_{*Quick Summary: The author tells a story about Papa Joe Hendrick.*}

I never was a big fan of El Caminos, but Papa Joe Hendrick LOVED them. I think he had as many as six of them at one point. I was talking about them one day and didn’t realize Pop was right behind me. I’d heard a comedian say, “Do you want a Malibu, or do you want a pickup truck? You’ve got to pick one or the other! You can’t have both!” and I thought it was hilarious. I repeated that line to a co-worker who just shook his head and walked away. I thought it was an odd reaction, so I turned around, and there was Papa Joe just staring a hole through me. He said, “What are you doing right now?”, to which my standard answer was, ‘Whatever you need me to do, Pop.” He said, “Good! Come on and go with me. I’ve got something for you to do other than run your mouth.” I KNEW I was in trouble then! He continued, “Hop in my Malibu and let’s go to the warehouse.” I looked around, and didn’t see his Malibu, but I noticed he was getting in his El Camino, then it hit me – I was soooo stupid for saying what I did.

I swapped tires on cars, cleaned up oil spills, and pumped up tires for the rest of the day. No lunch. No breaks. Just hours of Pop telling me what to do, and me doing it. We got done about 5:45 that evening, and when we got ready to go back to the shop, Pop told me to climb in his pickup. Having learned my lesson that morning, I got in the El Camino. Nope. Wrong. He was getting in his Silverado. Dang me and my big mouth!

The next day, we went to his house in Virginia in that El Camino and he had me drive. On the way there, we stopped to get a biscuit. His treat. When we got up there, he wanted me to stop at a little diner for lunch. Again, he paid. Heck, we’d just ate a biscuit, so I wasn’t hungry. He told me, “Eat! I owe you for yesterday. Hell, I was hungry myself, I just didn’t want you to stop working.” Ha-ha-ha! We stopped two more times to eat that day. Four meals and he bought all of them. When we got back to the shop, he asked me how the El Camino handled on our trip. I remember telling him, “Just like a Cadillac Pop, that thing drives great!” Knowing I’d obviously learned my lesson, he just smiled and went home. That old fella was something else! I’ll never stop missing him.