Beyond Paris. Paul Alexander Casper
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Beyond
Paris
A young man sets off to work in Paris but goes beyond to discover the world, finding the man he would become along the way.
Copyright © 2019 by Paul Casper
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the written permission of the publisher, except in the brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and in certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests write the publisher.
ISBN 978-1-49-990552-6 (Paperback Book)
ISBN 978-1-49-990632 (Hardcover Book)
ISBN 978-1-49-990553-3 (eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number 2019008752
Classification: LCC G226.C37 A3 2019 | DDC 910.4--dc23 LC
Book Design by Jane Dixon-Smith & Paul Casper
Front Cover Photography by Joyce Casper
First eBook Edition 2019
INFINITY PUBLISHING
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The information in this book is true and as complete as possible after fifty years to the best of our knowledge. The author and publisher disclaim any liability in connection with the following pages.
www.BeyondParis.info
An Adventure Travel Memoir By
Paul Alexander Casper
For my mother, Inez,
my beautiful wife, Kathy,
my sons Nicholas & Christopher
and
for all the other
Road Knights
around the world
Is the end
of one journey
just the beginning
of another?
Author’s Note
This book is a memoir.
It reflects my present recollection of the experiences I had in 1970.
Every adventure in this book is true.
Every conversation is my best memory after almost fifty years.
I have changed the names of some people in this book
after not being able to locate them around the world.
I have compressed, contracted and subtly rearranged
time and events in several instances.
Otherwise,
this book is a true account
of my experiences as I remember them.
Foreword
Things to remember about 1970…
The cost of a gallon of gas was $.36
A pair of men’s leather shoes cost $6.97
Richard Nixon was President
The average house price was $4,975
The cost of a postage stamp was $.06
The Dow Jones was 631 in 1970. In January 2018, it broke 26,000
The 1970 Song of the Year was “Bridge Over Troubled Water,”by Simon & Garfunkel
The most popular 1970 TV Comedy was All in the Family
The top college football team was the Nebraska Cornhuskers
The number-one fiction bestseller was Love Story by Eric Segal
The median household income was $8,734/yr
MLB’s MVP was Johnny Bench of the Cincinnati Reds
A cyclone in Bangladesh killed 500,000 people
1970 popular films: Catch 22, Patton and Hello Dolly
The minimum wage was $2.10/hr
Average monthly rent was $140.00
The Isle of Wight concert in August in Englanddrew 600,000 attendees
Preface
After pledging Theta Chi Fraternity at Drake University and then,
of course, not making grades,
I was put on academic probation in 1965,
my freshman year.
The threat of dismissal inspired a dramatic comeback, however,
and I graduated in 1969 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree—
on time and on the Dean’s List.
Immediately I was hired by an internationally known Chicago graphic design
firm, after competing against almost a hundred other applicants.
A year later, I felt I knew everything there was to know about life.
The obvious next step, it was clear to me, was
to quit my job and get a one-way ticket to Paris,
where I would work on the Champs Elysées as an art director
and chase French women.
Although a soft wind had brought a misty rain
a little earlier in the day,
the grass was almost totally dry now.
Everyone’s skin was warm and sticky again on this predictably hot Cincinnati July summer night.
And as usual,
fireworks were in the air.
1.
Escape
10:30 PM, July 3, 1959
Carl handed me another bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer while I rummaged around on the coffee table for a cigarette. “Dream Lover” by Bobby Darin started to play in the background as lights of a passing car skipped past the basement window. Earlier in the evening, we had been talking about the usual things: the Reds, girls, life and the fact that grade school was finally almost over for both of us. Carl’s parents were out for the night, and we had recently just finished listening to the end of the Phillies vs. Reds game, which the Reds won 6-1. It didn’t look like it was going to be a very good year for the 1959 Reds, but the games were always interesting, especially when you had an outfield consisting of Frank Robinson, Jerry Lynch, and Vada Pinson. Even though he was new to the Reds, my favorite player was Leo Cardenas at shortstop. Like him, I had the hands to grab any ground ball close to where I was. Now if both he and I could just learn how to pull the ball at the plate, we both might