Hit the Road Chapter 17

                 I'm out of the Navy, ”wow,” now what? Life is moving forward. I'm looking down this road. The day had finally arrived, I got on a plane to Ohio, to see a friend of mine. Larry invited me to Cincinnati. The end of October, the year 1969, he had been on the sub with me, Polish and proud. Larry had said, the center of everything was here. Looking around, that wasn't exactly true. What the hell, was I thinking, the wind never stop blowing my whole four days there. Larry was home and that was enough for him. I check-in with the draft board. It seemed I had to register even though, I was out of the service. They told me my number wasn't coming up, they assured me of that. This had happened because I had joined so young, now the paperwork was done. I was free. Larry and I had a great visit but it was way to cold here in his town.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                The next stop was upstate New York to see Darlene. Well it started to snow the very first day.  I had just thawed out from Cincinnati. I loved her but didn't picture me in this world. I told her, I'd see her when “The Summer Wind Blows,” a popular song at the time. That was a hard breakup for this kid. I moved south. I caught a ride with a trucker to Florida. The hitchhiking down convinced me that a truck diver wasn't in the cards. We came down the interstate through South Carolina that was interesting. The Ku Klux Klan had a billboard announcing they lived here, burning cross the whole nine yards. This State still had the Confederate flag flying. Modern times almost 1970, who knew?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         I hadn't told my family, that I was even was out of the service yet. Weighing my options, the big plan was Miami, warm sands, nightlife and a job, hopefully no cross dressers in my path. The week in a cheap motel changed my thinking, this was not a reality.  No entry level jobs were available to me, the Cubans seemed to have that all cornered. The girls were still beautiful. I thought traveling to Pensacola would be more advantageous had family there. They had white sand beaches and some pretty girls too. I took the bus north, trying grits and eggs for the first time. Dad's family lived here. me working on an oil rig sounded good with my background in piping systems. The Gulf of Mexico was full of these oil rigs. I stayed with my Aunt Opal and Uncle Walter, they were glad to see me, ya'll. The summer visits of my youth was playing in my head. The first time on water skiing was in the Gulf. They were both retired and my grandmother was visiting at the time. the pecans and sweet ice tea. I had to rethink this place also. My conversation ended with me promising to accompany grandma home to Stockton.