Pennsylvania- June 13, 1988
Woke up outside of Philadelphia this morning. First thing I did was drive downtown in the sweating humid heat. I've been spending alot more money than I'd anticipated - mostly in gas, and the air-condioner in this car just doesn't quite work right. I think when I went downtown, I went right into the projects. There were all kinds of people flowing in and out of the traffic and the cars. I was sweating in the heat, and out of concerned safety (I'm only 17-years-old at this time - days before my 18th birthday), I needed to keep my windows rolled up because I was concerned someone might jump in the vehicle with me!! I drove around Philadelphia in the humidity, stuck in traffic jams, and just not all that sure where I was going. If this was what the trip was going to be all about, I just didn't know if it was going to be worth it or not? Where to next? New York City? It sounded the same as Philadelphia at this point? More humidity, more mosquitos biting me alive at night, more heat cooking me up alive in this gas-guzzling over-sized 10-mile to the gallon truck. In fact, the truck had one other problem, that is everytime you took your foot off the gas pedal, the thing would stall out on you. So that meant you constantly had to drive the accelerator and the break at the same time. If you even paused for a second, it would cut-out on you and stall. Once you stalled, you had to have it in park before you could start the thing up again. In short, it became not nearly as much fun as I'd dreamed the entire Spring. At this point there was only one thing left to do, turn the vehicle around. I drove into New Jersey just to say I'd been to New Jersey and then turned around. Its Pennsylvania again!!! Back down the same road heading home to Michigan. The end of the adventure.
So what was the plan now? Well, the rest of the summer would involve me living at home, working in the same factory I'd worked for the last two summers, and just get ready for college in the Fall.. the truck survived with me for about another year.. ultimately it ended up being a pizza delivery truck on the campus of Michigan State University.. me riding the break and the accelerator at the same time. Ultimately, it just took up too much gas, and I ended up giving it away at a fairly low price.
You can email me at:
Wintermoon2@yahoo.com