Thursday, April 16, 2020

Road trip

I plucked another photo from the archives. This one is from the day after Thanksgiving, 1968. Jilda and I had been dating for about six months.

Her daddy didn't trust me as far as he could throw me. Somehow Jilda convinced her parents to let us make a day trip from Sumiton, Alabama, where she lived, to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It was the day after Thanksgiving, and we would be going with her friends Dale and Debbie Short, who was married at the time.

Jilda's dad trusted Dale, so the trip was on, but we had to be home by bedtime. Gatlinburg is well over four hours there and four hours back.

We woke the roosters when we left out. The trip was uneventful. Jilda and I swooned in the backseat while the hills and hollows drifted past our windows like a movable piece of art.

The Smoky Mountains were beautiful. We ate a quick lunch and then drove around on curvy, narrow roads. We saw wild turkey, raccoons, and a black bear. The deer were so accustomed to tourists that they hung out by the roadside.

A few hours after lunch, we knew the road home was long, so we headed south. Before we left the mountains, clouds swept in, and it began to snow.

We stopped several times for photo ops. Our friend Dale was a born photographer. He's the one that gave me my first lessons in photography. He took this "explorer" picture of Jilda and me before we headed home.

By the time we pulled into her driveway, she was asleep on my shoulder.

We have been to the Smokies a few times since this picture was taken, but we haven't been in years. I think after the "stay-at-home" situation is over, we needed to take a road trip, but I think maybe we will spend the night.


9 comments:

  1. So dressed up for mountain exploration! Great photo! Love these step back in time posts! Have a good Friday..chilly and snowing here today!

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  2. Yes you two do need to take a nice road trip. Another cute photo of you kids.
    Lisa

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  3. Those sideburns and that almost Beatle hairdo...I wouldn't have trusted you with my daughter either!

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  4. I love the photo, although generally I don't like staged ones. Great memory!

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  5. I know that is a almost new Chevy in the back ground. Boy did you have Jilda's parents snowed with that clean cut look. later when the beard and long hair came her daddy said, "I KNOWED IT! there was a hippy hid in that boy!
    But really a great picture and I am sure a wonderful memory, I remember a trip to the mts too. but we were much closer.
    Take care and be safe.
    Sherry & jack

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  6. Hope you can take that road trip, many of us are making plans for what we are going to do when this is all over. Nice to have something to look forward to. Great picture! You were so young then, Glad you stuck together.

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  7. Heh, I seem to recall seeing that photo before or maybe I'm mistaken. The two of you looks so young then.
    Nice memories warms the heart.
    Hugs, Julia

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  8. What a lovely memory and photo

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  9. Daddys and their girls...hard to deal with. I think you won him Over and how well you show how much you love your wife. Love that picture..what will your future bring.

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