[78-L] Driving--WAS: ARSC

[Steven C. Barr]

From: "DanKj" <MLK402 at verizon.net>
> Bless your car-driving heart;  my limit is less than 300 miles in one 
> direction. Your 27 hours would at least 2 days fror
> me.  I'm supposed to pick up a free phono near Columbus, and am dreading 
> the return trip.  I can GO 300 miles away from home
> (barely) - but the return trip will take at least 12 hours, as I go into a 
> trance or fall asleep or whateverthehellthatis,
> every 15 minutes.  Me driving subway trains in NYC turned out to be a 
> truly poor idea. haha.
>
Back in my MUCH younger days, I worked my way through
school by delivering bundles of the Bloomington Pantagraph
to thrir carriers in "outlying" towns. I showed up for work at 1 am,
helped run the bundles through the "wirer-upper" for a couple of
hours, and then loaded my truck (either an Econoline or a "stand-
up" delivery van) with the bundled papers, to be dropped off
along a 50-60 mile route. Since the Pantagraph was the only
local newspaper, the speeds we drove at were ignored by
the area constabulary (in fact, I had to drop off a few papers
at the Pontiac State Police HQ). Mot of the drivers were like
myself...students supporting themselves with part-time jobs.
However, a lot of these kids (trying to combine full-time
studies with 5-6 hours work a night) fell asleep and had
spectacular wrecks (generally not fatal or even injurious!).
I was eventually fired, simply because I didn't notice they
had put a new roof on their garage which no longer easily
cleared the roofs of the larger vans. I put a large dent in
the edge of the van roof...which ended my "driving career!"

I also did a LOT of driving as a "cable guy" for Metro,
and then Rogers Cable Toronto. That is the one part
of that job I DON'T miss...! I recall one time thar I
flipped "the one finger salute" to a driver who had nearly
removed my front bumper with a dubious pass...!
My bad, as it turned out...he was a plainclothes cop
in an unmarked car...and thus assumed he was immune
to everyday traffic laws...?!

Steven C. Barr