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Well, I should say it’s not really a Medivan, but it flowed better than saying “Dodge Wheelchair Accessible Conversion Van with Lift.” \u00a0I should also say that I miss vehicles in general, or I will. The last few days have \u00a0been wrought with errand running and all of it on foot. I actually do enjoy walking and biking a lot; and I’m so happy for the transit system here and how central everything is, but, man, could I use me some van loving to take off the edge a bit.<\/p>\n
My good friend Megan McClellan and her husband, Brian, let me use their van for a few weeks before the move over here which turned out to be invaluable in the move out of our condo. I rode so high off the ground that when I drove our regular car it felt like riding a Big Wheel. It had some power to it, too.<\/p>\n
All this to say, I know I will miss the luxury of a vehicle. Mostly to get out of the city. When I lived in NYC for a \u00a0season I really ached to get out, but I was stuck with no car and no money for a train. And even if I did have money for a train it wouldn’t have let me off on the back roads deep in a forest to get lost in. I\u00a0could\u00a0<\/em>have always jumped, I guess.<\/p>\n Besides the horrible gas mileage(13mpg!!!) a vehicle like that Dodge calls to me. I like to get up and go so if I don’t have to put up a tent, great! In fact, on my road trips I always sleep in my car even if it takes a few nights to get used to it. A quick brush of the teeth and water on the face and back on the weather-beaten roads.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>Road \u00a0trips seem like a distinctly American thing. Our relatively cheap oil and cars. Even though it will be best for our environment that road trips, as we know them, will probably be a thing of the past soon, it is<\/em> sad. Maybe if a decent solar powered car with advanced gyroscopic technology came along, but I can’t imagine an electric car making it through the Canadian Rockies. Maybe pilgrimages will become a thing again.<\/p>\n But here I am, without a car. No trunk. No sunroof. No backseat. No insurance, either, which is flipping awesome. I guess I can always rent a car… But that takes planning and sometimes I just need to go. This his does make me think of Hemingway’s short story Big, Two-Hearted River<\/em>(parts 1 & 2). If I recall correctly the war-beaten Nick gets off a train, walks though a burneddown town and along the river where he finds a pine needle bed. That\u00a0was<\/em>\u00a0set in the U.S., but I\u00a0bet<\/strong>\u00a0I could find something like that over here. Gotta look for where the tracks cross the green on the map!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I miss the Dodge Medivan. Well, I should say it’s not really a Medivan, but it flowed better than saying “Dodge Wheelchair Accessible Conversion Van with Lift.” \u00a0I should also say that I miss vehicles in general, or I will. The last few days have \u00a0been wrought with errand running and all of it … Continue reading Wanderlust<\/span>