Sunday, August 3, 2014
Dating
I remember one event in High School that might be called a “date”. A classmate Gerry (sp?) Gerrity arranged a small party and brought girls, one for each. We may have kissed or not. Don't remember her name.
The members of my high school graduating class at our last two reunions remember there being a dance (“prom”). I don't. One, Fr Ray, remembers my mother pinning a corsage on him.
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I am pretty sure I did not date in college in freshman year. I joined the SAL fraternity in my sophomore year. I think there was an annual dance and that I had a date – probably the sister of a frat brother named Broviac.
Somewhere in the next two years I dated Gale Ossenbeck at least once.
In my senior year, while waiting for my senior picture, I struck up a conversation with the lady sitting next to me, named Mary Helen Rechtin. I remember her as intelligent and pretty. During the conversation I asked her for a date. One of us went in and had our picture taken. As that person returned, MH asked me if I was serious about the date. I don't know if that indicated my credibility or my naivete.
We went on a series of dates - mostly movies in downtown Cincinnati followed by dinner at Col. Pompillo's restaurant in Newport. I favored the antipasto. One movie, from Italy, was named Bell'Antonio. I think that when I went to Grad school in Cleveland, I just ignored her. I remember her as my first “serious” relationship. I regret I treated her badly.
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In Cleveland, there was a Newman Club in the middle of campus. Early in the school year, I met a freshman named Geraldine (Gerry) Hall. Her father was a surgeon. We dated all year. She broke with me at the end of the school year in the park with the reflecting pool in front of the Cleveland Art Museum. I cried.
I remember her as short and thin with short dark hair.
I remember the day JFK was shot, I spent the evening with her.
I remember going home (Christmas?) - flying down and taking the train back. She met me at the train station. She remarked she had been in the local train control tower watching the progress of the train.
I remember standing with her on the curb on Euclid at the light at Severance Hall. As we were about to step off the curb (we had the green) a car almost hit us. It went on and flipped over at the next intersection.
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That summer there were summer students staying at the graduate house. One was a Mrs Wiand. She was a teacher. She was an Italian Catholic. Her husband was German but not Catholic. They lived in Ashland OH. She introduced me to her daughter Lynne, who was an incoming freshman.
I remember Lynne as short and buxom with long blond hair. I remember that, the first time I went to a dorm to see her, I went to one girl's dorm and asked for the other.
I remember visiting the Wiands in Ashland at least once.
We dated most of the year exclusively. Around the end of the school year, the exclusivity ended. She started dating Joe Gigante, my roommate. By the time the following summer rolled around, we were not dating.
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At some point Bill Owens introduced me to the twin sister of a girl he was dating. Mostly we met on weekends at her parents' beach house on Lake Erie east of Cleveland.
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Dating in Oak Ridge was haphazard.
Most memorably I dated a beautiful blond tall nurse in Knoxville I met through the UTK Newman Club. We went to one formal event. There is a picture of us somewhere.
I dated someone named Rita with an Italian name in Oak Ridge. I asked her to marry me. She gently said no.
I met Sharyn through the summer volleyball games held on the tennis courts in Oak Ridge. When I had my auto accident in 1968, she brought me cookies in the hospital. We became engaged Thanksgiving 1968, told our parents Christmas 1968 and were married 1969Mar8.
Our honeymoon was at her uncle Everett''s house in Atlanta.
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When Sharyn left in 1994Aug, I found a Catholic divorced and separated group in Greentree PA run at a parish by a nun. Later I found a very small Catholic divorced and separated group at St Cyril in Brighton Heights. There I met MaryAnn Ranker. She asked me to go to a concert with her. We quickly became close.
I went to Altanta Labor Day 1995 after being laid off. She lived in my house w/Teresa for the next year. Summer 1996, Teresa went to Slippery Rock. That may have been the point at which MA joined me in Smyrna. She worked for the Salvation Army regional hq. She returned to PA after a year because of her son. After a year with her son, she came back to Smyrna, again working for SA. She stayed no more than a year.
