Having felt obligated to post on Thursday when I had just arrived home from my road trip, I now want to fill in some of the more interesting details which I really enjoyed. And also to share some more political stuff. So, first to the trip: I swear I have always wanted to be a long-distance truck driver, but I never got around to making that dream happen. Now that I have reached my dotage, it seems unlikely to occur. But I was thrilled to eat the 6 a.m. complimentary breakfast with a bunch of the guys at the motel right off the New York State Thruway in Kingston, when I stayed the night there. Most were pretty quiet but I got talking to one man from Upstate who was 74 years old. I noticed that he had to stretch after sitting, so I questioned how often he has to stop on his route. He said he doesn’t stop but does his stretching in the cab. Yikes! He mentioned a town I had never heard of in New York called Vernon, which happens to be my father’s name, but I haven’t had a chance to look up where it is located. I’m always fascinated by how much information I have left to learn. And the memory of my Daddy was interesting to say the least (a subject for another day perhaps?). I then stopped at the Sauer Farm in Saugerties and reminisced about all the City people who stop there for their veggies on the way to their country retreats. My Mum had married Jack, a Brooklyn boy who had a place near Woodstock, which is how I ended up knowing that area so intimately.
My visit with friend Carol was very satisfying after such a long absence, and spending the night on her couch while reminiscing about our long history was a real trip! We ended the visit in the morning with breakfast at Peter’s Diner which has been in business in Glens Falls since 1961 and is immortalized in a lovely painting by artist Ken Wheeler. Then dual pedicures at Posh Nails, whose staff catered to our bunioned feet as though we were princesses. The weather had been rainy most of the visit which was fine since we just wanted to be together and chat, but I did try to time my departure to take the best advantage of a lull. I managed to avoid most of the bad stuff, with one downpour on the Northway, but mostly just cloudy weather which suits my eyesight better. I also have a habit of randomly pulling CD’s from the cubby on my dashboard, and I had a great selection of music to delight me on the way home. I stopped twice while I took the quickest way home through Massachusetts (sorry truck driver my car is too small to adequately stretch in place). The rest stop in Lee was almost in sunshine and I spoke to boyfriend to assure him I was doing fine. The later Berkshires were a bit more problematic and I think we actually went through some clouds, but I had randomly pulled the cast album from “The Lion King” as my accompaniment, so I powered through. I really should have been a truck driver!
And now on to the political stuff. I didn't have any problems with my Clinton/Kaine stickers on my car even in the somewhat red area I was visiting. And the truck driver from Vernon and I actually got onto the topic of the coming election after we discovered how old we both were. He mentioned that there were two old geezers running, and I proceeded to let him know that I was rabidly pro-democracy and only one of the old geezers was a man of principle. Since he had expressed uncertainty as to which one he would support, I naturally gave my pro-Biden pitch and also had to defend Kamala because the driver intimated that she was “dumb.” Of course, I protested that and he did agree that she couldn't have come this far if she were stupid. We shook hands very cordially after breakfast so I hope I gave him food for thought in his travels. The rest of the room was silent and I don’t think I was loud enough to influence anyone else (darn). But Carol has close relatives who are on the other side of the fence and she had hoped that I might talk to them about their beliefs. Probably just as well that we didn’t get around to it. I had taken the John Bolton book with me and got a bit more reading done as I think it is important to learn what others think. However, I found a couple of references to Obama which I thought were nasty, and I began to wonder about the role of ego in all of public life. Bolton is very proud that he didn’t have to shave off his mustache to please the orange dictator, but I have just found out that Bolton wrote-in Dick Chaney in 2020, and intends to do the same this time around. What a completely ego-driven waste of a vote!
"two old geezers" Gosh I wish we could leave this behind. If you can do something you do it, regardless of age, race, religion, etc. How appalling age prejudice is so widely accepted, even encouraged by the media. Something's up with them.
As for being an "aging hippy", bravo! The hippies were, after all, right : )
Katherine, What a great read! You cannot know how much I resonate with your road trip. Road trips have been and continue to be part and parcel of my life and I have had a long standing love affair with long over the road trips. So much so that I started driving buses when in graduate school in the early 60's and drove for several bus companies mostly on the East Coast between Boston and Washington but also some side trips under contract with Greyhound and Trailways. I continued doing this part time when I could for 20 years and then moved into the RV world traveling thousands of miles in the U.S. Canada and Mexico for another 20 years and 8 different RV's Even spent the night in Lee, Mass a few years ago. Wondering now how I can encapsulate my "On the Road Again" experiences that would be of interest to anyone else. Diners, motels, truck stops and people along the way? Highways and Byways Avoiding Interstates? Did you ever read William Least Heat Moon's "Blue Highways"? Places I've been and almost forgotten...keeping a log helped remember..