1) One time while at the Jax Naval Station, a couple of guys, and I decided to thumb into town....  Well this guy stopped, in a Red Ford convertible, and offered us a ride... Being desperate swabbies; we jumped in, the top was down so I took my place in the back behind the driver...  (Safety first, no seat belts, so back seat;  BTW: I  don't really know what it is about those  red Ford convertibles,  but they seem to have played an important part my life... refer back to previous posts)

Well there we were tooling along;  fat dumb and happy...  When we noticed that the guy driving all of a sudden; just slumped over.... Ya, he passed out, so I jumped up and grabbed the steering wheel, and had one of the sailors, in front hit the break...  We finally got the driver to come around, and we got out, he said that he was on some heavy meds, that caused him to nod off.... We last saw him going off down the road, minus three sailors... Not my most favorite trip, but you just never know what is going to happen in this life, friend...

2) On yet another trip, another sailor and I had gotten a ride down to a country store, near Jesup Ga, on US 1; but as the evening worn on things were looking bleak for travel southward....  But just then the Hitch Hiking Gods smiled on us, and directly about 22:00 / 10 PM an Ole guy, in a VW van, ya just like the Hippies used to drive, stopped for gas... We ask if he was going to FLA, and would give us a ride...  He said that he had just came down from New York, on his way to Miami and if we would drive, he could sleep.....   So off we went, into the  south Georgia night....

Well as things went we came upon a couple of Air Force guys, thumbing, they were going to Clearwater Fla, so we put them on driving duty....  At that time the FLA turn pike was not in existence, and I 75 ended at Wildwood, Fla... So it was back road, two lane from then on...  We got to Wildwood about 02:30; made a pit stop, and I took over driving...   Our New York owner; went back to sleep in the far back once more...

I came thru Tampa, and let my buddy out, cut over the Causeway and let the two Air Force guys out, then proceeded down US19 to St Pete...  Well we got to the Bowl-a -Rama parking lot about 07:00.... { This was only two blocks from my Mother's house...} I woke up the owner as I got out...  He said how far is Miami?? 

I told him about 250 miles, down the Tamiami Trail, and smiled since we had not taken him too far out of his way... He got some sleep, and had told us that he drove down to save plane fare....  Well he sure came in handy for a few servicemen that night....  Every body got something out of the trip....  BTW: We were in a VW mini Bus, ya, just like the Hippies used to drive.... Top speed 55MPH, pedal to the metal....

3) Another trip was one Thanksgiving, I was in Charleston, SC;  my Mom & Step Dad were coming up from FLA to visit My Granddaddy and Big Mama; out in Wheeler County, just above Lumber City, Ga... BTW: "Big Mama" was a figurative name I had given my grandmother, it had nothing to do with her size... She was actually only about 125 Lbs @ 5' 5"...}   

Well I had the leave time for the long weekend, so started Hitch Hiking, all by my lonesome...    Did pretty well, as we always traveled in uniform, as it allowed better rides, and we could get military rates on commercial travel when necessary...  Usually I would hitch hike down to where ever, and take commercial travel back {unless we had a known ride} as it was more dependable...  Well I got to Glenwood, Ga about dark time.... Stopped at the only country store open, and got something to drink, and visit the necessary room....  Well there were a couple of nice looking young ladies in the store, and they said " Hey, look the Navy has landed, and that is one cute sailor"

 Photo taken just a week after Thanksgiving...

Well I explained that I was going to my grandparents house just down the road...  They said " Would you like a ride"...  Being 20 years old , single, on a dark cold night in south Georgia, it was a no brainer...  I said " where do I sit?"  well it was a pick up truck, with two young ladies w. me in the middle.....  What a ride!! Sometimes things just work out even; when things look bleak...    I finally did get to my Grand parents house sometime after midnight; it took a while  to go about 15 miles....  Remember the song, " Oh what a night, back in 62 ; Oh what a night "...   Will leave the details in my memory, and your imaginations... HUH!! 

Had a nice visit with all, and headed back, thumbing, Sunday morning...  You would think my step dad would have taken me part of the way but nooooo...  And it was a good thing, I did not have those girls phone numbers, or I might have ended up AOL.... The trip back was not as eventful, but that is life....

4) Another trip south to FLA w. my thumb out..... Another sailor and I had done pretty well getting a ride with an ole farmer, in a pick up truck,  He said he would drop us off when he crossed I4 which runs from Orlando, to Tampa / St. Pete...   So we thought this is great, it was a little past mid nite and we were close enough to Tampa to see the light bubble from the city... 

 BTW:  Every large city or town has a light bubble...  This appears as a Haze dome reflecting the light of the area...  We would look for these as we came near coastal towns while out on ships, you could see these about fifty miles away on a clear night....  This is what makes it difficult to see stars within the city limits...  Might call it light pollution!!

Well he crossed I4, OK but not on a ramp access...  So we got out over the Hi way, and had to climb down the concrete support, and climb a fense....  Well it was about 02:00 in the wee hours of the morning, and there was not much traffic... So we waited for the next car going toward Tampa...   Soon a car stopped and to my surprise, it was one of the Guys who went to High School with me and was in my homeroom.... It was great to catch up on some stuff, and after leaving my buddy off in Tampa, he took me right to the house... Some times it works out...

5) Another story on the road, about a shipmate, from Tampa...  He had hitch hiked down to North Fla, and most of the time we would miss Jax, since there were a lot Shore Patrol, who loved to make life miserable for the Hiking sailors...  Well once he was on the road near  Yulee FL, that is where US 17 Meets US 301 which takes you on into Tampa....  Well he has hiking just north of Yulee, when a couple of SPs passed him, he saw them slow down to turn around...  So he took off into the woods on the other side of the ditch ...  They came back and stopped and chased him into the woods, but he hid in some brush...   After they were gone, he cane out and went on into Yulee...   There he stopped in a diner to get something, well as he was sitting there he saw the SPs stop outside the diner, He jumped up and ask if there was a back way out, the Pretty waitress, said anything for a "cute sailor boy" and took him out the back door, she told him to go down to the corner Gas Station, and tell her Uncle Joe to hide him...  Well he ran down and got her Uncle to hide him in a storage room while the SPs can running down the alley to look for him...   Well there was not and body going on report for being out of bounds that day...  He would stop and visit the waitress every trip, and they finally got together later...  So you just never know how things will turn out....  

That is all for this blog, will get back soon, with more fine tales of adventure....  

     See Ya.. K 

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