Just warning ya'll.
Josh and I had a great trip to Oregon. I think I saw most of the people who read this blog, so I won't go into details. We enjoyed the long drive because it gave us plenty of time to talk about stuff that we never have time to talk about. I thought Peyton, my niece, was adorable. I thought Ben, Devon's boyfriend, was adorable too. Well, watching him interact with my sister. Let me clarify that. ;-)
My kids had a great time with their grandparents...I think they all wore each other out pretty well.
We managed to get EVERYTHING put away today, and that included reorganizing all our food storage shelves to make room for my Costco purchases. Not having to do laundry was incredibly helpful as well. Brynne started reorganizing the playroom closet. Hannah and I helped her finish it up. Now all the toys fit in that closet except the riding toys. Incredible!
One thing that Josh and I could not get enough of was the fall colors. What a beautiful, beautiful world we live in. Oregon is about a month ahead of California in the color department. Not many reds going on down here. Definitely none on the coast. In my parents' town the colors were so bright they were practically fluorescent. Very nice!
Half of the family got to hear about our funny experience on the drive up. Josh and I made a friend...Jeremy. The story is much better in person, but I'll try to do it justice on "paper".
A couple hours into our drive, Josh and I stopped for breakfast. As we're sitting in Carl's Jr. eating, a guy comes in with a strip of cardboard and asks the cashier for a Sharpie. He plops himself down a few tables away to write. In a jovial voice with a Forest Gump accent he asks, "how do you spell Humboldt?" Josh spells it for him. He's smiling and nodding like it all sounds familiar. Then he asks, "how do you spell county?" Again, Josh spells it. We were both thinking what a sweet, simple soul this guy is. Then Josh makes a little small talk and we find out that this guy is on his way home "on his birthday" and his car broke down. To be brief - he needs a ride to Redding. From there he has a bus ticket to get home. Josh gives me a questioning look and nod - and before we know it Jeremy is safely esconced in our back seat.
It's then that we notice that sickly, sweet smell of marijuana. Come to find out, Jeremy is a grower in Humboldt County. For the next two hours, with minimal prompting, he tells us all the ins and outs of growing and selling pot. How he ships via UPS or FedEx. How much he gets paid and how much he pays his workers. How he puts a tracking device in all his shipments in case the cops get too close. He giggled at that part and said, "I send it General Delivery from Willow Creek but I don't live in Willow Creek". How he smokes pot with the county sheriff's deputies and the county DA's a grower. He tried to convince Josh that he should grow. Josh explained that we're LDS and don't smoke. Jeremy excitedly told us, "you don't have to smoke it to grow it!"
I'll tell you what, I learned so much in that two hours. It was really a fascinating, in-depth look at a huge segment of our county's economy that up to this point I knew nothing about. He went over all the laws and how they're enforced (or not) in Humboldt County. He made sure we knew that his "doctor" could get us 215 cards any time we need...and made sure we knew where the dispensaries are in Fort Bragg. Funny thing is, one of them is called Urban Legend. Just two days ago I was driving by it and wondering what sort of store it was and thinking I should stop by some time. I guess now I won't need to! I was hoping for some hip furniture store. Dang!
Jeremy was introduced to pot when he was 6 by his parents, who were carnival workers. At this juncture Jeremy said, "lots of carnie's are druggies. How'd that make you feel? Hey, let's go on a roller coaster that's built by drug addicts and run by them!" His parents died when he was 16. You can tell that the pot he's been smoking for over 20 years has had an effect on his mental process, but he sure knows the marijuana laws backwards and forwards. And he's pretty decent with his math - at least the ones that related to pot.
As we're driving down the road he looked at a car Josh was passing and said, "that guy's transporting pot. That there's a felony." I guess he could see the plants in the back seat.Towards the beginning of the drive, Jeremy pulled out a bud and a bong as an example of what he's legally allowed to carry. Josh, who had been cruising right along, immediately dropped his speed about five mph. ;-)
Pretty fascinating, really. One thing that became apparent to me is the difference between something like pot and cigarettes. This kid's entire life's goal is to make enough money to be able to retire and...smoke pot. People who smoke tobacco don't seem to lose the ability to have a life. Pretty sad that this kid will contribute absolutely nothing to society. What kind of a life is that.
2 comments:
On the plus side, he seems quite content with his life. Last week Brian and I watched a Frontline or something following a couple of heroin addicts. In these cases, the kids in their 20s could see how their lives were ruined and hopeless. They were horribly unhappy. In Jeremy's case, you can't really feel sorry for someone who isn't unhappy with their life. What's sad is that he didn't stand a chance to know any different.
You lied, you totally have pictures on this post. I like them. :D
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