"Heading Down the Shore"

For MG………hoping your family’s 2014 Jersey Shore summertime visit is the stuff of dreams…..~SK

This past winter sucked!

There is no other way to describe what I and my fellow residents of the Delaware Valley experienced a few months ago.  It was the winter from hell which seemed to last for an eternity.   

Understand these sentiments are coming from an avid skier of over 25 years.  Part of my grumpiness comes from the fact that I am very busy with my full-time job as Mister Corporate Accountant during January and February.  Once that merriment of working 60 hour weeks ends, I immediately begin my income tax preparation business servicing 50-60 tax clients from late-February through mid-April.

So it comes as no surprise, that each time I would awake to a festive winter wonderland in my backyard, I seemed to resent the fact that I was becoming friendlier with my snow shovel than my snow skis!  For the first time in well over a decade, Dad and daughter experienced zero fun filled days “shushing down the slopes”.   Watching the Delaware Valley Winter Storm count approach and pass double-digits, I was beyond miserable.  I was on Mental Suicide Watch!

Frankly, things got so depressing or desperate (I’m not sure which) this past winter that on two separate occasions, I loaded up my road bike and drove to the Jersey Shore to make sure the Ocean and Sun still existed as I biked along Ocean Drive in pure and unadulterated mental bliss.

About half-way through Tax Season, I made a promise to myself that once the calendar passed April 15th, I would take my camera, mind and body and head down the Shore on a lazy Saturday morning.  On that day, I promised myself I would not be accountable to anyone.  Nor would I be on any prescribed time schedule that has ruled my last four months.  I would photograph whatever I found interesting, unusual or nostalgic, documenting that time honored summer rite of passage of heading to the sea.

Today, it was just me and Bruce (Springsteen) playing on my iPod as “we” headed south on Route 73 past the commercial wasteland of endless gas stations, diners and strip shopping centers.  It wasn’t until I turned onto “the Pike” (aka White Horse Pike) and headed east on Route 30 that I began to relax and find my groove.   Bruce and the band sounded great!  I lowered my driver side car window, feeling the sunny early morning breeze on my face and surrendering to the moment of my anticipated freedom.

That’s when all my summertime memories came rushing back to me……

I recalled early childhood memories of sitting in the backseat with my two younger siblings, impatient and antsy wanting nothing more than to be playing on the beach, jumping the endless waves until dinnertime arrived.  Admittedly, life was easy and organized and required little effort back then.

During our annual summer vacation drive to the Shore, following our parents “instructions” we kids used to amuse ourselves playing the Alphabet Game.  The game’s rules were simple.  You called out a sign or billboard in the sequential order of the alphabet.  Atco Drive-in…..Bob’s Auto Sales….Cumberland Farms……and so forth.  As youngsters, we got pretty good at remembering where certain businesses or signs were displayed.

I was amazed to find certain businesses such as Ideal, Square Deal and Angelo’s Farm Market have continued to stand the test of time, while other businesses such as Farmer’s Daughter and Acme Markets no longer existed.   While it was clearly too early in the season, almost instinctively a Pavlovian sensation of thick red juicy Jersey tomatoes, Sweet Corn and homemade pies made my morning stomach rumble.  Unfortunately, the peach orchids were months away from harvest, tomato and corn fields not yet planted.  Not wanting to rush my precious summertime, I rationalized that I would let the 2014 calendar handle things in its typical dependable fashion.  I can wait.

Driving further down the road, I came to the realization that these mile markers kinda reminded me of the various friends that have been a part of my life.  As with some of these landmarks, certain friends have stood by me (and me by them) since our beginning days, whereas a few of my friends in recent years have conveniently ceased to be a part of my life (and I a part of theirs), caused by mutual or one-sided inactivity by one of the parties to the sacred friendship contract.  That thought provided me some brief sadness.

I casually observed the “Shore Points” signs occasionally announcing their presence on the side of the road as I raced on by.  I watched large green signs with white lettering count down in reverse order the remaining miles left for each driver to reach their own individual destination.  Getting lost in the music and the countless random thoughts that will naturally inhabit your mind on any kind of road trip, I wondered if maybe these road signs mirrored our life journey. 

In my youth, I drove at breakneck speeds racing to reach adulthood so as to enjoy all the privileges that (I thought) came with that stage of my life.  It couldn’t come quick enough.  Then in a blink, fifty plus summers passed me by.  Suddenly, I wish to pull off into the shoulder.  I realize the beach and ocean will always be there.  I am older now.   As such, I more clearly understand that old adage “the journey is the destination”.

So I eased my foot off the accelerator ever so slightly, slowing down to take a longer and deeper look at the scenery that was flashing by my windshield.   Eventually stepping outside in the elements, I began to photograph my journey: “Heading Down the Shore”.

Come join me on my road trip…….maybe some of these images will remind you of your own family’s annual pilgrimage to summer’s “Promised Land” and rekindle personal memories of (your) summers gone by…….

For all the shut down strangers and hot rod angels
Rumbling through this promised land
Tonight my baby and me we're gonna ride to the sea
And wash these sins off our hands

Tonight tonight….. the highway's bright
Out of our way mister you best keep
`Cause summer's here and the time is right
For racin' in the street

“Racing in the Street” ~ Bruce Springsteen