 After waitin’ for what seemed to be the longest kinda time,Ol’ Cuss, with the boys on board, pulled out on to Ocean Blvd. and, after some more waitin’, began to putter down the street . Let me tell you, the boys were havin’ a fine old time, wavin’ at people on the side of the street, makin’ faces at the fellas in the Oriental Band, doin’ crow-calls and enjoyin’ themselves. Of course, they did some extra hootin’ and hollerin’ when they passed by the Hillbilly Ladies.
Mike was ridin’ on the left fender, furiously tryin’ CPR on Ol’ Cuss while Tommie Hillis, who was ridin’ shot-gun, kept Ol’ Cuss goin’ in more or less a straight line. Suddenly, Ol’ Cuss roared back to life and Mike jumped back in the cab and the boys started jumpin’ back on the bed. Ol’ Cuss picked up a bit of speed before Howard had a chance to get all the way on and Domingo and Bill Simms had to drag him on board by the straps of his bib overalls. Ol’ Cuss passed the Oriental band and the boys resumed wavin’ at everybody. Now you’ve probably guessed already that this state of affairs didn’t last too long. Sure enough, Ol’ Cuss made a sound sorta like the cat does when it’s about to get sick on that new rug from Montgomery Wards and quit runnin’. Mike couldn’t get him goin’ again so the boys jumped off the back and started pushin’ and Mike was ridin’ on the right fender this time with Tommie a’ steerin’ for all he was worth. It wasn’t quite so funny on this go-round and the boys in the back were startin’ to do some serious wheezin’ when Ol’ Cuss consented to fire up again. Everybody jumped back in their respective places, Ol’ Cuss passed the Oriental Band again and the boys recommenced to wavin’ at everyone. 
Before too long, the boys could see the parade movin’ over to the right side of the street and they knew that their moment of glory was at hand. Ol’ Cuss passed in front of the reviewin’ stand and just as the M.C. feller was announcin’ his arrival, Ol’ Cuss coughed once and quit. Everyone jumped off and commenced pushin’. The crowd laughed and applauded thinkin’ it was some sorta comedy act. The end of the parade route was just half a block further so the boys pushed Ol’ Cuss the rest of the way, givin’ thanks to the Home Office that their ordeal was over. Or so they thought. To shorten this story up fer ya, Ol’ Cuss quit runnin’ three more times on the way back to the hotel. On one occasion, the boys pushed him into this parkin’ lot behind an office building. This lady sticks her head out the door and asks where the Shriner’s parade was. The boys told her that they were it. Finally, Ol’ Cuss couldn’t go no farther; not because he quit runnin’ but because the streets around the hotel were jammed with units a-waitin’ to pull in to the line of march. Mike cut the engine and parked Ol’ Cuss and the boys proceeded the rest of the way to the hotel by shank’s mare. Even though the parade had been somethin’ of a dissappointment, Ol’ Cuss did manage to garner some official recognition. That evening, he won a parkin’ ticket. |
Well you
see, it was kinda like this. Ol’ Cuss had done such a fine
job of struttin’ his stuff at the Imperial Session in St.
Louis that the Hillbillys decided to take him to the South Atlantic Shrine Association meetin' down in Myrtle Beach,
SC. Sure enough, bright and early on Saturday morning, Ol’
Cuss, all ticked out in his new Hillbilly signs on the bed and 75th
Anniversary commemerative signs on the doors, was a-waitin’
when Jim Armenakis, Mike Amig, Bill Simms, Joe Evans, Tommie
Hillis, Domingo Gomez and Howard Parsons showed up for their
ride to glory down Ocean Blvd.
It wasn’t too long after that than the
trouble commenced. Ol’ Cuss sputtered a coupla times and
then quit and there wasn’t a thing that Mike Amig could do
to get Ol’ Cuss to turn over. The boys jumped off the bed
and the ridin’ unit became a pushin’ unit. The Oriental
Band tootled on by as the boys tried to get some momentum
goin’ over this rise in the road. On the other side,
Ol’ Cuss picked up some speed and the boys had to run to
keep up with him.