No Place Like Home
Kelly (my fiance) and I are back in Kansas this week. We flew home for a friend’s wedding and hopefully the birth of Kelly’s nephew. I’m ready for the invariable question.
“Tyler, what do you do in New York?”
“I heard you have a hot dog cart!”
“I heard you work in a cheese department!”
Well, some of that is true. I have worked in a cheese department and for a restaurant that specializes in gourmet hot dogs. But my favorite New York job is the one I have now. I proudly help keep people safe. Rear View Safety offers backup camera systems, backup sensor systems, mobile DVR’s, driver fatigue systems, dash cameras, and a variety of accessories to help people on the road. Our Brilliant Backseat Reminder System combats vehicular heatstroke. I love my job and my team, and feel very fortunate I have the opportunity to write and help people every day.
I’m coming back to the center of car culture. Any large Topeka parking lot on a Friday or Saturday night is full of vehicles with their hoods popped. People are very proud of their cars and will gladly show off their flashy accessories and new engines. Even if you don’t show your car off in the Golden Corral parking lot on the weekend, you need some sort of vehicle to get around. Things are very spread out. I love driving. When we moved to the city, Kelly sold her car and I gave mine to my brother, so I am very excited to drive now that I am back in the Midwest.
I grew up very close to interstate 70. My favorite restaurant for years was The Roost, the diner of a huge truck stop near the highway. In our family, you got to pick the restaurant for your birthday dinner. I always chose The Roost. They had the 2nd best mashed potatoes in the world, second only to my moms. I would eat at The Roost every day this week if it were still open. The truck stop is now a strip mall. My life was more intertwined with car culture than I thought.
I’m excited to be back in Kansas. I’m excited to talk my friends’ ears off about dash cameras, and brag that a small part of my job is finding memes. But once this week is over, I’m also excited to come back home, to New York and to Rear View Safety.
