Yesterday's story about my old Triumph TR4 reminded me of another story. When I quit Texas Oil & Gas, I gave up my company car, a maroon Plymouth Fury that I dearly loved. I owned the TR4 that I had bought from my friend John, and a Triumph Bonneville 750 motorcycle that I had yet to sell to him. Neither car nor motorcycle was the picture of reliability. I left TXO to pursue fantastic riches as an independent oil man. Being young and naive I only had about a thousand dollars, most of which I had borrowed from Carol, my girlfriend of the moment, to sustain myself until my first big break.
The Triumph served me well around town but I had not ventured far from my digs at the old Woodlake Apartments where I had moved after my first wife and I finally divorced and sold our house. When my mother got sick and needed a medical procedure, this all changed. Packing a suitcase, I tossed it in the trunk, threw caution to the wind and headed south. My mother survived her procedure in the
Shortly after leaving
I thought that I was going to wind up in the ditch. Instead, the tires on the little car gripped and I ended up accelerating out of the curve, my heart in my proverbial throat. That was it! I had no brakes. Doing what any other testosterone laden young man would do, I decided to keep going and worry about any potential repercussions later.
The Triumph had a strong motor and excellent compression. When you let off the gas, the car decelerated rapidly. The car's old tractor engine had enough torque to pull a tree stump and growled like a lion on the prowl. It made me feel vital and alive. Don't ask how, but I made it safely back to OKC - 362 miles in less than five hours.
I made no money during the first five months of my independence. Finally, I earned a pittance for a consulting job. On impulse, I bought an expensive Guild guitar with a bright red finish I somehow felt that I couldn't live with out. It was the last straw for my girlfriend Carol and idiot was the nicest thing she called me that night. She also called me a hopeless dreamer. We broke up shortly after the guitar incident but I went on to make more than a quarter of a million dollars before the end of the year.
I made and lost lots more than that during the years that followed, but I also spent many of those years at a level of near poverty. Still, I survived and I had lots of fun along the way. Carol was a great person and she was there for me when I needed her. She is long gone from my life but a few things from that era still remain - my Guild guitar, my Triumph TR4, and my hopeless dreams.