57 There are changes lyin ahead in every road

So this is all in the same day. We left Toronto, had that long interlude at customs, drove past Detroit and then there we were. Heading past Toledo. We certainly got to know those two kids, what the heck... we were probably near the same age, maybe they were a little older. Thank you so much. Hope everything turned out ok.

They let us out near the Ohio Turnpike. We already knew that you had to stay off the highway to hitchhike. You could pretty much locate yourself at the very bottom of an entrance ramp. Any higher you had a better chance of the cops bothering you. Off the ramp the local cops would bother you.

Did you ever hear the song "The Shape Of Things To Come" by "Max Frost?" Well, that kind of is the theme of what happened next. I guess just because it was a new experience that we kind of got used to and dug. Thumbs out. A semi-truck pulls over slowly. We look at each other and start running up to meet it. The truck driver leans over and opens the door. 'C'mon in." LBJ jumps up first, cause you know, check it out. I jump up there and skedaddle behind the seats. Kind of into the sleeping area. "Where you going?" California. He laughed. "I'm not going that far. I'm pulling into a truck stop a ways on up." Ok. Sure.

Movin' On 1974-76. Great show.

We were driving a while. Not real long but we were getting out into the country. Couldn't really see, because it was dark by then. But you could still see corn. Wow. City kids. When I was three my family took the train from New York to California. But I don't remember bupkis. Family vacations normally were maybe upstate New York. So getting out into the midwest was new to us. We were astonished by it. I think we made the trucker laugh.

I don't know where this truck stop was exactly. Might have even been in Indiana. He pulls in. And lets us out near the front. He was heading on towards the back. Now what? It was like a foreign land to us. They didn't have big truck stops on Long Island. I didn't know how it worked. Didn't pay too much attention at the time to stuff like that. But I was always interested in the working man and what he did for a living. I was just never exposed to this.

There was a big restaurant like there is at every truck stop. We still had some money left from Montreal, but we figured we better concentrate on getting a ride. There was nothing around. No hippie types to ask if we could crash at their place. I suppose we could have walked into that restaurant, but it just didn't feel like the thing to do. We were close to an entrance to the highway so we put our thumbs out every time a vehicle passed. But that wasn't a lot, even though the truck stop was right there. We weren't wearing watches. No cell phones. Maybe it was kind of late. Uh oh. It's raining. No big deal. We could handle it, but our stuff was getting wet, including that one sleeping bag. Oh that turns out good. 🤣

Getting hungry again. We did have some bananas in our bag. Pretty sure we ate at least two each, maybe more. What were we supposed to do with the peels? They're natural. There's fresh dirt around. We threw them on the ground. 

We were strong as hell. Peanut butter. Occasional milk. Coffee. Whatever. But walking. The amount of walking. Extremely healthy. A little standing in the rain forever wasn't going to hurt. It had to be well past midnight. Yapping away about dumb stuff. Excited for the new experience. Whoa. What's that? Crap. It's someone in a suit walking over towards us from the restaurant. Shit. He saw us throw the banana peels. He may ask us to move along. Maybe worse, who knows. We weren't the cowardly type. We waited for him.

He gets up to us. I really remember him looking a bit like Roman Polanski. His suit was even a little mod. Wide lapel. Bell bottoms. But a suit. Here he goes. "Hello. You're having quite a time in the rain. Aren't you?" "I thought you might be hungry and I brought you some chicken" He was the manager of the place. We had a nice little talk about how he wished he could do what we were doing. He was tired of the responsibility. Would love to just travel without worrying about his job or whatever. He felt trapped. Wanted to see the rest of the country. We talked about some of the beautiful areas we might see. Gave us a few tips about the locals. Advised us to stay off the farm property. Cause really, we were kind of dumb about some things.

He wished us luck. I think we put a smile on his face. We thanked him a lot for the chicken. It was wrapped in aluminum foil and there was quite a bit. Fried chicken. Yum. Not a big thing in New York. And then as he was walking away he turned and said "Hey. Don't worry. You can throw the bones on the ground. I'll send someone out tomorrow to clean it."

We never got a ride that night. We walked a little out of the way and moved off the road a bit and laid down on the wet sleeping bag. Thank God it eventually stopped raining.