El Paso or bust

I was trying to remember when this story took place and I found out that the first Ford Mustang was introduced on April 17, 1964, one of my brother Don's birthdays. The Mustang plays a minor role in the story. I had a 1964 Ford Galaxie at the time. When the Mustang came out, I decided to trade it in on a new Mustang. The dealer ordered the Mustang and took my car so it could be sold before the Mustang came in. I needed a car so I bought an old 1959 Chevrolet.

Shortly after I made these trades, my brother, Ron, called. He was at Fort Hood in El Paso, Texas. He said he was being shipped out to Viet Nam and if we wanted to see him before he left, we better come to El Paso. So, being the loving brothers that we are, Don and I packed up the old Chevrolet and left for El Paso. We were working in Moultrie, GA at the time. So it was about 1500 miles to El Paso. A cooler full of sandwiches could probably get us there. Well, it actually got us to Houston where the cooler exploded. The reason the cooler exploded was because it didn't stop when the Chevy hit that other car. We arrived in Houston in an $800 Chevy and left Houston in a $60,000 Greyhound bus. Before we upgraded to the bus, we exhausted all of our alternatives for continuing our trip. I think this was one of the first times I saw Don's talent for wheeling and dealing. He suggested we call the Ford dealer in Moultrie and get them to let me take delivery of the Mustang that I ordered in Houston. After that call to the Ford dealer in Moultrie, I decided not to do anymore business with them. In fact, they may have been the ones that suggested it would be better for all concerned if we took the bus to El Paso. More later.