The two young hitchhikers were picked up in southern Illinois by three men who had just enough room for them amid the beer piled high in the back seat.

The strange trio lavished free meals on the boys as if money were no object. The men also took turns driving — and drinking. Over and over, whoever was driving would approach 90 mph, only to be slapped by the other two and told to slow down.

They exercised even more caution when they pulled into Cedar City, creeping through town, but the out-of-state plates drew the attention of a police officer, who turned to follow them and finally pulled them over.

When a police officer let the Cannons go the next day, he handed the boys bus tickets to L.A. and told them they were lucky — the men they'd hitched a ride with had held up a gas station a few days earlier in Milwaukee, where they also murdered the station attendant.

Forty years later, Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, still relishes the harrowing tale. When he retold it with a flourish on a recent Saturday morning at the IHOP in Springville, people looked up from their pancakes to see why their congressman was raising his voice and slapping his hands on the table.

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E-mail: twalch@desnews.com