by Ken Reetz

Created on: June 01, 2008   Last Updated: July 02, 2008

Hitchhiking America

In June of 1965, and every month of June for the next 12 years, Lefty Lockgate would gear up for his annual cross-country hitchhiking trek from his home in Bakersfield, California to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina - Kill Devil Hills, to be specific. Hitchhiking wasn't Lefty's original plan, but circumstances re-possessed that plan and dictated another instead. You'll see what I mean later.

Lefty's first trip proved to be such wild adventure that each year he chose to strike out on the road with foot and thumb, always expecting the unexpected and never being disappointed. It was Lefty's fascination with aviation, and the Wright brothers in particular, that started this idea of going to Kitty Hawk, but the hitchhiking to get there was nearly as great an addiction.

Lefty had been obsessed with Kitty Hawk since 1957 when he was 10 years old, shortly after he suffered a near fatal accident in his back yard. What happened was that Lefty let his imagination run wild with the thought that he could indeed make his own glider and fly himself around the back yard.

Every plane that would fly overhead caught Lefty's attention; immediately he would be lost in the daydream of being its pilot. Every chair in Lefty's house played substitute for an airplane cockpit at one time or another and the couch carried a host of imaginary passengers. Lefty shared his vision of becoming a pilot with enthusiasm and his parents always encouraged him saying, "Follow your dreams, Lefty, because anything you dream is possible."

Finally, the dream had to be lived and Lefty decided it was time to build a glider so he could soar above the trees. He used encyclopedia pictures to build the glider of his dreams. Of course, at 10 years old Lefty had no sense of scale and even less of an idea about air lift; he ended up with two sheets of plywood, each cut 2 ft. x 8 ft., and a wicker laundry basket tied at the middle. To Lefty, it was beautiful. It was perfect.

The Lockgate home was a three story Victorian style with a 10 ft by 4 ft balcony at the upper level. That was just enough room for Lefty to construct his glider and just the right height, Lefty figured, to begin his soaring flight. The last nail was pounded with more excitement than a thousand Christmas Eves and Lefty wasted no time in positioning the glider for launch.

Helen, Lefty's mother, was visiting a neighbor and had just walked outside to see Doris's new peony bushes when they both heard Lefty shout, "Geronimo!" at the

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