At this point, my memories break up.
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I met Kat online at St Rafael's in late 2001 early 2002. Our first date was Memorial Day 2002. She was living at Clayton State University in a four person apartment.
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Daley & Summe
This is a set of stories
about college. I don't remember where I became acquainted with D&S
but it was not in class. They did not major in science and they were
not in English and History, which were a kind of honors class, entry
into which was determined by grades or possibly a entrance test.
They might have been members of Sigma Alpha Lambda fraternity, which I joined in my sophomore year.
<>
One weekend (possibly extended) in summer, we left in Daley's Corvair for Chicago. I was in the back seat.
On the way, in Indiana, on a straight flat two lane road, in moderately heavy traffic, in person in the opposite direction decided to pass. He failed to complete in time. The two groups of cars went onto the right side of the road and the idiot made a third lane in the middle.
When we got to the city Daley had picked out and expensive high rise hotel, probably so he could steal monogrammed towels and glasses. I have a glass from Oxford House which might be from that trip.
Don't remember Saturday. We must have toured the city, the waterfront and a museum.
On Sunday, they got up for Mass. I did not. Their story is that they went into a church that looked Catholic and had a Catholic name. But sitting in the pew, they became nervous. One of them (probably Summe because Daley would tell him to do it), ask the usher "Is this a Catholic church?" The usher replied in the affirmative.
When the Mass began, it was in English. Again the usher was queried. "This is an English Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic church is down the street."
<>
One night I was out with D&S. No idea why. This was unusual.
We were in west Covington. I have a memory fragment that we were at a house where there was a party. A smaller fragment says Daley was looking to talk to a girl, possibly one of the Ossenbecks (Joan or Gale).
He was drunk. He had Summe doing the driving though I had drunk nothing and Summee had drunk something.
When we left we took the road back to city center closest to the river. It comes off a hill and makes a sharp left turn down hill, heading straight for the river. At the river, it makes a sharp right turn.
Summe failed to make the first turn , and the car landed in the bushes on the right. The police came.
I was thankful we were not in the river.
<>
In the early sixties, very little of the interstate highways had been built.
The second road trip was more ambitious than the first. We left of a morning and headed south towards Louisville. Our goal was New Orleans. The plan was to stay the night in Memphis as one of the new Holiday Inns. It was said there were five.
When we got to Memphis, we found out the Church of God had the place filled. So we headed south into Mississippi. On the road the Corvair threw its serpentine belt. The good news was this happened so often that there was a spare in the car. The bad news is that we did not have tools. Worse news is that we were in rural MS before there were businesses that stayed open all night.
While we were waiting for dawn, a guy comes along in an official looking car. He is the local game warden. He was out attending to a birth – I don't remember if it was human or not. He helped us change the belt. Though given the abilities of our group, he may have changed it himself.
We got to Clarksdale very late. There was one hotel – nasty. Smell of cigarettes and booze. Creatures scrrying all night. Just nasty.
The next day we got to NOLA. We parked on the street near some official building - possibly a state building. In the evening we went around the French Quarter. I had one drink, got tired and walked back to the car.
D&S stayed out most of the night. When they got back, the story was that an inebriated bar girl had been propositioning Summe when she suddenly grabbed him between the legs. It unnerved him and they left the place. Today it may be considered the high point of the trip.
I think we slept in the car. We then went east along US 90 into Florida. We stopped and dipped in the Gulf at some point.
The goal now was one of the hotels along FL's east coast. A group of our fellow students had been in Hondurus and were staying on the beach before returning to Nky. We connected with them and drank some of the booze they had brought into the country. It was called "liquid sand".
Low on money, we left for the north. We stopped at a grocery store and I had obtained vanilla wafers and apple juice.
As we drove along the two lane roads, we saw few gas stations. None had a bathroom. Somewhere in N FL we found one that had an outhouse. I evacuated very quickly.
In Knoxville TN, they found a Catholic church. It must have been Sunday. They went in. I can't remember if I did.
The trip back to N KY was long but uneventful.
