September 29, 2013 would have been my Dad's 86th birthday. Dad spent his entire life at sea.. He started as a potato peeler in the galley when he was 15 and through hard work and union schools worked his way up to an unlimited licensed chief engineer for any vessel in the world. That's right. He was a merchant marine. He would go to sea for 6 - 9 months and then come home for 6 months.... so when he was home, he wanted to DRIVE... Hit the open road...road trip king. Want to visit relatives in NY and you live in Alabama? of course you pile into the car and drive 1300 miles with two kids, in a station wagon, with 1 golden retriever for luck. So starting my journey on his birthday across the country from Connecticut to Alabama seemed fitting.
When I was 8, Dad and the entire family piled into the station wagon for a trek to NYC. While flying through Virginia, (I'm my father's daughter), he got pulled over by a state trooper. Now Dad was a charmer, but his charm wasn't working at all on this cop. Dad took his ticket and we were on our way.... about a week later we were on our way back, through Virginia, and Dad, of course, was doing his best impression on Mario Andretti, and lo and behold, he gets pulled over... AGAIN.... so dad put on his smile and cracked up when he realized it was the SAME state trooper who pulled him over on the way up to NYC. Dad thought that this was hilarious.... the cop.... not so much.... so Dad got his ticket and we were on our merry way. haha
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
