Sunday, August 27, 1972 - Page 240
LOCATION: Bethlehem; Rapid City; Salt Lake City; Los Angeles; Anaheim
(2:18:30 AM 8/30/1972)
BLECCH! I shan't use that blue felt pen again -- It soaked thru the page. Que sera, will be -- Sunday? What happened Sunday? Bruce woke up later than ever before, about nine, because he forgot to set his clock. He told me yesterday that he will be returning home
[to Chicago] in the first week of September.
I got up for good around 11:00 -- Bruce was reading "The Merchants of Venus" in my
"IF" magazine. Sr. Sylvester banged on the door. "Get up you sleepy boogers" she said. Bruce was wanted to entertain tourists in the Shrine. Yesterday he had to take some tourists into the lower cave, tho he'd never before done it and was qualified only for tours to the Shrine. Brad was already giving a tour and Jim was ill, so he was stuck with it. He improvised a lot. So now he's qualified and has to give tours.
I read a bit more of "I'm OK, You're OK," tried to call home again but failed, and talked with Fr. Henry, giving him my address so he can visit when he returns to California. He's trying to become a chaplain in the Navy, so will be in San Diego for awhile.
It became 1:30, and my flight left at 2:50, so I tried to find some transportation. I saw Bruce at the cave entrance with some tourists -- he'd finished one tour and was starting another. I told him I had to leave, so he quit what he was doing and eventually got around to driving me. We left in the van at 1:45. I was fairly sure I'd be late, but we weren't, tho it was pretty close. We got there at 2:30. Bought the ticket for $55 (Student Standby), but had trouble with the guy -- he wanted two forms of identification but I only had a Driver's License and Social Security card. He reluctantly accepted it, filled out a form, wrote the ticket, took my money and said the baggage had been taken out already so I had to carry it out myself. This was fortunate too, because my duffle bag weighed 80 lbs, and 70 lbs is the legal limit for single parcels. I packed the bomb in the Abbott's cabin that nobody belonged to -- It weighed 10 lbs by itself.
[I think I should explain that. The little 20-inch "bomb" was a World War II souvenir that nobody wanted so I adopted it as a cool curiosity. It didn't contain any explosive -- it was just a harmless paperweight -- but I wouldn't advise anyone to take something like this on an airline today.]
 |
The World War II bomb I had in my
duffle bag looked something like this |
I came back with more than I went with, tho I discarded a couple of things any way. I staggered to the 737, left the duffle bag for the packers, and found an empty seat in the back (the very last seat). I stared out the window all the time -- We flew over Mt. Rushmore and I was on the right side (the right) so I saw it clearly from the air. Such a thrill.
Got into Salt Lake City Int'l Airport at around 4:15 and had to wait. The flights to LA were filled, so standby didn't help much. They had no room for me on the first flight, but I just barely managed to get on the 6:30 flight -- If I'd missed it I'd have to wait till 11:00. I bought the new Analog while waiting.
Got into LA around 7:30 (note the 1-hour time difference) and saw it from the sky for the first time in the daytime glowing golden through the smog. Beauteous. Tried calling Mom, then Dad, then Chunk -- Nobody home. Called Laramée and she told me to take a bus -- She was too tired to pick me up. Tried calling Mom, Dad or Chunk a few more times -- Got the operator mad. Gave up and took a bus -- Closest I could get to N.B. was Orange Co. Airport.
Ticket cost $4.00. Bus stopped at Disneyland Hotel, and I decided to get off there tho I had a farther ticket -- No refunds. I had $16.00 left so I wandered around until I found the lobby (the bus stopped under the monorail where there are a bunch of lockers -- I put my 35¢ into the only locker that didn't work, but I left my bag in it any way figuring no one could steal an 80-pound duffle bag even if they wanted to).
I asked the fellow in the lobby if he had any rooms for one person one night. They had a "Crash Pad" for business men for $16. I took it. An old fellow drove me out to the room (1930). I tipped him 25¢ tho, as he pointed out, I had carried the 80 pound duffle bag -- he took the quarter anyway.
From my room (which had an air conditioner, B&W TV, shower & king size bed) I telephoned Mom. This was around nine o'clock. She decided to come by -- while waiting, I took a shower and watched one part of the special series on Da Vinci. Went out to meet her at 10:30 P.M. She drove home around 12:30, and called again at 1:00 A.M. I got to sleep around 2:00 after playing with my recorder.
TOMORROW: Disneyland for $4.95
