I, along with a few thousand other happy souls, arrived at San Francisco at midnight in November having traveled by troopship from Okinawa. We disembarked the next morning then trudged straight to a big Ferry that took us up San Francisco bay to Camp Stoneman. After a couple of days there we were told that we could leave for our next assignment within 24 hours IF we did NOT need to be paid. If we needed money we would have to wait several more days before we could receive our pay.
I had a buddy who was just as anxious as I to get back to Texas and home so we counted up our money, a total of about $15, and the next morning started hitch hiking south down through California. Late that afternoon we were picked up by a gentleman driving a big luxurious Rolls Royce type automobile and along about dark he pulled into a fancy looking restaurant and said, �I think it�s about time WE had something to eat.�
Well, my buddy and I couldn�t afford even a cheap sandwich in a place like that. We were in the panic mode and thinking about running away when our host said, �This is going to be my treat and I want you to get whatever you want.� We tried to order �cheap� sandwiches, but he said, �Fellers you have to eat more than that. You have a long way to go.� By that time he knew we were trying to get to Texas, but he had no idea that we were almost penniless. So anyhow, we ordered the same thing he did. STEAKS and all the fixins!
When we hit the road again he invited us to his home with him to visit for a few days. Apparently he had a home on Laguna Beach that was comparable to his big ole car and complete with swimming pool and yacht, but we were to anxious to get home so we reluctantly declined his invitation. Our ride with him ended somewhere around San Bernardino at about 10 p.m. and we started pointing our thumbs east.
After a short time we were picked up by a guy in an old car that looked and sounded like it was ready for the junk yard. He told us he was going to some place called Tehachapi which unknown to us was up in the top of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We soon found out that that old car could go mighty fast as we started careening around the narrow mountain curves and seeing lights way down below in some valley. About the time we figured we were never gonna get to see Texas again we did arrive in Tehachapi.
This was in November, we were in our summer uniforms, and the temperature up there was mighty near freezing, maybe even colder. And even more disturbing, there was no traffic going in any direction! We found an open caf� and went in to get a nickel cup of coffee and some warmth. There were four Air Force guys in there that apparently were on the tail end of some kind of drinking party because they were laughing, joking and having a great time. After a few free coffee refills we reluctantly left the warmth of the caf� and just then heard a train whistle. At that point we didn�t care which way that train was going. We just wanted to get down out of the mountains. Fortunately, the train was going east and we bought us a ticket for about a quarter to get down to a place called Mojave. Since it was on the desert we thought it would be nice and warm. Bad assumption!
The traffic there also was non existent and we began to gather up some twigs, sticks and trash to build us a fire. Just as we got our little fire going beside the empty highway at about 2 a.m., a car came roaring up and stopped. It was the same group of Air Force men that we had seen having a rip roaring time in the caf� up in Tehachapi! They asked us where we were trying to go and when we told them Texas, one of them said, �There is a plane leaving from the base for Oklahoma City in a few minutes. We can get you on that if you want to.�
So we hopped in the car with the drunks and tore out for the air base, another spine tingling experience as the driver was trying to find out how fast his old car would go. We accidentally arrived at the air base alive, went to Operations, got signed up and went to the flight line where we found a B29 bomber that had been converted to a freighter and within a few minutes were passengers headed for Oklahoma City where we arrived in the early morning.
After hitching rides south to Texas my buddy and I parted at a place where I needed to go back west to Big Spring, Texas and he was going on south to Dallas. By that time we had maybe $4 or $5 between us and he gave me all his money because he was so close to home and I still had several hundred miles to go. I caught rides all day and all night and finally arrived in Big Spring about daybreak the next morning.
Now Big Spring was sorta my home town at the time because it was only 15 miles from where my folks lived out in the country at a famous place called Forsan, Texas. So here I am standing on the highway in the snow in my summer uniform just a few miles from home when several cars going my way with people in them that I KNOW and they just WAVED at me and passed right on by without stopping. I reckon they thought I was out there just building an early snowman!
Now, just as I was about to give up and start walking on home, my father came roaring by going into Big Spring. He did a couple of double-takes, slammed on his brakes and slid for a country mile, did a u-turn and rescued me! By the way, my parents thought I was still on Okinawa.
(This was my last big hitch hiking adventure!)