Transcontinental Voyage

Dad’s friend Dick, who went to high school with him in Gloucester and now lives in San Diego, has sent an invitation – or maybe it should be called a command - for Dad to come visit him. In his letter, he says “we should be able to arrange something that would be interesting, instructive, and morally edifying” – quite a tall order for a vacation!

Last time we went to visit, Dad and I went by plane, but this time Dad wants to make a “transcontinental voyage” by train. I can’t afford to take the time off, but Brianna and Kate S. are going to do it. Yesterday we started working on figuring out the details – we’re going to reserve adjoining bedrooms on the train so that they can keep a close eye on Dad. Once they get to San Diego, they’ll stay in the “hospitality room” at Dick’s assisted living residence.

Visiting Dick was an interesting experience – out since the 1940s, Dick was in love with Dad and followed him each time Dad switched colleges, so they both wound up at Bard. He still gets really excited about seeing Dad – once, when Dick was still well enough to travel, we were all in Gloucester at the same time, and Dick, seeing a rental car in the driveway of our house, decided to stop by for a visit. As Dad climbed up the porch stairs, Dick rose from his chair and came hobbling towards us, bellowing “Addiiissssoooon!” in a shaky tenor.

Dad has travelled cross-country by both train and bus a number of times. The first time was in the early 1950s, when a group of his friends decided that he was loafing around too much and applied to graduate school in his name and then informed him that he has 3 weeks to get to Oregon to start work on his M.A.!!! In those days, the bus had no bathroom, so it stopped a lot, and Dad smoked marijuana at every stop. He ran out about three hours before arriving, and never smoked it again.