CASSETTES
Krue and Hollee set off on their honeymoon. Their six month honeymoon.
They purchased a 1973 Chevrolet campervan. PICTURE It was a stout little vehicle but no one believed it would survive 10,000 miles zigzagging through 17 states and Canada.
They bartered their way across North America, trading labor such as landscaping, painting, stage crewing or lobstering for food and the occasional warm shower. They affectionately named their mobile-home “Bessie.”
While Hollee and Krue embarked on their epic adventure the rest of Core set our sights on our last year of college. We continued to have our weekly meetings. It would be our first time to experience the absence of one of the guys since David withdrew from the group at the end of freshman year. But now we were three years into this grand experiment. The vacancy was particularly disruptive. Six months seemed like a long time. How could we stay connected?
I don't remember who suggested the rather brilliant solution to our dilemma. We bought a cassette player and a few dozen packs of blank tapes. (For those who are born after the year 1998, please click on the link to learn about the concept of analog magnetic tape). We recorded every session. We gathered together in Bryant and Neal’s house on the slopes of Love Hill, a short distance from campus. We began our Sunday evening meetings by pressing Play, heard the click after 30 minutes of talking, then ejected and turned the cassette over for the next 30 minutes. One cassette, then another and usually a third. Krue was faithful to give the address or PO Box of their next destination. We would ship the cassettes for Krue to listen to as they explored the highways and byways of America. That is how we kept in touch.
It is probably best that those cassettes have vanished over time. All of us discussed our various struggles that year. Archival documentation might not serve us well. If the tapes ever do reappear in an attic of one of our children, please note our request to tape over them with the Depeche Mode album of your choice.