It was the winter of 1972, my girlfriend Selika had moved to San Diego the previous summer and urged me to come. Since my divorce, Princeton had become even smaller, and there were no career prospects, as far as I could tell. So I answered an ad for a rideshare, packed up my stuff and met my traveling companion John and his VW Bug.
I had only good feelings about John and they proved to be true. I could think of many guys one would have had to fend off while sharing a motel room, but John was OK, and we became good friends.
I fell in love with Route 66, so romantic, so classic, this road was later replaced by an Interstate highway. I'm a fan of Route 66 and happy to have traveled it all the way to California.
John had lived in Sacramento too long to remember how to drive in snow, so when we were hit with a blizzard in Indiana, I was happy to take over. No snow in this picture, we were too busy surviving for blizzard photos.
On the radio, only one song seemed to be playing during our entire trip: Bye, bye Miss American Pie, drove my Chevy to the levee and the levee was dry, them old boys drinking whiskey and rye, singing, "this will be the day that I die."
I actually came to like this very long song and I still have it on a CD somewhere here.
I remember finding West Virginia beautiful, the road through the Ozarks longer than expected, the Mississippi river a thrill to see after reading about it in so many books. In St. Louis we stopped at the Gateway Arch and actually went up in the arch, moving in something like buckets on rails or so I remember it now.
In Oklahoma City, we stopped at a friend's house, but she wasn't at home. This was unplanned and before cell phones, so I was sorry I missed her.
In the Texas Panhandle, where I think this picture may have been taken, I had one of my best nature experiences ever.
It was night as we drove across the prairie. I looked at the sky, John looked at the road. I asked him to stop and he did. We got out of the car and looked up at the Texas night sky.
Now, I've been many places where it's pitch black out at night and I have seen beautiful skies, but I have never, NEVER, seen a sky like the one in Texas. It took my breath away and to this day I often think of it. The sky was midnight blue~black, the stars so bright, so many stars, such a vast expanse of sky. I was overwhelmed and deeply touched by the beauty of that night sky over Texas.
Here is John in Flagstaff, Arizona with a bottle of that cheap wine of the day, I forget its name, Boone something or other that we found sitting by this window.
On the Navajo reservation, I met a puppy who liked to give kisses.
I think we came into California through Needles, not sure, but it was desert country. At the gas station where we stopped, I was amazed at the fact that water actaully cost money! 25 cents a gallon, no less.
John and I parted ways in Barstow. I took a bus to San Diego and he drove home to Sacramento.
Our friendship lasted for many years and we took many trips together. I visited him and we spent time in Truckee and Lake Tahoe, we camped out in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and we even took a camping trip to the Grand Canyon.
