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Roadtrip

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As I left the house, I came face-to-face with this note from my son stuck to the front door

I’m one of those peeps who has zero songs in her phone.  I know, I know, it’s ass-backwards in today’s world.  I just don’t listen to music on my walks or runs so why use up space?  Plus, I am weird (according to my kids) as I love listening to my CBC Radio.

So, what to do when you know a long drive is ahead of you in mountains where signals can be weak and all you get is fuzz in your ears and you watch the numbers scroll round the dial (so to speak), not landing on any station?  You go old school.  Yessiree.  I cannot believe I had the presence of mind to grab a bunch of CDs – some from my bookcase in my living room, some from one of the boxes yet unpacked since my move three years ago.  I know I have a second box somewhere hidden amongst the other yet-unpacked boxes but I was not gonna go foraging there, so I made do with what I could reach; and even then, I did not dig too deeply.  You must understand I have hundreds of them.  I could not find our handy little booky thingamagig where you slide in your CDs, so I just put them into a small box that sat on my passenger seat.

I don’t quite know how I managed to get the variety I did since my CDs were all organised by genre in their racks, ergo, in the same sort of order in the boxes.  It ended up being a selection of more bluesy-jazzy-crooner with an odd rock album or two.  Excellent.

I planned to leave the house by 7:15 and by Jove, I did!  I planned to drive through the car wash as well, and durned if I didn’t do that as well. I amaze me sometimes 😉

I got to the border by 8:10 then waited. And waited. It felt like ages but if I’m honest, it was just half an hour – forty-five minutes, maybe?  I was just impatient to be on my way and at my destination.

8:16: 12-15 cars ahead
8:35 – third in line

I hand over my passport.  “Where ya goin?”

“Prattsville.”

“Pratts– what?  Why?”

“It’s in the Catskills.  Meeting my guy. It’s the halfway point.”

With a sweet and goofy grin, he returned my passport and replied, “Well, you enjoy yourself.”

“Oh, I plan to…”

Not long after I cross the border, my station starts going AWOL so I reach over and grab the first CD.

 

 

103 thoughts on “Roadtrip”

  2. I do have tons of CDs, but I listen to an old school IPod that does only music. Oh, and my car has Series XM, so no dead spots 😉 Hope you enjoy the road trip and the Catskills.

    Liked by 2 people

    • I had Sirius for the first six months when I got my car (they offered it) and never signed up because I felt it got repetitive – but I did enjoy i for the no dead spots 😉
      I have an old iPod – somewhere! I enjoyed reconnecting with my music.
      I did enjoy and more will follow 😉

      Liked by 1 person

      • Some channels on Serius are very repetitive. I listen to a few and change around depending on mood. I might go from new Indy music to old classic jazz and then to 80s new wave in a drive, or keep it on the Indy music station for weeks at a time.
        I have a mix of old, very old and new music on my iPod – I am weird and still actually buy music to put on it.

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        • That’s what we did. Went from 80’s, 70’s, Vinyl, Jazz, comedy, etc. They all get repetitive after a while. Very enjoyable until then, though
          Good for you! Nothing wrong with being legit 🙂

          Liked by 1 person

          • When I think of it, I did find it much more repetitive when I first started listening. I wonder if they got a lot of complaints and improved or if if I just hit the right channels? I hated the 80s channel (all of the decade channels), because they played the same few over and over, but the channel “First Wave” is better, if you hit different times of day – each DJ seems to repeat themselves. I don’t listen to any of the classic 70s stations because they seem to think that the decade consisted of a dozen songs.. except Deep Tracks is a little better. Alt Nation was top 20s for songs that are a little darker than Pop top 20 (used to be top 40!) so I moved to the Indy Rock station. etc. Real Jazz plays a pretty wide variety. But did they always? Hmmm…

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          • You may be right. We tired of the decade ones really quickly. There were others that seemed not so bad but I cannot justify the price as I really love my radio station and listen to it when I’m in the car.
            Next car, if it’s free, I’ll see 😉

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    • I know, right? You know, I had cassettes until my car was stolen and though we found the car, the cassettes were gone. Now, it’s just as well because no cars can read them!

