Because we're the Griswolds - Maine Revisited

Well - it has been awhile since I've updated anything on here.  BUT - it has been a busy couple of weeks for my old buddy 8D69 - having recently made a showing at a lovely wedding as the 'get away' car, and then *drum roll* - the family vacation mobile.  Yes - much to the chagrin of my familial occupants, I took the old NYC Taxi on it's first ever family vacation trip to the seacoast of Maine.  But first - before I get into that - I would like to congratulate Mr. and Mrs. David Eccles on their wedding celebration.

David and I, as it turns out, are cut from the same cloth.  He too, if you can believe it, bought a retired NYC Taxi a few years ago and left it as is - I remember seeing it once in Keene, NH.  The couple's wedding was NYC themed - so, David - a Fed Ex Driver approached me one day in a parking lot and asked if I could make the trek to Windham, NH to their wedding, to which I was nothing but delighted and honored.  I washed the hell out of the car, even tried waxing the black wheels - but damn, in full sun and up close - nothing can hide the scars of Brooklyn!  What a great day for their wedding - I wish them the best. 

SO...Maine.  Again.  I loaded the car up to bear - between my Devious Dominican Diva, my son, and later two nephews and enough luggage to outfit a small army, the car was a bit sagging.  It drove fine though - no issues at all and the AC blew ice cold the entire trip.  Made it to Atlantic Avenue in about three hours and backed the cab in the driveway so it could watch all the happy vacationing people walk and drive by:

So, during my off beach times, I would go for a cruise and hit the same spots I had in my previous blog entry about Maine, so nothing new to report there.  The only difference between this trip and that one (during the off season), there was a TON of people....and there was nary a place where curious people would inevitably take a picture of the car, do a double/triple take of "WTF?".  I must have heard a thousand times the mutterings on sidewalks in slow traffic of 'hey a New York City Taxi' - either monotone, or, with great awe.  The usual unclever "Taxi!" would be shouted out here and there.  BTW, for those who don't really know, no one, and I mean no one, yells out "Taxi!" when they want a taxi.  Anyhow, in Kennebunk Beach, a man was quite thrilled to see the car, as he followed me to a side street and told me he wanted to take it's picture.  The man told me he was on the Kennebunk selectboard and we chatted briefly ending with his taking a picture of the car.  The next day I open up the Sea Coast newspaper and well well well....look who made the paper:

You know, sometimes I have to chuckle to myself - that of all the cars that no one wants, in a town that is laden with the best of the best rolling around, including the President Bush entourage, that a 300,000 plus mile taxi gets it's picture in the paper.  Kind of amazing if you think about it.  On the day I saw it in the paper, I was a little embarrassed by it, because several people when I would stop at a red light or what not, would tell me the car was in the paper.  Then I would think to myself, geez....I hope people don't think I drive this around because I am some attention monger, because, that is certainly far from the truth.  I mean yeah, sure - I write this silly blog about it, but the main reason I do so, is simply because I like the car and what it is, and what it was, and that it is still kicking, and it's like the Little Engine That Could - no one thought it was any good anymore, but uh, clearly that notion has been proven wrong.  But then again, as long as people aren't acting silly stupid like in my hometown thinking it is an 'undercover cop car', I'm happy.  

So - here are just a couple of shots of my beat up buddy 8D69 wheeling around enjoying it's time in the sun - checking out all the happy people and just being a plain old regular car:

Whew - glad this blog post is over?  No?  Really?  Yearning for MORE?  Okay, well, here is one thing that is interesting to note.  If any of you have kept up with this blog, you would know my significant other, Orianna, dislikes with great passion - this car.  The ONLY reason she was okay with taking it on the trip was because the air conditioner broke in my other car.  But - she knows I love the car, so basically is 'okay' with it *sort of winces my eyes/mouth and tilts my head back and forth slowly*.  So, we come out of a Rite-Aid, and this young hip couple with NY plates is looking at my car, like full on head and hands against the windows checking it out.  No big deal right?  Well, all of a sudden the girl, another young latina, simply says "That's hilarious."  Now, to me, I felt she was just simply conveying in less complex words 'huh...kind of neat, weird, unusual, different etc'.  But oh no...not to Orianna.  Orianna took it to mean she was offending my car and got right up in the woman's face and said "No it isn't", to which the latina backed away looking a little scared.  Two latina females from NY scrapping over my wheels...love it!  We get in the car and the boyfriend looks a little pissed at us.  Ori gets on my case and says, "you need to get a little bit of NY attitude if you're going to drive around in this thing, that bitch just made fun of your car fool, and only I can do that."  Anyhow - I still disagreed with her assessment of the other girl's meaning, BUT - it was nice to see, in Orianna's words...'defending your car's honor."  LOL.  

Other weird moment:  In Ogunquit, two teenaged girls from, judging by their accents, wanted me to give them a ride to their hotel while waiting in traffic.  I explained to them I was on vacation and the cab really was no longer a cab, but they said they didn't care and gave me sad puppy eyes still wanting a ride in it, which - naturally, I declined.  I doubt their parents would have appreciated their young daughters being given a ride from a total stranger.  

All in all, a nice family vacation - glad I got to take the cab along for the ride. 

Fun Facts:

1.) Mileage at the moment - almost 339,000 miles
2.) My car made the paper and yours didn't