Travel Misadventures
Don Pinkston’s additions to the bus-pushing story
Our street footwear in those days was not the tennis shoes like today, so there was not easy footing, and the back exterior of the bus was wet, dirty, with that diesel/oil smell. Some of us had gloves but those who did not must have had stains on their hands for a while. We also worried if that gas station sold the right grade of fuel because the bus was our only source of warm comfort. I can still see that small lit station on the right side of the highway which was located on a slight downhill grade… thank goodness.
As we neared Chicago, Coach driving the lead UT vehicle , suddenly pulled over onto side of the road, jumped out, and said, “I want all the drivers to be the guys who are from up here; so you southern boys let them have the wheels.”
Cold Weather Stories
This was the first trip north for us southern boys, and we were driving those awesome green UT station wagons. Remember there were no four lane highways back in the 1962-66 era. As we neared Chicago, Coach driving the lead UT vehicle , suddenly pulled over onto side of the road, jumped out, and said, “I want all the drivers to be the guys who are from up here; so you southern boys let them have the wheels.” Of course, we thought Coach had gone off his rocker, but shortly we came onto this huge wide highway with 6 lanes in one direction, cars driving by changing lanes, and I can still see Coach weaving from one lane to another at 60 mph plus and thinking…. WOW!!! Glad I am not trying to follow him with that type of driving. It reminded me of the way guys drove on those old southern redneck dirt crazy 8 circle tracks…