Liek most other working stiffs, I'm looking forward to my annual two weeks' vacation. Unlike most others, though, I'm not going anyplace. I've been there.
As co-star with George Maharis of "Route 66," a vagabond show filmed on locations around the country and seen Fridays on the CBS Television Networked, I get around.
I blew into Hollywood a few months ago for another location, at Television City. Having covered some half a hundred cities, towns, villages, and wide spots in the road during the last tow years, George and I fairly wallowed in the comfort of our own home base.
We had started the series beautifully We ran into a blizzard on our first location (Concord, Ky.) and might still be there if we hadn't had the luck to find a working snowplow, which we followed out of there. I resolved then that I would never again complain about the heat.
We went from six above in Kentucky to 90 degrees in Louisiana, and the humidity was just about as high. I held fast to the resolution made during the blizzard and didn't complain. Then we got an outbreak of mosquitoes, worst in Louisiana's history, and I complained about that just like everyone else.
In Ohio we ran into a group of touring Russians. They were fascinated by the whole operations--very curious. But they seemed a little awed by the cameras and wouldn't go near them--sort of a "Don't touch the devil box" kind of attitude.
We did another show on Santa Catalina Island, about 20 miles off the Southern California coast, and the weather was the wildest we had run into since Kentucky.
We got across the channel in water taxis just fine, but we had to ride in cars another hour and a half to our location over narrow, steep and winding roads.
>P>When we started filming, George and I had to look as if we were having the time of our lives, while we were half freezing to death and the wind blew sand in our lunches.We filmed at another interesting location near Los Angeles. That was Jungleland, and my wife and kids loved it. Jungleland has a children's zoo with baby goats, burros, pigs and chickens.
I didn't enjoy it quite so much because I had to work with a camel, the dirtiest, meanest animal in or out of captivity. I lost a fight with one once in a movie, so camels are no friends of mine.
My wife and two children traveled with me on locations all last season. Now we have a third child, so there will be quite a family of Milners on the road next season.
And as for our "vacation"...Well, we'll just have to spend it resting up at home for our travels next season.