Chapter 07 -
Road Trip
It’s Easter weekend, Sunday evening to be exact, in Charlottesville, Virginia. My freshman roommate Jack Greer, and I are at a Sigma Chi fraternity party. After drinking too many purple Jesuses from the brand new trash can, we decide it would be a good idea to drive to Madison, Wisconsin, to see his girlfriend who was a student there at the university. We were in a 1956 Ford beater which we had purchased on a surf trip when our original beater broke down. It used so much oil that we stopped at (numerous) gas stations along the way to bum used motor oil. We actually made it in a day or so and looked up his girlfriend, Bobbi. She and her friends took good care of us, feeding us with their meal tickets and finding a dorm room for us to sleep in. The night after we got there, being 18 years old and all, we went out on the town, or tried to. The Ford had an 8 volt starter battery, but the generator didn’t work, so when we turned the headlights on, the engine died. Rather than stay home we decided to drive without lights. Can you see where this is going? We didn’t get too far when we passed one of Madison’s finest. When he turned around and hit his red light, I floored it, swung a few corners, and pulled into the driveway we had departed from. We all crouched over in the seats. It wasn’t too long until I heard a tap, tap, tap, on the driver’s window. John Law motioned for me to get out and sit in the front seat of his patrol car with him. I had a Florida drivers license, the Ford had a North Carolina title, and the registration/tag was from our previous beater, which was from Virginia. We didn’t even get to insurance, which there wasn’t any. After giving me a good talking to, the officer told me not to drive any more at night. He was a young cop and probably had experience with young hooligans like me. He also probably did not want to do the paper work. At any rate he didn’t give me a well deserved ticket. We complied and I actually left the car there and flew back to Charlottesville from O’Hare airport in Chicago. I think I landed in DC, not sure, in the middle of the night, and walked most of the way back to Charlottesville. I tried, unsuccessfully, to hitchhike, with no luck. I had on dress shoes and it was one of the most memorable, miserable events of my life.I walked until after daylight.
