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How I remember Linda. . .
We hatched our plot in the bathroom at an Augsburg beer party, the only refuge from the cacophony. I had worked long enough by then to earn a vacation and a tricked-out Dodge van. She had just finished college and a relationship.
“Wanna go to California?” I shouted over the noise of the 1975 revelry. She was game for anything. Seems she always was. So almost on a dare, we soon set out on a six-week journey from Seattle to Mazatlan. We weren’t exactly hippies, but I had a beard and hair then, and she had a free-spirit that would open doors for us, all down the West Coast, on this obligatory rite of passage.
Norwegian Lutherans both, we were not known for our daring-do, but Linda’s bright personality would enrich the road trip immeasurably. She had spunk, curiosity, and guts, and it didn’t hurt that she was attractive, blonde and perky.
A blizzard in South Dakota, and a slide down the icy Rockies of Idaho, were all dutifully recorded in our journal, a book I prize to this day. Expenses were kept there too, and we split them down the middle with an easy-going flourish.
Karl and Sue, high school classmates, showed us the Seattle fish market, in the days before clerks tossed the slippery wares around. We saw the newish Space Needle and tram. Gracious hosts with fond memories. It rained one day of course.
When we got to wine country, a friend of a friend had given us a Sonoma address to check out. As total strangers, we pulled in and asked if we could park overnight in their driveway, and “Hi from Rick and Linda!” That was enough to earn a couple nights indoors, showers, and a wine tour of the famed vinyards.
Alcatraz was just closing down then, we toured it, then had crab legs on a blanket in view of the Golden Gate. Haight Ashbury was a must-see, so we did. Neither of us were much for drugs, but we did recognize the wafting scent in the air. Peace, man.
Linda’s classmate, Mary Kay, was working was as a “foot model” in Hollywood and had connections with Mimi Hines’ young caretaker. Remember Mimi? She wasn’t there presently so we happily moved in for a couple days in a Malibu beach house, sorta like in “Two and a Half Men.” Carol King galloped past on the beach. Or at least we thought it was her.
We gawked at Telly Salvalas at the Universal Studios, which was featuring an animated shark from the hit “Jaws” at the time. Telly was amused by our curiosity, a break from his role as Kojak.
Mary Kay also had a girlfriend who dated a Los Angeles Kings hockey player. Again, he was at an away game. So we squatted a couple days in his palatial suburban home, availing ourselves of all facilities.
Linda insisted we go to Mexico. I was a bit freaked by the idea of driving a van there, so we parked in Tucson at her friends, and took a train to Mazatlan. There she was an instant draw, a cute blonde on the beach in a nation of dark hair. We signed in to a hotel as a “Periodista, dos personas.” Stayed a week, while Linda befriended interesting people on the beach, including the middle-aged bi-lingual bachelor Mario, who had a dark-eyed mistress and called himself “The Ambassador,” because he was often called upon to translate and resolve harbor disputes between authorities and miscreant boat captains.
Without Linda, none of this would have ever happened, of course. But she had even more: Retired friends in Guadalajara, who took us through a new, sparkling mall, the pride of the city. We bused back to Mazatlan as Ugly Americans, taking the first class seats in an unheated conveyance braving the mountain roads. A chilly Linda didn’t know the bus had no working heater or the Spanish words for “turn up the heat!” The helpful driver obliged her gesturing by turning up the radio. “Ya-ta-ta,” boomed the mariachi band. He also had the disconcerting practice of turning off his night headlights, the better to see oncoming traffic rounding the curves ahead in the blackness of the mountain passes. We imagined what would happen if the oncoming driver was using the same trick.
Safely back in Mazatlan, we gathered our things for the train. Linda wanted to take two extra bottles of tequila across the border. Again, freaking me out, I was still unaccustomed to traveling with an attractive blond young woman.
But, alas, white privilege goes only so far. U.S. Customs is apparently immune to these charms so we were soon invited behind the counter to witness an agent as she poured two perfect bottles of the local product down the drain. Darn. Back to reality.
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Linda Engstrom Akenson died unexpectedly last month. I have always known her as full of life, perky, positive and a wonderful, platonic travel companion. My condolences to her husband, Tom, her sister, Carol, and the many dear ones who will miss her greatly. We shall miss her too, and hold tightly the memory of that unforgettable time in my life.
