Author: Vic Socotra

Mound Hill

So, yesterday, my fingers flew over the keyboard, trying to recount the wonders of the Rosie Road-Trip at the Holiday Inn Express north of Columbus, OH. The whole Rosie delivery saga still had me energized- jazzed, in fact- and damn the expense. I had to be in Ohio anyway. I checked the Google Earth algorithm […]

Rosie At Rest

The rain started spattering against the side of the Kokomo Holiday Inn Express around three AM. My brother was snoring in the bed next to me, and suddenly awake, I began to think beyond the end of the mission, when the Pepto-Bismo-colored flanks of the classic Rambler Station Wagon would take up her position in […]

A Jumble of Wonders

The blizzard swept from the north and east. I wandered down to the lobby to get one of the larger cups they have for the house-blend coffee and looked out past the registration desk and saw the white stuff blowing sideways. We looked at Doppler radar, and the immensity of the front passing mostly to […]

Speedsters

Life and Island Times April 9 2016 Marlow’s pal, Vic, and his brother Spike are leisurely heading westward on long forgotten blue highways between the Imperial City and Kokomo. They are on a Mission From God. Their assignment is to ferry a 67 year old car, Rambling Rosie, of their father Raven’s design to an […]

Rosie’s Roads

We used to call at Roosie Roads, Puerto Rico, and could not resist the title. Sorry. We had some fun there, before he venerable old Spanish-American War vintage base was shuttered, and the island of Vieques was bombed for the last time. But it was Rosie’s Roads yesterday. We poured some raw gas down the […]

The Road to Seville

Well, I thought we closed out the memories of the old days in the P.I. and Japan, as related by Virginia Ann Wheeler Martin yesterday. She was a dear friend, and we will all miss her enormously. If you happen to be in the neighborhood of Seville, OH, on Tuesday, April 12, at 2:00 pm, […]

No Way Out

Life and Island Times April 7 2016 Nick, the tree cutter, and his Caring Tree Company crew, was back in the hood yesterday. Next door neighbor Wisconsin had yet another diseased tree, a 50 year old Royal Poinciana, which required removal. The tree had been beset with ground termites, fatal fungal diseases and strangling, variegated […]

Quo Vadis

So, this morning ends in triumph: I walked down to the barn to make a valiant last try at starting the Rambler, expecting to find the battery dead from the exertions of yesterday. I did not touch the gas pedal, having convinced myself I had flooded her yesterday with what a remembered was the customary […]

Caffeine Coming to the Reef

Life and Island Times April 1 2016 It is official – a national chain has signed a contract to open operation in the waters off of Marathon Key. The Starbucks Coffee Company has begun rehabilitating Sombrero Lighthouse to accommodate a stand-alone coffee shop next to one of the most popular tourist attractions in Florida. Charter […]

Living With the Shadow Warriors

01 April 2016 Editor’s note: No joke, despite the date. I was going to continue the story of that Med Cruise long ago and try to stay away from getting emotional about the current chaos of a nation turning itself inside out and not doing very well at it. Messy business, but that is not […]