Never the Same IC#10 Kirk's College Daze Part 3: The Second Half of College

Includes: College, the Good Life; The Time of Wheel; Baja Bug; Drivin' in the Drive-In.

 

Cue: “Life’s been Good” https://youtu.be/H8ocviQ3ux0  

Kirk’s attitude about his college course, Diesel Fuel Systems and Heavy Equipment Mechanics, hadn’t changed over the winter, but his attitude of life in general had improved. He didn’t experience as many dark days where he seriously considered hurting himself. Perhaps it was the fun he had with his Bug in the snow and ice more likely it was the time he spent with Fair Farrah. Farrah had that gentle moderating personality that would even out the most hostile or depressing personalities and so her influence, he supposed, worked to his benefit. They spent a lot of time, albeit only weekends, together, they didn’t advance that extra step for mutual carnal knowledge. Farrah also pried Kirk’s previously singly fixated emotions away from his devastating breakup with Dee. In that aspect especially, Kirk began to see the error in his ways with Dee�"with women? We’ll see...

Kirk’s love life had been detailed in an earlier episode, and we know he drifted away from Farrah in the early spring of his college days. Many elements factored into his drifting away from her. The principal element proved to Bonnie K. Also mentioned earlier, Kirk knew of Bonnie early on from seeing her at the restaurant he frequented where she waitressed.

 A compact girl with strawberry blonde shoulder-length hair and a sprinkling of freckles across her cheerful cheeks, Kirk thought Bonnie comely enough from the beginning though with his fragile romantic emotions and Farrah back home he never thought of her other than a pretty affable waitress.  As the winter weather subsided with less snow to play in and a few more new buddies to hang out with from the various automotive courses and a budding interest in pretty Bonnie, Kirk finally realized that it wasn’t all that bad to stay in the college town for the weekends. Other than seeing Farrah there was nothing for him to go home to. Sadly, Kirk neither called nor wrote Farrah to explain his sudden, unaccountable no shows on weekends so it probably seemed at least a discourteous disappearance or worse yet an abandonment of poor Fair Farrah. 

As we know, every spring young men’s eyes turns to�"cars and several of Kirk’s buddies had car projects. Patrick had his old Hot Rod Chevy, Jeff had his Dodge Dart, and Kirk had his�" well�"his pink and white VW Bug. Yeah, Kirk often looks back to those days and wonders why he wasn’t constantly ridiculed for driving the pink Bug, but then again, it was a cool pink and white Bug. Anyway, Kirk often got involved with the other guys’ projects turning wrenches or oohing and ahhing over some new shiny performance parts which always got him to thinking…

At the time an active, wide-ranging VW custom culture flourished.  Custom paint jobs way above and beyond Kirks simple paint job were plentiful and custom parts and accessories proved readily available and many guys made their bugs powerful by installing high performance Porsche or Corvair engines, but what really caught Kirk’s fancy ended up being the Baja Bug conversions.

Styled after the famous Baja Bug VWs from the 1000 mile race down the desert Baja Peninsula, these street wannabe versions got bobbed fenders, shortened front and rears, extra lights, and slightly modified engines. But reality hit home. Kirk couldn’t afford a thing because he was stone-cold broke. He lived completely off his parents because his own savings had inexplicably dried up. So in the meantime, he let the Bug be a stock bug with a bright paint job while he lent a hand to his buds.

Jeff had been adding parts to his Dodge Dart constantly. Where Jeff got the money Kirk had no idea and didn’t ask. He assumed that Jeff’s parents were well off and just funneled money to Jeff to finance his project. Jeff’s biggest purchase was a new set of exhaust headers and pairing that sensibly to go fast he installed a new intake manifold and big Holley carburetor. Of course, he had a custom high-flow exhaust installed all the way back to the bumper. This sucker ought to go fast, Kirk commented while lending a hand with the racing tune up which he had some expertise with such as setting up the carburetor and readjusting the timing. Jeff had put a racing camshaft in before and after the tune, Kirk thought the car really sounded good and hot! Jeff invited him to ride shotgun on a test drive. Kirk couldn’t turn down a test ride in a loud, fast car.

Jumping in the car and buckling up, they headed slowly out from the garage (the college shop, actually) and out to Main Street where they cruised along very prudently and sedately. Still, they attracted some attention from other gearheads who had to look whenever the call of the wild calls out such as a neat, high powered car. Kirk thought he could get used to those looks. Jeff leisurely coasted along with the engine idling along in second or third gears. A grin appeared on Jeff’s face as he turned onto a side street posted at 30MPH.

