What a sweet soul. He lived the life of a gypsy from place to place and never really owning anything. He can claim 11 children tho. 9 with the same woman, Barbara, a little tiny spit fire. Theirs was an up and down marriage of crazy stuff that I am probably glad I don’t know much of. I know Barbara was the most jealous woman I have ever met. If you were female, you were suspect in her mind. EVEN ME………I was Bobby’s sister-in-law, but to me Bobby was just another brother. I had 5 brothers of my own and thru marriage to Bobby’s brother I gained 5 more. But Bobby was special. How was he special……..well, he touched my heart by his laughter. When Bobby laughed, his whole body laughed. He had apple cheeks that balled up squinting his eyes to slits and he would tilt his head back with a full smile to reveal a laugh that came from his very center. I can hear it as I type these words and I smile. Now he wasn’t all good and he wasn’t all bad. He drank all the time and if he could he would smoke pot all the time too. He worked when he could find an oil rig to work or in the later days he did some road work and masonry work, just what he could find here and there along his path of wandering from place to place. Bobby would disappear from his family for years at a time. We would often ask each other, have you heard from him……….but somehow he would always turn up and most the time without a dime to his name. Once he showed up hurt, needing a place to just rest up a bit before moving on again. That time he stayed with his mom for a couple of months, borrowed a little money AND paid it back. If he had a grocery bag of clothes to wash it was a miracle. For me it would be impossible to live the way he did, but to him it was natural. He did use people along the way to help him get thru but for some reason, it was easy to forgive him. I think it was because it was always so fun to be around a laughing happy person like him. There is so much to keep us down in everyday America and to have a Bobby in your life is a good distraction.
Well, my brother Bobby left this world the way he lived it, with nothing. He was in a nursing home in Grand Saline, TX where his only birth sister Ruth Evans made sure he was taken good care of till his death. Eaten up with cancer, it was not an easy passing but it was quick. Ruth being the only girl in the family of 7, she also took care of the final arrangements for Bobby. Cremation was the cheapest and Bobby did have that much money so in the end he paid his way out of this world. Ruth gave me a portion of his ashes to keep or to do as I would with them. So this is the reason for this story…Our secret passenger……Bobby’s ashes.
My husband Rooster and I ride Harleys. We have been planning this motorcycle trip to Canada from Texas for a while. This plan included many stops along the way up and back home again. I decided to take Bobby’s ashes with me to sprinkle a little here and there along the way. Kind of a symbol of how he lived his life……..a wanderer. But I had to start here in my own back yard. I sprinkled some of his ashes around a texas sage bush I have in my meditation garden. I spoke to him saying “Bobby, I want to take you on a trip to Canada because I know you never made there, but I want you to be here with me too so I am leaving you at the base of this bush. This will be my Bobby bush from now on.”
First stop on our trip Tucumcari, NM. I put some of Bobby under a Cedar Tree for shade and the smell of the Cedar was wonderful. I’m sure he would like it there. There was a freeway a few yards away so if he gets the notion to move on down the road, he can hitch a ride. I told Bobby to rest a while here under this Cedar Tree. Take in the smells and sounds around him. And then I walked away but glanced back at the tree to see in my mind’s eye, Bobby resting against the Cedar tree, smiling that beautiful smile and waving at me, goodnight Beth Ethel (don't ask, it's just what he chose to call me).
Second stop Pagosa Springs, CO. We stayed at a little camp ground that rented trailers and small bunk houses. Ours was a small one room love shack right beside the Blanco River. Perfect place for Bobby. He loved to drink beer and fish. So the morning before we left I walked into the edge of the river and sprinkled a little of him there. I said “There you go Bro, now you are free to swim with the fish.” I could hear him laugh at me……..”You mean now I will be fish poop!!”
Third stop Rangely, CO. There’s not much in Rangely and I thought I was not going to find a decent place to leave my Bro. So I pondered on it as I looked out over the asphalt parking lot and across the street to more buildings. Humm this is a problem. Then I saw it, a fire hydrant! YES Perfect. You see Bobby didn’t have just a few kids, he had 11, that’s a litter of kids to me and I do think his favorite thing to do was practice making kids. So just like a dog, a fire hydrant would be a natural place for him too. And after I got over there, I realized the lot in front of the fire hydrant was a deserted trailer park, that’s perfect too, because the last days of Bobby’s life was spent in a trailer before he had to go to the nursing home. Honest, he was laughing his butt off at me with this one. “Oh No you didn’t”……is what I imagined him saying.
Fourth stop Dubois, WY. What a special little town. Very rustic, one main street with a real saloon and a river that winds around and twist around to where you cross it a couple of different times coming into town and it flows in every direction just like the wind blows. That was the name of the river, The Wind River. I found an old iron bridge with wooden slats to stand on while I tossed more of Bobby into this river. Again I said “there you go Bro, go fish.” I hear him say “great, more fish poop.”
Fifth stop West Yellowstone, MT. We stayed at in some small cottages for two days. Long enough to figure out that there were some permanent residence there. Wanders like Bobby. Saw an old lady with a very young man, guessing grandmother and her adult grandson, sitting outside in the evenings. I choose to place Bobby in a flower bed near their cottage. Bro sighed with an “I’m home” sound in my ears.
