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This time of year always has me looking back to that magic summer of 1970 which started for me in late June. That summer forged and shaped my life as I’ve lived it since then.
My part time job in High School was working at the Burger Chef, a now defunct fast food chain. We workers nicknamed it “the grease pit” as our clothes absorbed the smell of the hot grease from the deep fat fryers. I used to hide my black work pants in the store room and change in to them before the start of my shift. After a few days they would really get ripe.
I was always following a different drummer. It seemed that most of my classmates who were also working spent their wages on cars and fancy dates. My wages were put into an account which would fund a trip through
My best friend Keith also worked at the Burger Chef and had a similar trip planned. Keith’s mom took us to a Cooks Travel promotion for their European tours in the winter of 1970. I can still remember the hokey production showing this happy couple touring the continent disembarking from all modes of transportation. The comic relief was the narrator’s comments on this one ladies hat which she wore constantly!
Then they did the sales pitches. Always a stickler about costs and money I said to Keith and his mom how expensive one aspect of the promoted tour was. This guy sitting ahead of us turned around exasperated and said, “Jesus, to go any cheaper you would have to ride a bicycle!” We all laughed as that was to be my mode of transportation through
I had my bicycle boxed up and I flew from
Naturally, there were no “storage facilities” at JFK. It was a rude awakening to the real world when I realized I was alone with the problem of how to stash a bicycle for a few days. I was able to work out an arrangement with a transfer agency to store the bike and then have them deliver it to where the collection point was to be for the Youth Hostel’s tour at
It seems inconceivable in today’s world how cut off I was from my family for those two months. Tissue thin aerogrammes were the only means of communication I had. Phone calls were out of the question. The internet had not been invented yet!
That summer taught me self reliance and basically how to make it on my own. I love to tell the story to Europeans as to how I was always the lead and pretty much biked on my own to our destinations. They can’t believe what I did. I kept a journal on that trip. It was July the 8th 1970 I had my experience that looking back now puts the fear of God into my bones!
Let me just quote from my trip diary:
Awoke to a very nice morning. At around 8:30 or so we started on to
(Talk about being a “babe in the woods”. I had NO idea what the Autobahn was. I rode my packed down bicycle on the far shoulder of the road, waving to the cars that flashed their lights at me as they passed. I thought they were just being friendly!)
I must have gone some 40 KM before some men working on the side of the road in a field told me (in VERY forceful German) bicycles were not allowed on the road. He then showed me how to turn off for
Europeans just shake their heads when I relate this story to them. They tell me how lucky I was not to be arrested and to be alive today!!
That summer demonstrated to me what life had the potential to be. It was that trip that taught me how I wanted to live: self reliant and independent.
Picture of my loaded down bicycle in Switzerland, 1970:
The isolation from my family and childhood friends helped to mold me into an adult and taught me to stand on my own. With as much as I embrace technology, it is sad kids today are in constant contact with family and don’t have the opportunity to grow on their own.
Monday night at Pannera Bread two students were having a terrible go of it. I could not help but overhear their drama. One student had a paper due no later than 11:59 p.m on the 22nd. This college student could not ascertain if this was a minute before midnight or noon. She had to call her father.
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