Margit’s Note: Pull Up to the Bumper, Baby

A glint of sun warms our forearms and we’re ready for a road trip! Top down (as if), pop in the mix tape, er put on ‘80s on 8, and let’s tool around town.

Except you’re driving, because I don’t drive. I mean, I have my license, I know how to drive, I just don’t really do it, or like it, or have much occasion to get behind a wheel.

Typical New Yorker. We subway, cab, occasionally bike (although those are generally tourists from Holland on that Citi Bike) and we walk a lot.

This confuses people who don’t live here. A kid cousin of my husband’s once asked us, “You guys don’t have a car? Are you poor?”

We don’t need a car, and that’s a beautiful thing. But I can still appreciate a good road trip — with the right, one-armed snacks and the right friends and of course the right playlist. Everything sounds better in a car.

For a story in the early ‘90s. I once spent the entire day in the car with three friends (as a passenger of course) doing everything possible you could do without leaving your automobile. We ordered milkshakes, dropped off dry cleaning, made a phone call, drove through Great Adventure’s safari as ostriches pecked at our car, and spilled said milkshake on my friend’s husband’s lap.

I learned that unless you’re going somewhere, driving around aimlessly can be the most existential fun you can have. And it can make you pretty car sick. We’ve excerpted that piece here for a little throwback fun.

So put on your seatbelts — this week we’re revving up our engines:
Erin Donovan gets stuck with a truck.
Aliza Sherman drives across country in an RV.
Ashlie Atkinson is a Vanner, dude.
Diane Otter Davis is a better parent in the car.
Jenna Briand goes to the drive-in.
And Jody Jones shares an ode to a 1980s station wagon.

Shotgun!

Margit

(Photo: Flickr.com)

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One Response

  1. Diane Carpentier

    You are one of the best drives I know! I’d go on a road trip with you any time!

    Reply

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