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

MORRIS WILLIAMS AND I HEAD ACROSS THE USA

Morris and I left New York, and headed out across Pennsylvania on our western trip. Strangely enough,
I had absolutely no problem at all in driving in New York City. The drivers in New York City know
what they are doing, and if you follow the rules and understand the layout of the streets, you will have
no trouble driving in New York. All the streets run one direction and all the avenues run at a
perpendicular to the streets. The only exception to this is Broadway, which runs diagonally from the
northwest part of Manhattan to the southeast part and thus crosses all of the streets and all of the
avenues. A map of New York City is necessary if you are going to drive around there.

Morris and 1 put Pennsylvania behind us the next day, and one of the things I remember about getting
across Pennsylvania was a tunnel which went underneath the Allegheny Mountains, and as I recall that
tunnel was some 5 or 6 miles long. It sure beat the hell out of having to drive over those mountains, and
I soon figured out that is the reason they put it there.

A couple of nights later we stopped in Cedar Rapids Iowa, and checked in at a hotel. Previously on that
same day, for some reason we had bought a fifth of scotch, which 1 still cannot explain because neither
Morris or I were very much inclined to be a drinker.

That fifth of scotch certainly did not change our habit any, because it had come open in my suitcase and
drenched ail of my underwear and sox, together with some other items of clothing, and the only thing
that saved my pants and shirts is that I had them hanging on hangers in the back of the car.

I remember that Morris and I took all of my clothes out and filled up the bathtub, and washed them out
in the bathtub the best we could, and then hung them in every conceivable place all over the room. 1
remember Morris making the remark that when the maid came in and smelled that room the next
morning, she would think that someone really had one hell of a party the night before.

We continued on our trip of course, and some of the things I remember going to see were the Statues of
the 4 Presidents on Mount Rushmore, in South Dakota, and the Giant Redwoods in Northern California.
Somehow we managed to hit both Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada, but as I recall we went through Reno
traveling westward, and came back through Lake Tahoe on our way back home several weeks later

All of my life, with having been a trumpet player myself, I had idolized the trumpet player Harry James,
and had a lot of his recordings. The night we stayed in Reno, I was playing blackjack at a table which
was right outside the door of one of the large entertainment areas, and about 10 pm the band who was
performing in that large room came in and started setting up. To my absolute astonishment and surprise,
it was the Harry James Band.

The blackjack table just outside the room was within 15 feet of where Harry James stood when he
fronted the band, and played his trumpet, and I sat there and played blackjack until 2 in the morning just
so I could hear him that one time. For a country boy who had always almost worshiped Harry James,
that was an unbelievable stroke of good fortune to me, and something I will never forget. I am 83 years
old now, and at that time I was only 36. So my memory has served me well.

After we had spent a day driving around among the Giant Redwoods near Garberville California, we got
on the Coast Highway and drove down the Pacific Coast down to San Francisco, where we spent a

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