An American Adventure

An American Adventure, Part 4

The Return to = Fort Worth

After our arrival on May 30^th, I have no mo= re journal entries until June 4^th, when I started the return trip t= o Fort Worth. At some point I will get the photo= s of the wedding together and add that portion of the trip as a separate document. In the meantime, he= re are the three days of my quick trip home.

June 4= :

Left the Wright residence 6= :50 to take Cheryl to the airport. S= aid goodbye to the Hills and Wrights but promised to see them again by 1975. (We didn’t make this. Saw t= he Hills next in Englan= d in 1994.) I will have to fill= in details of our stay at the Wright’s and wedding later. Dropped Cheryl at the airport and = saw her on the plane. (In those d= ays you could go right down to the gate whether you had a ticket or not.) Headed for Hartford and I-84.= Trip across Connecticut was uneventful and fast. At the Garden State Parkway entrance I pop= ped a trailer tire. A service truck helped me mount the spare and I headed into NJ. Stopped for lu= nch and to have the new Sears tire mounted.= What a job! Back on the road at 12:30. Came across NJ on bad road and hit PA. Made a few stops for coff= ee and dinner. Called Cheryl and the= n made Cleveland at 21:15. Travel time: 13.75. Mileage: 633.

June 5= :

Loaded up Posty this morning and departed Ray’s at 8:30. (Posty= was moving to Phx and had an old friend, maybe rela= tive, agree to make the trip with her. She had a canary yellow 1972 Chevrolet Malibu<= /st1:City> and we were going to travel together as far as Fort Worth. She had already arranged to have h= er furniture moved before she came up to Connecticut for the wedding.) Stopped for= gas down the road and then headed out of town.= Ray took us over some of the worst roads in Cleveland to the highway. Had a smooth trip down I-71 to Cincinnati where = we hit horrendous traffic. I was dro= wsy and had trouble driving. On t= he Kentucky side Posty missed an exit and nearly ran down a marker. All okay and we got gas. I woke up and we hit Louisville just before rush hour. More bad traff= ic. Decided to sto= p at Horse Cave, about 75 miles north o= f Louisville.= Found our KOA and settled in. Weather hot an= d muggy but bearable. Early to bed. Travel time: 8.75. Mileage: 424.

Posty&= #8217;s Car was Yellow but this is it.

June 6= :

Departe= d the KOA at Horse = Cave at 8:00. Got gas right away and proceeded d= own the road. Made Nashville for coffee and then had lunch about 60 miles east of = Memphis. In Memphis<= /st1:City> I called Sally (Torpey) but no answer. Crossed the Mississippi into Arkansas and made Little Rock at 17:00 for rush hour. What a mess. Found the KOA in Benton and stopped. Only 300 miles= to Fort Worth from he= re. Travel time: 9.5 hours. Mileage: 452.

That was the last entry in the Journal. According to the time log I left <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">Benton, AK at 7:45 on the 7^th and arrived home at 14:30. I only remember a few things about= the homecoming. First, Cheryl had= flown out on the fourth so she could work on the fifth. When she got into the hospital, she found that she was only scheduled for the one day and then had two days off. So we spent the money on= air fare and I got to make the trip back alone so she could work one day!

Second, I don’t remember much about having Posty around in Fort Worth so I assume she pushed off for Phoenix the next day. That would be a= two day trip under normal circumstances. I do remember her grumping about Ray, her travel companion. He was older and moved slowly. Posty = would have been just 60 in 1972 and was full of piss and vinegar…as she was until the day she died at 92!