a tribute to scout

"the photograph on the dashboard taken years ago
turn around backwards so the windshield shows
every streetlight reveals a picture in reverse"
- "Nightswimming"

This was a postcard I got while I was in Slovakia, and it always hung up on a wall somewhere at home when I lived in Trnava and in Decatur. Then the summer of the long road trip I was in huge transition, all of my belongings in boxes, ready to be moved down to Inman Park, and my car becoming my home for most of seven weeks on the road. I look this picture off the wall by the lightswitch, and felt sad to pack it up and have the room so bare. Instead, I put it on the dashboard just before leaving, thinking of the lyrics to the REM song. There was a funny little incident in Alabama a week later, and Dylan stayed on Scout's dashboard since. (But he'll move to Prague with me.)


Scout has been a good car to me for over three years now. We've had three long summers together, covering a lot of miles with different loads and different company. And now we're parting for a few years, Lord willing. Scout will make her residence in West Orange, taking regular commutes to Short Hills and back. She will do just fine, and I'm pretty ok with parting with her. But this seems to be a good forum for remembering many good times.

Just this summer, Scout took Carol and Garrett and me down to DC...

And before that she drove up from GA, over to western NY, and up to NH two times.

Last summer, in New Hampshire again, this time with Courtney and Jeremy (who is the friend of Garrett's, and this was when we met...)

And when we were in Maine, Scout got a little messy...

Earlier that summer, driving from Texas with Anna and Daniel in the back seat...

And of course, I have lots of pictures from the big road trip, Summer 06 when Scout turned 1 and was christened...

Above is Laura driving her,
and here we are headed for the Grand Canyon with Angie and Elizabeth...

on the west coast, with Jeremy and Brent

Then up in Seattle with Courtney in the front, and David, Jodie and Ivy squashed in the back (next to all our stuff...)

Then driving east with Courtney...

One of the more hilarious moments in Scout, on Yellowstone Lake...

Here's Scout in the Tetons, one of her favorite places, naturally.

By the end of that trip, she was pretty dirty...

And I had taken a LOT of pictures through her windows...

Goodbye, Scout!

Scout in the New Hampshire mountains