Bupkus. Zippo.

Well, actually that's a slight exaggeration. I found 2 hubcaps today. This is normal for the summer months -- my time is better spent working on caps that are waiting to be reconditioned, rather than out on the highway not finding anything. But, I'm still exploring the Philly area. I moved here from North Jersey 2 years ago, and spent the first year-and-a-half moving hubcaps from my old place and getting my business set up. So I really don't know the roads here as well as I should. I'll be taking some drives this summer to get to know my way around and scope out spots that look good, so I'll be ready for winter. Some photos from today:


The Schuylkill is probably the only major highway in existence that routinely grinds to a halt on Sunday mornings. That should be some kind of test for highway engineers. If your road can't even keep moving on Sundays, you should find another occupation.


Going over the Ben Franklin toward Camden, NJ.


Here you can see the Divine Lorraine Hotel on Broad Street. This was the headquarters of some kind of cultish religious organization for a long time. Now it's empty. There's been talk of renovating it and converting it into condos for several years, but as you can see here, it doesn't look like anything is happening yet. I just hope it doesn't get torn down; it's a really neat-looking building.

Kodachroo-oo-oome

I guess it's a good thing Paul Simon didn't decide to write his song about cameras today. He'd probably have a hard time fitting "charge coupled device" into the rhyme scheme...

So I got my new digital camera, a Fujifilm Finepix V10. My old camera is an HP C200 that I've had since 1999. It's fine for close-up shots where I can control the lighting, but not for long-distance outdoor stuff. Now that I can take pictures, maybe I'll have something to post here.

Also, today I saw a 1984 Renault Alliance convertible. As if that's not odd enough, it was on a trailer with two late-model BMWs, pulling into the BMW dealership near Bala Ave and Montgomery Ave. I'm wondering if it was going for like $25 at auction, and they just couldn't pass it up.

By way of introduction

I'm a hubcap dealer living in Philadelphia. I spend a lot of time plying the highways of PA and NJ in my Buick station wagon, gathering up the caps that fly off the millions of cars that traverse our roads every day. This blog will cover my stories and photos of weird things I see, find and experience on the roads: accidents, construction, potholes, and many things that I'd never guess I would see -- until I do see them, at which point I will post about them here. That, along with a good helping of general ranting and raving about roads, driving, cars, the hubcap business, and whatever else I see fit to discuss.

It'll probably be a few months before much of interest appears here, because I need to get a better camera, and "capping" season starts in the fall, when the weeds die and the caps lying in the underbrush become visible.

Finally, I would like to dedicate this blog to Joe DeMarco and Ken Sitarik, who many years ago reassured me that there's nothing wrong with living off other people's junk. Without them, I might not be who I am today.