Open Thread - 11-19-21 - Misspent Youth
Submitted by JtC on Fri, 11/19/2021 - 8:51am
Definition of misspent youth (according to Miriam Webster): the time when one is young and doing things that are not considered wise or proper.
The year was 1971. I was 17 years old, hair down to the middle of my back, knapsack and pup tent on my back, thumb in the air, footloose and fancy free. Traveling alone as I usually did back then, I was on my way to Clearwater, Florida to visit an aunt and uncle for no particular reason other than another highway adventure. I had left Memphis early on a hot southern summer morning, the weight I was carrying made the sun that more intense. The sweat was dripping in the morning sun.
I couldn't catch a ride where I was left off so I decided to do what I did a lot back then when I was hitchhiking, I walked, my back to the oncoming interstate traffic, left arm held out with thumb upraised. There's no feeling in the world like hitting the open highway with no particular place to go, pure wanderlust, but this time I had a destination. I had never been to Florida and was looking forward to the beautiful beaches I had heard about in the Clearwater/Tampa-St. Pete area. But first I had to traverse Mississippi and Alabama, deep in the south, with the ending of the movie, Easy Rider, always in the back of my mind. But I was young and immortal.
