Bronx

Fleeing the War - O Canada!

5 min read

Whatever happened to the lost art of hitchhiking? As a teen, I hitched throughout New York, New England and even coast to coast using only the power of my right thumb. People were decent and generous. Also, I suppose I didn’t look too scary to the salesmen, couples, hippies and missionaries who stopped for me, each with their own story to tell. This worked well as I’m a good listener. They gave me their miles in exchange for my undivided attention. With me, they knew they had someone who listened, especially that one driver who was fleeing the country.

Engine Trouble Plus Vomit

4 min read

Family vacations and car trouble. Does that bring up anything for ya? For our family, sometimes the trouble was mechanical. Sometimes it was intestinal. We’d take off for places with names like Fort Ticonderoga or Blue Sky Lodge. Sometimes we got there. Sometimes the vacation ended thirty minutes later on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn – the car wheezing with a flooded carburetor.