April 9, 2012

The Wrong Car

PENNSYLVANIA, April 9 – This morning, the period cheerfully slated for VALLEY FORGE in my itinerary was instead spent at the Dollar Car rental counter at the Philadelphia Airport. My new roadie John Michaels has taken over for Anthony (of Mugger Books) and Jesse (of the upcoming Exploded View Quarterly), and we needed to swap out cars as well. This marked the end of the little East Coast prologue of the book tour. I’d wanted to get a photo of the official handoff ceremony, but that didn’t work out. And after my debit card was declined, there was a moment when it seemed like the rest of the book tour wasn’t going to work out either.

Following a frank chat with my bank, the car place relented. We found ourselves in a sporty red Chevy Aveo. It seemed like a new beginning in both our lives, and I documented this moment (instead of the more poignant moment, 4 minutes later, when we were informed we were attempting to drive the wrong car off the lot).

The inset photo is pretty much what I did to the city of Pittsburgh tonight.

Also, the LA Weekly gave me some very nice press. When John saw the accompanying photo, he said, “why would you use such an unflattering picture?” I told him I had no idea. I don’t.