Vagabonding, 1981

In 1980-1981, after one year of college, I decided to put my education on hold. I returned to my hometown, stayed with my parents, and worked to save up money for a trip. I left home in January of 1981 for what now looks like an epic journey. At the time, as I was living it, I didn’t see it that way; I was busy trying to reach short term goals: the next bus or train, the next meal, the next destination.

It was a 10-week experience that no doubt shaped me. Many times over the decades, I’ve remembered and pondered things I encountered on that trip.

I kept a journal, which helped me create this map of my ramblings. The destination points are pretty exact, but the routes are a bit less accurate — especially the bus and train routes in Mexico. Below the map are some excerpts from the journal and a reflective paragraph that I wrote in 2009.

Key locations in chronological order:

Legend for Zoomable Map:

Beginning and Ending: Blue Marker __
Hitchhiking: Green Line _________
Bus: Purple Line __________
Train: Red Line __________
Private Vehicle: Orange Line _________

Excerpts:

Thurs Jan. 29 Day 10 [In which I ride the bus from Minneapolis on my way to Tucson…]
On the bus in Missouri, Oklahoma, Tex. and N. Mexico. The was ride was not bad. The daylight hours were spent almost entirely in Texas, North and West. I saw Texas: tumbleweeds, oil rigs, miles of flat scrub land, cattle, small towns with plain-looking, run-down houses. One town, Wichita Falls or something, had a temperature of 72 F. Not bad.

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Sat Jan. 31 Day 12 [In which I spend my first full day in Tucson hiking with new friends…]
Spent all day hiking in the mountains. We hiked so much that I didn’t have time to enjoy the view. I did some pretty dangerous things, but we were all careful and a couple times I had a rope around me in case I fell. We saw 3 bighorn sheep, which is very rare. I got bitten by prickly pear, yucca, agave, bear claw, and various other cacti. I crashed around 9:30.

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Sat Feb. 7 Day 19 [In which I hitchhike from Tucson to Flagstaff and survive…]
Hitched up to Flagstaff. Got a ride all the way with a big talker in a VW bus. He told me of his juvenile delinquency in Downers Grove, Ill., about his skill in martial arts, and all the guns he owned.

We pulled off the interstate about 20 miles south of Flagstaff to let his dogs run, and he showed me his stainless steel pistol that he kept in his bus. If he had wanted to rob me or kill me, he could have done it, no problem, since we were in this completely vacant wooded area. At the time, I didn’t think about it, so I wasn’t scared.

I got to Flagstaff and found Liz. She’s living in a very nice, comfortable house. We went ice-skating with the college group from the 1st Baptist Church.

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Mon Feb 16 Day 28 [In which I begin 3 days traveling of from Tucson to Mexico City…]
On the road again! I walked a fast four miles to the Greyhound station, and almost missed my bus to Nogales. I got to N, and walked another 3 miles to the Estacion Ferrocarril. My first purchase in Mexico: two cans of 7-Up! (Ridiculous.)

I found I had plenty of time, so Gord (from Canada) and I took a camion back into town to buy munchies. I bought a 1 lb box of raisins, some fruit drink (!) and some tortilla type bread with cinnamon.

Tues Feb 17 Day 29
Slept last night on the train. The trains are comfortable and clean. Of course I went 1st class, but it still only cost $28 for 1750 km.

In the morning, as we approached Mazatlan, we went for quite a while along the Sea of Cortez. We climbed into some beautiful mountains between Mazatlan and Guadalajara. I saw poor agrarian lifestyles. Sad little houses. Washing clothes in a stream. Plowing with horses. Digging irrigation ditches by hand. In the country it’s not so depressing as an inner-city slum. The train went slowly, though, and I missed my connection to Mexico City.

Wed Feb 18 Day 30
I slept last night in the station here in Guadalajara on the floor. There must have been 200 or more people doing the same thing. Mostly Mexicans, not many gringos. I wandered around for about an hour and accidentally found the bus station. I went in and 10 minutes later I was on the 8:30 bus to Mexico City. I arrived at 7:00 p.m. I asked a student (Geology) for directions, and he took me all the way to the Church where I found Beto. The church members were very friendly. Hermano Alturo took me out for taquitos and put me up for the night.

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Fri March 6 Day 46 [In which I head northward, riding on the train for 33 hours from Guadalajara to Mexicali…]
I took the train out at 9:15 a.m. The train was crowded so I had to stand. I finally got a seat across from a lady with 4 little kids. What a madhouse. The day went fairly slowly. I was just getting ready to go to sleep at about midnight when a lady with a baby and a little girl got on the train, so I gave her my seat.

