At the beginning of the second leg of my trip across the country, the reality of the fact that the dream is free but not the journey became my stark awareness. After only one day on the road, the heavy canvas backpack was rubbing my shoulders almost raw. Why did I pack some much stuff to bring with me? It suddenly seemed far more than I needed. That was a lesson only partially learned as I sometimes still pack too much stuff 40 years later.
It turns out that Magnolia, Arkansas was then and still is a sleepy small town. After an hour or so of waiting during the early morning “rush”, an old pickup truck with two fellows in it pulled over to give me a lift. The guys were genuinely nice and quite different than any I had ever before met (my first real stop in Arkansas). They put me in the middle seat and drove about one-quarter of a mile before pulling over to let me out. “Were turning here”, the driver announced. That was the shortest hitchhiking ride that I ever received. In spite of their noble attempt, they put me in a worse spot to hitch a ride by dropping me right about where a vehicle would have accelerated from the stop sign to full speed. That was the beginning of a long and interesting day. I immediately realized that I should always appreciate good intentions by others, regardless of the outcome.
Additionally, I realized something else… no matter what others or even I thought of this trip it was brought about by my personality. Personality is the unique, limitless part of our life that makes us distinct from everyone else. It is too vast for us even to comprehend. An island in the sea may be just the top of a large mountain, and our personality is like that island. We don’t know the great depths of our being; therefore, we can’t measure ourselves. We start out thinking we can, but soon realize that we are wrong. Personality is the characteristic mark of the inner, spiritual person, just as individuality is the characteristic of the outer, natural man. It was my spirit that had me in this place, and I had to begin trusting that it would take me home to Vermont.
Eventually, another pickup truck pulled over and offered me a lift. The confident man driving immediately provided his opinion of what I was doing. He promptly told me that I could have been standing there for days and I was lucky that he came along. The tenet behind his comment apparently had to do with the non-acceptance of strangers in those parts. And boy was I a stranger! Have you ever been to a place like that? I will bet it made you stop and think.
I was thankful for the ride and received another lift from a State Representative heading into session at the capital. Up to that point in my life, I hadn’t been exposed much to political personalities, other than what I watched on television or read in political science class (which I thought was as boring as any class I took in college). I remember thinking that he was a pretty nice guy and acted very ordinary. That ride landed me in Little Rock, not knowing where on the highway to stand because I couldn’t determine east from the west at that point in the day. After telling a service station attendant I was headed to Vermont and he not knowing anything about Vermont, let alone which way I should go, I told him it was just the other side of New York. The light went on then and he pointed me in the right direction to travel east.
My first Arkansas I40 eastbound ride was with an LSU art professor. He was a cool dude. He drove a VW Microbus and had a bottle of Old Crow whiskey in the middle of the front seat. Yuck! That stuff was AWFUL! I ended up driving much of the way to Nashville and arrived at about 9 PM on Friday night. We would have made it much earlier if not for the VW not having enough power to travel over 40 MPH up the grades along the highway. The professor and I made plenty of small talk and learned a good deal about each other as we both asked lots of questions. We said goodbye and I stuck out my thumb and hoped for the best in the dark on the ramp leading back up to the highway.
When I finally received that first real lift the day flew past, and many miles were covered. My four rides were pretty neat, and I was filled with confidence that I might be able to complete this trip. It reinforced in me that there are kind people from all walks of life. I was very tired and pretty grubby from the long day on the road by then but instead of finding lodging, I decided to forge on. I realized then that I could be very goal-oriented and my desire was to get east of Nashville before I stopped for the night. The next thing that happened to me may have been a turning point in my life. I’ll bet you have had one or more of those.