Comprehensive Diagnostic Radiology
Chapter 8 - Westward Bound
Every stage of life is different. When you are a student (or in my case, a medical student) you have no money or responsibilities but you have blocks of time off. As you get older and have increasing job responsibilities and family, you have money, but no time. It was because of this my roommate in medical school, Dale Meyer, with little resources, decided to embark on a cross-country trip during our last three-months off before clinical rotations began in medical school. We had little monetary resources. Luckily, Dale found us a house painting job that would give us enough cash to start the trip.
Transportation, however, was another issue. Neither one of us had a vehicle worthy of the journey. So, I answered an ad in the newspaper asking for someone to drive a Honda Civic from Washington D.C. to Tucson, Arizona for a person changing jobs. I responded to the ad and was able to convince the owner to give us two weeks to make the journey, and make a little money by doing so. Both Dale and I were excited that we could at least get to Tucson Arizona and figure out where we were going from there.
Transportation, however, was another issue. Neither one of us had a vehicle worthy of the journey. So, I answered an ad in the newspaper asking for someone to drive a Honda Civic from Washington D.C. to Tucson, Arizona for a person changing jobs. I responded to the ad and was able to convince the owner to give us two weeks to make the journey, and make a little money by doing so. Both Dale and I were excited that we could at least get to Tucson Arizona and figure out where we were going from there.
When we headed into Arizona, Dale insisted upon taking the Winslow Arizona exit and we proceeded to stand on the corner in Winslow Arizona waiting for the girl in the “flatbed Ford” to pick us up as recounted in the famous Eagle’s song “Take it Easy.” Unfortunately, after a few minutes of waiting on the corner, it was clear no one was going to stop and our journey continued.
The next stage was a little sketchy: What would happen after we turned the car in? Luckily my aunt lived in Scottsdale, Arizona , the problem was she would not be home. However, she was nice enough to leave us keys to her house and keys to a jeep. We drove our vehicle to Scottsdale to pick up the keys, and then I followed Dale to Tucson in my aunt’s jeep. We turned the Honda Civic to its owner undamaged after two weeks in the wilderness of Colorado and gravel roads. Our house in Scottsdale was in an upscale neighborhood with a nice pool and intercom system. Having slept in tents for the last two weeks, it was pleasant to have a nice mattress and a refrigerator full of beer. Dale would be floating on a mattress in the pool and hit the intercom to bring him another beer.
That night we decided to look for nightlife in Scottsdale, Arizona. First, we searched for Stevie Nicks on Camelback, Mountain. Unfortunately, it was not accessible. We then headed to a local nightclub. The bar seemed mostly empty. There was a young guy who resembled a gigolo standing alone at the bar. We walked up to him and asked him where the action was, and he looked down and said you came to the wrong town. There is no action in Scottsdale Arizona. I thought to myself, of course that’s why my aunt retired here. As nice as it was to have a comfortable mattress and a swimming pool, we decided we needed to move on. We had the jeep for several more days, so we decided to meet up with the physical therapist in the Grand Canyon and go for a hike.
We arrived at the rim of the Grand Canyon at approximately 4 pm and Dale was extremely excited. As we looked down we could see the Colorado river way in the distance. He said “Let’s go now, we can make it!” I was always the voice of reason that had to curb his unbridled enthusiasm. I replied “Let’s set up camp and start in the morning.” For those of you who have never been to the Grand Canyon, there are multiple signs of a body build type most likely to need helicopter rescue. It is always a young male in their 20s, muscular and physically fit. That pretty much described us. The problem with the canyon is you start at a high altitude, hike down, and then have to hike out entirely uphill. Our plan was to actually jog down the entire more difficult Kaibab Trail, get to the bottom, then hike out approximately 18 miles on the Bright Angel Trail which is not as steep a grade. Our plan was to do all of this within a single day. This was a classic example of a decision that usually ends up requiring an airlift. I do not recall how much water we brought that day, but it was not enough. We began our slow and steady jog down the trail for several miles, came around a corner, and were confronted by a large deer in the middle of the trail which was cut inside of a cliff. There was nowhere for it to go, and nowhere for us to go. *We finally climbed off the trail onto a ledge and the deer ran past us. It was a buck with antlers.
After approximately four hours of jogging, we reached the Colorado river. I must’ve looked exhausted as I stood on the banks of the river feeling the breeze from the river. Suddenly, a large yellow raft full of paddlers appeared. One of the rafters looked at us from a distance and says, “You could use one of these,” and he threw me an Arizona A1 generic beer. It was like a gift from heaven. I immediately popped a tab and chugged the whole thing. Probably not a great decision as we still had to hike 18 miles out on the Bright Angel Trail. I felt like I had just done a beer commercial. We rehydrated as best we could along the banks of the Colorado river, then began our slow methodical 18-mile journey out the Bright Angel Trail. We had excellent Angel footwear, but I was amazed to see multiple people wearing flip-flops and sandals on the Bright Angel Trail which was rocky and cut into the side of the cliff. Multiple mule pack trips had the right of way, so we had to stand on the outer edge of the precipice of the canyon rim to let mules pass. At dusk we arrived from the North Canyon Rim to our campsite exhausted. We had survived jogging in and hiking out of the canyon in a single day. I could never imagine doing this now.
