Originally Posted by Joe Minton

And I thought you meant Butts, or asses, on bikes-- Silly me!

Two of my uncles "Bo-ed" for a year between 1932-34 because they could not support their family (my mother, her mother & four sisters) in & around Anadarko, Oklahoma. They both wound up in the Central Valley of California. Both worked & saved money so the rest of the family could be brought to California. They certainly were not "Bums" and would offer fisticuff services to any who might call them so; one of them, Uncle Claude, did 90-days for 'taking-on' a deputy sheriff who called him a bum. -- be careful of what you say around folks like that/me.

All of my grandparents and most of my uncles and aunts are buried in California. All of them worked in the fields or raised honorable children or built houses or built cities or taught in schools. Many of their offspring still do these and many other honorable things in this state. While, for a time, some of them may have been relatively 'unwashed' and 'rode the rails', none did dishonor to their family or country. One uncle, Paul, was a belly gunner on B24s during the war. He has a Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and other honors for his service including being credited with downing 2-1/2 Me109s (he was one of those who raided the Ploesti oil fields at 1200 feet). He was a Rumanian POW near the end and they salute and call him "Sir" when he goes to the VA in San Francisco (I've seen this). Uncle Pete was a medic in the Army Air Corps and saw many terrible things as he tended wounded airmen from Sicily up through Italy and into Germany. Uncle Homer, Bill (died on the beach at Iwo Jima), Sam & others were all children of the dreadful depression. None, none gave any reason to be dishonored by how they looked, dressed or comported themselves. Some of them had to "Bo" & probably looked like dirty 'bums' at times.

That's only my mother's side. My father's side of the story is just as dramatic and -- honorable.

I am a retired writer & college instructor. I ride one of my bikes everywhere; if I can't get there by bike, I don't go. I do not own a car (sold it). I dress as I please. I am clean. I help others & judge them by the "content of their character" & not by how they appear. Most of all --- I really, really don't care what folks think about me merely by my appearance. That's on them/you not me or mine.

Perhaps you did not mean to sound so judgmental. Perhaps you never read "Grapes of Wrath", walked-the-walk or even saw the movie. Perhaps you are just as stupid and uninformed as you seem to be. I hope I am wrong --- in any case, Go Away!!

"I'm no bum. I got money. You can call me a hobo 'cause a hobo'll work for his living and you can call me homeless 'cause that's true for now, but if you call me a bum again I'll have to teach you somethin' about respect that your daddy never did." -- Mud (2012)

Joe