Jerry A. Goodson

I have interrupted many conversations with "You're not gonna believe this!" That's how I interrupted last night's dinner conversation on the AmTrak train I'm taking from Flagstaff, Arizona to St. Louis, Missouri.

Over the Road

I was making my way home from an "Over the Road" delivery trip that went horribly wrong. I was to deliver a load to Las Vegas, then pick up another three partial loads going to Oklahoma and Arkansas. I made the delivery to Las Vegas, but my loads in Reno were rejected because my lease truck leaked. I made my way back to Las Vegas where I would wait for the owner of the company to schedule other loads routing me back home in Texas.

I got checked into my hotel in Las Vegas when the owner had a medical emergency that landed him admitted into the hospital. He couldn't schedule me loads, so I figured I'd turn in his lease truck and find the cheapest way home. Las Vegas was expensive and a hassle to deal with, so I drove four hours to Flagstaff, Arizona, and turned the truck in there. I caught an Uber to the train station to wait for the train heading east at 5:20am the next morning.

Instead of going home to Texas, I figured I'd hang out for a few days in St. Louis where the company was based out of since there was only one connecting train there.

Delayed

The train was delayed by about forty minutes. I stayed in the train station all night. I was worried if I got a room at a nearby motel, I would oversleep and miss the early train.

I was alone in the station for most of the night until around 4:45am when a LOT of people showed up to catch the train. The station filled with small conversations between the various waiting passengers until the subject of football came up.

Pro-football started it off, but it didn't take long to transition to college games. One older gentleman talked of his days in college. He started off at Texas A&M, but back in the early '60s, it was all "corps" and there were no girls. He decided to transfer to TCU.

"My fifth year in college, because the dean liked me so much..." he said, tongue-in-cheek, "I was offered a full scholarship." He continued about how he just had to sign a paper and would get money and an "assignment" after he graduated.

I interrupted him there by saying, "...and I'll bet you retired a colonel?"

"Major."

I was thinking he was Army, but as we started telling about his days in the "Strategic Air Command", I knew he was in the Air Force.

I should have KNOWN he was Air Force, because his storytelling was more comedic than arrogant, and was reminiscent of hearing my late friend, Harry Rumzek.

Our conversation across the crowd became the focal point of everyone else's listening enjoyment until the train arrived.

Dinner on the Train

The train was stopped in La Junta, Colorado, for a crew change. The tables in the dining car seat four people, and the dining car captain likes to group people together who are traveling alone or in pairs with others who are doing the same to maximize space. I'm traveling alone, but I saw the gentleman and his wife, Anne, that I recognized from the train station. They invited me to sit with them, and I was happy to do so.

While we had a good long conversation in the train station twelve hours earlier, we didn't give any kind of introduction. He introduced himself as "Hank", and we continued talking about our military glory days.

He was telling an exciting story that involved an interaction with a legendary Air Force flag officer, the late General Wilbur Creech. It was then that he referred to himself in the third person while quoting a phone call. "Major Dittman..." and that triggered a memory.

I waited for a pause in his story before I interrupted, "Excuse me, sir, what did you say your last name was?"

"Dittman."

I HAD to know! "Sir, do you have a boy?"

The expression on his face changed a little as he said, "Yeah, I gotta son who's an actor in Hollywood."

"You're not gonna believe this, but I worked with your son 14 years ago on a movie!"

I Know a Guy

In 2010, I was fresh home from my second deployment to Iraq. I moonlighted as a substitute school teacher and a security guard while I attended the police academy.

The owner of the security company let me have an office in his building as I also did software/web development. He had the fastest (private) internet in the county, so I spent a lot of time there.

One day, the owner came to me and asked if I could help out some people making a movie in Cass County. He put me in touch with the writer and director. That's when I learned what a 2nd Assistant Director (2AD) does... and the one they hired didn't!

The movie was titled Open Gate. Filming had just started, and the 2AD they hired was supposed to go to the filming locations and secure the places, people, and things that would be needed so everything was ready when the rest of the film folks showed up.

They needed a LOT of things, and I ended up being the guy they called. When they needed something, they called me. Most of the time, I didn't have what they needed, but... I know a guy.

Don't Go Anywhere

I ran down to my private room where I had left my cellphone charging. When I returned, I took a "selfie" with Hank and his wife, then sent the picture to my wife.

I called her and put the call on speaker. I asked her if she knew who I was having dinner with, and she obviously didn't recognize them. I would have never made the connection had he not referred to himself in the third person giving his last name.

I told her the man was Henry Dittman's father, and she immediately knew who I was talking about!

She wasn't feeling good, so I let her go, and finished a wonderful visit with a Vietnam Veteran who had legendary exploits during his time in the United States Air Force.

Ending the Evening

When I returned to my room, I sent Henry Dittman the picture in a private message on facebook. I wasn't sure if he would remember me, being the movie was made so long ago, and he's had many impressive gigs since. He responded that he certainly remembered me, and I think he was amused by my running into his father and putting two and two together.