Sat March 7 Day 47
Eventually, the lady (very young, about 25) wanted to lay down on the floor (everyone was crashed out all over), so I could have my seat back. I sat all night with her little two year old girl sleeping on my lap.

During the day I had a good old time. I bought tacos at every stop. Really good with lots of lettuce and tomatoes. I figured: What the heck! Also, some Mexicans bought me a couple tacos and a bottle of Squirt. Nice people. The desert was really dusty. Cough! Cough!

We got to Mexicali late (5 hours) at 6:30 p.m., and I couldn’t get a bus out to Tijuana. But a couple I met on the way to the bus station invited me to their house in Tecate to stay the night.

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Sat March 14 Day 54 [In which I travel from Flagstaff, Arizona, to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to visit my dad’s anthropologist cousin and her family…]
Got up at 4:15 to get ready to go to New Mexico. Liz got me a ride. Far out. We left, not at 5:00 as planned, but at 6:00. I got here at about 12:30.

The Pattisons are very nice. Mrs. P is definitely a New Hamshirite. She really sounds like it. They’ve got me sleeping in their camper. It’s pretty nice. I’ve got a little electric heater. She gave me oranges, tortilla chips and raisins, so I wouldn’t starve to death.

Sun March 15 Day 55
Didn’t do much. I went to an ancient pueblo “Kauau” to look at some ruins. It was nice, on the banks of the Rio Grande. Called home and got directions for the Ranch in Wyoming.

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Wed March 18 Day 58 [In which I hitch a ride to Taos with the chauffeur of a famous artist…]
I left Albuquerque today. Mrs. P dropped me off at the interstate at 10:00. I got a ride in 5 minutes from a guy in a nice (NICE) Mercedes Benz. I had a fun trip to Taos, and he bought me lunch. Turns out he’s only 20, but he’s made a ton of money and is the chauffeur, bodyguard for RC Gorman a famous Navajo artist who lives in Taos. He dropped me off at the Holiday Inn where I met Liz and her parents. Mrs. H. took us out to the Rio Grande Gorge (630 feet deep) and to Taos Pueblo. Later, we went out to dinner at the Sagebrush Inn.

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Sat March 21 Day 61 [In which I encounter bad luck and bad weather, and I sleep under a bridge…]
I turned down a ride with Mrs H and Liz which would have taken me to the interstate (but south) and instead headed north. Bad move. The weather was cold (32 degrees F.) and windy, snow threatening. I wanted a long ride, so I turned down a short one. Two hours later, I took a short one. After 3 or 4 short rides, I arrived in Fort Garland, Colorado. It was dark, wind blowing, snowing. I needed a ride east, up over the pass to the Interstate (25). I finally asked the folks in the first of two cars that stopped at a nearby gas station. They made room for me and took me over the pass and let me off at a cafe (all night) 5 miles south of Pueblo. The waitress yelled at me for she could see I was a hitchhiker. I was tempted to ride back south to N.M. with a couple of customers. I was cold and disgusted, and some people said it was blizzarding in Nebraska. I called Dad to make sure the Wyoming thing was still on. It was, so I decided to continue. I slept in the space under the overpass bridge. I was out of the wind, and I lay on the gravel from 8:00 p.m. until I awoke at 6:00.

2009 Reminiscing

January, 2009 (Revised March, 2026)

I typed this journal into the computer after not having read it for over 25 years. A lot of things I already remembered; some I remember now after having reviewed them. I’m mostly struck by how carefree, fear free, I was. I wasn’t completely naive, and I was always on guard, but almost everything I did had a measure of risk: The crazy buses and trains in Mexico, the rides from strangers, sleeping out in the open, spending hours near busy and un-busy highways. Just being a solitary soul with no backup nearby.

But I made it, and I hope all the people who helped me realized I was grateful. I know I sent a few thank you postcards to folks I stayed with. But probably not enough cards. I’ll never know who gave me the rides. The family who took me over the pass in Colorado were Hispanics on their way home from a big family event — hence the two cars. I must have seemed both desperate and non-threatening with my duffel bag, guitar, and frizzy hair on that cold, dark evening.

A lot of people bought me food, offered to put me up in their homes, asked me about my home.

A question still lingers: Was it worth it? Or rather, what was it worth? Looking back, I can see that the experience reinforced the worldview that I absorbed in my growing up years: that there is goodness in humanity and beauty in the world. And now, after decades of being entangled in commitments and responsibilities, I can appreciate the pure exhilaration of just being out on the road, just rambling.