One Mile at a Time

By John Arnold

In the beginning, my family started in the air force. As the time went by, we journeyed out across the United States as the family grew, and we made a home in Kentucky. Dad started driving a truck, and mom went to work for the government. Us kids grew up and went our own ways. One will stay home up to the end. First, dad passes away at work due to an accident, and years later, we lost mom to cancer. As the days go by and we get older, we are left with just the memories of the love and the life and the time we all love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524577513

John Arnold

I was born in Bellingham, Washington. As time went by, we moved around from state to state. As a boy, the farm was fun, but going to work with my dad in his truck was some of the best times of my life. As I got older and finished school, I joined the army, and then my journey began. First, I went overseas and had the time of my life, but missing home and my mom’s cooking after years went by, I decided it was time to go home. But before I went home, I made a stop in Tennessee after getting out of the army and I worked in a bar for a year. Then I went off to Louisville to join the Army National Guards and join the fire department to start following my father’s footsteps in driving a truck.

Book preview

Copyright © 2017 by John Arnold.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2017900896

ISBN:   Hardcover   978-1-5245-7752-0

   Softcover   978-1-5245-7750-6

   eBook   978-1-5245-7751-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 01/20/2017

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

698196

Before you read this book, I’d like you to know the most important thing about me: I’m no angel and I can’t walk on water. I can’t bring back the dead or cure the sick. I’m just a man set in my ways. I like to work and love to play. I will talk to all I meet and hope to make a new friend. I will treat you the same way as you treat me and my family and friends. I don’t care if you are black or white. If you’re good to me and my family and friends, I will be good to you too. That’s how it’s supposed to be after all, right? God bless you and your family and the best country in the whole world, the United States of America! One mile at a time.

Now I just know I’m not going to be a best-selling author or get rich off my book, but I hope someone likes it and tries to take the time to really see how I tried my best to write it and can then look at their own life and say, Hey if he can write, I know I can too. After all, I’m just an old truck driver and ex-firefighter and ex-army guy. I have no care in the world but my family and friends. As long as you’re not trying to pick a fight with them, we’ll be okay. I try to get along with all I meet and don’t care what color their skin is as long as they are nice to me and my family/friends.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First, I’d like to say thanks to all the men and women in uniform for keeping us safe and hope they stay safe. Now I’d like to tell you my story. You will hear me say thanks more and more along the way of how the men and women protect us and how I was once a part of them. I will tell you how my family got started, how we lived, how before I was six I had been to more places than most people have been in a lifetime. I’ll tell you about a journey across the county and the world. I will tell you about the loss of the ones I love too. I’d like you to be the judge of my book, if you like it and if it’s not to your taste, I’d like to hear from you too. Thanks, your friend John Arnold.

{[e-mail]}God bless the United States of America!

Me, you, us, them. We are all of them put together! Just like one mile at a time.

1Page1.jpg

Around and around we go. Yes, time after time, all you have to do is just open your eyes and you will see the trust. It’s right there in front of you. All you have to do is just look and you will see the trust. It’s just like {one mile at a time}. Can you see it now? No? Just look real hard. Try harder. Try as hard as you can. I bet you can see it now. No holding back. Look, there it is!

One Mile at a Time

By John E. Arnold

1Page2.jpg

As you can see, this is me at my desk and here is the back porch and the floor to dad’s new garage. Yes, it is three feet thick and here’s me, Mark, and Frank, no William—not born at the time. Yes, I’m the good-looking one on the right. Frank’s in the middle and Mark’s on the left. Here’s a picture of us kids—me, Mark, Frank, and Betty and two cousins. You can see Grandpa’s truck in the background and here’s Grandpa’s truck in front of the house. Yes, these were the good old days. I’d like to have back a time not forgotten, just like {one mile at a time}.

2.jpg

The picture at the bottom of the page is me, Dad, Mark, and William on the front porch, and yes, Dad has a beer in his hand and yes, it’s Falls City Beer too. Here’s a picture of Grandpa and his dog Gringo. He’s a working dog and not a pet. At night Grandpa puts him in the store and if you’re in there, you’re in for it. See, he will eat you up. Here’s Mom and Dad, Frank, Betty, me, and Mark and the Christmas tree next to us. Here we all are on the porch and some cousins too. Next, here’s Dad, Frank, Mom, Mark, and William and me. I’m in a suit and Dad has a can of Falls City Beer in his hand. Next is just the garden.

3.jpg4.jpg

Here’s a picture of Mom on the back porch and her new washing machine. Yes, it’s high-tech and here are some cousins looking in the chicken house. Here are the cows and dog on the farm. There are horses too.

Here are Mom and Dad. It’s the last picture I have of them together.

5.jpg

Today this is me. I still wear my dog tags and I do support the troops, yes, 100 percent. We ask them to do their job by putting their lives on the line for us, so we all should back them 100 percent and the same goes for the firefighters and the police too. I hope they stay safe so they can keep us safe. God, please keep them safe and bless the United States of America.

John Arnold

6.jpg

1. To all who read this book, I hope you like it. See, it was hard for me to try to write, but I’ll try my best. This is my first real book and I hope you like it.

See, it’s a book about me and my family and friends. It’s about some of the jobs I had in my life. It’s about good times and bad times. It’s about some of the best days and the worst days in my life. It’s about some of the days I like to have back and some of the thing I like to take back.

This book is about a journey across the country and across the world too. It’s about the loss of the ones I loved the most. It’s one of the best thing I have done in my life, to tell you a story I hope you like. I know we all have lost someone we loved, like a good friend or a loved one; like Grandmom or Grandpa or Mom and Dad. Maybe a brother or a sister or a husband or a wife. Maybe a son or a daughter or just a good dog or a cat. It was hard to lose them, but in life, we all must try and do our best and get over it. After all, we must not forget the rest of the people in our lives. You’re important to them too.

Before I start, I’d like to say thanks to all the men and women