Note: Posted on Blogger June 6, 2006
Unfolding the Map
The On the Road map has gotten another little facelift. The markers have been color-coded -- green means that Sal stopped in the location briefly, blue means that Sal mentioned the place in connection with his trip but did not stop, and red means that Sal made an extended stay. You'll find a legend down below the map. You can click the image at right to get to the map.
Book Quote
"Finally a car stopped at the empty filling station...I stepped right up and gestured in the rain...I looked like a maniac, of course...But the people let me in and rode me north to Newburgh. In Newburgh it had stopped raining. I walked down to the river, and I had to ride back to New York in a bus with a delegation of schoolteachers coming back from a weekend in the mountains - chatter-chatter blah-blah, and me swearing for all the time and the money I'd wasted..."
On the Road: Chapter 2.
Newburgh, New York
Schoolteachers on vacation are a sight to behold. One year when we lived in San Antonio some friends, one of whom was a schoolteacher, invited us to accompany her and her husband and two other friends down to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico for a day of shopping and fun. Of course, you can't go to Nuevo Laredo now because it is so dangerous there, but then there were a lot of people going back and forth and over to shop. We met at about 7:00 in the morning in a parking lot at a Wal-Mart. I knew it was going to be a long day when some of the gym teachers pulled in with a cooler full of beer, and began drinking it. One guy seemed to be stuck on the old commercial where the guy keeps saying "Whazzzzzzupppppppp!!!!!!!!" It got annoying fast. Despite that, we had a good time in Nuevo Laredo, though by the time we got back on the bus all, and I mean all, the teachers were trashed.
I've never been to Newburgh, though I did make a trip up part of the Hudson. For Sal, I imagine getting a ride back to New York seemed like a retreat, and perhaps he felt it put his whole trip in jeopardy. And I've certainly been in that place for one reason or another.
For more information on Newburgh
City of Newburgh website
Newburgh Revealed
Wikipedia: Newburgh
Wikipedia: Town of Newburgh