I left home in stages, it started shortly after we moved from Lakeland, Florida back to our hometown of Providence, Kentucky. I had just turned 15 and felt very confident. It was summer and school was out so I decided to visit my older sister who lived in Athens, Tennessee. Mom gave me bus fare, but I decided to save the money and hitch hike to West Tennessee. I was really proud of myself, I made better time hitch hiking than the bus would have taken. I had already figured out that there was an art to catching a ride. First I had to look neat and clean, avoid being dropped off in cities or other places that it would be hard to catch a ride. I was also friendly and tried to get to know the people that I rode with. One fellow that I caught a ride with would press the accelerator hard then let up on it repeatedly until I thought I would go crazy. Most were just nice and willing to help with a ride. I had very little if any trouble. People say that it is a lot more dangerous now days than it was in the 50's. I stayed a few weeks and then hitch hiked back home.
The second time I left home had nothing to do with me. It was early fall and my cousin Bobbie and I were standing in the center of town talking when he starting talking about running away. I found out later that he had just broken up with his girl friend and was upset. I did not try to talk him out of it, I just said sounds like fun to me, lets go. I think he had a few dollars in his pocket and I had some change. We started south down US 41 and decided to go through Alabama and onto Florida, I knew that if we made it to Lakeland that I could get my old job back in the Bowling Alley.
Kidkraft Storage
We got a ride through Nashville, Tennessee, but were not so lucky in Birmingham, Alabama. The ride let us out right in the middle of town. Bad mistake, we had to walk south to the edge of town before we could catch another ride. In Montgomery it was even worse, we were let out on the north side of town and had to walk all the way to the south side before catching another ride.
That night we crossed the Florida line and ended just north of Tallahassee. An early cold front had pushed south and we were feeling it. We found a lot full of school busses and all the doors were left open. We picked one and tried to sleep but it was too cold. Back out on the highway there was no traffic and we tried again to hobo sleep. This is where you lay down head to head and use each other shoulder for a pillow. After about thirty minutes we gave up again and started walking. We found an old abandoned house and it had a fireplace. We managed to build a fire and survived the night. The next day Bobbie said that he had enough and wanted to go home.
We started hitch hiking back north and had better luck with the cities. One trucker picked us up and Bobbie was setting in the middle, when the driver placed his hand on Bobbie's leg. Well that did it, we were out of that truck in nothing flat, was that ever freaky. Back in Nashville our luck turned sour again and we were stuck in the middle of town again. We went into a dinner and spent the last of our money, except for a dime that Bobbie used to call home. Our dads drove down that night and picked us up.
After my close calls with owning a car and picking fights with my younger sister, I began to feel that I needed to get away. School was not going well and it did not look like I would finish the ninth grade on my second attempt. I was 16 and a half and the weather was starting to warm so I made some arrangements with one of Bobbie's class mates who was going on a senior field trip the next day to Paducah, Kentucky. The plan was that I would meet them about two miles out of town on the road to Princeton. I had to be careful because that was close to were my aunt and uncle lived and I knew that they would be up and out early.
That night I left a note on my pillow in the basement where I slept. Mom and dad slept in the trailer parked just outside my window. I pack up an old suitcase and walked out the country road to a field and spent the night. The next morning I cleaned up in a ditch that ran through the field and got upon the road to look for my ride. Here they come speeding like crazy, stopped and told me to jump in quick and get down in the back floorboard. I no sooner got down when the teacher pulled up along side and demanded to know why they had passed him and speed off. I could see him but fortunately he did not look down. After some lame brain explanation he pulled off again and they eased back to the back of the line of cars. Sluggo, was the nickname of the one giving me the ride and he gave me a nickel and told me to keep it to remember the trip by. I did keep it until I got out of the service. Sluggo came to visit us in Georgia once after I was married, he was into insurance then and doing well. We had a good visit and talked a lot about that day I left home.
I got out in Paducah and hitch hiked across the Mississippi River to Missouri, and took US 61 north toward St. Louis. I was not sure where I was going, but for some crazy reason Salt Lake City sounded good to me. Some boys picked me up and they seemed a little too wild for me so I just kept quite and looked for a chance to get out. After about fifty miles the highway patrol stopped us and questioned the boys at length, we all had to get out. They were not speeding and I don't know what it was all about. They let me out in the middle of St. Louis and I was so glad to be rid of them I did not protest about being stranded in the middle of town.
I found a YMCA and rented a room for the night. I read my bible and prayed that night. The next morning I caught the bus to the edge of St. Louis and started hitch hiking again. After a couple of short rides a man picked me up that was heading to Alaska. We talked about me riding along with him, but I understood that one needed at least a hundred dollars in order to cross the Canadian border so we parted company around Kansas City. Later in the day I caught a ride with the Youngs, I cannot recall their first names, The husband was half blood Indian and his wife was full-blooded Indian. They both were Christians and had a habit of picking up young boys and helping them out. They usually ended up talking the young men into joining the armed services and then would loose touch with them. I could understand why as they would move around so much that the mail could not keep up with them. I also loss touch after a couple of years. We put our money together and feed the gas tank until we reached Wyoming. The first night we spent the night in a road side park and they read their bible and prayed before turning in.
The Youngs were heading to Portland Oregon where he had a job waiting for him on a farm just west of the city. We got a job on a ranch in Montana digging irrigation ditches. The digging was not too bad as the soil was sandy. A week later we took our pay and headed out again. We would stop in small towns and split up looking for work. One nice lady let me clean her windows for her and then invited me to stay for dinner. I had my first taste of Elk.
In Idaho we found work on a potato farm, the potatoes were rotting in the storage sheds and had to be moved quickly, I recall working and shoveling rotten potatoes for fourteen hours straight. At the end of the week, the owner informed us that he would be holding back our pay for one week in order for taxes and processing. Well that would not work for us so we settled for about half pay in order to get some cash to travel on.
That got us to Portland and the job along the Columbia river. I helped some loading hay and then found a job at a blowing alley in Portland. During the month or so that I lived with the Youngs, I found an old radio that had all the tubes removed, after switching them around I finely got it to working and we had a little entrainment. The Columbia river flooded and the water was up into the hay field. I told the Youngs about the time on the Ohio river that my dad took us across to an island that had been covered with water and we caught the carp with our hands in the mud where they were trapped. We had four large sacks of carp and brought them back to a pond and cleaned and froze a large number. We had carp for dinner for several months. The next day I went down to the flood waters and sure enough there was carp feeding in the flooded hay. I caught a nice large one by putting one hand in the mouth and grabbing the tail with the other hand. We had a good meal on the carp that night. Some people don't like carp because they are a mud fish and have a sightly, muddy taste along with plenty of bones, but I enjoyed it and so did the Youngs.
I wrote mom and dad a letter, telling them that I was all right and let them know where I was. The Youngs had been talking up the army and about enlisting, and I was thinking that I needed a little time to grow some with a little supervision. I was still 16 and even though I had only a few months to wait til my 17th birthday, I thought it would be an easer thing to keep up with one year instead of a month change. So I lie about my age a whole year. I visited the enlistment office and obtained the papers for a 17-year-old to join. I mailed the papers to dad to be signed, explaining my desire to join the army. Dad had been in the army during WWII and I knew that he would understand. What he really thought was that he had rather have me in the army that running around the country side. Mom later regretted signing the papers and almost turned me in, but dad talked her out of it. With the signed papers showing I was 17 instead of 16, I threw away my driver's license and joined the army in Portland Oregon on May 26, 1958 two months before my 17th birthday.