Uneasy Rider

I’ll start in March of 1969. The drifts of dirty snow in Portland, Maine, were getting depressing. My girlfriend at the time was upset that my attachment to the Road was greater than my attachment to her, and I was getting eager to get out of Winter Quarters and hit the road again. The solution at the time seemed to be an old VW van. Instead of hitching across the continent, it would be a ramble from camping ground to camping ground with girlfriend attached.

On the road

OK, it was definitely going to be a lot less rambunctious than my usual trek, but it had its appeal—a bit of built-in security. So, pack we did, and then we lit out for some road trip adventure. But it wouldn’t have been a road trip without some surprises, glitches, and happenings along the way. My girlfriend had never been out of New England, so first Boston, then New York, and then Baltimore were “experiences” for her. After a next stop in Washington, D.C., my plan for the transcontinental romp had been a dip into the northerly reaches of the south with stops in Norfolk and Danville, Virginia, and then head west.

I was visiting family and friends. This leg was to shake out the kinks in the method of travel and see what sort of traveling companion my girlfriend would be. After these stops, we’d commit to the Midwest and the West. We would wind up in California when we got there.

As we got further south, she appealed to me to go the northern route. She wasn’t used to, or a fan of, heat. A far northern route was very appealing to me as well. I had never crossed by way of Canada, and had an itch to see the Pacific Northwest. With a map we laid out a preliminary track and started out.

All went well until we got to the Algonquin Provincial Forest in Ontario. It’s a beautiful area, and we decided to stay for a week or two. But one day, driving to the campground from getting supplies in Huntsville, we drove off the road to avoid a child who’d run onto the road. The kid ran off, we ran into a tree, and the VW van was totaled.

Ottawa

It took time for the insurance companies to resolve the claim. Rather than live for about a month in the campground, we moved to Ottawa and settled into an apartment. Camping, we had developed a friendship with the Washingtons from Ottawa. They knew of a vacant apartment in their building, and the landlord was game to have a short-term lessee in need residing there.

I’ll always fondly remember my time in Ottawa. We developed a community of friends rapidly. There were our downstairs neighbors, the Washingtons, and some First Nations folks in the next building, who included a soon-to-be close friend, Vince Barlow. Vince was also a carver, and through him, I made contacts with a shop interested in selling some of my carvings. As good as it was, I couldn’t really settle in because the only work I could get was irregular, under-the-table sorts.

A Grey Kitten

A few weeks after moving in, I was standing around with my friends near a vacant lot, when a scruffy grey kitten walked up to me, climbed onto my shoulders, and then commenced to sit on my head. It was the soon-to-be infamous Clancy J Bumps. I was duly claimed, and my friends assured me that I would have to take him home with me. Clancy became my close associate, but took a rather intense dislike to my girlfriend. This dislike led to some interesting adventures.

On The Road Again

As summer led into fall, the insurance companies had yet to settle, I had no work, my girlfriend grew increasingly displeased with Clancy, and I got itchy feet. She didn’t exactly ask me to leave, but hints were given. So, just before American Thanksgiving, it was determined that I would return to the States.

Easy Rider

That trip was epic, and I’ve written about it in separate posts so I won’t repeat myself. But the night before I left, my girlfriend took me to the movies. The show was “Easy Rider”. If you haven’t seen it, it concerns an epic cross-country trip via motorcycle that ends tragically. I really didn’t sleep that night. Normally, I am very eupeptic, feed me anything, watch me smile and happily digest it. Not that night. Sleep came hard, and she complained that my tossing and turning kept her awake.

Are those of us who are Pius Itinerants easily spooked? Not normally. But starting off the next morning, I was definitely depressed, and Clancy, who was in a big wicker basket, was unhappy. The trip was epic, and made more so because of Clancy as a traveling companion. We met up with and got a ride from guys from my old Navy squadron. Then Clancy bit a customs inspector on the US side of the border. My Navy buddies helped us make a fast escape. Oh yes, it was one trip that was very memorable.

But one movie that I’d never have wished to see before leaving was Easy Rider. I sure could have skipped that one. To this day, it’s not one that I’ll happily watch. Just seeing a clip provides flashbacks.

Daily writing prompt

If you could erase one movie from your memory and watch it again for the first time, which one would it be?

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