It is unfortunate how much litter pollutes the roads of America. Having been a runner for 20+ years, with most of my miles being logged on the roads, I am all too familiar with how much garbage, trash, and junk gets thrown out of cars onto roadsides. In 20 years I’ve occasionally found money ($20 bill is the most), but never anything too valuable or interesting. While running today on Chain Bridge Road from Oakton to Vienna I came across side 2 of Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits on vinyl.
The discovery was fun because it gave me something to think about for the remainder of my run. The first thing that struck me as odd about finding this record is that it was all by itself. It is not as if a box of records accidentally fell off the back of a truck and ended up on the side of the road. For the better part of my run I wondered what prompted someone to discard the record from what I presume was a moving car. Almost as strange as the record being thrown out to begin with is that it is side 2 of a greatest hits release. It was in the sleeve when I found it, but side 1 was nowhere in sight. Was the album discarded out of disgust for Kenny Roger’s music? I can’t imagine that being the case, because I doubt anyone was listening to this album recently on a record player. The record was in great condition and would play without a problem. So if someone truly hated the album, why not just smash it and throw it in the garbage?
Every object has a history and a story tell. I will never know why after 34 years (the album was released in 1980) this record was discarded onto Chain Bridge Road, but it provided me with a welcome distraction halfway through a 7 mile run on a 90+ degree afternoon. It’s a shame that someone littered by throwing out the record, but I’m happy to have rescued it. The album now proudly hangs on the wall of my garage.
The discovery was fun because it gave me something to think about for the remainder of my run. The first thing that struck me as odd about finding this record is that it was all by itself. It is not as if a box of records accidentally fell off the back of a truck and ended up on the side of the road. For the better part of my run I wondered what prompted someone to discard the record from what I presume was a moving car. Almost as strange as the record being thrown out to begin with is that it is side 2 of a greatest hits release. It was in the sleeve when I found it, but side 1 was nowhere in sight. Was the album discarded out of disgust for Kenny Roger’s music? I can’t imagine that being the case, because I doubt anyone was listening to this album recently on a record player. The record was in great condition and would play without a problem. So if someone truly hated the album, why not just smash it and throw it in the garbage?
Every object has a history and a story tell. I will never know why after 34 years (the album was released in 1980) this record was discarded onto Chain Bridge Road, but it provided me with a welcome distraction halfway through a 7 mile run on a 90+ degree afternoon. It’s a shame that someone littered by throwing out the record, but I’m happy to have rescued it. The album now proudly hangs on the wall of my garage.
RSS Feed