Dale and I were uncertain how our journey was going to continue as we had to return the Jeep back to Scottsdale. We were both pretty hungry, and had heard about the wonderful buffet meals at the Las Vegas casinos. Our plan was to drive to Las Vegas, to eat and gather as much free food at the all you can eat buffets in Caesars Palace. The problem was, the buffets were usually in the center of the casino, to entrap poor unsuspecting visitors with the lure of slot machines and blackjack tables. After eating a healthy meal at the buffet, Dale went to the craps table. I cautiously followed. Dale was soon on a roll; chips were flying his way and it seemed like he continuously rolled a 7. He soon had a large stack of chips, perhaps a thousand dollars’ worth. He continued rolling and the stack of chips begin to shrink. I realized that this was our big chance to get to California. I needed to take some of his chips off the table, so I grabbed a big stack of Dale's chips with the intent of cashing them in and he became distraught. He said, “I'm on a roll, you can't take my chips.” We got into a heated debate at the craps table resulting in my removing most of the stack of chips allowing Dale to stay and lose the rest. He came back grateful that I had pulled several hundred dollars’ worth of chips off the table. We could now afford to rent a car to drive us from Scottsdale to Pasadena where Dale’s cousin lived - thus the trip continued.
Our rent-a-car journey continued on to Dale's cousins Patty's house in Pasadena. I have never been to California, so this was culture shock for me. It began with breakfast at Patty's house, I looked down and there was a bowl of “green stuff.” and some kind of yellow drink. I enquired what was for breakfast and Patty responded, “Spirulina and a bran-banana protein drink.” Those of you that don't know, spirulina is a green algae superfood that is now frequently consumed because of its tremendous antioxidant properties. Patty was way ahead of her time. I consumed the spirulina and bran-banana protein drink breakfast but was still hungry. Our next stop was Santa Monica’s Muscle Beach where weights are set up on the beach for free and some of the best lifters go to train outdoors. We are both skinny guys, so this was intimidating to me, but not Dale. He heartily engaged the weightlifters and threatened to kick sand on them. I decided it was best that we left Muscle Beach before trouble started,
We went to the famous club in Hollywood known as the “Whiskey A Go Go.” This was the club where recently The Doors had gotten their start. For some reason, both Dale and I were wearing Izod shirts. We wandered into the club only to discover it was punk rock night. Punk rockers wear everywhere with their Mohawk haircuts, slam dancing on the floor and acting crazy. We were completely out of place with our Izod alligator shirts and well-groomed appearance. This would never stop Dale, we soon fit in. Some of the punkers came up to us and said “Collars up!” Dale said to me “Collars up!” and we put our collars up around the neck. Soon we were part of punk rock entourage. As always, traveling with Dale, I met new friends that I never would have met otherwise.
The next day, we returned the rent-a-car and realized we no longer had a vehicle. Luckily, Dale’s cousin Patty volunteered her MG Midget convertible for the rest of the day. We found a hole in the fence in malibu to a private beach for a hike past the movie star mansions.
We rendezvoused with Dale's friend Michael and cousin Cathy for a trip up the coastal highway to Big Sur. Our vehicle had changed again to Cathy’s yellow Volkswagen Beetle. Our goal was to spend the night camping in Big Sur although we had no reservations. After a beautiful drive up the coast, we arrived at the Beachfront State Park in Big Sur and of course a beachfront campsite was available.
We pitched our tent and then proceeded to the local general store for supplies. While were at the store, the owner stated “There is going to be a big party for the locals at Orson Wells Restaurant - Nepenthe. Perhaps you guys should stop by.” We jumped on that idea and arrived at the restaurant overlooking the ocean where the party was rocking.
There were hippie women with flowers in their hair providing drinks and a large birthday cake was present. As it got dark about an hour into the festivities, suddenly the entire party turned and faced east and started cheering and chanting. What could this be? It turned out they were cheering the rise of the moon over the mountains to the east and this was a “moon party.” This seemed like somethi
As the party progressed some of the patrons informed us that it was locals’ night at the nearby Esalen Institute. For a charge of approximately $10.00 we could proceed there. Not knowing what that meant, we joined the group including the multiple women with flowers in their hair and proceeded on a short hike down the nearby cliff overlooking the ocean. We paid a small sir charge of approximately $25.00, were handed a towel and entered the beautiful open-air baths and hot tubs overlooking the Pacific ocean and beautiful full moon.
A group of us had gathered in the hot tub. One of the women in the hot tub who was Swedish, asked Dale “What’s the matter you’re your friend?” Michael was standing “au natural” on the balcony overlooking the ocean with his silhouette in the moonlight with a towel on his head. Dale informed the Swedish woman that “Michael was shy and would not take his turban off.” After that exhilarating experience, we camped under the eucalyptus trees in Big Sur on the beach. To this day, I still have a framed photograph of the trees we camped under. The next day we packed into the yellow VW beetle and returned to Pasadena. Our five-week trip was coming to an end.
have always been compulsive when it comes to air travel. Dale on the other hand is more impulsive and relaxed about air travel. We were due to start medical school within the next two days at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. For this reason, I felt additional urgency on making our flight out of LAX airport on time. We were supposed to fly from LAX To New York City on the red-eye flight. That day we played tennis in Pasadena and spent part of the afternoon and evening at a hot tub party in Pasadena with Miss New Mexico among other people. Dale seemed to feel no urgency to get to the airport. However, after racing through the crowded Los Angeles freeways we arrived at LAX approximately 10 minutes before our flight was set to leave. As there was no security or TSA in those days, we ran through the airport racing to our gate. The flight had already loaded as we ran past the check-in and down the connector to the plane. The door of the jet was just about to shut when Dale stuck his hand through. The stewardess calmly opened the door and said, “Are you boys on this flight?” We showed her our tickets and somehow we were allowed on the plane. II cannot Imagine this scenario unfolding in the same way in this day and age. Certainly, they would not have opened the door and at the bare minimum we would have been taken down for questioning for running through the gate and definitely would have missed our flight. I have no recollection of any phone contact with anyone of my family during the five weeks of this trip. It is also the only trip in my life where I had no set vehicle and no set itinerary for the entire trip.