Lake Tahoe: August, 1976

As wonderful as the time on the road had been, by the time I left Montreal, I was ready to go home to California. The city names were flying by, but I can't claim to have really visited any of them along the way.

When I reached the Golden State, I still had a couple of days left on my bus pass, so I went to Sacramento to visit my old friend Chris, whose bachelor's party at Granny's Attic had been where my decision to go on this bi-centennial voyage hatched. By now, Chris had settled into married life with his first wife Char. She was a sweet girl, and, in the parlance of the 1970s, "foxy," but like many first marriages for my generation, this proved to be a practice marriage before a more mature bonding down the road that would last. They later had a son named Brian, who is now grown and works in the computer industry like his dad. Chris married his current wife, Patti, in an impromptu ceremony aboard Celebrity Mercury in Alaska, which my Mom, Julie and I, as well as our frequently mentioned good friends Mike and Linda were able to attend by virtue of being on the same cruise. I'm embarrassed to say I don't have a single photo of Patti, who is sophisticated as well as lovely, well-spoken and nice.

Almost as soon as I arrived, we were on the road to Lake Tahoe. It's a beautiful place. I haven't been there since this trip, but back then there were still lots of unobstructed views of the lake, mountains and forests. I can't remember much beyond hiking around a bit and thinking it was beautiful. Chris was into photgraphy at that time, so I'm sure he has some good 35 milimeter shots from that trip. He primarily focused on nature, so I don't know if he kept them separate or they became part of a larger collection about Lake Tahoe, which remains one of his favorite vacation spots, although now he goes in RV style for a few days rather than in a Mercury Capri for a day trip.

I could go into many stories about Chris and I cruising around with an ever-changing cast of characters in that Capri and other cars back in Orange County when we were attending Westminster High School and Golden West College, and going back further to riding bikes, playing football at Boos and dozens of other things, but I think I've digressed enough.