I made several trips back and forth to California and had quite the experiences. On one trip my father decided to be an a..., well, disagreeable, and refused to let me leave. He called the police, who told me they didn't care who my legal guardian was, not even if it WAS the state of Iowa, as long as I was in the possession of my biological father I had to follow his orders. So I just nodded my head in agreement and waited till the fool passed out, which I knew he would do sooner or later. Turned out it was sooner than later, it was that very night. Once he was passed out I just packed my little bag and lit out. I somehow got around Palm Springs, the Salten Sea, however you spell it, and found myself way out in the desert in fruit groves. I stayed a few days in the orange groves, slept there in bundles of something they had stacked up in the groves. After a few days of eating oranges and dates straight from the trees I had this bowel problem and felt like I sure needed a bath. There were canals running all over the place so I just took off my clothes and jumped in one. Wrong idea, it was ice cold ! I decided that I needed to get away from there before I pooped myself to death and somehow got a ride to El Paso, Texas (Hello Mellie) and got stranded again. I didn't like the look of El Paso so I didn't hang around there too long. Looked too mean a town for me. Got as far as Dallas/Ft.Worth, got stranded, took me several days to walk across town to a highway heading north. Some trucker picked me up, tried to get fresh with me, put me out in the middle of nowhere, at night, just north of Dallas. Now folks, I use to be scared to death of the dark, and still was at that time. I kept hearing ghosts making noises in the bushes on the side of the road and was really getting desperate for a ride. Desperate to the point where I would run out in front of cars when they came along, begging for a ride. Finally an older couple stopped and gave me a ride, saved me from the ghosts. But they insisted on patting me down to be sure I didn't have a gun and wouldn't rob or kill them. I sat there for awhile after they searched me, then I asked them if I could shake them down to be sure THEY didn't have a gun and they got offended and put me out, right back in the middle of the ghosts !!! I managed to get to Oklahoma where my granny was, but that was one of the less desirable trips I made in my life. Jack Childers in OKC