Post #134533 by martiki on Fri, Jan 7, 2005 11:42 PM

While visiting my cousin and her husband for Christmas in Walnut Grove, CA, I happened to meet one of her husband's childhood friends, a man named CJ. Now I thought it was odd that he had recieved for Christmas a Hinky Dink's aniversary mug, so I asked him about it. Turns out that his family are longtime Delta residents and that his grandfather was a friend of Trader Vic's! His grandfather was a big hunter (like Vic) and hosted a party for the opening of pheasant season in Walnut Grove. Vic loved to come out for opening day each year (once or twice with his hunting buddy Bing Crosby, apparently).

Well, the story goes like this: Vic always had a valet/driver with him who followed him around while he hunted through the muddy Delta and presumably kept "refreshments" close at hand. He also carried a black zippered bag with him as he followed Vic. Apparently he used to carry a spare leg for Vic just in case something went wrong. Well, Vic was aiming his rifle at a pheasant as it flew up and his back leg sank into the peat bog under him. He couldn't pull it out, so he said "Ah, fuck it" or something similarly colorful and just popped it off. The valet ran over with the spare, Vic re-attached it and off he went.

Well, spring rolls around, and since this was on farmland, a local farmer is tilling the land for planting and he sees this boot sticking out of the ground. When he goes over to it, he sees that it's attached to a leg and flips out, thinking someone has ben buried in his field. He calls the cops, and somehow CJs granddad comes over when he hears the hubbub. Everyone is standing around staring at the leg and CJs granddad just walks over, pulls it out of the ground as everyone gasps, and says, "No big deal. It's just Vic's leg."

Now, since this is a Vic-related story, take it with a grain of salt, but CJ went on to tell me a few others, including how he befriended Bing's grandson, and they shared some of these stories as well. CJ owns a restaurant now, with a framed note from Vic's granddaughter on the wall wishing him luck in his new business.