Hitchhiking Across the Country with My White Cane in the 70's

By: David Gordon

Narrated by: Ken Solin

Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

When I was young and foolish I hitchhiked across the country with my white cane and survived a lot of things that arguably I should not have.

I was almost hit by a trolley car, I had numerous encounters with the police, was approached by child trafficking rings, was robbed at gun point, and was involuntarily driven in to a wooded area by two very impaired people. I was also wrongfully placed in a mental institution. I also met lawyers who assisted me in a major law suit against a Fortune 500 Company.

The book begins with one of the experiences that I survived while hitchhiking in Florida. I continue by writing about my life as a blind person. How did my parents handle the news no parent can possibly be prepared for - that I was totally blind? How did I handle my blindness, and how did my need to be independent deeply influence my future?

It also colorfully discusses my time in a residential school for the blind and some of the conflicting emotions that impacted me, such as feeling sad and abandoned when being sent away from home at the age of four years old, and numerous other occasions during my youth.

Listeners will cry as they experience the sadness, anger, and depression that I grew up with. They will smile and laugh as they read stories that are humorous, interesting, and educational from the standpoint of blindness, and stories that demonstrate outright stupidity because kids who are poorly supervised can do some crazy things when left to their own devices. They will ride with me and at times fear for their lives as I did when I hitchhiked across the country with just my white cane. They will experience with me the many dangers that I faced and was totally unprepared for - but somehow I survived them all.

Was I brave, stupid, young, and invincible, or simply naive and totally unaware of impending dangers? These things are left for you to decide.

©2017 David Gordon (P)2018 David Gordon

An Inspiring Story

The title is a little misleading, because it is about so much more, but completely appropriate, because it about doing the seemingly impossible. This is the story of a boy blind from birth who lives to the extent possible as though he could see. It kept jarring my normal way of thinking about blindness, hearing about all the things he was able to do. This is not about a disabled person who remains in the shelter of his home. I kept thinking I could not do the things he did. It left me with awe and respect for him. The story is also about over the period of a lifetime, overcoming overwhelming emotional adversity, and choosing to live in spite of it.

Misleading title

I'm guessing the title was meant to attract as much attention as possible, which it did. However, the subject of hitchhiking as a blind person took up perhaps what felt like maybe 20 percent tops of the over all story. However, one does get a great glimpse in the life of a blind person living a more adventurous life than so many of our blind, including the pitfalls involved with such adventures. One gets an idea of how it is like going through such things as being a part of a residential school for the blind, good and bad, and learning that just because a person is blind does not mean they can not experience such things as risking one's life, and having scrapes with the law, and yet being able to make it through to the other side, experiencing successes such as a family, an leading as rich a life as possible, with a story to tell.
Definitely a good read.