Young Man Traveling Solo - 1973 - Part IV

Young Man Traveling Solo - 1973 - Part IV

 ... continued from Part III

re, my experience walking and hitch-hiking across Long Island 

Having just been picked-up hitch-hiking I settled into the back seat. I looked up at the two women in front of me, Very upscale and attractive, I thought.

 

Despite the disarming beauty of the driver and her passenger, I felt that at least some of the credit for their gesture to offer a ride, should go to me - i.e. the adventure man look. After all, I had momentarily ceased hitch-hiking. I was just walking along the road when their car stopped. 

 

"Would you like a ride?" a young women shouted toward me from the passenger window.

 

"Thank you," I said, then offered as I climbed into the back seat, "That was very nice of you."

 

OK, I'm just saying ... That it was not unreasonable that ... yes, ... well ... perhaps my appearance had some appeal – the platform shoes maybe or the cut-off jeans or my shirt half unbuttoned from the neck (very cool). 

 

Shut up, loser!

 

 More likely it was pity (that could be too strong a word), I confess that I did look out of place walking along this highway,possibly more desperate than adventurous. Like perhaps my car broke down, and I needed help ... or something.

Regardless, they were most congenial, inquiring about my circumstance and even recommending a place to stay - the Sea Spray Inn, East Hampton. When they dropped me off they gave me their phone number and said that if I didn’t get a room I should call them. 

 

Hmmm.

 

I walked into the inn wondering if I should have asked one of them (or both?) to have dinner with me – or something. 

 

I succeeded in getting a room, which was a quaint cabin with a small porch. The porch had a chair and an ocean view. The cabins came in pairs. I entered my side and stretched out on the bed, my mind wandering about w­­­hat to do now. I decided to go for a swim in the ocean.

The water was cool. There was a lone woman on the beach that I assumed was staying at the inn so I waded in and quickly dove head first into a wave, macho like. Then I swam out a bit then back and walked onto the sand. The woman was standing at the water’s edge now dipping her toes in.

“The water’s cold,” she said.

“Not bad,” I said. At least not for manly tough guys.

We talked for a bit. She was staying here also and said that the inn had a nice restaurant and a bar that had entertainment.

“It’s a nice atmosphere,” she said.   

I went back to my cabin, took a nap for an hour then showered and went over to the restaurant. I ate a fish sandwich and ordered a beer. The evening crowd filtered in shortly after seven. The entertainment was a couple – man and woman – who played guitar and sang.

  I looked around at the crowd, three couples and a half-dozen thirty-plus/forty-plus single women. I tried not to stare at the others. Being the adventure-man loner type, I nursed my beer. The singers belted out pleasant folk tunes intermittently seeking some audience participation.

“Freedom’s just another word for …” They stopped waiting for someone to finish the sentence. The audience was silent.

“Come on people,” said the male singer.

“I know it,” said a woman.

“Go ahead, what is it?”

“I can’t think of it.”

That did it. I abandoned my loner-brooder- mode and called out “nothing left to lose.”

“All right,” shouted the singer, and then he continued, finishing the song. The crowd shot me approving looks. I slipped back into brooder- mode, “silly game” look drawn onto my face.

The silly games continued. I couldn’t resist one more turn to prove, in addition to being a loner-brooder-adventure-man, I was also a hippie-music-man. The riddle line was “Don’t think twice … I offered, “It’s all right,” and was again cast as celebrity. Thus eventually I joined the crowd, had more than two more beers and actually had a good – wonderful – time. I slept baby-like in my cabin and the next morning bummed a ride to the East Hampton train station from a woman in last night's crowd. I hopped aboard a NYC bound train and from the city got the NJ Transit train home to home, Madison, NJ. All in all a successful venture.

Question: “Where’d you go?”

Answer: “I hiked across Long Island, north shore to south shore.”

Probable response: “Cool!”

“Yeah, no problem. I started with a nighttime ferry ride from New London, CT.”

Further response: “Wow, really?”

My response: “Yeah.”

It wasn’t a cure-all, but it was something.