Thursday, May 14, 2009

Theme Thursday = (Wh)oops!


A few years ago, WT, my aunt, her husband, my uncle and myself
were all on a road trip to the east coast to see an opera performance
of my daughter's. On the return trip home, we somehow got off the
main highway on one of WT's famous "scenic short cuts" and were
deep in rural West Virginia.

Nearly out of gas, all of us were ready for a rest stop break, so we
pulled into a little gas station with several trucks, just like the one
pictured above, with a shotgun or two, parked out front. You know
the kind of rural station I mean. They used to call them filling
stations, remember? You have to ask for the key to the restrooms,
usually chained to a cruddy block of wood, which are located to the
side of the station.

We were all a tad leery of this run down, "jeepers creepers" kind of
place and it was just beginning to get dark. WT, always the kidder,
and feeling a bit tired and silly from the long drive, walked up to the
men's room on the side of the station thinking he would give my mild
mannered uncle a little scare. He banged on the door with his fist, and
in his deepest, burliest voice hollered, "I know you're in there! I want
to come in and watch!" Just as he finished this odd performance, he
noticed my uncle was NOT in the men's room, but walking from the
front of the station back to the car.

By this time the rest of us were all in the car ready to go. I had never
seen WT move so fast in my entire life. He flew to the car, crouched
down, with the most frightened look on his red face, and literally dove
in, head first.

"DRIVE!!!!"

"Why are you in such a hurry?" I asked.

"JUST DRIVE!!!"

82 comments:

  1. Oh, Willow...absolutely hilarious!!! How many times have I found myself in a scrape where a joke backfired!!!
    Fantastically funny! Absolutely LOVE the new header!!! So very creative! Suits you perfectly! :-) ~Janine XO

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  2. That is a perfectly funny story and I can just picture it. We have been in places like that but avoided banging on anything. I hate to walk in the woods or used to hate to walk in the woods in some areas because I was always afraid I would stumble into a white lightening still and get myself shot.

    I have seen toilets so bad the flies wouldn't go in them.

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  3. Oh that is hilarious !! I was wondering what this post would be with the picture of the truck

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  4. This story is such a contrast to the reason for the trip. Funny and poignant.

    p.s. I love the new masthead on your blog.

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  5. Very funny story, Willow. Served him right. Heh. ;>)

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  6. I can't stop laughing...lol
    It is so hard to type this, I can't stop laughing...

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  7. Who came out of the loo? A burly brute with a shot gun??? LOL

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  8. Youens all come back, ya hear!

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  9. OMG!
    That story is just too funny!
    You guys must have laughed all the way home.
    And re: "jeepers Creepers", have you ever seen that movie?
    Gah!
    It's a scary one.

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  10. First of all, I'm with Janine. The header ROCKS. You are the creative one!

    Secondly, just read your word verification post after you left the link on WV post. And I thought I was going crazy but I am completely with you on it knowing where we are!! There have been too many freaky coincidences that match closely with who I'm visiting. I'm so glad you've noticed it, too. It's obviously messin' with us!

    And as far as the restroom incident? Just know that you never take a twisty turning road north off of hwy 1 out of Fort Bragg in California. It's thirty miles of some kind of strangeness and we were chased for miles one dark and stormy night by three yahoos in a truck that looked like that one. I might have to post about it!

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  11. rofl! (gasping for breath) imagine what was going through the mind of the man in the bathroom...oh my! great TT piece!

    Love the new header as well...good show!

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  12. The worst "Pit Stop" I've ever seen was in France. I was a teenager on a bus trip with a group of US tourists (a European's nightmare!) and we pulled into a rest stop that had one "toilet" that was literally a hole in a dirt floor, no seat, no curtain, no nothing but a hole in the dirt that we had to straddle and squat over to pee in. Nasty, nasty, nasty. And you know those Frenchies laughed at us all the way down the road.

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  13. LOL, and for Abe too!! I think the movie Jeepers Creepers was one of the creepiest I've seen in a long time and so that's the type of situation I pictured for you!

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  14. Whoops!

    I used to teach camp in W.V. It's a beautiful place, and a very scary place, too. Glad y'all got out of there in one piece!

