Joseph Anthony Miele... before I knew him.
So... I returned from Hawaii in late 1970, and took nearly a year to lose the "pleasure weight"...yeah... we all know what THAT'S all about. Then , just as I had my life back, I met Joe.
Now I have given Joe short shrift occasionally.. I truly think he may have been bipolar. If so, it worsened after we split (but of course, ANYONE would have worsened after I left them).
I have to say one thing about poor sweet Joe... in spite of his manicdepressiveparanoiddelusionaletc.ness... he was never boring.
By the time I met Joe, I had been with... well... a NUMBER of very interesting men. From folk singers to Samoans, from College kids to Hawaiians; my 'life' had been varied, to say the very least. Nothing prepared me for this New Jersey Italian. He was unlike anyone I had ever met, and I met him JUST after I finished reading the Godfather, so I was ready and eager for the experience (grin).
Despite the unevenness of our relationship, we had a lot of fun when he wasn't yelling. Turns our yelling was a cultural thing for him.. not so much for me.
Joe was, however, responsible for much of my expertise and desire in camping. I have pictures of Joe holding his first lizard; he was the ultimate city dweller. We first camped in my little Chevy vega, sleeping in the back, faces smashed up against the sloping back window. We went anywhere around here that you could get to in a weekend. We would leave after work on Friday, and be back on Sunday night. We did, however, drive 3,935 miles in 10 (?) days or so, up into Washington, across the top of the country and back down through Yellowstone and the grand Canyon, all in that little Vega... not a trip for the faint hearted.
Joe, at Lewiston Lake.. we had a little blow up boat we carried. The permanent campers at this place called it the Lewiston Lake Water Bed... Joe was very proud of this fish!
After a while, we got the VW Camper, and our trips got better and longer. The traveling (and our relationship) ended after the 1976 trip around the country. I can't begin to tell you how much I loved that trip for 4 months, or how much MORE I would have loved it ....
without Joe...
oops.. did I say that out loud?
Originally not in Black and White, it was so color faded that I changed it... Joe, in Oregon on the big trip. He wanted to cook a duck, so he made the spit and sat there cooking forever and it started to rain and we had sort of undercooked duck and everyone who came by asked us WHERE THE CAT WAS...
ha!
