PEOPLE I MEET

Eric, 2021, Renato Rampolla

Walking around Savannah, I met Eric and Todd on the Riverfront. They were holding their sign that says ALCOHOL MAKES ME HAPPY.  I stopped and talked a while and learned part of their story.

Eric and Todd are brothers and they enjoy life. Eric, above, had raised a boy and a girl and once the youngest turned twenty one, his life of responsibility was over. He was approaching 50 years of age and saved almost $110,000 for retirement.  As he put it, “ I gave $109,000 to the kids along with the flat screen tv’s and everything else in the apartment they wanted. Todd and I took a Greyhound from Seattle to Daytona. 

Half way there, about two-o’clock one morning, the bus driver was having an argument with someone on the phone.  He hung up, parked the bus and walked off.  We had to wait 2 hours for a driver to come.  It was the weirdest thing.  We finally made it to Daytona and have walked every state on the continental US at least two times.  

“How long have you been doing this?”

“About 8 years. We walk all over and love to make people happy. We talk to them and joke around. And our signs…. In Chicago, we made a sign-ALCOHOL RESEARCH STUDY. People loved it.  There was a cop that posed for a picture with us and the sign.  We make people happy.

We aren’t destitute-we sleep under the stars. I just ate a $17 hamburger.  Got no problem getting food.  We do enjoy a few beers though.”