Ah, come on, Frank. Come on out here and visit us! Where else can you get
free rooms, complete with food, pool, and spa? And you will be able to see
the vacant lot where your folks' house stood before Disneyland wanted the
land!
But yours does sound like a fun trip. When I got out of the Navy in 1963, I
took off in the Sprite on an four month, 11,776 mile odyssey with a Texaco
credit card, my worldly goods stuffed in the boot, and the spare tire tied
on the rear. When you are in the Navy, you make friends, and they some of
you get transferred and others get discharged. You always say goodbye and
promise to meet up again, but in your heart you suspect that you never
will. I decided to see all of the old friends that I could.
I started out in Memphis, wandered through the South and into Florida.
Then meandered up the East Coast. In Silver Spring, Maryland, I was passing
a shopping mall where they were holding a gymkana. Ever the optimist, I
pulled off, paid my entry fee, and ran the course with boot stuffed, top up,
and tire tied on. Quite a sight. But I took second place, although they
never sent me my trophy. On up the coast, then across Pennsylvania,
stopping in Beaver Falls to pick up an old girl friend and take her with me
out to California. Outside of Cadiz, Ohio, the generator exploded and a
highway patrolman gave us an escort into town where the next day the local
dealer charged me $125 to rebuild the generator (when a new one that he did
not have in stock cost about $35). Pushing on, we hit a blizzsard outside
of Columbus, and were overwhelmed by the snow when the windshield wipers
couldn't keep up. Indiana, Illinois, back down to Memphis, then on west.
Somewhere in Oklahoma I thought I had blown a head gasket and had to pull
the head, which then proved to have a crack. After getting the head welded,
it was moving on down through Texas, the across New Mexico and Arizona, and
finally pulling into Anaheim. Other than paying for a motel in Cadiz and a
flop house in Pennsylvania, didn't stay in any motels. But saw a lot of
friends and made even more. People who are friends to this day.
(Oh, and there were also a couple of cross-country trips between Memphis and
California when I was on leave.)
Having done it, albeit younger and dumber, all I can say is DO IT!
Bob
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