On the Road with RLR Jr

College admission wasn't the problem. Getting in I could do. Affording it, now that was another thing.

Sure, having separated parents helped, what with the costs of two households being taken into the accounting for aid, but it only helped so much. Besides, who wants loans if gift money is out there?

Michigan State I got into. Michigan State had a full scholarship program for political science. To get the scholarship, a test had to be taken. A test administered in East Lansing, Michigan. That's an eight and a half hour drive. Longer if you stop for such minor annoyances as bathroom and food.

Robert L Remaley Jr, my dad, was the primary advocate for colleges for both me and my brother. Whatever our interests, he was the one doing research on schools that would be good for those interests. For me, that was government and history. For Michael, that was theater. His research led to me applying to 13 schools. In 1985, that was a lot. It's not like it could be done on line.

Scholarship potential means road trip. Just me and Dad. Dad, the elementary education professor at Bloomsburg State College. Dad, the guy who had a job tailor made for him. He traveled from elementary school to elementary school supervising student teachers. He spent almost no time at Bloomsburg. Given his disdain for adults, that was a perfect job for him. Time around kids was much to his preference.

Considering his family history, the disdain was well earned. His mother suffered from a form of dimentia. His father was pugilistic, constantly losing jobs. Dad was the eldest of 6 kids. When he was 10, they were living in the foundation of a house, also known as a hole in the ground. There was no house, just the foundation. Social services stepped in when one of his younger siblings died of illness of some sort. They were all separated. Dad was raised in orphanages and foster homes after that. Orphanages meant running away from the terrible conditions there, but that never lasted long. The 1950s were far from the black and white idyllic remembered in popular TV of the day, so far as he was concerned. But he ended up with a good foster family on a farm, eventually transfering from his Pittsburgh environs to Stevens Trade School in Lancaster, PA. He boarded there and took an extra year of high school but went to Millersville State College and became and elementary school teacher. Aside from his foster parents, adults didn't earn much esteem in his eyes.

The other player in our trip was the car. Dad had a 1970 Chevrolet Nova. It was light blue like the one in the picture but didn't look nearly as nice. Beat would be more apt. No fancy wheels. No SS. Oh, and his was 4 door. He paid $400 for it, used of course. It had little in the way of sound system or amenities. The heat worked, most of the time. He had an aftemarket cruise control installed, though. Good thing for this trip.