    Also: I love your header, with you up there on the billboard. As it should be!

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  15. LOL! best story I've heard in a long time - so funny - love your new header!

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  16. Yup, that's definitely an Oops! And how often have any of us have gone to play a prank on someone near and dear only to end up playing it on a total stranger because the intended target had moved away? Heh, heh!

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  17. Heeheeeheeeheee...what a hoot!
    Great story, well told!

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  18. Oh I laughed! This is definitely the type of flash story that you should submit to a journal for publication.

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  19. I love this - one of those stories that will be told and re-told and only get better. You have a great wealth of family tales and we love them.

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  20. Hilarious!! I've done that more than once.

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  21. Bwahahahahaaaa!***sniffle*** Glad I read this one first, Willow! I needed a cheering up ere I go off to work. I remember something similar years ago, but minus the petrol station. And I've seen a toilet seat chained to one of those loo keys!

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  22. Wow, what a header! Did you have fun with this one or what?!You deserve some kind of "I love your header" blog award.

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  23. the header rocks way hard...loving it

    now, you've got me thinking there should be an award that goes to THE BEST HEADER.BANNER.MASTHEADER....
    yours is so creative....it gets my made-up thus far: "I'm done! Award"

    there cannot possibly be another more creative than this one!!!! Seriously the billboard of you with men working on it is an amazing idea...as a literature guru...there are no other metaphors that top this...lovin it!!!!

    As for the WT story...my favorite lines: "They used to call them filling stations, remember? You have to ask for the key to the restrooms, usually chained to a cruddy block of wood" ---members of my family in Crockett Texas still call them filling stations...but they still live in the days, just modern enough, when--at times in the past--woods still maintained a certain innocence...kisses...backseat giggles and bubblegum...but no doubt the oversized wood blocked key chains or (in my grand's time) a skilled squat..a clean hanky and high grass ;)

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  24. Too Funny! I love it when jokes backfire!

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  25. I guess you didn't wait long enough to see the guy who came out of the restroom...

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  26. LMAO! Were you driving? Makes me wonder if the person (thing) in the potty was happy that someone wanted to come in and watch. Very fun TT.

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  27. That was such a funny story. So, who was in the men's, then? Did you ever find out? Did you get tailed by a gigantic monster like the one in your beautiful photo? Many thanks for this anecdote.

    Greetings from London.

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  28. Brilliant! You do tell a good story Willow - not that I'm saying it's made up, but the timing is great :)

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  29. Very, very funny and btw - love the new header, very clever. xv

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  30. Believe it or not, I had a similar experience on a visit to Roxanna, Illinois. Have you ever been there?

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  31. Bwahahahahaha! Hilarious! That will haunt the poor bloke in the loo forever!

    Your header is quite sublime - that is singular!

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  32. Hi! Willow,

    That is a very funny (Wh)oops story.

    Ha! ha!...I laugh because I too!...can just imagine
    the man in the bathroom "facial
    expression"
    upon hearing...WT's
    request!...

    Thanks, for sharing!
    DeeDee :-D

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  33. Wonderful, I laughed out loud. More like that, if you can.

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  34. Hello Willow!

    ok,now..Having seen movies like the Texas Chainsaw massacre,Jeepers Creepers and more recently,the bloody disgusting The hills have eyes..I can tell you there isn't anything good in stopping in those places!OMG!

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  35. tooooooo funny.

    you sound like a FUN family !
    xx

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  36. hahahahaahahahaaaa! This will be my happy place today! TOOOOOO Funny!

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  37. Ha ha! Those pranks almost always backfire, don't they? You could have been run outta town girl!
    You didn't hear any banjoes at the fillin' station did ya?

    Kat

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  38. I wondered who that was banging on the door. Thanks for giving him up. Pappy

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  39. Oh yeah, the kind of place that you say...'you want me to sit on that'...as you balance precariously on one finger...he did the right thing...RUN!!!

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  40. That's a classic story. Al of us have had at least one of those moments, haven't we? I've often thought I'd rather just go off into the bushes somewhere than stop at some of the places you see on the road! LOL Makes for a good story, after the fact, eh?