Another version is here
They might have been members of Sigma Alpha Lambda fraternity, which I joined in my sophomore year.
<>
One weekend (possibly extended) in summer, we left in Daley's Corvair for Chicago. I was in the back seat.
On the way, in Indiana, on a straight flat two lane road, in moderately heavy traffic, in person in the opposite direction decided to pass. He failed to complete in time. The two groups of cars went onto the right side of the road and the idiot made a third lane in the middle.
When we got to the city Daley had picked out and expensive high rise hotel, probably so he could steal monogrammed towels and glasses. I have a glass from Oxford House which might be from that trip.
Don't remember Saturday. We must have toured the city, the waterfront and a museum.
On Sunday, they got up for Mass. I did not. Their story is that they went into a church that looked Catholic and had a Catholic name. But sitting in the pew, they became nervous. One of them (probably Summe because Daley would tell him to do it), ask the usher "Is this a Catholic church?" The usher replied in the affirmative.
When the Mass began, it was in English. Again the usher was queried. "This is an English Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic church is down the street."
<>
One night I was out with D&S. No idea why. This was unusual.
We were in west Covington. I have a memory fragment that we were at a house where there was a party. A smaller fragment says Daley was looking to talk to a girl, possibly one of the Ossenbecks (Joan or Gale).
He was drunk. He had Summe doing the driving though I had drunk nothing and Summee had drunk something.
When we left we took the road back to city center closest to the river. It comes off a hill and makes a sharp left turn down hill, heading straight for the river. At the river, it makes a sharp right turn.
Summe failed to make the first turn , and the car landed in the bushes on the right. The police came.
I was thankful we were not in the river.
<>
In the early sixties, very little of the interstate highways had been built.
The second road trip was more ambitious than the first. We left of a morning and headed south towards Louisville. Our goal was New Orleans. The plan was to stay the night in Memphis as one of the new Holiday Inns. It was said there were five.
When we got to Memphis, we found out the Church of God had the place filled. So we headed south into Mississippi. On the road the Corvair threw its serpentine belt. The good news was this happened so often that there was a spare in the car. The bad news is that we did not have tools. Worse news is that we were in rural MS before there were businesses that stayed open all night.
While we were waiting for dawn, a guy comes along in an official looking car. He is the local game warden. He was out attending to a birth – I don't remember if it was human or not. He helped us change the belt. Though given the abilities of our group, he may have changed it himself.
We got to Clarksdale very late. There was one hotel – nasty. Smell of cigarettes and booze. Creatures scrrying all night. Just nasty.
The next day we got to NOLA. We parked on the street near some official building - possibly a state building. In the evening we went around the French Quarter. I had one drink, got tired and walked back to the car.
D&S stayed out most of the night. When they got back, the story was that an inebriated bar girl had been propositioning Summe when she suddenly grabbed him between the legs. It unnerved him and they left the place. Today it may be considered the high point of the trip.
I think we slept in the car. We then went east along US 90 into Florida. We stopped and dipped in the Gulf at some point.
The goal now was one of the hotels along FL's east coast. A group of our fellow students had been in Hondurus and were staying on the beach before returning to Nky. We connected with them and drank some of the booze they had brought into the country. It was called "liquid sand".
Low on money, we left for the north. We stopped at a grocery store and I had obtained vanilla wafers and apple juice.
As we drove along the two lane roads, we saw few gas stations. None had a bathroom. Somewhere in N FL we found one that had an outhouse. I evacuated very quickly.
In Knoxville TN, they found a Catholic church. It must have been Sunday. They went in. I can't remember if I did.
The trip back to N KY was long but uneventful.
Another version is here
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
College Station TX
We arrived late in 1969. I did a postdoc in the Chemistry Department at the Texas A & M Varriable Energy Cyclotron under T T Sugihara doing research for Rand Watson. I was paid through the end of 1970.
While in College Station:
Christmas 1969
<<>>
.
While in College Station:
- We lived a few blocks off the street containing Tamvec in a one story, two unit apartment building. We lived in the unit nearest the street.
