~ Chris Ball asks:
~ <Does anyone else actually miss their cars while travelling and worry
~ about how they are?>
Gotta weigh in with a big YES on that one, particularly when I end
up traveling anywhere the least bit scenic. The last time I was sent
to New England from California, I had a few hours to myself and hit
the rural country lanes along the New Hampshire/Massachusetts border.
It's just not the same in a rented Dodge Omni as it would be in an LBC.
To make up for that, I went to the site of the Lexington & Concord
battle and sang "God Save the Queen."
~ But then I'm *driving* my little British car when *I* travel!
The right attitude, though it makes it tough to tour the Caribbean... :-)
We of course are getting ready for our vacation/anniversary trip
this weekend. Grandma is flying in on Friday morning to watch
the girls, and then Kim and I will be packing the MGB for two
days of motoring by ourselves. There may be better roads in
the world for touring by M.G. -- maybe even some of those river
roads in New Hampshire, for instance -- but it's hard to imagine
a better combination of scenery, terrain, and climate than the
Santa Cruz Mountains in summer. We'll be going from beaches to
mountains, from rolling golden meadows along the littoral plain
up to the crest of the hills where redwoods comb the mist out
of the low clouds at dusk, winding in and out of sycamores, French
broom, madrones with bark like peeling chocolate, and bright
verdant ferns nestled in the trickling crevices of the canyons.
So no, I have no intention of missing my car on THIS trip. But
I do know the feeling of seeing a particular stretch of road,
a flicker of grey winding in and out of hills or trees or
canyons, an undulating coil of the dragon limbering up for a
climb up the granite backbone of the Sierras or down through
the red sandstone of a river valley, and to wish for the right
car instead of whatever I was in at the time.
--Scott
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