rental cars i have known and loved 2

• Dick
  The embarrassingly-huge Chrysler 300 that we were stuck driving around LA and San Diego. It’s impossible to look awesome in that car, especially when it just turns off randomly.
• Captain Cook
  The champagne-colored Cavalier that took us to visit volcanoes on the Big Island.
• Captain Hook
  The silver Cavalier that took us to visit beaches, rain forests, and to the top of a volcano in Maui. I also changed clothes in it more than once.
• Captain Crunch
  The white Cavalier that took us to Pearl Harbor and Diamond Head on Oahu, then around the entire island.
• Captain Morgan
  …Which would’ve been named Captain Cook because we were in Alaska, but we’d used that name already. We heard ‘Ridin Dirty’ in it at least 40 times.
• Poontang
  The gold PT Cruiser that we took up into the Rocky Mountains, to Pike’s Peak, and to see the Dalai Lama in Denver.
• Cracker
  The giant white minivan I drove from Santa Fe to Mesa Verde, because I was unfortunate enough to arrive at the rental place after midnight, and it was all they had left.
• Disposo
  The Nissan Versa Matt and Wendy and I rented in Fort Lauderdale after the cruise, so we could go do free shots at Coyote Ugly (?) and drive down the A1A before our flight. The hope was that we could just crash it when we were done.
• Disposo 2
  To drive from Boston to Worcester, and so I could visit Vermont and Rhode Island while Matt was giving a seminar. Its primary benefit was satellite radio.
• El Dispo
  So we could visit El Yunque National Rainforest and Condado in Puerto Rico, and risk our lives driving around Old San Juan.

Note: When I name my new car ‘The Deuce’, be aware is that it is because it descends from a proud heritage of crappy rental cars. I just have to sell my old car first.

Anyway, what I really came here to say is that MY TRAVEL JOURNAL IS UP TO DATE. It is now possible to read all about (or just look at the pictures from) Sint Maarten/Saint Martin, Dominica, Grenada, Tobago, Barbados, and Puerto Rico. I’m very proud to have adhered to my ongoing commitment to always finish writing about the last trip before going on another vacation.

I cut it really close this time.