loggers that they weren’t going to get across that bridge that evening…cause that schoolhouse was TOTALLY blocking the road.  Even if David backed up…there was nowhere to back where there would be enough room for another vehicle to pass that schoolhouse.  One thing about those loggers…they were nice.  They were not happy about the whole situation, but they totally understood it.  They went over and talked to David… looked at the truck, looked at the schoolhouse and made all kinds of suggestions.  Most would say…”can’t you just jack it around like they do with the mobile homes?”   And David would have to tell them the weight of the schoolhouse.  They would let out a long, low whistle and just scratch their heads. 

First off…in order to take those schoolhouses off the highway, a person had to get a permit from Caltrans.  Caltrans is SUPPOSED to know their roads and only issue a permit where the load can go… so why were we told that the schoolhouse COULD make it!!   Hmmm

So… the only way that schoolhouse was going to make it across that bridge was to get a couple of heavy duty tow trucks up there and have them lift the schoolhouse over the railing of the bridge. 

So…the loggers helped David back up about a mile or so where they could get past him and at least get home that night.  A tow truck company was contacted and they said since it was dark they wouldn’t come out that night, but would be there in the morning. 

David and I got in the car and drove to Eureka for the night.  Mike loved all the excitement.

The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn and heading to the truck.  We waited for the tow trucks.  When they arrived they took a good long time surveying the situation and then got to work.  David would move the truck ever so little…as they picked up the schoolhouse and moved it over the railing and onto the bridge.  It was quite a site to see…

Once they got the schoolhouse onto the bridge and David drove it over…then on the other side…they had to do the same thing…cause the road turned a sharp 90 degree turn to the right on that side!!   It took most of the day to get that schoolhouse across the bridge.  Once we got it on the road I didn’t have to tell ANYONE to move off the road for the schoolhouse…everyone in the area knew about the schoolhouse and they got out of the way willingly. 

We arrived at the school where the portable schoolhouse was going around 2:00 PM.  When we pulled into the school yard –honestly, all the kids and teachers came running outside to great us.  They said they were waiting for their new schoolhouse and were afraid we wouldn’t be able to bring it to them.  It was pretty cool having a whole school come outside to great us.  Sure, it was a small school..but it was still pretty cool.  They even had us come into the cafeteria and served us some lunch!!

Working for Von Arx Drayage wasn’t a bad gig.