I had been working in a German-run warehouse in Mainz and was feeling very depressed about my marriage. It was payday and something inside me said I should just take the day off and go for a drive to relieve some stress.
I hopped in my Volkswagen beetle and took off, I had nowhere in particular in my mind to go, just driving.to get away for a while. I would drive through any small towns I came to and stop at some of the cafes for coffee or a danish roll. Late in the afternoon, I realized I had no idea where I was and didn't have a map to find my way back to the apartment. My thought was then to just keep driving and see if I could find a youth hostel where I could spend the night. I came upon a group of youth making camp along the side of the road and stopped to ask if they knew where the youth hostel was they said no, but I could camp with them for the night, so I did. They were 6 college students traveling Europe on foot. We talked for several hours and became comfortable with each other. They did show me they carried a gun for protection so I wouldn't get any ideas. Early in the morning I got up and left.
I thought about trying to find my way back to Mainz and my wife and job I left behind but I was still angry and so stressed out that I decided to just keep going and try to make my way back to America. Driving down the road I didn't realize how close to France I was until I saw the border patrol up ahead. I could not speak any french and very little german but I showed them my passport and said I was just site seeing. They stamped it and passed me on through. I drove for a while and stopped at a seaport hoping to get a ride to the US on a ship as a crew member, but I needed sea papers which I didn't have. I tried to sell my VW so I could buy a ticket but I needed other additional papers. It seemed all my efforts to get back home to the US was being blocked. As I drove around aimlessly I was thinking this was my third day traveling and I hadn't told anyone where I was going, I am sure they are searching for me and I really don't want to be found.
Just then I came to another border crossing going into Switzerland I showed my passport and then passed on through. I thought I should get off the main highway and travel on some of the backroads through some small towns. As I was driving down this paved road it turned into a dirt road so I kept going to see where it went and then it was like a trail with grass in the middle and then an open field with cows around. Somehow I was in a grazing pasture and it was starting to rain. As I was turning around on a steep hillside I could feel my VW slipping sideways and I straightened the steering wheel to gradually make it back up to the trail and drive out.
I crossed back into France and took a different route driving around all day and into the evening by this time it was getting very dark and I was running low on money so I decided to find a place to park and sleep in my car. I found an open area with bushes so I would be partially hidden from the road and fell asleep. I woke up with someone pounding on the window, it was two French policemen motioning me to get out. My first thought was that they had found me and I was going to jail, but they were just investigating to see if I was alive or in bad health.needing assistance. I said I was ok I just got tired and pulled off to sleep so they left and I drove on down the road.
Somehow I came to the Belgium border and crossed into the country with no problems. At a cafe, I met a girl from Dover England she was going home for the summer and said her father owned a business and that I could work for him until I made enough money for a trip home. I bought a ticket and boarded the fairy to sail across the channel to Dover. When we docked they checked my passport and asked how much money I had and how long I would be staying. I said I was staying with my girlfriend's parents but they wouldn't let me in because they said I was a vagrant. I was put back on the fairy and returned to Belgium. At least I got to see the white cliffs of Dover.
I was down to my last few dollars which I used for gas and drove back into France with no destination in mind but heading toward Spain. I always wanted to see the bullfights. Driving down a country highway I ran out of gas and no money left in my pockets. I just sat there for a while wondering what I was going to do. I got out and pushed the car off to the side checked to see if all the papers for the car were there I left the keys in the ignition closed the door and walked away hoping that someone who needed a car would find it.
Earl Baldwin
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