For My Father

My dad always reminded me of Indiana Jones with his fedora. I think he's been wearing them since way way before I was born. Unlike Liz, my memory of my childhood is spotty at best. She remembers watching her mom's butt bounce from the baby bike seat when she was 2. I barely remember the girl I chased around in 2nd grade. I can however remember many rainstorms at Fonda where my dad was in a rubber trenchcoat (think scary movie) and a fedora diverting the mudflow from the road or doing something else out in the rain. I also remember him picking me up from school and joking with my friends that he forgot his whip or should have had more leather instead of paint-stained jeans. I think he's had the same fedora for a decade now. I guess I had never tried one in the rain until recently. They work. They really really work. Especially for us geeks with glasses. So...... being out in the cowboy country and having a lot of rain to deal with, I dedicated this trip to exploring the many uses of the fedora. Instead of being like the real locals (super-white-kid in a crappy trailer with a decked out POS car listening to hardcore rap, trying to escape his culture), I was running around the mud-soaked desert in a cowboy hat. Sunshade, rain-protection, and greasy-hair-masking all in one. Here's to you dad!