In 1976, I was hitchhiking east on Interstate 10 from San Diego, California with my then wife and dog. It was about 85 degrees on this May 1st day. East of San Diego, we got a ride in the back of a pickup truck from two guys in their 20s. They would take us over the Alpine Mountains and let us off in Ocotillo Wells, a small desert town.
By the time we hit the upper elevations of the Alpines, the temperatures had dropped into the 40′s. Dressed in tee shirts, jeans, and sandals, we were quickly freezing our butts off. As the truck hauled along at 75 mph, we pulled warmer clothes out of our backpacks and slipped them on. We were shivering.
Eventually, we dropped out of the mountains and into the desert. Before we knew it, the thermometer hit 100 degrees. As we stripped down, I glance into the cab of the pickup truck and noticed it was filling up with smoke.
The driver swerved into the breakdown lane. The passenger jumped out, then reached back into the cab under his seat. He pulled out a red rag, like the kind that mechanics use, that had spots of oil on it. It was smoldering and smoking like crazy.
He threw the rag onto the side of the highway, stomped out the fire, left the rag, and we got back on our way east. Soon we would reach Ocotillo Wells and the ride would end.
Four hours and three rides later, we were in a van with a guy with long hair and a real long beard. He asked us if it was alright if he got off the highway and went into a small town to buy milk and bread and a few other groceries to take home to his wife. No problem.
He got off the interstate and headed to the general store. A few miles later, just as we approached the store, the van began to fill up with smoke. The driver urgently pulled to the gravel shoulder. We jumped out of the van and I leaned back into the passenger side and reached under the seat.
I yanked out a smoldering, red rag. In fact, it looked like the exact same red rag that caught fire a couple hundred miles ago. Same oil spots, same everything! Was it the same red rag that we left by the side of the highway? Was it deja vu? I’m not sure, but we all had goose bumps!
- Mountain Man
Tags: blog, Cape May Court House, Hitchhiking, Real Estate, Seapointe Village, Wildwood