- Sharyn worked as a dispatcher for the University police.
- We attended the parish, St Mary's, which functioned as the Newman Club.
- I wrote another general purpose display and analysis program for a IBM 7094 situated in the basement of Tamvec.
Christmas 1969
<<>>
.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Christmas 1969
part one of trip
At some point we entered I-55 north. Somewhere in Mississippi, Sharyn was driving and I was sleeping. We had agreed that when she passed a car, she would slow down to the speed limit.
At some point I jerked awake. She had slowed down and then began speeding up again. However I saw a cop in the windshield with a red flashlight. She pulled over. She used her East TN accent to get the officer to write a 10 over ticket even though she had been going 85 in a 70 zone.
We sped through the night and got to Cincinnati in the morning. We spent a few hours sleeping (probably at mom & dad's). We arose and went to the wedding of Cathy Winstel Cook.
They left on the honeymoon in the Poconos, where the snow was so heavy they were trapped in the hotel.
On Monday, we took the car into be repaired. The points had been destroyed by the hard driving.
We stayed in Cincinnati through Christmas.
When we left, we took I-71 to Columbus then I-70 east. We were about to enter the PA turnpike at New Stanton when we pulled off to get hot drinks. There we found out the turnpike was about to close because of the snow storm. We immediately left.
Somewhere between New Stanton and Breezewood, we were going down a slight grade with a slight curve. I thought I saw something in the road, so I braked hard. We did not have ABS so we started a skid and the car shifted to about 20-30 degrees to the right. At the end of the skid, we hit a snow bank. There was a skrunch.
Earlier a Cadillac had been abandoned on the turnpike. It became covered in snow. Three sailors in a Chevy rear-ended it. They were the "something in the road". When I skidded, they jumped into the snow bank.
They explained they were going to be AWOL at Norfolk. We put one of them and his gear into the car, somehow. We drove him to the Greyhound station in Richmond. We then drove down Mechanicsville Pike.
We turned right over a creek that had a Civil War history marker. We took the road to Cold Harbor. On the road was the house of Sharyn's mother's mother and father - the Southworth's. We stayed with them a few days.
We left for Oak Ridge where we stayed with Bob and Ruby Burrell. A few more days and we went back to College Station.
At some point we entered I-55 north. Somewhere in Mississippi, Sharyn was driving and I was sleeping. We had agreed that when she passed a car, she would slow down to the speed limit.
At some point I jerked awake. She had slowed down and then began speeding up again. However I saw a cop in the windshield with a red flashlight. She pulled over. She used her East TN accent to get the officer to write a 10 over ticket even though she had been going 85 in a 70 zone.
We sped through the night and got to Cincinnati in the morning. We spent a few hours sleeping (probably at mom & dad's). We arose and went to the wedding of Cathy Winstel Cook.
They left on the honeymoon in the Poconos, where the snow was so heavy they were trapped in the hotel.
On Monday, we took the car into be repaired. The points had been destroyed by the hard driving.
We stayed in Cincinnati through Christmas.
When we left, we took I-71 to Columbus then I-70 east. We were about to enter the PA turnpike at New Stanton when we pulled off to get hot drinks. There we found out the turnpike was about to close because of the snow storm. We immediately left.
Somewhere between New Stanton and Breezewood, we were going down a slight grade with a slight curve. I thought I saw something in the road, so I braked hard. We did not have ABS so we started a skid and the car shifted to about 20-30 degrees to the right. At the end of the skid, we hit a snow bank. There was a skrunch.
Earlier a Cadillac had been abandoned on the turnpike. It became covered in snow. Three sailors in a Chevy rear-ended it. They were the "something in the road". When I skidded, they jumped into the snow bank.
They explained they were going to be AWOL at Norfolk. We put one of them and his gear into the car, somehow. We drove him to the Greyhound station in Richmond. We then drove down Mechanicsville Pike.
We turned right over a creek that had a Civil War history marker. We took the road to Cold Harbor. On the road was the house of Sharyn's mother's mother and father - the Southworth's. We stayed with them a few days.
