Thursday, August 15, 2013

Rainbow Ridge, October 1972

Welcome to the little mining town of Rainbow Ridge!

I have stayed in the El Dorado Hotel; the accommodations are first class. Friendly bedbugs, sheets washed twice a month, convenient outhouse, it has it all! Admittedly the wi-fi could be better.


Miner's Hardware? Hey, I'M a miner! I'll need some of those screw doohickeys, and one of those digging things, and maybe a large twisty thingamajig. On second thought, make it two thingamajigs. And some duct tape.


I hear they're gonna put in a new building here, for something called "roller disco". The sale of leg warmers and sparkly tank tops has gone through the roof! Grizzled miners love tank tops.


15 comments:

  1. Major-

    I understand the Miners Hardware store sold some very snappy entrenching tools. Probably what the lady, with the almost half-smile is about to do. Either that, or she has just finished checking over the accommodations, and was a bit disappointed.

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  2. To bad the beds are only 3 feet long...

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  3. How much extra for the sheets?

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  4. Down the street at Minors' Hardware, they have to keep the screwhickeys behind the counter out of reach of the under-18 crowd. They are allowed to see saws, though.

    I hear tell them bedbugs is so friendly-like, they're the ones who warsh the sheets twice a month. (They get their warshboards at Mini's Hardware.)

    And finally, with many a-Poe-logies,

    Gaily attired,
    A dame retired,
    In the sun that knows no shadow,
    Had journeyed far,
    In a gas-guzzling car,
    In search of the El Dorado.

    The day grew old
    For this lady bold -
    Her wig and her bravado
    Slipped out of line
    As she saw no sign
    That read, "The El Dorado."

    And, as her strength
    Failed her at length,
    She stopped a passing kiddo.
    "Kiddo," said she,
    "Where can it be -
    This pillared El Dorado?"

    "Beneath the Block
    Of the great Comstock;
    Your glasses are quite bad, oh!
    Look right behind you
    If you would find you
    The conspicuous El Dorado!"

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  5. MRaymond6:34 AM

    My favorite ride as a kid with some great memories. It's too bad that with all the youtube videos out there, not a single one of the MTTNW. I know, it was all 8mm back then but has one, somewhere.

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  6. I hear the El Dorado was the favorite hotel of the 7 Dwarfs.
    Them thar 3 foot beds was no problem.

    They used to roll into town once a year for the miners convention.
    I doubt if'n they cared too much about the sheets as they rarely warshed anywho.

    Hey why are we all typing like Gabby Hayes?

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  7. Speak for yourself, Alonzo! I'm a-typin' like Jed Clampett!

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  8. The beds in the sleeping quarters below deck on the Columbia weren't much bigger than 3 feet either.

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  9. Anonymous9:17 AM

    It's weird how many of us have three feet. How does that happen?

    I stayed at the El Dorado Hotel too, the rooms are so small, the mice are hunchbacked.

    I'll be at the Golden Horseshoe all week, try the veal.

    JG

    PS: @Melissa, EPIC.

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  10. Nanook, she just bought the El Dorado, and is waiting for the big bucks to come rolling in.

    fuzzhead, I generally sleep in the fetal position anyway….

    Nancy, it's probably something outrageous like 50 cents.

    Melissa, ha ha, "screwhickeys". I'll have to remember that one! Your Poe-em is awesome, but my ignorance of poetry means that I don't get the reference. Maybe I need to learn to read?

    MRaymond, I'm sure there are home movie views of Nature's Wonderland, and some people have done compilations of shots, but it's not so easy to find them.

    Alonzo, the 7 Dwarfs were not welcome, what with all of their late night singin' and dancing'. BTW, Gabby Hayes was well known for his amazing typing skills. He could also do macrame.

    Melissa, I'm typing like Gabby Johnson from "Blazing Saddles".

    K. Martinez, I thought sailors slept in hammocks!

    JG, are you channeling Groucho?

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  11. "many a-Poe-logies" is a link to Poe's version. He was just referring to a South American legend of a lost city of gold.

    I was trying so hard to make some kind of joke about the 7 Dwarfs and the forty-niners at the mining convention on account of 7 being the square root of 49, but the math and joke parts of my brain weren't speaking to each other.

    I have three feet, but I keep them in the yard.

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  12. MRaymond and Major:
    Have you seen this video yet? It's from the recent D23 Expo and it's Tony Baxter and Josh Shipley narrating some rare footage of MTTNW and providing some very cool information. Check it out!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD5sTrVnA-8&feature=youtu.be

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  13. Major - No hammocks in the Columbia. They even had electrical outlets. How authentic is that?

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/wolves4moe/253073448/sizes/z/in/set-72057594140702197/

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  14. Hi ho, hi ho,
    It’s into town we go.
    Put our fourteen feet on the three-foot sheets
    At the El Do-ra-do-ri-dee-o.
    Hi ho,
    It’s just like home, hi ho,
    Our laundry night is not snow white no mo’,
    We got no Dynamo.

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  15. MRaymond6:09 AM

    That video made my day.

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