Holiday Road: Southern Florida

You might know Debbie from such band camps as Usdan or such islands as Long.  Or you may not know her at all.  Regardless, Debbie sent in this sighting from the highways of Southern Florida, where she makes her home.

I don't know that this is blog worthy but I thought you'd laugh.  I was driving down the Florida Turnpike (or "Florida's Turnpike" as the sign says) on the way home from work the other day.  It was about 4:30 and I was driving north and had made it just north of Fort Lauderdale at this point.  

I glance out the window and find myself sidling up to an old Oldsmobile station wagon—you know, the kind with the wood panels but not the traditional "Woody," as they used to be called.  This was white metal halfway down then solid wood paneling the bottom half.  A very brief but shockingly productive bit of research would probably peg it as a '73 Vista Cruiser.  Far rounder than the Griswold's. 

More like this.

The car in question. Not this...

I turned on the radio to make sure there weren't any time warps in the area (which would be strange because time warps are usually on US1, not the Turnpike).  I'm singing "Holiday Road" as I pick up speed to get a closer look and see a sticker on the rear window which reads, "The Griswolds."  Wow.  Either it's really them filming some horrible Vacation spinoff or just some crazed fan.  I tried to catch a picture with my phone for your blog, but you know, the whole safe driving thing got in the way..... [ed: that's not my problem]

This is where the image of the care would have gone
had the author gone the extra mile to capture photographic evidence.

As to the family within in, alas there was only the driver. With a big handlebar mustache. Talking on his cellphone. All the windows were down. I'm assuming that was for lack of air conditioning as most people find it dificult to talk on a cell phone while going 70 mph in the rain while on a cell phone.  There were a whole bunch of era homages going on here:

• Handlebar mustache: 1920s or early 1970s
• Vista Cruiser: Early to mid 70s
• Cell phone: Anywhere from mid 90s to present

That's what really did it for me.  Guy with a 1920s mustache driving a 1970s car and speaking into a 2000s device.  The guy's crossing centuries.  I spend away because that can't be good.  That's how wormholes happen. 

The Driver (artist's rendition)