Leaving Biloxi (Woo Hoo!)

When I woke up on the morning of November 27th, 1973 at Keesler AFB I could scarcely believe that the day had finally arrived... I was done with tech school, everything I owned was packed into my '68 Barracuda, and I was ready to leave Biloxi behind... Furthermore, I didn't have to report to McClellan AFB (in Sacramento) until January, so I was going to be spending a month at my mom's place in Eugene, Oregon before heading south again...

The best part was that (for the first time in my life) I was about to embark on a major road trip where I was in complete control of the arrangements, and not wishing to repeat the "interesting" experiences I'd had traveling with mom and/or Karina I tried not to leave anything to chance:
1) In order to avoid any possibility of hitting winter weather I was taking the southern route (through Los Angeles).
2) I didn't want to risk falling asleep at the wheel so I was limiting myself to 12 hours (about 600 miles) a day.
3) My plan was to start driving around 5AM so I could reach my daily destination before dinner. That way I could have a leisurely meal, unwind in front of the TV for a couple of hours and still get a good night's sleep.
4) To make sure that I didn't end up lying awake all night on a lumpy mattress in some cheap motel I made reservations at Holiday Inns along the route (about $15 a night back then).

Aside: I should probably mention that planning a road trip back in 1973 was a lot more involved than it is nowadays... You had to get maps (the kind that most people couldn't fold properly) for your entire route, and you had to use a ruler and do math to estimate the driving distances... Then if you wanted to plan your overnight stays you had to get hold of the booklets published by each hotel/motel chain that listed their locations, amenities and rates... Yeah - it was kind of a pain, but I did kind of enjoy it... And I digress...

In the weeks leading up to my departure I had gone over every inch of my car to make sure it was in perfect operating condition, which reminds me of another story I forgot to tell:
One day (a couple of months earlier) I was in a hurry to get somewhere (something involving Juneau) when I noticed a puddle under the car. Yeah - my water pump was dripping. But no problem - there was a car parts place right outside the gate and I was pretty quick with a wrench so I got to work... I was in such a hurry I decided not to pull the radiator - I figured if I was really careful I could work around it without damaging it, and within 20 minutes the new pump was in and I was tightening the last fan blade bolt... That's when my box-end wench slipped off the bolt and tore a small hole in one of the radiator tubes...
Yes... My effort to save 5 minutes had ended up costing me 2 hours and $10 (mucho dinero in 1973) to get the radiator repaired... Lesson learned. I never made that mistake again.

And back to the morning of November 27th:

The car was gassed up and ready to go. All the travel arrangements had been made (and memorized). All that remained was the graduation ceremony, saying my goodbyes and hitting the road... But nothing ever goes that smoothly.

First: The Arab oil embargo had gone into effect 6 weeks earlier and there were rumors of gas shortages all over the country. (There was nothing I could do about that.)
Second: Although it was sunny in Biloxi, there were severe weather alerts (including tornadoes) for the rest of the state and we were strongly advised not to travel by car that day... Yeah - I didn't care. There was no force in heaven or hell that was going to keep me at Keesler one second longer than necessary.
Finally: After the graduation ceremony I discovered that they wouldn't let us out-process until noon because that's when our shift "officially" ended. (Seriously?) ... It didn't make much sense to me but, hey - it was the military.
I had planned on arriving in Argyle Texas (about 600 miles away) around 10 PM to spend the following day with the McDaniels (the people I lived with while my mom was in the hospital), but the later departure time meant I wouldn't get there until after midnight so I called Stella and told her not to wait up.

After graduation I sat around in my civvies anxiously twiddling my thumbs waiting to sign out. And when they finally gave us the green light I said my goodbyes, hopped in the car and headed north toward Jackson.

I can't recall ever being happier to be on my way home :-)