Tag: New Mexico

SEARCHING for KLATU & MY UFO VACATION —Jim Stiles (ZX#68)

Suddenly, one of the assistant scoutmasters, Mr Schneider yelled, “What the hell…heck is that?” (He didn’t want to corrupt his boys). We all looked skyward as he pointed to three bright lights moving silently across the sky. It was like nothing any of us had ever seen before. Imagine a pencil dangling from a string, in total darkness, but with three lights attached to it, at both ends and the middle. It almost appeared to be wobbling across the sky. We were all speechless. It crossed our field of view diagonally, then paused, pivoted on its front light, and changed direction. As it disappeared over the tree line, the three lights seemed to waver, like a snake crossing open ground. It’s been more than half a century since that night. But I was hooked.

When we finally got home, my parents asked about the hike, but all I could talk about was the UFO.

THE WWII BASQUE O.S.S. SPY from New Mexico: (ZX#19) …by Jim Stiles

“My brother and I are Basque, you know. We came from the Pyrenees before the second world war,” Armando explained.

“Really,” I said. “What did you do when you came over here?”

“Well,” he replied, “I went to work for the OSS.”

“The OSS?” I knew what the OSS was…the Office of Strategic Services, the military intelligence agency during World War II. I know my WWII history pretty well, and since I also believe that in my last life I may have been the pilot of a B-24 Liberator in Europe and was shot down over Belgium in August 1944, I could converse fairly intelligently with him on the subject.

“The OSS?” I said. “Did you ever meet the director, Bill Donovan?”

“‘Wild Bill’ Donovan? Of course…I met with him several times in the President’s office.”

“The President’s office? Which president do you mean?”

“Why President Roosevelt’s office. The Oval Office. The White House…”

THE SAD DEMISE of the HONEST HOBO/HITCHHIKER (ZX#13)…by Jim Stiles

Most of us are afraid to pick up hitchhikers these days, and many potential hitchhikers are afraid to thumb for a ride. I don’t think I’d take the risk these days, after a few close calls many years ago. You never know if the stranger who’s offering you a ride is just a nice guy trying to be a Good Samaritan, or if he wants to take you out to some remote corner of the desert and dismember you, and have your liver for lunch. Scary times indeed.

But I’ve known a few of them. Traveling by thumb was their way of life. And many of them loved it. I even gave it a try myself on a very bizarre cross-country, mid-winter hitchhike with my dog Muckluk—from Los Angeles to Louisville, Kentucky (part 2 of this hitchhiking story will include that little misadventure). That was so many years and decades ago.

Whenever I picked up a hitchhiker, I’d ask him about the risks involved in thumbing, and just dealing with the extreme weather conditions. I remember one old fellow said to me, “It may be too cold or too hot, and scary as hell sometimes, but how much did you spend on gas today?” He had a point.

NICK AND ZORKA: An Immigrant Couple’s Lesson about America …by Jim Stiles & Tonya Morton

Zorka (left) and Nick (right) Pavletich, sitting outside their motel, the Maverick Motel, in Raton, New Mexico.

When the Nazis fell in Yugoslavia, the regime that took its place was Tito’s Communist government. While it had some separation from the central USSR rule, life in communist Yugoslavia was a struggle. And Nick’s experiences in other countries as a soldier showed him that life could be different. He decided to leave Yugoslavia by any means necessary.