 Unexpectedly and completely surprising Kirk, Jeff downshifted to first and tromped on the accelerator, flooring it! The engine roared to life, the tires squealed as they spun on the dry pavement, the front end lifted with the weight transfer, and they were off like a rocket! Kirk felt the vibration of the engine coming to life in the floorboards and he was set back in his seat. He grabbed the door handle.   

Jeff slammed second gear with squalling tires and moments later slammed third, but then, surprisingly, he immediately let off the gas and hit the brakes. Kirk wondered if something on the Dart’s gauges scared Jeff into shutting down, but then he saw it�"a city police car pulling out ahead with its glaring red, white and blue lights on!  Kirk slumped down in his seat knowing the cop would throw the book at Jeff while impounding the Super Dart, at least Kirk thought it seemed quite super to him after experiencing that brutal acceleration. Kirk wondered if he’d have to walk home.

Surprising Kirk again, Jeff quickly pulled over to the curb and got out of the Dart even before the police car got close. Jeff popped open the hood and leaned over the fender to fidget with his carburetor.  Kirk joined him wondering if there really was a problem. The cop parked behind the Dart and moseyed up to the front of the Dart.

“Quite exceeding the speed limit on this street, young man,” The cop said. “I clocked you at 62MPH in this 30 zone.  That’s twice the posted limit.”

Jeff didn’t bat an eye. With a seriously straight and sincere face, he turned to the cop.

“Sir, I’m sorry. I don’t know how fast I was going, but my throttle stuck wide open. I was completely taken by surprise, and I’m SO really glad not to put anyone in danger.”

The cop suspiciously eyed Jeff and then Kirk who had turned away at that moment. Jeff pulled the Dart’s air cleaner off.

“Can I see your license, young man?”

“Yes, of course, sir,” Jeff replied, withdrawing the license from his wallet.

The cop took it and walked back to his squad car. Jeff kept fidgeting with his carburetor and gave Kirk a smirk when Kirk bent down to see what Jeff was doing. The cop came strolling back with Jeff’s license in hand. Kirk didn’t see a slip of paper such as a ticket he was familiar with after his own run in with the law.

“Did you find your problem?” The cop asked, peering under the hood.

“Yes sir,” Jeff replied. “I just put this carburetor on and see this cotter pin? I put it in upside down so it got stuck and jammed the linkage. I changed it around so it works fine now.” Jeff said.

“Well,” the cop said, with a wry smile. “No more pedals to the metal, do you hear me young man?”

“Yes sir!”

“Here’s your license and know that we’re out here�"watching.”

“Of course, sir. I always follow the posted limit, sir.”

The cop stood up and as he turned to walk away Kirk saw him roll his eyes, shake his head, and smirk.  

After the cop left, Jeff calmly put the air cleaner back on.

“You are the luckiest SOB, ever! I’d be sitting in the back seat of that squad car heading for the klink after that crazy run way over the speed limit.” Kirk said. “How’d you ever learn to lie with a straight face like that?”

“Lots of practice with my folks. Comes natural, I guess,” Jeff said, with a shrug. “Just got a know how to play ‘em. Come on let’s take this machine out and open her up out on the highway. Let’s roll.”

Jeff started the Super Dart up, and they cruised out of town�"at the speed limit.

The Time of Wheel

Cue: “The Wheel” https://youtu.be/QzGWYShgmfk

Kirk had made a few friends from both his class and the regular automotive course. Often talking big about cars and such, Kirk told them about his involvement with stock car racing not that he actually raced, but all about working on the cars and then going to the racing pits at the track to watch. On a weekend one of the guys said it would be great to see the track and watch the races to see what all Kirk’s hype was about. Of course seeing Kirk knew about the track and where it was located the guys told him he could drive.

With one guy riding shotgun and two in the back weighted down the back of the bug. Nevertheless, they took off in the dark of the evening. With all that added body weight, the bug’s back end sagged low and Kirk could barely find enough power to put the Bug in high gear. They ventured on to the track which was about two hours away�"maybe two and half hours due to the inability to attain normal speed limits.  No one seemed to care if and when they arrived.

About an hour into their trip, Kirk thought he heard a new noise in the Bug’s rear end. Something rubbing because of the weight?  Brakes making a new noise? A tie rod loose? No forget that, he reassured himself. He pressed on. In a short while later, he felt another vibration that wasn’t there before. Or was he imagining it? Kirk didn’t say anything though he gripped the wheel tighter, stiffened his back, and strained his ears. Was it something really bad that might strand them out in the middle of nowhere?

