The Meat of the Matter

The Butcher and The Duck

The DUKW, a World War II Amphibious Vehicle that The Butcher once had the pleasure of driving around Burbank.  File this under: "Little surprises that make life fun." One day many years ago, I got a call from my friend Brad. Brad was a WW2 afficionado who managed to trade some antique railroad ties for a few relics, including an actual amphibious vehicle from World War II called a DUKW, or "Duck." Brad needed help getting it from a storage area in San Fernando to his home in Burbank. He wasn't sure the thing would run, so he was going to tow it. He needed a man to ride in the DUKW and steer behind him. He wanted to know if I was up for it. My answer? "Hell yes." One minute I was lazing about watching reruns of "BJ and the Bear," and the next minute I'm tooling around Burbank in a WW2 amphibious vehicle. This was a surreal moment to be sure. People were coming out of their houses just to watch me go down the street. I would smile grimly and salute. This post is brought to you by "Extreme Unction," whose posts about unusual modes of transportation brought this memory to the forefront. I should mention that Extreme Unction (hereafter referred to as EU) has quite a fabulous blog happening. He will one day become famous and, when encountering people who were once his dear friends before he was famous, will look at them and say ... "who are you again?" (Just kidding Pinhut!)