Page 102 - a-columbia-county-boys-recollections-and-memories-of-columbia-county-florida-(2012)-lenvil-h-dicks

A Columbia County Boy's Recollections and Memories of Columbia County Florida (2012) Lenvil H. Dicks

DOYLE AND I DRIVE TO NEW YORK

In the Spring of 1964, as a result of reconverting to cash all of the money 1 had spent buying farms
during the time that Ruth and I were getting a divorce, and since I made a considerable better than 100%
profit on all of these farms, I found myself in a position to do something I had wanted to do for years,
and that was to be the owner of a brand new Cadillac.

In about March of 1964 I went down to Ralph Powers Auto Sales, and came away as the proud owner of
a brand new Cadillac, which caused some slight consternation among some in the community, since a
school teacher buying a brand new Cadillac for cash was not the usual thing.

My good friend Morris Williams was teaching school in Frankfurt Germany, and we corresponded
regularly with each other. We decided that when his school term was over that spring, that he would fly
into New York, and he and Doyle Cason and 1 would attend the 1964 World Fair, which happened to be
in New York that particular year.

When the appropriate time came, my good friend Doyle Cason and I left Lake City in my fine
transportation, and headed for New York City. We enjoyed the drive up there, and we had one little
incident happen that has sort of stuck in my mind all these years.

We were traveling through the State of Virginia just about dark, or maybe very slightly after dark, and I
had the Cadillac moving along at a pretty good rate of speed, more than the Laws of Virginia appeared
to accept. We met a Highway Patrolman as we were headed north, and he was headed south, and as 1
was going over the top of a pretty good hill which we were climbing at the time, 1 could see in my
rearview mirror that he had activated his brake lights, and was turning around to apprehend the speeder
he had just met.

As soon as 1 recognized that, and since we were already over the crest of the hill, I applied my brakes
and slowed down as quickly as 1 could, and turned right on to a private driveway at some fellow’s
house. I drove the car on to the backyard of the house, and turned out the lights, and in about 30 seconds
the trooper went by headed north with his red and blue lights on, and Doyle and I were glad to see him
drive past the driveway we had turned on to. I immediately backed out, got back on the highway and this
time headed south, and we continued south for about 5 miles. 1 then turned around and headed back
north, and we never saw the trooper again. And I suppose he did not see us again.

At the time I met that trooper J was probably doing about 90, and I knew I was not going to get any
sympathy from him had I been apprehended.

The trip on into New York was fairly uneventful, and Doyle and I met Morris at the airport at the
appointed time.

The plan was for the 3 of us to spend a couple of days at the World’s Fair, and riding around in New
York City, and then Doyle flew back to Lake City, and Morris and I embarked on a trip across the U.S.
which was to last 6 weeks, and one of the outstanding periods in the memory of my life. I saw many
things on that trip that 1 had never seen before, inasmuch as my traveling with the Dallas Symphony
never took me west of Colorado, nor north of Wyoming. The trip Morris and 1 took together covered all
of it.

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