I left home in stages, it started shortly after we moved from Lakeland, Florida back to our hometown of Providence, Kentucky. I had just turned 15 and felt very confident. It was summer and school was out so I decided to visit my older sister who lived in Athens, Tennessee. Mom gave me bus fare, but I decided to save the money and hitch hike to West Tennessee. I was really proud of myself, I made better time hitch hiking than the bus would have taken. I had already figured out that there was an art to catching a ride. First I had to look neat and clean, avoid being dropped off in cities or other places that it would be hard to catch a ride. I was also friendly and tried to get to know the people that I rode with. One fellow that I caught a ride with would press the accelerator hard then let up on it repeatedly until I thought I would go crazy. Most were just nice and willing to help with a ride. I had very little if any trouble. People say that it is a lot more dangerous now days than it was in the 50′s. I stayed a few weeks and then hitch hiked back home.
The second time I left home had nothing to do with me. It was early fall and my cousin Bobbie and I were standing in the center of town talking when he starting talking about running away. I found out later that he had just broken up with his girl friend and was upset. I did not try to talk him out of it, I just said sounds like fun to me, lets go. I think he had a few dollars in his pocket and I had some change. We started south down US 41 and decided to go through Alabama and onto Florida, I knew that if we made it to Lakeland that I could get my old job back in the Bowling Alley.