There and back again

Yes I paraphrased the title of the Hobbit, but the trip to Claifornia was kind of like that. From New Haven, Connecticut to Glendale, California is a bit over 2,500 miles. If you really move you can do it by car in about 4.5 days. In 1969 the Interstate Highway System was still mostly a dream and much of the trip was on rather small roads. Why would I set off on such a trip? It wasn't for fame and it wasn't for fortune. I am sure of that. We need to go back a bit that year to understand the trip. In the winter some friends and I went to the movies together. It was a rather common event. We lived in old theaters and we watched subtitled movies and cheap science fiction and just anything that was there. This time we were seeing "The Graduate". If you remember it is a story of a young man lost after graduation from College. He is discovered by the mother of a friend (Mrs Robinson)who seduces him. Later, he falls in love with Mrs Robinson's daughter. Well the movie has some significance to me since I was very much a lost soul in those days and I was seeking to become a man. I had pretty much decided earlier in my life it was futile to keep the fantasy of becoming a girl. I tried to be a boy and then a man. Like the hero of the graduate I was caught in the web of a woman. Being caught didn't help me become more a man. I was just used and I was pretty much vulnerable. The movie struck a note. It also took place partially in San Francisco and across the bay at Berkeley. There were scenes of Golden Gate Park and the Bay bridge that dredged up childhood memories. I want home and got drunk immediately - stinking drunk. I probably would have stayed drunk for days if I hadn't decided to go to California and visit those places. So, come spring I was off to California in my Mercury Comet. My goal was to drive a minimum of 500 miles each day. In actually I drove some days over 600 miles. I drove alone and for the most part it was extremely dull. I dis have some time with myself though and I really needed that. Each evening I would stop at a motel and soak in the bath tub to ease the muscle aches and wash the grime off my body. I would then get something good to eat. It wa interesting to see what people were like in different parts of the country. They weren't much different where ever I went. The food was different and the mucic on the car radio was very different. McDonalds was everywhere and was often my lunch choice. Dinner was special though and I always went somewhere interesting. Occasionally I would go to a bar and have a couple of drinks, usually Gin and Tonic. Clsoe to the end of the long journey I was driving through the Mojave desert and I stopped in Needles Claifornia. I was very near my destination, Billie's house in Glendade. I went to a bar to have a few drinks. The bar was down the street from the Motel and I drove. When I wen into the Bar it was about 7 pm and the temperature was over 100. It was a small dive of a bar. The sort of bar I sometimes frequented in New Haven with friends. I was alone here though. I had two Gin and tonics and was going to leave when this guy sitting next to me start talking to me. He must have been 55 or 60 and he was talking about going to LasVegas and betting a large sum of money. He went on and on about it and them he tried to convince me to go to Las Vegas with him. I guess he was trying to pick me up. I never have had homosexual tendancies so it wasn't even tempting. It was interesting though. It was the first, but not last time that summer I would have someone try to pick me up in a bar. I left the bar about 11pm and when I went out to the car the temperature was 99. I am sure glad the air conditioning in the motel worked. The next day was a short ride to Glendale, where I met Billie. She was a grand old lady and I often look back to her with great affection. More to come....