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The connection between Twinkies and my first LJ

Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2012 8:01 am
by Myers
The connection between Twinkies and my first LJ.

In March of 1947, Dad started working for a rather large farm/ranch operation. Our neighbors owned another rather large farm/ranch operation. They lived about ¾ mile away. Their names were Glen, his wife Alice and their son Arlin who was already in the second grade with me in the first.

Glen and Alice got a TV when they first started broadcasting signals in Oklahoma. Soon Alice was calling my Mother on Saturday mornings asking if I wanted to run down to their place and watch the “Howdy Doody Show” with Arlin. I actually think Howdy was sponsored by Twinkies, anyway, while Arlin and I were setting on the floor in front of their TV watching Howdy, Alice would split a package of Twinkies between us, one Twinkie… each that is.

In 1954 we moved several miles away but kept in touch with our old neighbors. Visiting with Alice and Glen years later when I was probably still in my thirties, I told her that the one Twinkie had just whetted my appetite. With that she went to her kitchen and brought back a brand new box of Twinkies, opened the box, handed it to me said I could eat them all. I ate one…….one package of two Twinkies that is.

During a visit in what I now realize was 1972, Glen showed me a new little yellow jeep-like vehicle which he had just bought. It had a unique two-cylinder/two-stroke engine. I rode in this little vehicle a few times over the years when Arlin and I would use it to go fishing. Probably starting in the early 1990’s, I would sometimes notice the little vehicle parked outside of the local mechanics shop here in Kaw City. When I stopped to ask about it, the mechanic always had the same story; “the brakes could not be fixed”.

Glen died in 2002 at age 94. One August afternoon in 2006, the Bride and I drove up for a visit with Alice who had arranged for Arlin to be there also. Although we were now two old men, we were setting in the same living room where we, as little boys, had watched Howdy Doody while sharing a package of Twinkies. During the visit Arlin just up and suddenly asked if I would like to have his Dad’s little yellow jeep. I was surprised they still had the thing but immediately replied “Sure, how much do you want for it”. With that, Alice, now ninety-three years old, replied; “I don’t have any yellow Twinkies to give you today so I will give you a yellow jeep”. To that I started a protest which resulted in two frowns, the first from Alice and one that followed from the Bride.

Within a few days I had hauled the little vehicle home and had actually some success in rebuilding the burnt-through contact spring on its weird distributor rotor. Then I found this website (LJ10.com) which informed me I had a Suzuki LJ-20 and provided help in finding parts and advice. In a short time I had purchased some parts from a stevec. With those and notes of advice from funny names like SMUZ, Jimny, Ruby, Suzy, deimos_jr, tweeder, and tweedybird, I soon had that little two-cylinder two-stroke engine humming, the brakes working, and had performed a refinery style de-coking burn on its exhaust system.

Soon after that I was using dimensions provided by a russmehl to start constructing a trailer so as to haul the little vehicle to a place called Cooke City to meet with folks I had met through the website.

When it got the LJ in 2006, the only instrument that worked was the odometer which showed 9000 + miles. I had that up to 12000+ before going to Cooke City in 2007. Once there stevec sold me a NOS still-in-the-box metric instrument cluster. Today, November 23, 2012, that "new"odometer shows 16950.6…. kilometers that is.

So that is the connection I make between Twinkies and my first LJ. And by now you have probably guessed why I affectionately call the LJ “Miss Alice”.

Alice the lady died in 2008 at age 95, having expressed her joy several times at seeing her name sake up and running again and “with brakes that work” as she was fond of saying. It now appears Twinkies might be headed for the same fate. Guess all that just goes with getting older.

Re: The connection between Twinkies and my first LJ

Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2012 8:23 am
by Smuz
Cool story, Larry. Guess you could have called the LJ "Twinkie" with some justification.

I remember when we were in Disney and Russ's LJ was broke on the river bed past lunch time. I was hungry and complaining about it in a loud shrill voice. Your wife, Winnie, took pity on me and gave me a Twinkie. One twinkie. Was just enough to get me by until we got Russ running and got back for some food. And shut me up. Bless her.

Re: The connection between Twinkies and my first LJ

Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2012 11:43 am
by Myers
Smuz wrote:Cool story, Larry. Guess you could have called the LJ "Twinkie" with some justification.

I remember when we were in Disney and Russ's LJ was broke on the river bed past lunch time. I was hungry and complaining about it in a loud shrill voice. Your wife, Winnie, took pity on me and gave me a Twinkie. One twinkie. Was just enough to get me by until we got Russ running and got back for some food. And shut me up. Bless her.
I remember your shrill :poke: part and the part where Russ was no-moving due to fuel pump issues. Believe two Sami guys from OKC area helped out with a loaner electric pump.

It is a fact that a part :-( of America's people have a problem with obesity. However, I recently read that if Twinkies do in fact leave the face of the earth, it would be like the Country shaving only 75 billion calories a year. Heck I thought I ate half of that many myself.

Re: The connection between Twinkies and my first LJ

Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2012 1:10 pm
by Frankenstein
Awesome story :cool:

Re: The connection between Twinkies and my first LJ

Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 11:29 am
by stevec
Great story Larry!

I was never much of a Twinkie fan, though I liked the Ho-Ho's. Back in college (around 1990) when I would see people with a Twinkie, I would tell them my "Twinkie theory": That Hostess actually stopped making Twinkies in 1979, and that they have the remaining inventory stored in a warehouse in Burbank. They are just about 100% preservatives, so they'll never go bad (besides being more than 1/2 sugar, they have formaldehyde in them!)

Upon hearing of the Hostess announcement, I told my wife "apparently they finally emptied that warehouse!"

Re: The connection between Twinkies and my first LJ

Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 4:12 pm
by Myers
Steve, that is regretful, To think of the many, many times I have craved a Twinkie and only now find out they were stored at Burbank all of these years. Burbank is just 15 miles by road from Kaw City OK and even closer if I walk. When you get time, please do a Google Earth on Burbank and tell me just where they stored the Twinkies.

Gonn'a send a parts order by PM this evening or tomorrow

Larry

Re: The connection between Twinkies and my first LJ

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 11:30 am
by stevec
I didn't know there was a Burbank in Oklahoma, but the warehouse I am referring to is in California. I could tell you exactly where, but then I'd have to kill you. :wink:

Re: The connection between Twinkies and my first LJ

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 1:16 am
by Myers
stevec wrote:I didn't know there was a Burbank in Oklahoma, but the warehouse I am referring to is in California. I could tell you exactly where, but then I'd have to kill you. :wink:
So, in addition to having the same name, it looks like the two Burbanks are kind of the same in other ways. I don't know if Burbank, Ok. has a warehouse (still standing that is) but I might have to kill you before you would volunteer to go to go there.

Re: The connection between Twinkies and my first LJ

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 5:11 am
by russmehl
I suspect that any activity involving any warehouse in either Burbank would endanger one's life.

Re: The connection between Twinkies and my first LJ

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:16 am
by Myers
Never been to California so can’t say Russ. Do know the population of the one in OK has been on the decline, dropping 9% from 2000 to 2010.
While one more wrecked vehicle may not be noticed, with the 2010 population of 141 it would sure be hard to hide a barn full of Twinkies from the coons, bobcats, and dogs, both wild and not, much less 141 Okies.