Kid of the 50ties

          Kid of the 50ties       Chapter 7       I stayed in South Miami until the middle of June and then set out for Decatur, IL to see my friend Kathy Doyle and her brother Patrick. I took hwy 27 from Miami up to Ocala and then hwy 441 and 41 north. I drove late in the afternoon and through the night and crossed into Georgia just after daybreak. I was toolin along hwy 41 about 65 mph, which was a new road with wide sloping shoulders, when suddenly, I woke up bumping along off the road. I slowly hit the brakes, slowed down and gradually steered back up onto the road. I found the quickest pullout and got in the back seat and went to sleep for about three or four hours. I was so lucky that the road shoulder was flat and wide. Scared me bad, but taught me a lesson to pull over and rest whenever I started nodding off when driving. Got sleepy once again up in Tenn.   But this time I pulled over and slept for about 4 hours. I...

  Kid of the 50ties Chapter 6 I thought to myself wow. One ride all the way to Decatur, IL.   My hitch-hiking luck was always very good. That is why I always hitch-hiked instead of riding the bus. Took us a day and a half. We stopped in a rest area and slept in the car that night and he even let me drive a lot of the way. He dropped me off at the front door of Kathy and Pat Doyle.   I spent two days with them and then Kathy drove me out to the east end of town to Hwy 36 where I headed towards Indianapolis and Philadelphia.   Again, I was lucky and got a ride within a few minutes. Another lucky ride where the guy that picked me up was headed all the way to Phila.   He also dropped me off at the front door of my aunt and uncle John Jackson. We split the driving and made it the next day. 1700 miles in two rides. I have always believed that my good luck was due to my dressing in clean clothes, clean shaven and standing up straight and tall with a smile while hit...

    Kid of the 50ties Chapter 5     Upon arriving in Cheyenne, I got out of the train yards quickly before the train detectives saw me and headed for the unemployment agency.   There they told me that there was a pipeline job over in Laramie Wyo. So I headed over to Hwy 80 and hitchhiked there.   I found the foreman of the pipeline and asked him for a job.   He hired me as a swamper and told me to come back in the morning at 7:00 am. Swampers guide the pipe when the tractor driver moves it up and down the ditch line before lowering it into the ditch. He told me that a work bus would pick us up in the morning at 6:30am in front of the bus stop.   I than found a cheap hotel room, got something to eat and set my alarm for 5:00 AM and went to bed.   Next morning, I was up at the alarm, got something to eat at the local restaurant and headed to the bus stop, box lunch in hand. My union pay was to be $2.00 per hour with time and one half after ...

  Kid of the 50ties Chapter 4        I graduated from Campion in the spring of 1955 and went home to South Miami, Fla. After two weeks of boredom, I decided to hit the road and hitchhike to Decatur, IL to see a girl named Kathy Doyle who was the sister of a classmate of mine at Campion. I met her during Easter vacation of 1955 when her brother Pat invited me to spend Easter Vacation at his house in Decatur, IL. I didn’t tell my Mom I was leaving because I knew she would try to stop me from going. I packed a small suitcase, walked up to Hwy 1, stuck out my thumb and was on my way. Up US 1 to Hwy 27 and in Ocala Fla. I took Hwy 41 up into Ind.   Around Rockville Ind, I turned onto Hwy 36 and proceeded west to Decatur, IL. to visit my Campion buddy Pat Doyle and especially his sister Kathy. I spent two weeks there and, since Kathy didn’t seem to be interested in me, I decided to cross the Mississippi and head west hitch-hiking US 36, headed for Denver...

  Kid of the 50ties Chapter 3       Back in 1948, during the summer, I hitchhiked to Cape May New Jersey. My brother jimmy used to go to a shooting gallery and I used love to ride the roller coaster. I stayed with him for a week and then hitchhiked back. I didn’t like the traffic circles on the roads because it was easy to get lost. My brother Jim taught me a drive that summer.   He took me out by the local church where there was no local traffic around to drive his 31 chevy until I got familiar with clutch and shifting gears.   The next day, over at his friend George Mitchell’s house Jimmy gave me the key and told me to drive it around the corner and park it under a tree because it started to rain.   I started it up and when I drove around the corner. I didn’t loosen my grip on the steering wheel and Chevy jumped the curb and hit a telegraph pole guide wire.   My brother Jimmy and George Mitchell ran to see what happened and then started laug...

  KID of the 50ties Chapter 2         I must have been about 12or13 years old, back around the summer of 1949 or 50.   That big long nosed Peterbilt tractor pulled up beside me.   It was all black and had lots chrome and was pulling a 40-foot trailer behind it. I heard the air brakes go cha cha when it stopped.   I climbed up on the running board opened the door and crawled in.   The first thing I noticed was the driver. He was a little guy about 150 pounds with dark curly hair and a big smile on his face. I’m on my way to Florida for a load of oranges he said over the roar of the big loud diesel. Where you headed kid? Baltimore, I said, wishing I could go all the way with him. Well, you’re on your way he replied, and that big diesel took off with a roar. I had left the house in Drexel Hill, rode the trolley out to Media Pa. I was only going to hitch trucks down US-1 to Baltimore MD. And back again.   There were two long ...

                                              KID of the 50ties                                                Chapter 1 Going back a few years, some of my exploits started happening around 1945 when the Family moved back from Boston to Drexel Hill Pa. Drexel Hill being a suburb of West Philadelphia. My Step Father Bill Smith was a Lt. Commander in the Navy during WW II. He took over being my dad in 1943, since my Father died in 1941. I love and remember Him to this day. Right after he met my Mom, He gave me a ride on the running board of his 1941 chevy. In 42 he was transferred to Boston and then went overseas to Hawaii for 3 years. He sent me two small cast iron jeeps for my 7 th birthday and I pl...