I fell in love with long distance driving right after graduating from college. Up to that point, growing up in Rhode Island and rarely ever leaving the state, I had little opportunity to drive more than about 45 minutes at a stretch. I remember driving to Hartford from URI junior year to see a football game at Central Connecticut, and once driving from Framingham straight to Snug Harbor, but that’s pretty much it. Maybe an hour and a half in a day.

So when I graduated and was to drive to Kansas City to begin my life as an engineer, I gave myself a week to get there, not knowing how many miles I would be able to drive in any day. I packed up everything I owned (except some books, which dad shipped later) in my 1966 Plymouth Valient, with its slant six engine, and headed west. I made a brief stop in Darien CT for gas. That was about 3 hours from Cranston, so I’d already set a personal record for driving.

The next stop was somewhere in central Pennsylvania, then Youngstown Ohio, then finally that night, after 13 hours and 30 minutes of actual driving time, I stopped in Mansfield Ohio for the night. I learned I could drive for long distances at a time. In fact, I loved it. Just me and the radio and the truckers and the pavement and whirr of the engine.

That’s where I plan on stopping tonight, driving in the opposite direction. Then on to Upton Massachusetts on Thursday. Looking forward to time with family and friends, some I haven’t seen for 40 years, one family member who arrived last May who I haven’t seen yet. I’m looking forward to it.

Oh, I found the high school memorabilia I was missing, quite a bit of it, almost all related to what we called “Howie’s Class”. Chuck and Joe will be interested in that. Gary, perhaps not as much. Don’t know if any others from that class will be at the reunion, but I’ll have it there just in case.

Spell checker won’t work, and not time to proof. See you all. May not post for a week.