First-Hand Experience

With his college responsibilities temporarily on hold, Eugene Meltsner decides to leave Odyssey on an open-ended expedition. He wants to broaden his horizons, experience the world, and make a journey of discovery into his own inner life. Whit has listened to the plan and given his blessing. Bernard Walton, however, thinks Eugene is dressing up an ordinary vacation with needlessly grand language. He is driving his aging pickup to San Diego to trade it for a new one, and he reluctantly offers Eugene a ride as far as the Connellsville bus station.

On the road, Bernard questions the value of collecting experiences without a purpose. Unless a person learns something from an experience, he argues, it has little point. Eugene disagrees and looks upon everything with the fresh eyes of a pilgrim. He also learns that Bernard’s practical journey to California may be less secure than Bernard claims: the old truck has never failed him, but Bernard is replacing it before it gets the opportunity.

At the station, Eugene decides where to go by spinning in front of a map and pointing at random. His first attempt lands on the women’s-room sign. His second selects Bakersfield, California, placing him in roughly the same direction as Bernard. The two men say goodbye and begin traveling separately.

Eugene takes a seat beside a businessman and enthusiastically explains his thoughts about travel, national transportation, and nearly everything else that enters his mind. After enduring the one-sided conversation for an hour, the man carries his coat and briefcase away with him on the pretense of visiting the restroom. Eugene soon finds another passenger and overwhelms her with conversation as well.

Meanwhile, Bernard enjoys the open road until his radio fades and the alternator warning light appears. His truck stops in the middle of nowhere with a broken alternator belt. Eugene’s bus happens to pass, and Eugene sees Bernard beside the disabled pickup. He immediately stops the bus, grabs a knapsack from the overhead rack, and gets off to help his friend, even though the driver warns that the next bus will not arrive for a long time.

Eugene cannot repair the truck, so the two men begin a sixteen-mile walk toward the nearest town. Rain approaches while they argue over the best way to ask passing drivers for assistance. Bernard trusts the familiar raised thumb; Eugene has prepared a sign so polite and wordy that no driver moving at highway speed can read it. Neither method works before the rain begins. At last a truck driver stops, tows Bernard’s pickup to Hardinville, and leaves both travelers grateful for his kindness.

At a roadside diner, Bernard expects the truck-stop mechanics to finish the repair by the time they eat. Eugene’s next bus is not due until morning, so Bernard offers to buy dinner. Both men lose their appetites when the waitress explains that the “Trainwreck Special” contains meat from a cow struck by a train. After the rain stops and the pickup is ready, Eugene stores his knapsack behind the counter and plans to explore Hardinville until morning. Bernard drives away, leaving Eugene to wonder what experience will come next.

The answer arrives immediately. A woman from the bus appears with a police officer and accuses Eugene of stealing her knapsack. Eugene has accidentally grabbed hers because it looks identical to his own. The fuzzy pink sweater, makeup, and a present for her niece prove the mistake, while Eugene can name the laptop, microscope, clothing, and nameplate inside the bag she has brought. The officer recognizes an honest mix-up, but the woman has left the bus to recover her property and is now stranded without a usable ticket.

Eugene cannot afford to buy her another fare. To make amends, he gives her his flexible ticket so she can continue to Pomona. The choice leaves him with little money, nowhere to stay, and no means of continuing his expedition. A sympathetic waitress suggests that he quietly spend time at the hotel across the road, where a plumbers’ convention is underway.

At the hotel, Eugene concludes that returning to Odyssey may be his wisest course. Then he unexpectedly runs into Bernard. Bernard claims that he has come back after noticing the plumbers’ convention, but he offers to take Eugene all the way to California. A passing officer lets slip that Bernard has actually been searching all over town since hearing about the knapsack mistake and Eugene’s surrendered ticket. Bernard refuses to admit his concern and continues pretending that new plumbing techniques brought him back.

Bernard gives Eugene a place in his hotel room and a seat in the truck, on the condition that he stop talking endlessly about the experiences he hopes to collect. Eugene agrees. His expedition has scarcely begun, yet it has already taught him something important: sometimes a person does not know who his friends are until he needs them. Bernard asks him to keep that discovery quiet, but the two men are now preparing to share the rest of the road to California.