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  41. I'm scared ...very scared.

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  42. Hey, All, this story is absolutely true. No embellishments whatsoever. Yes, I was driving. A big burly looking guy DID come out and was really looking around! I put the pedal to the metal!!!

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  43. hahahaha - Very funny! That'll teach him!

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  44. That is so funny - I bet it is the one story guaranteed to crack everyone up no matter how many times those gathered around the table have heard it

    What opera was your daughter singing in?

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  45. Love the new header
    and the story about gun-toting pick up truck driving folks out there
    my friend Celeste from the south has some wonderful tales about her Daddy and buying a whole big box of ememas.........probably not for here....
    the coconut pie looks DIVINE

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  46. Funny .. truly .. tho not so much for the husband

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  47. Well, darn, Willow. Yur'n friend dun it wrong. Now, if'n I'da been him, I wudda gots me a banjo and stood outside that there fillin' station (you gotta spells "fillin'" rights to makes it proper, Willow) and srated playin me that song from Deeliverance.

    Man, that good ole boy would have come runnin out with his pants plum down to his knees - backerds, of course, with his head spinnin 'round like an old hoot owl in the nite.

    I's come from Georgia, so I knows what scares people.

    Those trucks are so funny. Why would anyone want a truck that required a ladder to board?

    Great post, Willow. At first I was a little worried because I thought you were going to say that was your new truck.

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  48. Hilarious!
    Sounds like some of the situations my sisters and I get into together!

    And that IS a great header, big thumbs up!

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  49. Hello Willow,

    That'll larn 'im! I trust WT's demeanor is rather more demure nowadays!

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  50. That was great Willow!!
    I needed a laugh, I'm getting caught up on house work and laundry today!

    Been meaning to tell you, LOVE that header !!!

    ~ Carol ~

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  51. good you were on the east coast and not down in hillbilly country. Have you seen Deliverance? Scary!

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  52. LOL!!! That story made my day!

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  53. Boooooooy, howdeeeee!!! Did I need that belly laugh! Aren't men just greatest thing since sliced bread!!!???? Thanks for stopping by another of my sappy dog posts! I have so many yet to come!

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  54. Oh how gloriously funny!

    Love the new header, Willow!

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  55. It would be really nice to know that there wasn't anyone in there!

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  56. Hi Willow!! I like your blog and I'd like to visit your great Country! I think it's just like in the movies... Only one question:
    White Apples by J. Carroll? I loved that book!! And Roman Holidays is just a wonderful film!!
    Thank you for Happy Birthday from a Taurus :))
    Best wishes (and sorry for my bad english -.-)

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  57. That picture! Your words painted an expressive one, too.

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  58. Priceless, my dear Willow! :)
    Love your new Banner, too!

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  59. I just keep thinking about this post and it reminds me so much of an episode of Top Gear on BBC America. To do justice to the show would require many paragraphs so I'll just say this: Three numbskull, but adorable, Brits traveling across the South in dreadful old clunker cars who have painted rude sayings on each others cars. They pull into a gas station in a good ol' boy town and are soon faced with a pick-up truck of shotgun wielding fellows who don't take kindly to their humor. It's your story and Python all rolled into one. I hope others have seen the show. I highly recommend it.

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  60. hysterical

    very cool masthead....so where's this billboard of willow?! i want to check it out!

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  61. hysterical

    very cool masthead....so where's this billboard of willow?! i want to check it out!

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  62. Funny Post... I have an award for you on my blog. :D

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  63. Such a beautiful looking vehicle and your writing is so hilarious!

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  64. too, too funny!!!!! nothing like a practical joke that backfires on us, eh??!!

    i've missed your blog this week, willow! life has me pulled away and i'm enjoying my time in bloggyland this morning!

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  65. That was fun. Thanks for telling it.

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  66. "The Dukes of Hazard" came to mind when reading this. Funny story. Beware of rednecks!

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  67. lol, glad I stayed to the end of the post. After the mention of 'jeepers creepers' I nearly skeedaddled.

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  68. Very funny post. Thanks for the laugh!

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  69. That is hysterical! I love it!

    Sarah

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)