Agreement: Travel light.
We had a mutual gentleman's agreement back in these days. We were going to keep on moving, keep on traveling; and avoid to settle down. Girlfriends, meant commitment, meant having to get a job and settle into something quite serious when college was done. I had met this Farley on the precise trail end of a girlfriend a year earlier.
I was freshman and this girl was a sophomore, at a college about 40 miles away. She tested me three times that spring, with either you do this or I will do that. How are you going to handle that one Stevie? I was mad, It was spring break 1973, and I didn't want to head home to Cliffside. No way.
On the day I could leave for NJ, my dad was coming over from Trenton to give me a ride home. He would be there about 3pm. Decision time. I woke up determined to take a few buses south to Knoxville, and hang with some of my cousins who lived at the University of Tennessee. Bob showed up, and asked what I was doing. He didn't want to go home either.
"Hey, I watched this crazy movie last night, "Where the Boys Are" (It was a 1960 movie. Merritt, Melanie, Tuggle and Angie are four Midwestern college co-eds who travel to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for their spring vacation and a series of adventures and romance follows.
"I've got it", (He may have even snapped his fingers) and his big blue eyes lit up:"Let's go to Ft. Lauderdale, and let's hitch hike".
And we did. It was ludicrous. I borrowed some money from my roommate, and when my Dad came down, I told him there was a change in plan. He was so cool about this. "Do you need any cash?" "No, I got plenty".
"Just watch your ass"...he advised. He drove up the turnpike on his own.
And that was our first hitch-hiking trip.
5 days, $25 dollars, and it led directly to this trip.
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