We left for Oak Ridge where we stayed with Bob and Ruby Burrell. A few more days and we went back to College Station.
William R Owens
In 1963Sep, my parents drove me to Western Reserve University in Cleveland OH. One of the incoming graduate students was Bill Owens.
All the incoming first year students took the same classes. So we hung out togehter. We all stayed at the Graduate House on Carnegie afair.
Bill had gone to Wesleyan University in Connecticut. His adviser was John K Major, the chairman of the physics department. His area of study was Mossbauer Effect.
Before Bill did his PhD thesis, John K Major left WRU and went to work for NSF.
Bill did his post-doc at Tulane. When he went looking for a permanent job, he could not find one in the USA. We went to work at the Catholic Pontifical University in Rio de Janeiro.
After returning to the USA, he worked for DoD in Florida, He later moved to Stone Mountain GA. He worked at GTRI in the area of infrared.
In 1995Sep, after I was laid off in Pittsburgh in 1995Aug, I came to work in Atlanta. I lived with him and his wife until 1995Nov.
<<>>
On the Friday before Christmas 1969, Sharyn and I left College Station TX in the morning. That evening we arrived in NOLA. We stayed that night in a b&b created in a beautiful old house on St Charles. We also went to a very upscale restaurant where we had the rehearsal dinner for Bill's wedding. Afterward Sharyn, Bill and his fiance went down to the French Quarter for the evening.
I slept in the next day. Late afternoon we went to a Unitarian church. The marriage was done in the upper level. I was best man. Sharyn was matron of honor.
After the short ceremony, we went downstairs and had a short reception. We then hit the road for Cincinnati.
continue with Christmas 1969
All the incoming first year students took the same classes. So we hung out togehter. We all stayed at the Graduate House on Carnegie afair.
Bill had gone to Wesleyan University in Connecticut. His adviser was John K Major, the chairman of the physics department. His area of study was Mossbauer Effect.
Before Bill did his PhD thesis, John K Major left WRU and went to work for NSF.
Bill did his post-doc at Tulane. When he went looking for a permanent job, he could not find one in the USA. We went to work at the Catholic Pontifical University in Rio de Janeiro.
After returning to the USA, he worked for DoD in Florida, He later moved to Stone Mountain GA. He worked at GTRI in the area of infrared.
In 1995Sep, after I was laid off in Pittsburgh in 1995Aug, I came to work in Atlanta. I lived with him and his wife until 1995Nov.
<<>>
On the Friday before Christmas 1969, Sharyn and I left College Station TX in the morning. That evening we arrived in NOLA. We stayed that night in a b&b created in a beautiful old house on St Charles. We also went to a very upscale restaurant where we had the rehearsal dinner for Bill's wedding. Afterward Sharyn, Bill and his fiance went down to the French Quarter for the evening.
I slept in the next day. Late afternoon we went to a Unitarian church. The marriage was done in the upper level. I was best man. Sharyn was matron of honor.
After the short ceremony, we went downstairs and had a short reception. We then hit the road for Cincinnati.
continue with Christmas 1969
Sunday, July 21, 2013
rak college road trips
I had two college "roads trips" with fraternity brothers Summe and Daly (or maybe Daley; first names lost in the fog).
Daley had a Corvair. I always got the back seat.
The first adventure I remember was local. Daley had been drinking. Summe was allegedly sober. I had not drunk any alcohol. (There may be a cameo appearance here of one of the Ossenbeck sisters here but I am not sure.)
Daley gave Summe the keys. We were in that main road from west Covington into Covington (KY8). We are coming down the hill. On a half curve to the left, Summe lost control, spun the car, and we landed in bushes. It was a good thing. The next curve was the sharp right at the river. If he had lost it there, we might have drowned or at least been injured.
<>
The second adventure was a weekend in Chicago. The freeways had not then yet been built. So it was a long hard schlogg.
On one road which was straight and two lane, someone in the other direction passed and could not make it. We had just enough shoulder that there was a one point three cars abreast.
