Leo

[JerryHofschneider]

He's probably my best friend, ever.

We've been friends since the early '70s and have had more adventures than any 10 friends. I've seen him through 2 marriages and a half-dozen affairs, he's been there for me when my marriage crashed and burned. I'm godfather to his first son, we've partied in dozens of exotic locations and we've stolen women from each other numerous times. Some of of my most memorable road trips have involved Leo.
Some of my life's most amazing coincidences have involved Leo.

He's a Rogue, a Pirate, the Last Hippie.
He's also THE funniest person I have ever known.
He's a carny and he travels the continent, jumping from one adventure to another, making a buck here, spending it all there, living in motorhomes and motels. He roams the country during the fair season, calling from some of the most interesting places in the USA. Then he winters in Florida, on Pine Island, out in the Gulf of Mexico, spending his days fishing and his nights drinking. We stay in touch, mostly over the phone.
We talk a couple times a month and have for years
I never know when I'll see him again, but we always have managed to run into each other in the most unlikely places.

Like that time in Nashville.
I drove up there with my friend Carol in my 350Z for a wedding. I hadn't seen Leo in months, hadn't even thought about him. Carol and I were driving down West End Ave in heavy traffic, right near Music Row, when a bright red Chevy truck with a campertop passed in the other lane.
A little synapse fired up a minor thought--"Hmm, looks just like Leo's truck."

Carol, a mutual friend to both of us, said "...hey, did you see that truck?" and I looked in my mirror and the damn Chevy was screeching to a smoky stop in heavy West End traffic. It had one brake light...
It was Leo.
I slammed to a stop, did a U turn and we passed one another again, this time going in the opposite direction, pushed along by traffic.

"Hey, ***hole, watch where you're going" he shouted as we passed.

We hooked up in a Burger King parking lot, got a pizza at the Magic Mushroom, had a laugh and got drunk at the motel.
He was on his way to Florida from Kentucky and stopped in Nashville to pay his cellphone bill. He had NEVER been on West End Ave (and neither had I) and was looking for the Sprint office when he saw my distinctive, orange 350.
"Only Hof drives a car like that", he thought as he passed, and he said later that he was completely shocked as we crossed in traffic--but he KNEW it was me, he had no doubt, so he slammed on the brakes, did a reckless U turn and then things got silly.
He moved on the next morning and I didn't see him again for a couple months.

Like any long-term relationship, the wheels sometimes have come off the friendship, resulting in months of not speaking to one another, but, like any solid friendship we eventually mend the breach, fire up a J and go on like it never happened.

Like the time in Jacksonville, NC, summer of 1997.
My divorce has just been finalized and I celebrated by buying a new Supra and was driving it up to New York City from Tampa, a short vacation. A new cellphone, my very first one, was sitting on the passenger's seat. At that point, only my immediate family had the number, so when it rang I was both surprised and concerned.
It was Leo.
He'd gotten the number from my sister and decided to give me a call. He and I had been feuding with each other for a couple months over God knows what, and he decided to break the ice. He called Sis, got my number, made the call.
It was the very first incoming call I had EVER taken on a cellphone, anywhere and at any time...

"Dude, where you at?" he said as I answered.
"I'm in Jacksonville, just passing Camp LeJuene-- why, where are you?"
"Bulls--t", he said
"Whadda you mean, bulls--t?"
"I'M in JACKSONVILLE !!"
It was MY turn to say bulls--t. "Bulls--t", I said.
"No, really--I'm near downtown on 17, getting gas".

I turned around, met him in Jacksonville's little punk downtown. He was in a new motorhome, one he had just bought in New York, and was on his way to his Florida place. I was in my new Supra, escaping Florida for a few weeks, on my way to New York. We knocked off a J in a parking lot, shared a couple beers and moved on.

There was the time in Miami, other times in Charleston or at a NASCAR race or at a rest stop on the Blue Ridge when we just ran into one another, unplanned, miles from home.
Last week, I went to St Petersburg to see my daughter and my granddaughter. We decided to have dinner at a classy seafood place near downtown. We were seated about ten minutes when, over my shoulder, someone said "Hof--that you??"
It was Leo's son, my godson. He's a manager at the place. I didn't know that he even LIVED in St Pete.
He said that Leo was in town, staying the night at his place, that he'd already given him a call and he was on his way over. He got there by dessert.
The dinner was half off, gratis the management. Leo bought the drinks.

He's probably my best friend, ever...

[darylzero]

[PapaSmurf2k3]

That is an uncanny amount of random meets all over the country.
That's just nuts, Hof!