Jun 01, 2024
Puzzler time.
Some years ago when my son Louis got his driver's license, he asked to use my truck.
He was going to take a little trip to the next town over to visit a friend of his and I gave him the keys. But I gave him this stipulation, "Don't drive very far, because you're not an experienced driver and I certainly don't want you driving on the highway or out of state or anything like that."
And he said, "Don't worry, Dad."
Now being the trusting soul that I am, I didn't bother to write down what the mileage was or anything like that.
He takes the truck. That night he returns and hands me the key. And I go out to the truck. It was dark. I got inside and I didn't see anything on the seat or anything. I didn't know what the level of gas had been when he took the truck or the odometer reading, and I hadn't written down the mileage or anything like that.
I started the engine. I sat in the truck for about maybe a half a minute with the engine running. And I knew in an instant that he had gone much further.
How did I know he had gone much further than he said he would?
And here is the hint: The Grateful Dead.
Good luck.
So how did I know that my son had taken the truck way farther than he said he would?
And here is the answer.
This was back when my son first got his license. So, that was a long time ago. The truck had a tape deck, that's how long ago this was.
When I got in the truck, a Grateful Dead tape was playing up as loud as it could go. So, I take the tape out. Once I eject the tape, the radio comes on. And the radio is tuned to a station we don't get here in Boston.
The radio station was barely coming in, and it was from a station that is two towns over. So, because of this, I know that he was in that town, listening to that radio station. Much farther away than he said he was.
This wouldn't happen now, of course.
