I have completed digitizing Tray 9 (89 slides) and Tray 10 (52 slides) that document my first solo road trip, November 1973. The slides were processed DEC 1973.
There is a gap of 2+ years in my life from my graduating from the University of Utah (August, 1971) and this road trip. This was a nadir in my life and I was not sure what the future held for me (essentially I was directionless). The nadir began when I purchased a house in Toole, Utah, (against my parent’s wishes) with the purpose of working with youth in a Christian ministry of sorts with support from two local churches. It fizzled out after a few months when the ministers from the local Baptist and Methodist churches left Tooele. I was alone and stuck with this house I never really wanted.
My realtor put the house on the market and I returned to Salt Lake, tail between my legs, to live with my parents and return to Tagge’s for a bit of income. My realtor rented my house to a young couple with the idea they would buy it once they qualified for a VA loan. However, on a cold winter day they left the house to visit their parents for the weekend. The back door was accidentaly left open. The weather was so cold the water pipes burst and with nobody on site to deal with the issue the house became unlivable. Over the summer of 1972 I would commute to Tooele on the weekends and work on repairing the house (new carpet, new heating system, new water heater, new flooring for the kitchen, and a lot of paint). My Dad would come out with me some weekends and we would work together. Dad understood that I was having a difficult time and things weren’t exactly going my way. He wanted the best for me. He was truly a good man.
Eventually the house sold and I was free of Toole. It felt good. Because I was working at Tagge’s I was able to get a special credit card from a local bank and I used that to purchase an amazing new Karmann Ghia. My father christened it Orange Julius (because it was orange). I loved that car. And this trip meant FREEDOM!
My plan was to visit as many states as I could but be back home for Thanksgiving. Here’s where I went—
- Salt Lake City on I80 to Laramie, Wyoming
- Oklahoma City (purchase a small Kodak slide camera)
- Houston (Hoped to see Craig R., fellow U of U student)
- Galveston
- Port Arthur
- Bridge City
- Baton Rouge
- New Orleans
- Gulfport
- Mobile
- Panama City, Fla
- Carrabelle, Fla
- Naples, Fla
- Everglades
- Key Islands
- Conch Key
- Duck Key
- Key West
- Darian, Geo
- Charleston, SC
- Asheville, NC
- Clinton, TN
- Kentucky
- Chicago
- Genoa Nebraska and then I80 to Salt Lake City.
Trivia, yet nostalgic—I think I listened to a single cassette tape for the entire trip by the group It’s a Beautiful Day and the album Marrying Maiden. I listened to it over and over and over. At the time of this writing (50 years after the trip) I am listening to it in the background. Quite weird but for some reason it really spoke to me. Maybe the electric violin?
None of the photos are dated but I would estimate about 3 weeks on the road. I arrived back in Salt Lake the day before Thanksgiving (Nov 22, 1973). The photos are poor in composition and quality for the most part.
At this time, the OPEC oil crisis had almost destroyed the RV business and Tagge’s had laid me off for a few weeks. I had money from the house sale and took off for an adventure but didn’t really know where I would go. But I was free!
I headed for Houston where Craig R. lived. He was a good friend while we were together at the University of Utah. Unfortunately I was unable to connect with him, bad phone number? no address?. He was a gentle soul and a member of the football team.
In New Orleans I was given a guided tour from another good friend-Robbie, from Reno, Nevada. She was going to Nursing school while I was at the University of Utah and was now married to the minister of the Canal Street Presbyterian Church in New Orleans.
I continued the trip along the Gulf coast to Gulfport, Mississippi and met up with another colleague, Mary from the University of Utah. She was in the ballet school at the University which was quite good. Now she was back home and in limbo, just like me. She and her parents welcomed me into their home and the next day before I continued along the Gulf she showed me around town and her parents took me to lunch.
The road trip continued from Gulfport to my ultimate goal Key West.
From this point I headed up the East Coast (I’d never seen the Atlantic Ocean before) and at some point made a run for Chicago where I touched base with a final friend from the University of Utah-another nursing student, Pam. She was continuing her studies in Chicago.
From Chicago I headed to Genoa Nebraska where my sister was. She had just started teaching in Genoa and had a ratty apartment in an old house with a couch propped up on bricks, metal kitchen cupboards, and cracked linoleum. But it was nice and warm.
During the night I spent in Genoa, Nebraska experienced a heavy ice storm. It was unreal. In the morning Orange Julius was caked in ice. I spent an hour or so warming the car and chipping the ice off and took off for Salt Lake. I wanted to be there for Thanksgiving! Orange Julius was good on ice, thankfully as I encountered a number of overturned trucks on Interstate 80.
And that’s pretty much the contents of Trays 9 and 10. I have one tray of slides left to digitize and that takes place in 1974. So it will be a sequel to this nadir in my life! I had to find a way forward! Fortunately I had a great group of solid friends and family in Salt Lake.
