2.1 Short Trips

1943

Prior to this date we have hitchhiked together from college to & from Springfield or Xenia for shopping or movies and once to Dayton to see the circus. The following is our first long trip together. Philip, of course, is a veteran of the road & has given me lessons on the “courtesy of the road.”

1 – To Phila. To visit Daddy Drell in University Hospital.

One notable ride, a truck driver convinced that this sailor & his gal were heading for a “hot week-end.” Fun to be thought naughty though one is not.

2 – Back from Phila.  = did not record.

Money saved: $6.40
Mileage to Phila.: 90
Time: 3 hrs. each way

3 – 11/27/43 – Saturday

To Atlantic City, N.J., to spend Thanksgiving Day week-end with Mummy & Daddy Drell.

  1. Man – station-wagon – to Elizabeth, N.J.
  2. Man – 3rd mate U.S.M.S. – to Kingsburg, N.J.
  3. Man – farmer
  4. Couple – had accents –  to Toms River Church Rd.
  5. Man – 1 mile down the road
  6. Woman – sister – 2 red-headed kids – Toms River
  7. Couple – from Va. – to Atl. Ave. & Ky., Atlantic City.

Time: 4 hours – good time
Train time: 3 hours
Money saved: $5.50
Money spent: $.15

4 – 11/28/43 – Sunday

Return to New York

  1. Couple – heading for Phila. to Absecon
  2. Dr. & Mrs. Robert Starfish (?) – son in Navy at Corpus Christi (sons: Bob Jr. & Jack); he’s a neurologist; very friendly; treated us at half-way mark – all the way to Jersey City.

Finished trip via “tubes” & subway.

Time: 4 hours
Train time: 3 hours
Money spent: $.26
Money saved: $5.74
Mileage each way: 125

5 – 12/18/43

Thea to Atlantic City on the train Friday evening.

Philip & Max hitchhiked down Sat. afternoon; driven right to the door & presented with cigars in the bargain.

6 – All three hitchhiked back.

  1. Man – laborer, by his clothes – went out of his way to take us to Absecon where N.Y. road turns off.
  2. Woman, wife of a State Trooper took us as far as the N.J. State Trooper’s Bldg. – very nice – picked us up against her husband’s orders.
  3. Two army trucks – both Negro soldiers – Max in one truck, Phil & Thea in the other, to Newark.
  4. Man – crippled with spinal meningitis – took three of us plus suitcase plus a Negro soldier to NYC subway.

7 – 12/24/43

Phil, Max, & Thea to Roslyn for Christmas week-end. Cold, cold evening. Arrived in time to stop Dad from going to train station to pick us up. The three of us with a big suitcase, a medium-sized suitcase, & a small box made fairly good time, beating the train in.

8 – 1/19/44

Thea to Atlantic City by train. Phil arrived Sat. by thumb, having one interesting ride with a clergyman.

9 – Returned Sunday evening.

  1. A colored man took us to Absecon – he worked at the Pomona Navy Base.
  2. A Newark family – father, mother, little girl, grown daughter, & her soldier boyfriend. They necked in the front seat & we in the back seat were not to be out-done. The father, apparently a magistrate of some sort, had had a run-in with the same Jersey judge our friend, Dr. Starfish (see 11/28/43, Ride 2), had met. Odd chance! To Newark.
  3. Man to NYC subway.

10 – 3/4/44

Philip to Roslyn via Thumb – Thea by train.

11 – Thea & Philip back home again.

  1. Mother took us to the Northern State Parkway where we got a ride immediately with man & woman to the Cross Island Parkway.
  2. Naval or Maritime Office took us straight through to Sheepshead. Knew officers at Phil’s Base – interesting trip.

12 – 3/12/44

David & Genevra Siegel flew down from Rochester & we took them out to Roslyn via train & taxi to introduce Gen to Dad & Mother Hodge. They hitchhiked back to NYC & we hitchhiked up to The Bronx where we went to the Bronx Zoo. Oodles of fun. Gee!

  1. Two men (accents) to  Cross Island Parkway. Gorgeous day.
  2. Man & woman across Whitestone Bridge (austere, severe, beautifully clear lines). Elevated to Southern Blvd.; lunch; trolley to zoo.
  3. Elevated to High Pts. Rd. (?); walk all the way down to Grand Concourse.
  4. Man & woman across Triborough Bridge onto Grand Central Parkway to Cross Island Parkway.
  5. Two men to Jamaica Parkway.
  6. Man & woman to Flatbush. Have son in Army Signal Corps. Cheerful.
  7. Merchant sailor to Sheepshead Bay.

13 – 3/25/44 – Sat.

To New Haven for week-end.

  1. A series of short rides (with a Maritime CPO & a Maritime Officer) across the bridge (Whitestone) and on to the Hutchinson River Parkway.
  2. Sailor & wife (from Staten Is. – pregnant) to Whitney Ave., New Haven. We shared candy & fruit.
  3. Walked 5 blocks to Nana & Gramps’ apt.

14 – 3/27/44 – Mon.

  1. Santa put us on the Wilber Cross Parkway.
  2. Man put us on the Merritt Parkway.
  3. Man from Providence [“Joe Kennedy of the Ambassador”] (looked like a benevolent Mephistopheles) took us down, left Philip at Whitestone Parkway & took Thea to Canal Street, 10 minutes by subway from NYU.
  4. Philip arrived to Sheepshead shortly after with a series of rides (he took the suitcase & left me almost broke!)

15 – Sunday, April 2, 1944

To Roslyn to see Mary, home for a few days between Antioch and Rochester University.

  1. Man along Shore Parkway
  2. Man & woman (probably Austrians by their accents ) to Jericho Turnpike. Horrible drivers.
  3. We walked all through Bellerose and along the Turnpike in the rain. Finally a fellow took us a mile down the road to a filling station.
  4. Walked some more in the rain. Thea wanted a john & her foot hurt & her throat got sore. Man took us right to the Davis’s in East Williston.

16 – Monday, April 3, 1944

  1. Man – left Phil at Cross Island Parkway – took Thea to Broadway & 61st where she got the subway to the office. Talked politics. He reads & likes George Sokolsky (horrors!).
  2. 3.  4.  5.  Phil got a series of rides home.

17 – Sunday, April 9, 1944 – Easter Sunday

  1. Back from Atlantic City. Thea went by train on Thursday. Phil followed on Saturday by Thumb, arriving with a 50¢ cigar & the offer of a ride back Sunday at noon. Refused.
  2. Man & woman to Absecon. Wanted to take us to Camden where they thought we could get a ride more easily to New York. But we stuck with Shore Road.
  3. Man & woman to Newark. Very well-dressed. He is a salesman, on the road a lot. Very good driver. After about 50 miles, woman turned to Phil & said “You think you’re handsome. Let me show you a picture of my son.” Phil actually looked embarrassed. He is handsome.
  4. Elderly man & woman to Jersey City.
  5. By that time it was dark. I really dislike waiting for a ride on a dark & crowded road.
    Strange couple & little girl. Man definitely colored; woman really had white features & long brown hair; little girl looked white but had Negroid features & voice. Called woman “Mommy” & man “Daddy.” Took us to subway in New York.