If you have read along, you know that I have a new side gig … not unlike Dirty Jobs on TV. If you don’t know what I mean, scroll down a few posts.
I just left a cleanup job in Cleveland, and when I wrote this on Monday, I was headed to Philadelphia. My group has avoided emergency water landings, icing on the wings, checked-bagged fees and elbow encroachment in tiny airline seats — driving the eight hours to Philly. I don’t mind flying, but I do insist on landing and the Philly runways apparently were covered in snow. We do what we do.
Roadtrip Blur
From the road:
Oh my crazy iPhone music shuffle function is messing with me again. Seems that anytime I am on a roadtrip it always plays the theme to “The Good, The Bad & The Ugly” — Hugo Montenegro’s score for the Clint Eastwood classic. In the Four Corners desert, it is a perfect tune. Here in Amish Country, it just ain’t right. My colleagues and I are trucking through all things Quaker as fast as we can go … rather mini-vanning at a high velocity.
If I were a barn collector, I would shop here. I saw one old school commerce thing, in which the name of a now defunct chewing tobacco was painted on a barn. Other roadside art — my favorite sign mentioned PinchPond Park — sounds like they have taken skinny dipping to the next level.
It was interesting to note that the roadside service centers in Ohio and Pennsylvania not only have Starbucks, Sbarro pizza, Roy Rogers burgers and more Steelers paraphernalia than anyone could want … yes they have Wi-Fi. For once, I didn’t even take the time to crack the lap top and get online. I did send tweets to Twitterdom all along the way, using GPRS technology and a T-Mobile Blackberry 8820.
Road trips are made for music. More iPod thoughts … I recommend to everyone to download this oldie — Graham Nash’s “I Use To Be A King,” and think of some old relationship or poignant time in your life … “It’s alright, I’m okay, how are you?” It is a steel guitar masterpiece … with strings just weeping. “I used to be a king and everything around me turned to rust. It’s because I built my life on sand …” good stuff. Man I like it when old rockstars get all biblical.
I digress and got all bi-polar for a moment … coming up on Gettysburg, Harrisburg and other burgs. Wait, Harrisburg! Three Mile Island? (Google nuclear accidents, for the younger readers). Wonder if you can get some good, nuclear radiation mutated Wi-Fi in this burg? We just saw our first snow accumulations here … a good frosty white covering with no meltdowns.
Shout out to good friend Sgt. John F. Reid, chopper pilot extraordinaire — a son of H-burg. John and I shared a great appreciation for The Clash. He would appreciate the fact that my iPod on shuffle played Clash man Joe Strummer’s last band — The Mescaleros “Get Down Moses” as I drove through Reid’s old stomping grounds. And as any Clash head knows, Strummer and the boys pay homage to Harrisburg and Pittsburg in their “Clampdown” tune.
Now the iPod is “rubbing it in” about my vagabond situation (see dirty jobs blog) as I head to the frozen northeast. It played the theme song from the film “Midnight Cowboy — starring Dustin Hoffman and Angeli Joli’s pop, John Voight. The lyric: “I’m goin where the weather suits my clothes.” Ha … “suits my clothes” Catchy!
It is great blogging while someone else drives … so many random thoughts … and oops … my colleague has just been pulled over for too much momentum. The GPS system in our Hertz rental should have said something about the officer on the right .75 miles back.
Last thought … I ran into a set of parents from Green River Ordinance in Dallas and Cleveland. Ha … tonight GRO is playing a concert in West Chester, just 10 minutes from my hotel here in this Philly suburb. Small world.
Know what I sayin?