Suddenly, a loud rattle, a grinding noise followed by a heavy whump sounded. Kirk went to the brakes just as the left rear of the Bug dropped down causing the whole car to lean that way. He found the brakes still worked though he didn’t apply them hard but started to slow them down.

Shockingly, a second later, he spied a shadow moving alongside the car in the road! It was the big luggy tire rolling past the Bug! In silence, the four young men watched in amazement as the tire passed them up and headed down the road. Kirk watched the tire continue to roll as he eventually stopped the Bug off the road onto the shoulder. They piled out of the Bug as they watched the tire and wheel assembly slowly veer off the road in a gentle left hand turn to head toward a school building located there.

The tire bumped over the curb and spun across the lawn still with enough speed to maintain its upright position. The boys took off running after it. As it approached the school building, the tire began wobbling with a slower speed. The boys almost caught up with it as the tire wobbled to the right, slowed some more and with its speed almost spent tipped over to the left to lean up, perfectly positioned against the school building! Huffing and puffing, the boys stood there a second taking it in before one boy let out a laugh. Despite the real world implications, Kirk joined in the laugh as did the two others.  Kirk had been lucky again.

After regaining his breath, Kirk twisted the heavy, luggy studded snow tire in the direction of the inclined Bug and rolled it across the lawn, off the curb, across the road, and laid it on the ground next to its proper position. Kirk inspected the brake drum and hub and saw that other than a few scrapes and gouges everything was fine albeit missing all the lug bolts. There’d be no finding them in the dark along the road, Kirk realized. He already had a plan, seeing he had heard of this sort of problem before.

  Getting the car jack and tire wrench out of the trunk (in the front), he jacked the car way up for the big tire. After that, he went around and borrowed one lug bolt from the other wheels except for an extra one from a front wheel. He remounted the wayward wheel back on the hub with four bolts. He let the car down, and made sure the lug bolts were extra tight. He went around and made doubly-sure the other remaining bolts on the other wheels were extra tight as well.

 Still, still and all, he drove very carefully and despite being late they continued on to the races that were already well in progress.  

The Baja Bug

The next day after reliving the event of losing the wheel and thinking about what could have happened, he examined the Bug in the sunlight before going to class. He saw that when the wheel had come off it crimped and scraped the fender pretty badly before heading wayward to the school. That day he pondered what he needed to do to fix the damaged fender. He knew that repairing it back to its original shape would be nearly impossible without involving some cutting and welding, then adding body filler and so on. Replacing the fender would be problematic as well with buying a fender then replacing it with most assuredly stuck, rusty bolts. Maybe�"the�"time�"was�"right.

The next evening the bay was open in the class garage he pulled the Bug into the slot. Simply grabbing a marker, metal shears, a metal cutting wheel, and a grinder, Kirk went to work. Marking the fender beyond the damage in an arc so basically it would just make the wheel opening larger, he went to work cutting it out with a lot of jagged, sharp edges, but afterwards he ground them down smoothly.  He then did the same to the other side to match.

Kirk felt happy with the result and with a little paint covered the cut edges to prevent rust. It didn’t take long for Kirk to realize that the cut fenders in the back looked cool but also funny compared to the normal front fenders. So not much later he cut the front fenders to match. Kirk soon had some real inspiration for his Baja Bug.

Causing his only source of money, his father, to become a bit up in arms Kirk asked for money for new headlights. He pressed the issue anyway. Finally getting the money and purchasing self-contained bullet type headlights, he built a lightweight bumper for the Bug because it didn’t have one. With the now handy shears, cutter and grinder, Kirk cut two eyebrow-shaped cuts out of the hood. With a whole lot of fussing with fit and function, he cut more off the front of the bug removing the old headlights buckets and all. With the wiring and mounting complete, Kirk felt very good with his custom Baja Bug�"at least with the front end and what he had accomplished so far.

It was not very long before he hit his father up again for some cash saying he needed to get an exhaust for the Bug which was the truth�"in a way.  His father blew his top! At the local parts store which doubled for a kind of performance shop, Kirk talked to the counter guy about custom exhaust or headers for the Bug. Sure enough, they had a couple cool exhaust set ups for a Baja Bug. Kirk pondered the designs while he waited to see if his father would come through with the cash. After a couple weeks, the money arrived and Kirk was overjoyed. He ordered the upswept split exhaust. Promising loudness and more power, which the Bug really could use, Kirk was doing his part to keep up with the other guys and their hot muscle cars, though in all reality, the Bug would never be a muscle car by any means.