      Liked by 1 person

  10. Dear Dale,

    I understand not needing music when you’re walking. There’s so much to hear if you listen. There’s a trend these days for swimmers to use underwater headphones. Ugh. No thanks. I love the sound of the water and my own thoughts. Nuff about me.
    Glad the wait wasn’t too long at the border. I get the impatience, though. although 45 minutes is kind of longish.
    I’m glad you made it there and had a great time. Can’t wait to hear more. ❤

    Shalom and lotsa melodious hugs,

    Rochelle

    Liked by 2 people

    • Dear Rochelle,

      I know you get the desire for no other sounds to interfere with your moments.
      It was longish, for sure.
      It was wonderful and there will be more to come 😉

      Shalom and lotsa jazzy love,

      Dale

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  16. Nothing like a good CD! I too do not have music in my phone. Well, I have a couple of my singer daughter’s songs saved in my “notes,” but I have no idea how to use music on my phone and years ago I got rid of what ended up on there through itunes because it took up way too much space. Sometimes it’s frustrating, but then I can always find a youtube video of an old song to listen to. I hope you had fun or are having fun at your destination!

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    • Right? I love having the excuse to dig them up (and now I’ve changed my mind on getting rid of them). Things like Spotify are find and dandy IF you have WiFi or are within your own country. Not so good for me crossing the border Ka-Ching!
      I had lots of fun, thank you, Luanne 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

        • Yay!
          I have three or is it four? racks (that are stacked in my as-yet-unpacked basement) as well as two boxes of CDs. Now? I am definitely putting said racks up on the wall so I can access them.

          Liked by 1 person

          • Oh man. You want a flashback. The Airbnb we rented had a dual VHS video and cd player. A bureau with four drawers of VHS movies – mostly Disney, but still! I actually think I had the same machine (or have… it might actually be hidden in one of my boxes!)

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  17. I’m sure you had a wonderful trip, and I’m glad it started well with CDs and not too long a wait. That was a fun surprise from your son.
    I have a couple albums–like Hamilton– on iTunes that I can access by bluetooth in my car if I want to, but that’s it. Mostly I listen to NPR. But my car doesn’t play CDs. My husband has a new old car–it has a cassette player. 🤣

    Liked by 2 people

  18. Dale, I have a bunch of CD’s…but I still listen to my 289 songs on my iPhone. My wife doesn’t like the sound being “cheapened” by listening that way, but since I always have sports or shows playing in the background anyway I don’t need a concert experience. Enjoyed hearing about the “initial stage” of the trip.

    Liked by 2 people

    • I wonder just how many CDs I do have. 289, eh? Another blogger I follow has thousands on his phone. I can’t imagine it. And I’m with your wife 😉
      Glad you enjoyed my intro.

      Liked by 1 person

  21. Great post! Could be me! I have just order a musical compilation CD, the musical “Rebecca” on CD and “Spamalot” plus Italian 80s hits for my coming 9 hour drive to Austria (for something new apart from my stack of various cds stored in my car). I do have some songs downloaded onto my iPhone … but I still prefer CDs … thanks for not making me feel I’m the only one still in the CD age 🤩

    Liked by 3 people

    • Thank you, MJC! So glad to find a sister-CD-friend! 9 hour drive requires quite the variety! And, I suppose we need to enjoy them while we can. You are not alone!

      Liked by 1 person

  23. Q

    I think CD’s are such a cool bridge to the very best music delivery system of all time (in my humblest of opinions) . . . the turntable. They are miniature versions of an LP and they were the bridge we took from cassette tapes. Now, the cassette tape may have gone the way of the pet rock, but who doesn’t remember mixtapes? If you were coming of age in the eighties, I mean?

    Your choice for a road trip musical compass? In a word?

    Inspired.

    B

    Liked by 2 people

    • B,

      I agree. Obviously, the turntable and vinyl is top of the top. Though some would argue those official tape thingies, but hey. The cassette tapes are definitely long gone though I am still pissed that all my mixed tapes were stolen along with my car. Mind you. What the hell would I play them on now?

      Well then… I sure hope you like the next bit.

      I like that. Inspired 🙂

      Q

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    • Thank you, Gigi. It’s a very rural area in upstate New York. A lovely place to get away from it all. I shall be, for sure.
      Am working on part 2 as we speak 🙂

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