Some words to live by

Sounds as if it could have came from my grandfather, who himself was an ol rover. A man of many trades who made the whole of the U.S.A. his home. He hitch hiked the length and breath of the continent, got caught transporting guns for one of Al Capone’s men, got a job as a Hollywood stunt-man but lost it because he was pulling more stunts on the ladies rather than on the screen, worked the Pittsburgh steel explosion, bootlegged booze out of a California hotel, and just about everything else everywhere. Later on, when he “settled” in with a family on a farm, he was still out on the road for half the year promoting shows. I remember the impression that it left on me when, as a little boy, I realized that my grandfather slept half the nights of a given year on an old mattress in his van. I just couldn’t comprehend that living like that was an option. I though that everybody slept in a cozy house, with a bed, and fixed facilities. Then one day, I went and saw his set up, and it blew my mind. He had not only a mattress in there, but everything else he needed to survive! And it moved with him where ever he went! I too, wanted to spend my life out of the back of something that was always moving. I too wanted to live on the road. I suppose childhood impressions are difficult to shake.