Someone please help me with names....
OK GANG...I am going to do my best to interprete the "50 Mile Hike tape" that Bill Kirkpatrick sent to me. I am not a transcriber, but will do the best I can to help you "get the feel" of this historical tape.
Bill's note with the tape says that the hike was organized by he and Larry Ward. Bill had arranged for his group's trek to begin at KTKR at 2:10 am, hoping that the trip would end at a good time of day for good publicity at KAFY.' It ended at 3:15 pm, so they got good coverage.
Since Bill was on the hike, he had asked Les Harvey to interview the Taft boys and tape their progress, along the trek to KAFY. Using a small transistor tape recorder, Les did a great job of this, Bill says. He talked to some of the hikers along the way and also taped the interview at KAFY, when the boys arrived.
At the beginning of the tape, Les asks the individuals their names:
"Jon Newsom, Dell Newsom, Steve Barber, (when asked "Are you riding a bike or walking?" Steve says: "I'm taking a bicycle...ANYONE can walk 50 miles!"), John Gibson, Don Mickey, Jim Wilborn, Jim Dennis, Larry Ward, Bill Kirkpatrick."
Later, we hear (at 18 miles to go): "Well, this is Mark Rogers here, and uh, I don't know why I did this, it is about the stupidest thing I ever thought on. I'm about dying here...I don't know...I'm just out of breath....my feet are killing me ..that's all I gotta say."
{who the heck is Mark Rogers?...he is not in my 64 Derrick.)
Later, with this group about 1/8th of a mile from KAFY, around 3 pm, an announcer asks Les the names the boys, who are about to arrive from Taft. He says:
"Steve Willis, Jimmy Dennis, Jim Foust, Larry Ward, Dennis Cole, Dell Newsom, Jon Newsom, Bill Kirkpatrick and Steve Barber on the bicycle."
As the boys arrived at KAFY, the announcer says: "They walked through Bakersfield to make it a total of 50 miles...they sprinted the last 200 yards....resting, very tired-looking. First three boys to KAFY were Faust, Cole and Ward, in that order.
The announcer says "here come the boys from Taft."
His first question to Bill Kirkpatrick was "Where are you from?" {duh}
Bill, politely said, "Uh..Taft!"
Then you hear the others say their names: "Keith Foust, Dennis Cole...and I'm bushed, Jim Dennis, Larry Ward, Steve Willis, Jon Newsom, Dell Newsom, Steve Barber."
Who is the leader of this group? "Larry Ward instigated it!"
The comments from different members of the group include "harder than we thought" ~
"27 started, 9 left" ~ "happy since we made it...it was experience anyway " ~ "1/3 of the mighty force that left Taft" ~ "we left Taft at 2:10 am" ~ " we stopped in Bakersfield and took a rest!"
When (I think it was Les asking) the boys were asked questions like "How do you feel?, Would you do it again? Would you encourage other people?" this was their replies:
Larry Ward: "...feel pooped...I'd be crazy to try this again...don't encourage anyone to try this unless they are insane!"
Gibson explained that he had a blister and had to rest in downtown Bakersfield because of severe cramps and was "forced to hail a taxi" costing him $4 which he did not have ...... but "here I am...made it 51 miles!"
A group, a little behind the first group, during the last leg of their trip, was interviewed by Les. They were Don Mickey, Doug Denesha and Larry Durkan. Here are a few comments, but I don't know who made them:
"I'm beat!" "I feel pretty bitch'n" "When we saw that tower we went 'whew'!" "We don't know what happened to Charlie Gardner!"
After this group arrived, Bill interviewed them:
Don Mickey made comments like: "walking on the sidewalks and highway killed us, but the dirt was alright." "there was no give to sidewalks and pavement...we stayed on the dirt to ease our feet."
Larry Durkan: "the walk down Truxton and H St. was the worst, man"
Doug: "the first groups pace was too fast...we lagged behind...got to KAFY 5:15 pm...took us about 15 hours. We started out too fast and felt it later in the walk. We did run the last 100 yards...so we think that was pretty good."
There were also comments from these three like: "the Bakersfield people were friendly...offered us rides...noticed that we were the hikers from Taft...got waves...from pretty girls too....got looks...one girl offered a ride, we were tempted but decided to keep walking."
OK gang..that is the best I could do with this tape. I hope that you got the feel of this fun tape!
Thank you Bill, for keeping it all these years. Between your tapes, Suzanne and Carol's memory, and my four year diary...we could probably blackmail a few people! :-)
Love, Joyce