One of dad’s favorite movie flicks was National Lampoon’s ‘Vacation’ – the classic Griswold trek to Walley World theme park.
Pop’s Pilot
Pop never took us to Walley World, but he’d always bring up the misadventures of Clark Griswold on the road. He was always a big Chevy Chase fan. There’s no doubt he’ll be watching over us as me and Joanne pack into his brown Honda Pilot for our big wine trip to the Finger Lakes in upstate New York this week.
It was a great surprise when mom decided to present me with dad’s Pilot. So I basically traded in my 2005 Pilot for an ’06. I’ll never enter that car without thinking of him in some way. Whether it’s the prayer cards in the top visor or MLB reference guide to the ball parks, his fingerprints will always be somewhere within that car. He also kept some media guides with a few NHL-related stories written by yours truly.
I’m sure he’ll be looking down and expecting me to keep the Pilot in pristine condition. Well, it might not be as pristine as he kept it, but picture-perfect enough I guess. After all, Joanne has first crack at the garage! I found it ironic that the first significant trip we’ll take since getting the Honda will be to the Finger Lakes. Dad once said he wanted to join us on a trip to the Finger Lakes once he was healthy enough to make the trip.
He’ll be with us in spirit and will check out every winery on the map along the way.
During the summer months, can’t help but remember of a few of the fun times shared with mom, dad and sis down the shore. One such moment was following a World Wrestling Federation event that was held at Wildwood’s Convention Center many years ago. Quite honestly, you couldn’t script a Chevy Chase-themed movie any better.
It was just me and dad attending the event; I believe Chief Jay Strongbow, the SuperFly, Nikolai Volkov and the Iron Sheik were a few of the main attractions. Anyway, after the card, we hit the boards and ventured to the record stand. It was different back then and so much better.
For just $0.25 or five plays for $1, you would have an opportunity to win an album or cassette tape of your choosing. Today, there are no such stands. How many damn stuffed animals could one actually bear to win?
Wildwood boardwalk
So we hit the record stand. I believe pop was playing the numbers and I was dropping quarters down on names – Mike, Geo, Ken, ect. The wheel stops and the attendant drops a winning voucher next to me despite the fact I wasn’t even close to winning. I look at the voucher and look at dad and he says, “Don’t say a [bleepin] word!”
So I don’t — mums the word pop. Hey, what the heck, right! Another album to add to my collection. Minutes later, the wheel stops and the dizzy attendant strolls down our end again and looks at dad and asks him, “Did you have No. 2?” I can’t remember what number he did have but it wasn’t 2, I remember that much. He looks the attendant square in the eye and says, “Yep. No. 2 right here buddy.”
That’s two albums for $0.50. At that point, it would have been perfectly logical to select the two records and get back to the Port Royal to talk about our amazing victories. Not yet! Pop flips out his leather wallet and hands me a $5 bill and says, “We need to leave here with at least two more.” We ended up with one more and it was the only legitimate win, in fact. So we totaled three albums for $5.50 – that’s a pretty memorable night on the boards.
As we embark to toast with a glass of wine at the Finger Lakes within the comforts of dad’s old Pilot, I just thought it would be neat to rehash some of these fond summer memories.
Here’s to you Pop.
Family Focus 