We got there Friday night. I remember no incidents then or Saturday. Sunday morning I slept in while they looked for a church. They went out and found one. Their story is this:
The third adventure was setup as a visit to their friends returning from a mission trip in Honduras. Remember this was before freeways.
We left Cincinnati and went to Louisville and then worked our way to Memphis. They had been told there were these new things in Memphis called "Holiday Inn"s. Unfortunately, the Church of God got there first and filled them all. So through the night we went south on the Mississippi River road.
On a two lane road, straight but with no shoulders, the car came to a stop. The Covair had a ser4pentine belt that had a tendency to fail. We had a spare but no tools. Luckily a man came by with tools. He was the local game warden and had just come from delivering a baby. I never did learn of what species, but I had a strong suspicion it was human.
We got going again and came to the town of Clarksville (or was it Clarksdale?). It had a "hotel". We checked in. omg. Nasty smelling room of cigarette smoke and beer and maybe vomit. Which didn't seem to bother the four legged night visitors. It did keep at least one of my crew awake all night.
I was always amused when later in the decade there were civil rights protests about blacks not being able to stay in that hotel. Either they were misguided or maybe we got a room normally offered to blacks.
The next stop was New Orleans at a time I don't remember. We went to Bourbon Street and got drinks. I don't know if mine was alcoholic or not. I think there was a stripper. Not too long after I got tired. I got the car keys and went back to the car and went to sleep. I think we were parked on the street around a public building which had a huge lawn on all sides.
The dynamic duo stayed. One or more bar girls appeared. One of them gave Summe a real good feel. He was both embarrassed and a bit proud.
The next day, we headed down US90 along the Gulf coast to Florida, all the way to Miami Beach. The friends were in a nice high rise hotel. We hung out for a day and headed north.
I think by this time we were low on money. We stopped at a grocery store and got a bit of food. Given my natural practical bent, I got a box of vanilla wafers and a large bottle (64oz?) of apple juice and got back on the road.
Before there were freeways, there were a lot less gas stations everywhere. And there were a lot less people in northern FL. As we were not on the coast road, we did not go near any of the coastal cities (e.g. JAX). So there were cities, no rest stops, no gas stations, therefore no bathrooms. I was getting desperate. And this was not going to be a #1 stop. Eventually we did find a small station in one of the small towns. I was directed to the outhouse behind the building. I barely got my pants down when I was relieved is a single spasm.
That Saturday night we did not stop. We drove through to Knoxville. They somehow found the Catholic Church in Knoxville. I slept.
How we survived these trips with just a single driver must have been a blessing from God.
Alternate version: Daley & Summe
Daley had a Corvair. I always got the back seat.
The first adventure I remember was local. Daley had been drinking. Summe was allegedly sober. I had not drunk any alcohol. (There may be a cameo appearance here of one of the Ossenbeck sisters here but I am not sure.)
Daley gave Summe the keys. We were in that main road from west Covington into Covington (KY8). We are coming down the hill. On a half curve to the left, Summe lost control, spun the car, and we landed in bushes. It was a good thing. The next curve was the sharp right at the river. If he had lost it there, we might have drowned or at least been injured.
<>
The second adventure was a weekend in Chicago. The freeways had not then yet been built. So it was a long hard schlogg.
On one road which was straight and two lane, someone in the other direction passed and could not make it. We had just enough shoulder that there was a one point three cars abreast.
We got there Friday night. I remember no incidents then or Saturday. Sunday morning I slept in while they looked for a church. They went out and found one. Their story is this:
We went into a church and asked the usher if this was a Catholic Church. He assured us it was. The Mass began but something was not right. [E.g. the service was in English and VII had not yet happened.] So we go back and asked the usher again: Is this a Catholic Church? Looking stern and discomfited, he said: This is an English Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church is down the street. He pointed for them.<>
The third adventure was setup as a visit to their friends returning from a mission trip in Honduras. Remember this was before freeways.
