Riding in Cars

This story popped into my head while I was driving home after lunch today. This was back around 1970 and I was living in Columbus, Ohio, just off the OHSU main campus. I'd been hanging out with this guy, I think his name was Stuart. He had thick dark hair and a moustache. Anyway, he's got a tooth that's bothering him and around about midnight he decides he needs to do something about it, and that something he needs to do is to drive out to the all-night super Rx and get a bottle of mouthwash. So we pile in his old beater, a sedan of some sort with a broken rear leaf spring, and drive out to the super Rx and he buys a bottle of mouthwash. He comes back, gets in the car and starts driving home. But now his tooth is really bugging him, so he cracks open the mouthwash and gets a big mouthful and immediately he wants to spit it out. He's flipping out, making horrible noises but trying to keep from spitting mouthwash all over his shirt and pants. I think he must of cracked open the door and leaned over to spit on the ground. Of course we're going 30 miles an hour while he's doing this.

1970 Ford Torino Cobra

One story leads to another. I was riding around in a car with Mike Morrow drinking beer, as we were wont. Mike was a Vietnam veteran and he had picked up some kind of injury, I think maybe his shoulder didn't work quite right. I don't remember exactly what the deal was. Anyway, we're out riding around in his car, which, as I recall, was a Ford Torino with a healthy V8 engine and broken power steering, and Mike decides he needs to take a piss. So are we stopping? No we're riding, we ain't stoppin' for no bullshit. He cracks open his door, turns up on his side and pees out the door. I offered to steer for him while he was occupied, but no, he don't need no help. Two lane, winding, rural blacktop.

Here's a story I overheard, maybe while I was on the ski lift up on Mt. Hood. Bunch of kids are heading home from the slopes and one kid in the back seat needs to take a whiz. The driver isn't stopping, he tells him to piss in bottle. Annoying, but do-able. But then when the kid starts peeing, the driver keeps goosing the gas so the kid is constantly missing. Don't think I want to get in that car.