A Hitchhiker’s Big Adventure: On the road from Indiana to Key West and New Orleans for Mardi Gras 1972

This is the story of an 18-year-old hitchhiking across the country in 1972. But it is inspired by the humorous, bizarre, and scary experiences Jeff Rasley actually had hitchhiking from Goshen, Indiana to Key West and then to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Jeff dropped out of Goshen College after one semester, worked in a factory for six weeks, saved up $65, and began thumbing south. He encountered sexual predators, club wielding cops on horseback, two US presidential candidates (George Wallace and Shirley Chisholm), blissed-out Children of God cult members, polygamists, hobos, a strung-out Vietnam vet, an alligator hunter, criminal gang members, a Voodoo priestess, 3 stooges, and Jesus in a Ferrari.

Wild and crazy college parties, getting thrashed by a ping-pong hustler, spending a night in the house of the Pleasureville Town Constable’s daughter instead of a jail cell, escaping a dangerous cult, witnessing a Mardi Gras police riot instigated by anarchists, getting invited to join a criminal gang, and being forced to consider alternative sexual identities are experiences Jack has on the road.

The Vietnam War, the Draft, hippie counter-culture, and the 1972 Presidential Election are woven into the fabric of the tale. Changes in society from then to now, such as why we are more selfish and less kind to strangers, are noted.

It is a coming of age story about a small-town kid on a quest for adventure and to escape the “hamster wheel” of ordinary life. The story is told through the voices of a naïve young man and an older and wiser one. While seeking adventure and independence, the young man's Christian faith is pushed to its limits, but he rediscovers the importance of family, friends and community. “There’s no place like home.”