When the exhaust headers arrived Kirk couldn’t be happier with the shiny and blue set up. One factor he hadn’t considered and the advertisement didn’t say was that the engine shrouding had to be modified which meant there would be even less passenger heating capability.  Kirk was kinda’ concerned but not too much. Anyway, he knew ahead of time that more cutting would be required because the two exhaust pipes exited higher up, midway up the trunk. So he snipped and cut at the rear fenders and trunk lid�"severely so! Then he installed the headers only to find out more cutting and snipping was required. Finally done, the pink Bug had become a Baja Bug with a vastly shortened front and back and bobbed fenders. All and all he had probably removed about a hundred pounds of medal from the Bug’s body work and made the body probably two feet shorter to boot.  No one ever complimented the new look of the Bug those *&^%*$#^&$  self-centered gearheads; but Kirk liked the Bug’s look and sound even though the power hadn’t increased at all, at least from his seat of the pants reckonings.

Driving into a Drive-In

Cue” Drive-In” https://youtu.be/wgncvjY-d2w

Sounds rather unexciting, huh? Well, from reading this true account of Kirk’s life you can be sure there’s some kind of twist to this story other than just driving into a drive-in. A little bit about Bonnie first, which we covered in detail in an episode entitled “Kirk’s Love Life.”

Well, Kirk thought at times that perhaps Bonnie had become his saving grace, his world-revealing muse. Bonnie brought a new personality out of Kirk whenever they were together. Kirk would be never the same after being with Bonnie because she dragged him out of his funk by being upbeat and fun and by inviting Kirk to be the same. She helped him become more outgoing by introducing new people and new situations while encouraging him to be more risk taking as well. So as a result Kirk spent all his time with Bonnie whenever he wasn’t in class or she wasn’t working at the café.  Yes, Kirk really wanted to learn about sex from Bonnie seeing she was older than him and had, according to some of the guys, a reputation of being “easy.” Kirk thought she was especially “hot” in her white waitress uniform, though that’s entirely beside the point. 

They partied a lot together. He at her “Townie” parties and she at his “College” parties. In that small college town there was common co-mingling�"everyone got along.  Beer flowed liberally where ever the party sprang up. Bonnie and Kirk especially liked parties in the park where they seemed free or felt something�"better. Often someone brought out weed, lit up, and passed it about. The weed cleared Kirk’s mind and relaxed him. Kirk and Bonnie liked to smoke just enough to feel good and often went parking after that, but as explained, it never went too far. Naïve, inexperienced Kirk wanted to learn more about sex in the worse way, but just being with pretty fun Bonnie proved enough for him for the time being.

One night, the local drive-in was playing “The Last American Hero” a movie Kirk wanted to see about an up and coming stock car driver starring a young Jeff Bridges.  On a Bug cruise with Bonnie, they thought to drop in at the night club. This was before the inauspicious event that was covered in an earlier episode. Located a couple miles between the town and the night club, the drive-in glowed luminously as they drove by. Kirk’s interest to see the movie piqued. He had an idea that he kept to himself. They continued on past and pulled into the brightly lit nightclub parking lot.

Kirk slowly pulled around back of the thumping nightclub and locating an empty space, he stopped at the row of railroad ties that acted as curbs. Bonnie grabbed the door handle. Kirk smiled, touched her hand, and held up a hand in a gesture to hold. Kirk feathered the gas pedal and slowly let out the clutch. The front wheels rose up, climbed over the ties with a bump, and dropped back down on the other side. Continuing on slowly, the back tires then bumped up over the ties as well.

“What are you up to,” Bonnie asked, perking up while glancing about.  “Are you parking out here?” She hesitated. “Are we parking out here?”

“Ugh uh,” Kirk answered negatively. He switched off the headlights as he crept away from the glow of the night club. He could see the incredulity in Bonnie’s expression.

“Hey babes, get the flashlight out of the glove box will ya?” Kirk said, recalling his mother’s insistence to carry the high-powered 6-volt light it in case of an emergency. 

“Turn it on, hold it out the window, and shine it out in front of us,” Kirk said, knowing the windshield reflection would blind them.

“Really? What if I drop it�"out there?” 

“No problem,” Kirk said simply.

