“Lunchmeat Larry is my songwriting name. My friend did an introduction where her brain was running faster than her mouth. The introduction was, Mark I wantcha to meet Larry. Mark said, Lunchmeat Larry? I have been Lunchmeat Larry for 25 years. I was born in Annapolis Maryland, which is south of the Mason-Dixon. When I was 18 months old, my dad got a job with U.S. Foreign Service and we moved to Mexico and then Peru. When I was a kid, I had no concept of being American.
I am playing guitar to get enough money for a campsite tonight. I live in Virginia and it is still too cold there right now. I have almost broken my back shoveling a small path in the snow and swore I would never go through another winter there again. I have been a handyman all of my life and volunteered at Port St. Jo for a few weeks to help out after Hurricane Michael. In the panhandle, it is hard to thumb a ride.
(A police officer walks up and asks for a permit for peddling. If you play on the streets for money in downtown Mobile, you need a permit for peddling from the Mobile Chamber of Commerce. Larry says he read the rules but has permission from the owner to play in front of the storefront and thought he was okay. Lunchmeat Larry puts his guitar away, unsure of how he will earn the money for the campsite.)
I am going to New Orleans to paint for a friend for a few days. I will earn enough money to buy a bus ticket to Virginia to see my son get married. I love life on the road. It is hard and crazy at times, but it is liberating. I wondered about Jesus saying that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the gates of heaven. When I started traveling, I sold all I had. I carry my worldly possessions on my back. That is freedom. Most days I feel like I am living in heaven, but some days it rains.”
Great story from a traveling man’s perspective