{"id":24,"date":"2003-07-14T09:39:46","date_gmt":"2003-07-14T17:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/?p=24"},"modified":"2006-10-20T09:23:39","modified_gmt":"2006-10-20T13:23:39","slug":"maiden-voyage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/2003\/07\/14\/maiden-voyage\/","title":{"rendered":"Maiden Voyage"},"content":{"rendered":"

I called Jeffrey in Evansville to ask him if he thought the BMW would make the twelve mile drive to Minuteman High School in Lexington. He didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hesitate to say yes, but added, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When you shift into the higher gears, give it gas slowly, the clutch slips.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nWith Robby and Joe in the back seat, Matt riding shotgun, and Diane trailing in the Mazda, we turned right out of our driveway, down Central St., past the train station and onto School St. I wanted to stick to my mental map of all back roads to avoid less forgiving state cops on the highway. We weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t illegal, but we were driving an un-inspected car which meant that if stopped, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have some \u00c3\u00absplaining to do. <\/p>\n

The lack of a sticker would give us away but speed traps were not going to be a problem. Every time the speedometer needle passed thirty-five, there was a rousing cheer from the back seat, even if it was then noted that we were going downhill, or that the quivering pointer might not be accurate. Later, Diane confirmed a top speed of forty. <\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure if we had taken the highway we could have gone faster, but that clutch has been added to Matt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s school to-do list, as well as the steering wheel that seems only remotely connected to the front wheels. <\/p>\n

When we finally got to Concord, Matt called Dan to warn him that we would soon be passing his street. An alert perhaps, to queue up behind us, which he did. The first Minuteman gate we came to was locked, the second invitingly open, but when we pulled into the parking lot next to Matt’s classroom, horns blaring in celebration, a stern-faced security guard approached. I walked up to him.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m Michael Miller.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nBig deal.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Matthew Miller\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nStill not impressed.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Matthew is taking a course here and his instructor said he could bring his car to be worked on.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nAt least that brought words.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I need a written statement from his teacher, otherwise you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t park here.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d|<\/p>\n

I thought, boolsheet mon. This may be the most rigidly-ruled and regulated state in the union but we’re not turning this parade around. Three harmless looking adults, three boys and a jewel of car created before the guard was born. Besides, the BMW is from Indiana, where there are no rules. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll bend. <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the instructor’s name?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bruce Flood, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153 Matthew replies.<\/p>\n

And that was it, the excuse he wanted to suddenly not need that written statement. By the end, he too was smiling as broadly as the rest of us.
\n\"buckle_up.jpg\"
Robby and Joe buckle up.
\n\"three_ready.jpg\"
\nThe not too distant future.
\nNote to Jeffrey:
\nI returned the battery, but had the same clicking, no crank sound from the new one. I followed the positive battery lead back to the coil, found it broken off, and in pulling it back out, contacted the battery ground strap which melted the copper wire in half, fried its insulation and sent a plume of acrid white smoke and hot white sparks billowing from under the hood. Assuming the worst, those boys, like hooked marlin, bolted from the car.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I called Jeffrey in Evansville to ask him if he thought the BMW would make the twelve mile drive to Minuteman High School in Lexington. He didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hesitate to say yes, but added, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When you shift into the higher gears, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}