Bonnie did so with the beam bouncing all over the place. “What if we get stuck out here?”

“Nah, my little Bug can get through anything. Look out!” He pointed. “Shine the beam lower, not up in the trees.” Even though there weren’t any trees, just scrubby bushes that Kirk adeptly steered through turning this way and that. A few of the small bushes he just drove over with the twigs scritching and scratching the underside of floorboards from front to back.      

“Kirk! I’m always up for an adventure, but where we going, what are doing out here?” Bonnie asked. The distant drive in screen glow shined on their faces. “Are you�"we breaking into the drive-in?”

“Yep.”

“You know it’s pretty cheap,” she said. “If you’re short, I can pay to get in.”

“Sure, but not as fun,” Kirk said concentrating on his driving. “Hey, mind the beam.”

Bonnie redirected the beam and up ahead they made out what looked like a hedgerow of brush.

“Oh oh!” Kirk said.

 “We can’t get through that, no matter what you think this thing can do,” Bonnie said.

He patted the Bug’s skinny, almost non-existent, dashboard. “You have no idea what my Bug’s been through.”

He turned toward the highway to parallel the hedgerow. “Shine the light on the hedgerow�"keep the beam low!”

After a few moments, “Ah ha! That’s what I was looking for!”

There in the beam they saw a break in the hedgerow where tractors had been going through. Kirk swung out and stopped to survey the break which had what looked like muddy water in the bottom.

“Here we go!” A steely-voiced Kirk said.

Bonnie didn’t say a word, but drew the flashlight in because the passage was tight on the sides with bushes. Kirk saw the reflection of the drive in on the water. In reaction, he sped up. The nose of the bug went down in the muddy dip. And down. The water came up over the hood to splatter mud all over the windshield. Bonnie let out a gasp. Flipping on the windshield wipers that smeared the mud all over, Kirk smiled and gunned it. Immediately the front rose up and the back end went down. The back tires started to spin in the greasy mud because he no longer had the big luggy snow tires mounted. The engine started to race as the tires spun more with the back end fishtailing a little, then it slid violently sideways as the tires dropped into a rut, but the Bug kept moving. Struggling up the other bank the Bug spun its way out. On flat ground Kirk slowed and stopped. They were much closer to the drive-in now. Kirk could make out a stock racing scene on a dirt track showing on the screen.

“Let’s see the light.”

Kirk took the light and shined it out a little ways on a field, but then started off taking a hard right which was away from the drive in.

“It looks like an open field why don’t we just cut across?”

“Can’t cut across a farmer’s planted field our tracks will wreck the plantings. I’m going up along the edge where the headland lays where it probably won’t be planted. Take the light back,” he said, speeding up while paralleling the field on one side and the hedgerow on the other. Soon, they came to the end of the field. He followed it across to the other side. The glow of the drive-in in front of them brightened their way as they drew closer.

“Kill the light, I can see okay now.”

As they got closer to the back of the drive in, Kirk turned right to bump over a ditch, and he let the Bug just idle along barely faster than a walk to be as quiet as he could. Through part of another fallow field, he turned onto the very back row of the drive in’s parking area, pulled into a slot letting the Bug’s nose sit up on the hump. The back row was populated by couples obviously having a good time and not watching the movie at all. Kirk and Bonnie saw a couple heads pop up in steamy windows, but then they dropped out of sight again.

Kirk rolled down his window and pulled in the speaker, though he kept a wary eye out for someone who might want to throw them out. After a few minutes, Bonnie relaxed, slid over close and snuggled into Kirk’s neck.

“I don’t believe you did all that.”

“I don’t believe we got away with it,” Kirk said, trying to see through the muddy windshield. “But look! It’s the end of the movie.”

On the screen was the movie ending with the so-called American Hero destroying his stock car in a Demolition Derby.

“Now that’s depressing way to end a car movie,” Kirk said glumly.

He grasped and clicked the door handle pivoting his body to get out. Bonnie grasped his arm.

“Where are you going, mister?” 

Kirk pointed at the mud-smeared windshield. “Just to clean the windshield�".”

“I don’t think we need to see out the windshield,” she said softly, with a gentle smile.

She pulled him in. Bonnie and he passionately kissed. Kirk knew he was incredibly lucky in a couple ways that night.

***

Just a month and half later when he graduated from his highly disliked course, Kirk left Bonnie behind forever though he never forgot her and the short time they had together.

Cue: “Don’t Dream It’s Over” https://youtu.be/XjBwAYIxUso