Mexico Over Registration
(Editor's Note; Charlotte Col
lege sophomores Bill Jones and
John Blackman went to Mexico
during registration. Here is the
story)
By BILL JONES
After being delayed two hours
by a professor who forgot to
come to his exam we were a.t
last headed for Mexico. We
were traveling in my '57 VW,
churning up the road at 80, er
G5 m.p.h. Nothing eventful hap
pened until we hit Atlanta, Ga.,
where I, the supreme navigator
got lost for a solid hour. We
then proceeded 'to Birmingham,
Ala., where after making our
way trhough dirt roads in tha
middle of town, the chief pilot
and CO - adventurer, Johnny
Blackman, took the wheel.
From Birmingham we alter
nated driving and sleeping. T>he
sleeping was made possible by
a little ingenuity on Johnny’s
part. He had fixed the right seat
so it would fold out into a bed.
Of course it slept more like a
rock, but it beat sitting up. Aft
er 35 hours of driving we were
thirty miles out of El Paso, Tex.,
and Jaurez, Mexico, the little
red VW ca emto a halt. The en
gine was dead, 1 mean it was
dead like never to go again.
There we were thirty miles from
nowhere, freezing cold, and in
the middle of a desert. Much
to our relief, a rather elderly
1950 Plymouth, that was surely
on its last journey, pulled up.
The driver offered us a lift to
Texas Western College in El
Paso, where we would be stay
ing. The driver was Jim, a Yan
kee from Pennsylvania, who was
going to Mexico to purchase art
objects. He had another passen-
gen, Alex, a Royal Air Force
man from England, who was on
a two-month individual maneuv
er to travel around the world
with no money or maps. He had
already used up three weeks of
his time and was on his way to
Los Angeles where he planned
to stowaway on a USAF plane
going to Japan. Alex proved to
be quite an enjoyable chap.
When we approached B1 Paso,
he spotted a drive - in theater
surrounded b y a high lighted
fence. It was some time before
we could convince him that it
was not a fortified military in
stallation.
When we arrived in El Paso,
Alex, using 'his heavy British
accent, asked directions to Tex
as Western. Of course, they
couldn’t understand him, and 'he
turned and commented, "They
sure were spitting out the gren
ade pins and daggers, weren't
they?” We asked directions a
couple more times and finally
found the college where we
thanked Jim and Alex, their last
names long since forgotten, and
struck out to find Bob Chambers
with whom we would toe staying.
Needless to say, our host was
slightly shaken by seeing us at
1 a.m. when we were not due
in until that p.m. The next day
we renter a tow bar and towed
the crippled VW out of the des
ert. As it was Sunday we
couldn't ge>t it fixed. That night
we went into Jaurez. The city
of Juarez was filthy, but man
was it alive! This was our first
quick look at the city which we
would be visiting every day dur
ing our stay.
The taxi drivers in Jaurea
drove us crazy with their ‘‘taxee,
taxee! Wanta see the beeg city?
And let me ask you one question
about a dozen or two times. 1
I
—
XlTjones, in checked shirt, and John blackman made trip to Mexico during registration.
carrying out the example set by the
told one cabbie “Alright, one
question.” He replied “What d.d
you come to the beeg city for?
To see the beeg city? To see the
pretty girls? We take you there
cheap.”
I answered, "No! Manana!”
The best part about Jaurez
was the food. At a place called
The Spanish Bar we cou’.d get
an inch-thick steak, French
fries, and salad for .the whoop
ing price of one dollar. No tax.
We spent most of our time in
Jaurez at a popular hangout
called appropriately The Lobby.
It just happened to be the only
lobby in the city with "enter
tainment.” The entertainment
was something you would never
see in Charlotte. The main at
traction was Long John, a long,
tall singer, a western "Hot
Nuts. When he really got going
he would play his guitar with
only one hand and sing .
Some of the dances that
were done there make the "dog”
look like "ring around the
roses.'’ The Lobby was a rather
swinging joint.
On Monday after arranging to
have the car engine rebuilt we
went to see Jaurez in the day
light. To get into Jaurez we had
to pay 2c apiece to walk across
a bridge over a deep, wide
gorge, cut by the mighty Rio
Grande, at this point reduced to
a sitream a few feet wide.
Everywhere we went in Jaurez
someone was trying to sell us
something. The shopkeep
ers actually made pests of
themselves. We found that by
speaking in German the people
would leave us aione. When a
shoeshine boy wanted to shine
his shoes, Jonnny said, ’‘Ich ,
nicht spreche Enghsh odcr
Spanish.” The boy was irus-
mined and tried to use sign
language. Seeing that this
would fail, he followed us for
about half a block trying to put
the shine box under Johnny's
feet.
On Tuesday, we toured El
Paso, which has a'bout the same
population as Charlotte. The
city itself is fifth in area size in
America. It has a desert moun
tain and a scenic drive within
the city limits. The homes in
El Paso were mostly of the one-
story ranch type of either Amer
ican or Spanish architecture.
The city was the most immacu
lately clean that I had ever
seen. Texas Western College,
city, is very clean and neat and
is constructed completely by Span
ish architecture.
After retreiving our oar on
Wednesday we struck out for Las
Crusas, N. M. There is nothing
there by desert and flat irrigation
farmland. Before arriving at Las
Crusas we passed sign posts to
New Mex"ico State College. We de
cided to drop in there while we
were in the neighborhood. When
we arrived at the college we went
to the student union building which
is. incidently, about six times as
large as Charlotte College’s and
had a Coke. Then we decided to
look the building over but people
kept pushing us into lines. We had
walked into the middle of spring
semesiter registration and were
trying to register us. Wlj,en we
learned that the college had' only
263 buildings we decided not to
register and went back to El Paso.
Thursday we went back up to
New Mexico. This time we went
through Almogordo, through the
ski country and the Sacramento
Mountain range. From the top of
the Sacramenta Mountain we
could see the desert, desert moun-
tiainis, and where the vegetation
changed from desert weeds to tall
firs. One time we heard a “honk-
PARK DRIVE IN
11/2 Miles Behind
Charlotte College On
Route 29
Featuring The
Herlocker Burger |
A Meal On A Bun”
Only 49c I
ing sound” and saw wild geese
flying level with us about a hun
dred yards from the mountains.
Friday, our last day in El Paso,
we toured Parah Manufacturing
Co., the largest manufacturers of
casual slacks in the world. The
company has three plants in El
Paso, one story each, emacuately
clean, inside and out. Jim Vialo,
a company executive, spent most
of the day showing us through the
plant and telling us about the won
derful city of El Paso. The red
carpet treatment and Texas hos
pitality extendel to us by Mr. Vialo
was one of the highlights of the
trip.
That night we went through
Juarez one last time before head
ing home. The trip home was a
race against the weather. There
was a big storm moving in behind
us. We were winning the race un
til we reached the Mississippi Riv
er. Then the rains started and we
discovered the windshield wipers
wouldn't cooperate.
The Best Always to UNC-C
"COMPLETE BEAUTY CULTURE"
Mr. Le'Roy's Beauty Salon
3200 Monroe Road — 375-2846
(Continued next issue)
You meet the nicest
people on a Honda
Maybe it’s the incredibly low price. Or the
fantastic mileage. It could be the precision
engineering. Or the safety and conven
ience features. But most likely it’s the fun.
Evidently nothing catches on like the fun
of owning a Honda. Join in. The first step
is a. demonstration ride. Why not today ?
HONDA
OF CAROLINA
5050 N. INDEHENDENCE BLVD./CHARLOTTE
Charlotte College Representative: PETE DODGE