Sixth stop Kalispell, MT. Another nothing place with just a hotel and asphalt parking lot, but I saw it, the perfect place. Someone had hung several bird feeders in one of the trees to the side of the parking area. That would do very nicely. Bobby loved nature; I think he considered himself part of nature. But here I could hear his soft voice say “now bird poop……geesh”. He was still smiling at me.
Seventh stop……well, before the seventh stop we took a ride thru Glacier National Park where I took Bobby up on The Road to the Sun. We had to stop just past Logan’s Pass for road construction and it dawned on me this might be the most beautiful place on earth. I decided to leave some of Bobby there. I imagined him looking around thru my eyes and saying “Wow”! Perfect description Bro, Wow!
Seventh stop Lethbridge, AB Canada. Yep Bobby, we are now in Canada and you are staying here. Well, that’s what I thought when I took him, but it occurred to me that it would be wrong to leave him in Canada. After all, no matter where life took him, he did always find his way back home eventually. So I had enough ashes to bring him slowly back home, sprinkling a little here and a little there. In Lethbridge tho where will I leave him…..? I spotted a wine bottle just sitting by a dumpster in the alley and in my mind’s eye I could see Bobby sitting in that alley just drunk as a skunk on the cheap wine….yep, I left him there to enjoy the wine.
Eighth stop Billings, MT. Just another hotel and another asphalt parking lot…..but something was a little different here, just barely got off my bike when a homeless man approached me for a hand out. “Got any change lady?” A little startled I said no and he went on his way. But I noticed there were many homeless people walking up and down the busy sidewalk as we were near the downtown area and just like large towns everywhere there are those that choose to live on the streets. Bobby did this most of his life. This hotel had a small garden area complete with an arbor over a picnic table under very large shade trees. Ahh this was a no brainer. Bobby must stay here at the picnic table near the street under the shade trees to talk with the homeless people. It will be great company for him. He will be with his people.
Ninth stop Sturgis, SD. We plan to stay here for two days to do some riding in the Black Hills. Love this area. Always stay with our dear friend Peggy in her home just a mile from downtown. We ride up to Needles Hwy, down to Custer’s Wild Life Loop, up Iron Mountain Road to my favorite place in the world, Pig Tail Bridge….yep, I sprinkled some of Bobby on Pig Tail Bridge. Since that’s where I want my own ashes someday, maybe we can watch the bikes together during rally week from there. They all come; everyone on a motorcycle eventually comes to Pig Tail Bridge. It’s not too far from Mt. Rushmore.
Now we are about to leave Sturgis so I have to say goodbye to our sweet dear friend Peggy and Fielding her honey. I whisper in her ear about Bobby and if she says no I will understand but can I sprinkle just a little of him on that small hill at the edge of your yard? That way he can see all the bikes coming and going. Sure I can….I run up the hill quickly to place him at the highest point and tell him I’m a little jealous of this spot, I would like to stay with you. “Go on Beth Ethel, I’ll be here waiting for you when you come back.”
Tenth stop Rocky Ford, CO. This has to be the smallest town so far. Nothing much here at all but there was a train that kept going by during the night so by morning I knew Bobby had to be by the tracks after all he was the only real live hobo I ever met. Now he’s laughing at me again to call him a hobo. This is not how he pictured himself. But his laughter is still singing out, it makes me smile.
Eleventh stop Childress, TX. I almost don’t want to leave him here. Childress in August is hot and dry. It’s an oil town, but that’s where Bobby spent most of his younger man years. He even lost a few fingers on the oil rigs. No oil rigs in sight. Humm what to do. It will come to me. We were very tired but not hungry enough to go eat a full meal so I volunteered to walk over to the store pick up a few snacks. On the way over I noticed the parking lot behind and next to this store had several big trucks parked for the night. Ahh yes, Bobby had hitched many rides with truckers, this is the place. Sprinkled him on the asphalt and told him, pick one Bobby, cling on to someone’s shoes and get outta this town. Go some place else. “You got it Beth Ethel!”
Twelevth stop home, Burleson, TX. Took Bobby out to the garden. Sprinkled the rest of his ashes under the Texas Sage Bush. Said “Welcome home Bro, I know you’re tired. Rest forever in this sweet place where we can talk and laugh together anytime we want”. “I love you Beth Ethel”. “I love you too Bro”.
Bobby Glen Conner
Born: December 1, 1939
Died: December 7, 2009
Lives forever in our hearts.
Bobby’s last written word:
You are reading this then you know I’m gone from this world
But you should know my heart and soul is with God
My regret is that I could have gotten closer, but my dark said said you got plenty of time for that.
That was another lie from hell
Love is the only way out.
And I’m not preaching you don’t make the same mistakes, for so long
I love you ALL
Your prayers are Needed
If I’ve hurt anyone or trangressed agenst you Please forgive me and for anyone I’ve sined agenst I pray for you Forgineness.
I can’t wait to see Jesus. I’d party with him anyday
So don’t greve nor shed any tears my eturnity has Just begin to trust Jesus.
I will miss you all.
