All of this reminiscences of driving long trips sent me to scrounging
around in boxes of my old records (including 40-year old Texaco credit
card receipts), a task that conjured up so many fond memories. All my
trips were on surface roads, for those were the days before "freeways"
as we know them today. Oh, there were brief portions on the Pennsylvania
turnpike and the relatively new Ohio turnpike. My odysseys began not
long after I bought my Sprite, and provided a remedy to the itchy feet
of a born traveler. More importantly, I think that the Sprite is near
and dear to me because it enabled me to escape the drudge and loneliness
of Navy life, become close friends civilian friends I still value, and
allow me experience the highways and byways of America; wonderful
people and places that would have remained unknown to me.
1,806.0 -- Memphis to Clear Lake IA and return (To visit relatives, not
to see the site of "the day the music ended.)
3,984.0 -- Memphis to Downey CA and return (Memphis to home in 50 hours
on Christmas leave.)
1,806.0 -- Memphis to Clear Lake IA and return
458.6 -- Memphis to Jackson MS and return (To visit Billy Jo.)
429.4 -- Memphis to Ooltawah TN and return (To take Joy Lynn home.)
458.6 -- Memphis to Jackson MS and return
429.4 -- Memphis to Ooltawah TN and return
458.6 -- Memphis to Jackson MS and return
(And then it was off on the grand tour of America. When I got out of
the Navy, I took off with $300 in my pocket and a Texaco credit
card. All my meager belongings were in the boot, and the spare tire
was tied on the back.)
908.6 -- Memphis to Orlando FL
532.9 -- Orlando to Atlanta GA
700.8 -- Atlanta to Washington DC
136.0 -- Washington DC to Harrisburg PA (Driving by a shopping
center in Silver Springs, Maryland, I spied a local club auto-cross in
the parking lot. Pulling in, I paid my entry fee and ran the course with
the hood up and the tire tied on back. Although my time qualified for a
trophy, I was in too big a hurry and was back on the road without
waiting for the awards.)
225.2 -- Harrisburg to Beaver Falls PA (Picked up Jo, an ex-Wave
girlfriend to head out to California, with a couple of suitcases joining
the spare tire.)
202.7 -- Beaver Falls to Cadiz OH (Great! The generator exploded
outside Cadiz, Ohio, where we had to spend the night and pay $125 to
have the generator rebuilt when a new one only cost $30.)
214.7 -- Cadiz to Memphis TN (Caught in a fierce snowstorm and
almost run over by a tractor-trailer when I got out to scrape the snow
off the windshield!)
441.3 -- Memphis to Venita OK
1,004.3 -- Venita to El Paso TX
862.6 -- El Paso to Anaheim CA
3,930.4 -- Anaheim to Memphis TN and return (Back to Memphis to visit
friends.)
429.4 -- Memphis to Oak Ridge TN and return (To visit Joy Lynn.)
Experiences like these are the memories that my Sprite brings back.
(And yes, this is yet another note destined for my "autobiography".)
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