Hitchhiking Blind in Italy

There's something strange about looking back at pictures of yourself when you were 18.

But, that's me, more than 40 years ago, atop the Tower of Pisa on a warm August day.

A few minutes after this picture was taken, Kent and I climbed down the narrow steps and fell asleep in the shadow of the famous leaning monument.

At some point, two beautiful blondes shook us at least partially awake and asked if we wanted to team up in groups of two and travel with them to Spain. We mumbled something about heading to Rome to meet up with Frank and Eric and continued our nap.

When we got around to really waking up, I turned to Kent and said, "I had the strangest dream in which we turned down a chance to be with these two babes."

Shaking his head, Kent replied, "I had the same dream. I think it really happened."

Well, sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes you don't.

As for me, I had my share of luck, both good and bad, as I hitchhiked northern Italy -- BLIND -- during the previous couple of days.

The story started on a warm and humid day as I walked the length of a long bridge out of Venice. I wasn't having any luck catching a ride. So, I sat down to take a rest.

There were a bunch of ceramic tiles discarded by the roadway, and I amused myself by using them to make a sign in the dirt. Can't remember what I was trying to say, but it was probably something like, "Pick Me Up," or something to that effect.

In any case, a big truck rolled by, and I turned at just the wrong time to look.

A bunch of dirt and bits of gravel kicked up by the passing rig flew into my eyes, blinding me on the spot.

It hurt, too. Even with my eyes closed, the slightest movement felt like someone was grinding a boot into my eye sockets.

I tried to wash my eyes with water I was carrying, but it didn't do much good. So, I tied a moistened handkerchief around my eyes and decided to try and hitchhike out of there.

I carefully edged my way toward the road and stuck out my thumb. Much to my amazement, I soon heard a car pull to a stop, and, holding my arms out in front of me like a Frankenstein parody, I stumbled toward the vehicle.

The driver asked me something in Italian, and I responded, "Prego," or some such thing before opening the passenger door and getting in.

That pretty much ended our conversation for the next couple of hours, as he drove across the width of Italy. Of course, I didn't know where I was heading -- not being able to see. But, at least I was out of the sun and going somewhere.

Finally, he got to his destination and prodded me to get out of the car. I could hear and smell a nearby market, and I managed to buy some fruit and get something to drink, before sitting down beside a tree to figure out what to do next.

Well, fortune smiled on me when I heard a voice, in English, ask, "Do you need some help?"

That would be a big YES!

The person (again I never saw him) took me to a hospital where they flushed my eyes and checked them for damage before putting some sort of salve on them and covering them with bandages.

The only complication was that I was blind again. In English, they told me to return the next morning, and I felt my way back out of the hospital. I managed to buy some more food and, eventually, wandered into someone's open garage.

I just rolled out my sleeping bag and figured that if I wasn't shot as a trespasser, the worst that would happen was that I would be arrested. And, frankly, spending the night in jail didn't seem all that bad.

At some point during the night, the owner started to park his car in the garage, and I remember hearing a lot of surprised and kind of angry Italian voices. But, I just rolled to one side, and he let me be.

In the morning, I retraced my steps to the hospital, where they flushed my eyes again. This time they only bandaged one eye. I was terrified there was going to be a big bill for their services, but they just wished me good luck and sent me on my way.

As I was hitchhiking out of town, I ran into Kent (we had somehow ended up in the same town at the same time), and we headed off to Pisa together.