We left Cincinnati and went to Louisville and then worked our way to Memphis. They had been told there were these new things in Memphis called "Holiday Inn"s. Unfortunately, the Church of God got there first and filled them all. So through the night we went south on the Mississippi River road.
On a two lane road, straight but with no shoulders, the car came to a stop. The Covair had a ser4pentine belt that had a tendency to fail. We had a spare but no tools. Luckily a man came by with tools. He was the local game warden and had just come from delivering a baby. I never did learn of what species, but I had a strong suspicion it was human.
We got going again and came to the town of Clarksville (or was it Clarksdale?). It had a "hotel". We checked in. omg. Nasty smelling room of cigarette smoke and beer and maybe vomit. Which didn't seem to bother the four legged night visitors. It did keep at least one of my crew awake all night.
I was always amused when later in the decade there were civil rights protests about blacks not being able to stay in that hotel. Either they were misguided or maybe we got a room normally offered to blacks.
The next stop was New Orleans at a time I don't remember. We went to Bourbon Street and got drinks. I don't know if mine was alcoholic or not. I think there was a stripper. Not too long after I got tired. I got the car keys and went back to the car and went to sleep. I think we were parked on the street around a public building which had a huge lawn on all sides.
The dynamic duo stayed. One or more bar girls appeared. One of them gave Summe a real good feel. He was both embarrassed and a bit proud.
The next day, we headed down US90 along the Gulf coast to Florida, all the way to Miami Beach. The friends were in a nice high rise hotel. We hung out for a day and headed north.
I think by this time we were low on money. We stopped at a grocery store and got a bit of food. Given my natural practical bent, I got a box of vanilla wafers and a large bottle (64oz?) of apple juice and got back on the road.
Before there were freeways, there were a lot less gas stations everywhere. And there were a lot less people in northern FL. As we were not on the coast road, we did not go near any of the coastal cities (e.g. JAX). So there were cities, no rest stops, no gas stations, therefore no bathrooms. I was getting desperate. And this was not going to be a #1 stop. Eventually we did find a small station in one of the small towns. I was directed to the outhouse behind the building. I barely got my pants down when I was relieved is a single spasm.
That Saturday night we did not stop. We drove through to Knoxville. They somehow found the Catholic Church in Knoxville. I slept.
How we survived these trips with just a single driver must have been a blessing from God.
Alternate version: Daley & Summe
rak pgh 1
previously
After a few weeks I rented a "house" on Tripoli. It had a stove but no other furnishings. It had three floors (two rooms per floor) and a "basement". There was a bathroom on the second floor landing.
It was the middle slice of a building w/three identical "units". The other three slices had been subdivided into one room "apartments", all sharing a single bathroom.
In the basement was my gas furnace To save energy, I shut off heat to two upper stories, including the bathroom. It was not until I left that I learned that a single vent from my furnace heated both my bathroom and three of my neighbors.
<>
My new employer was wonderful, one of the two best jobs I ever had. The only one on which I ever got a real promotion. My contract gave me some living money for the first few months living expenses, moving expenses, and three weeks vacation.
rak pgh 1 work link
<>
Four weeks after I arrived I drove on a Friday night before Thanksgiving to Cincinnati. (I-279 > I-79 > I-70 > I-75) I stayed overnight w/mother. I then drove straight through to Houston. (I-71 > road around Louisville > I-65 > I-40 > I-30 > US59 > I-10) I was desperately lonely. As bad as my marriage was, I loved my wife and missed her. I missed my children
From Cincinnati to Houston is about 19 hours of driving. I got gas in Pgh and then in a station in NKy. On later trips, gas on I-70 in OH just west of Wheeling. I got gas at a station on I-65 north of Nashville, a station in WMemphis AR, a station around the AR/TX border, and then HOU. Back then TX gas was cheap.
I did not usually eat at restaurants because I was trying to save money.
We had Thanksgiving. I remember nothing except I was home and had chores to do. The following Saturday I packed up and reversed direction. At some point I either bought or brought from home a small toaster oven. So maybe there was no stove.
I did this same process at Christmas.
rak pgh 1 choir link
to be continued
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