Hard Time

Prologue

A couple of weeks ago an old buddy from Fridley High School walked through the doors of the Garden Center. "Do you remember me?" asked this well worn, graying man. "Absolutely" I answered. "You're my old buddy Don H. It's been over 40 years since we've seen each other." Don smiled back at me and said, "Yes, since the Fall of 1968. We both look a little bit different now."

 

I was anxiously awaiting my chance to ask him a question: "Say Don, do you remember the hitchhiking trip we made together to Boston?" Still smiling, Don replied, "Do you mean the time we ended up in the Boston State Penitentiary?" I started laughing, "Yup, that's the time. You know, when I tell that story to people they have a hard time believing that it's true." "Well, have them ask me then, because unfortunately for me, you got me into prison right along with you" Don said. We spend the next hour rehashing that time, so many years ago, in the late summer of 1968.

Those were turbulent times. The Democratic National Convention in Chicago ended in riots, Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King were assassinated, race riots were erupting everywhere, the Vietnam War was turning into a disaster and anti war protests were taking place on almost all college campuses.  However, it was also a time of 'Flower Power', free love and Rock 'n Roll. Right in the middle of all this, Don and I, two innocent kids from Fridley, MN., hitchhiked across the country. We had quite a trip!

Hard Time
When I graduated from High School in 1968 I was still 17; I didn't turn 18 until November. I had been hired by the Onan Corporation for a summer job while waiting to start at the University of Minnesota in September. It was a good job for the times, and close to home; I could walk to work.

Although I had been on what I considered some pretty good adventures, I hadn't really been on any real big ones yet. I wanted to strike out on my own with a long hitchhiking trip before I started college in the Fall. One of my rich cousins from Crookston, Jody E., was starting college at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts and I called her up to see if I could stay with her if I hitchhiked out to visit. "Well, I don't think you can actually stay with me 'cause I'll be staying in a women's dormitory. But I'm sure we could figure something out if you visited", Jody said. I told her the approximate day I would be arriving and went over the plan with my dad. "Sounds good to me", he said. That meant he would be able to clear it with my mom, somehow.

A few days before I was going to leave, I mentioned the trip to my high school buddy Don who also had a summer job at Onan's. "Man, that sounds like a cool trip! Do you think I could come with?" Don asked. "Well sure you can Don. Have you ever been on a hitchhiking trip before?" I asked. "No, but I know you have, so you can just show me what I need to do. It can't be that tough", Don said.

Ok then; the both of us would be going. Don and I talked about what all we were going to bring and how much money we would need. "If each of us had $100, that should do it", I explained to Don. "All we really need to buy is food. We'll be staying with people so we don't need money for a hotel." Don asked, "What people?" I really didn't have a plan figured out to cover this small detail, but I knew that sleeping in the country in a sleeping bag would be a last resort, so I said, "Well, I don't know yet, but I know I'll be able to find people to stay with. If I don't, we can sleep in the woods in a sleeping bag. This will be fun Don. An adventure."

So, we submitted our 2 week's notice to Onan's, and on the appointed day, we left town 'riding our thumbs'. We stayed off of the freeways as much as possible because, even then, it wasn't legal to hitchhike on freeways, but depending upon the rides we got, we alternated country roads with freeways. We never had to wait long for any rides, and by the end of the first day we were already in eastern Indiana.

On one of our rides through that first night, Don had most of his money stolen from a guy that gave us a ride. Well, I don't know if stolen is the right word, but Don had $80 in his sock, and while he was sleeping, the guy must have seen it and taken it, because for no reason at all, in the middle of a rain storm, the guy woke us both up and told us he had changed his mind; we had to get out of the car right now! In less than a minute, a wonderful long ride through the night had been transformed to us standing by the side of the freeway, in a cold, soaking rain, at 2:00 in the morning. Major bummer!

I spotted a bridge up the road a bit, and we ran for cover to get out of the rain. "Geez Don, what did you say to that guy to get us kicked out of the car?" I asked after we reached the bridge. "I didn't say anything. I was sleeping!" Don said. It took us a couple of minutes, but Don soon discovered his $80 was missing. The guy had spotted Don's money, slipped it out of his sock, and kicked us out of the car before Don would miss the money. He still had the better part of $20 and I had almost my whole hundred dollars so I figured we'd be ok as long as we didn't waste any money (or get robbed again). I advised Don to keep the rest of his money is his wallet where it belonged.

We slept under the bridge that night, and started out again the next morning. Unfortunately, it rained most of the day and everything we owned ended up in some degree of soggy-ness. It is hard to hitchhike when you look like a drowned rat, and it took us the entire day and half the night to reach Boston. Our last ride of the day dropped us at a subway station on the outskirts of Boston, and he gave us a quick rundown on how the subway system worked; neither Don nor I had ever ridden on a subway. We purchased a token, got on the train, and away we went into the heart of Boston.

The Boston Skyline
Photo credit: BellyButtonBoutiqueBlog

When we got off the train, we were in downtown Boston, it was dark and raining; we weren't having any fun at all. Don wanted to get a hotel room, so we starting checking hotel rates for a couple of hotels we found. The hotel rates started at about $50, and because Don had lost most of his money, it was my money that would pay for the hotel, and I wasn't about to waste any of my hard earned money on a hotel room!

As we were walking around in the rain discussing options, Don noticed that a couple big guys had started to follow us. I started watching the guys too; this could be real trouble. "What are we going to do John? These guys look dangerous!" I was concerned; Don was really worried. We were a couple of 17 year old kids lost in a big city with very little money - and one of us was really cheap (me).

My mom had always told my brothers and me that if we ever got into trouble, we should find a policeman; their job was to help us. Relying on that good advice, I proposed to Don that we find a policeman and ask for help. "What are you going to say to the cop when we find one?" asked Don. "Well, I don't know yet," I said, "but something will come to me. Come on, let's hurry up and find a policeman."

Just around the corner, we saw a small, precinct station. "There is a police station, Don. C'mon, let's go!", and we literally ran into the jail, leaving the seedy looking characters out in the rain. Once inside, there was a small lobby with a large desk at one end, manned by a great, big, pale police officer. "And what can I do for you boys tonight?" he asked in a disturbingly loud voice. 

Next week in Hard Time; Part II, the saga continues at the police station in downtown Boston.