Eric Whitehead with his self-published book, Then There was One: The Ultimate 70s Road Trip. (QMI Agency)

Eric Whitehead and Murray Jupe are the co-authors of "Then There Was One: The Ultimate '70s Road Trip" - a book that not only chronicles a personal journey in 1971, but also provides a snapshot of an era.

"Basically, in 1971 my friend and I graduated high school, and we decided to delay going to university - and go somewhere," says Whitehead.

They bought a $500 car in Toronto, and on January 2, 1971, left on a round trip to Acapulco, Mexico - with an old Kodak "Pony" camera, an instamatic, an endless supply of optimism and whatever money they could save up in six months.

It was a time when many young people took time off to backpack through Europe, but Whitehead and Jupe were concerned about the weather, language and "bottom line. It boiled down to dollars and cents... we knew if we were driving, it would be less expensive than flying somewhere and staying in hotels."

It turned out to be as much an exploration of North American culture, as a vacation. They were in Florida when Apollo 14 was ready to launch and were invited into the press room in Houston to see the lift off.

They were "appalled" and shocked by the blatant racism they found in a newly-desegregated U.S. South, and by the attitude of "Anglos" in Acapulco toward the native Mexicans.

Even so, Whitehead calls the time spent in Mexico the "highlight of the trip. We had never been somewhere like that before." Despite warnings to watch out for bandits in those pre-cartel days, despite being unable to speak the language, the young Canadians found the people friendly, helpful and fascinating.

"We were determined we were going to do something," Whitehead says. "We learned a lot about ourselves. We learned a lot about life."

It couldn't last, of course. Nothing puts stress on a friendship like travelling together, in close quarters - and in Las Vegas at the end of March, on their way home, they went their separate ways. "Arguments, endless discussions... it was worse than being married," says Whitehead.

Jupe travelled to Vancouver. Whitehead spent another six weeks on the road, heading back to Toronto. And, he says, "It took until 1977 until we spoke to each other again."

That's when they met again by chance - and "we've been best friends ever since."

All during the trip, Whitehead kept a journal. Those journal entries, combined with the colour photos restored from 35 mm slides, make up "Then There Was One."

"The text is basically what's in the journal," Whitehead says. "There's a real pop culture feel to it."

It was when he retired from the electrical distribution industry that he began transcribing everything to computer and began working on the slides.

Self-published, "Then There Was One: The Ultimate '70s Road Trip" sells for $22 and is available from the author, at ewhitehead@rogers.com. Whitehead admits that the price doesn't cover publishing costs - the first printing is in full color, on glossy paper - but then, he says, "It was a labour of love."

And now, on the 40th anniversary of the trip, he says, "I can't believe we made it from point A to point B, and made it alive." It's a trip that couldn't be done today. Great swaths of the U.S. and Mexico were sparsely settled, there wasn't the same level of tension or fear of terrorism. Even Disney World didn't exist at the time they drove through Florida; it opened at the end of '71.

Whitehead lives in Gilford, Ont. is an instructor at Delfs' Tae-kwon do and has 2 kids of his own. And yes, he has taken them on road trips.