ADVERTISEMENT

Charlie Thompson loses his wallet today at the Valley Forge interchange

wensilver

Well-Known Member
Dec 9, 2012
2,366
11,676
1
Let's see if I can recall the story............I won't bother to verify, because, well....it's about Charlie Thompson and we know how his employer is all about scurrilous stories, loose details and to hell with the facts.

As you all know, Thompson is covering Fina's Discipinary Board meeting in Philadelphia today. It started at 10 AM at the D1 Offices at 1601 Market St.

So Charlie drives a Volvo with over 200,000 miles on it and is happily taking said Volvo down the Turnpike to the Valley Forge interchange, to hop on the Expressway to Philly.
  • Charlie doesn't have an EZ Pass
  • Charlie needs to pay the toll
  • Charlie needs to pay cash from out of his wallet
  • Charlie's car window won't go down because he's never bothered to have it fixed.
  • Charlie is forced to open his door and step out of the car in order to pay - using the cash from his wallet
  • Charlie gets back into the car and proceeds to connect to 76 into Philadelphia.
  • Charlie has an "oh shit" moment.
  • Charlie pulls over - on the FREAKING SCHUYLKILL - and gets out of the car
  • Charlie hoofs it back up the FREAKING SCHUYLKILL - during the AM drive mind you - about a mile - to the tollbooth.
  • Charlie retrieves his wallet
  • Charlie hoofs it back down the FREAKING SCHUYLKILL and gets back into his car.
  • Charlie will be writing about today's events for his Pulitzer Prize winning paper.
I just want to make the observation that this guy, his attention to detail and care, his decision making skills, his wordsmithing at the keyboard, and the very entity that employs this hot mess - are responsible for publishing stories that affect VERY REAL PEOPLE.

"Slapping Sounds"

That is all.

Have a great Father's Day Weekend y'all.
 
Let's see if I can recall the story............I won't bother to verify, because, well....it's about Charlie Thompson and we know how his employer is all about scurrilous stories, loose details and to hell with the facts.

As you all know, Thompson is covering Fina's Discipinary Board meeting in Philadelphia today. It started at 10 AM at the D1 Offices at 1601 Market St.

So Charlie drives a Volvo with over 200,000 miles on it and is happily taking said Volvo down the Turnpike to the Valley Forge interchange, to hop on the Expressway to Philly.
  • Charlie doesn't have an EZ Pass
  • Charlie needs to pay the toll
  • Charlie needs to pay cash from out of his wallet
  • Charlie's car window won't go down because he's never bothered to have it fixed.
  • Charlie is forced to open his door and step out of the car in order to pay - using the cash from his wallet
  • Charlie gets back into the car and proceeds to connect to 76 into Philadelphia.
  • Charlie has an "oh shit" moment.
  • Charlie pulls over - on the FREAKING SCHUYLKILL - and gets out of the car
  • Charlie hoofs it back up the FREAKING SCHUYLKILL - during the AM drive mind you - about a mile - to the tollbooth.
  • Charlie retrieves his wallet
  • Charlie hoofs it back down the FREAKING SCHUYLKILL and gets back into his car.
  • Charlie will be writing about today's events for his Pulitzer Prize winning paper.
I just want to make the observation that this guy, his attention to detail and care, his decision making skills, his wordsmithing at the keyboard, and the very entity that employs this hot mess - are responsible for publishing stories that affect VERY REAL PEOPLE.

"Slapping Sounds"

That is all.

Have a great Father's Day Weekend y'all.
In other words, Patriot News doesn't pay him much, so maybe that partially explains why he doesn't put out a better product and/or writes what they tell him to? At this pt I "almost" feel sorry for Charlie who doesn't drive as nice a car as some others may be privileged to drive. Sorry, but that was just a bizarre description and entirely unnecessary.
 
  • Like
Reactions: psudukie
Let's see if I can recall the story............I won't bother to verify, because, well....it's about Charlie Thompson and we know how his employer is all about scurrilous stories, loose details and to hell with the facts.

As you all know, Thompson is covering Fina's Discipinary Board meeting in Philadelphia today. It started at 10 AM at the D1 Offices at 1601 Market St.

So Charlie drives a Volvo with over 200,000 miles on it and is happily taking said Volvo down the Turnpike to the Valley Forge interchange, to hop on the Expressway to Philly.
  • Charlie doesn't have an EZ Pass
  • Charlie needs to pay the toll
  • Charlie needs to pay cash from out of his wallet
  • Charlie's car window won't go down because he's never bothered to have it fixed.
  • Charlie is forced to open his door and step out of the car in order to pay - using the cash from his wallet
  • Charlie gets back into the car and proceeds to connect to 76 into Philadelphia.
  • Charlie has an "oh shit" moment.
  • Charlie pulls over - on the FREAKING SCHUYLKILL - and gets out of the car
  • Charlie hoofs it back up the FREAKING SCHUYLKILL - during the AM drive mind you - about a mile - to the tollbooth.
  • Charlie retrieves his wallet
  • Charlie hoofs it back down the FREAKING SCHUYLKILL and gets back into his car.
  • Charlie will be writing about today's events for his Pulitzer Prize winning paper.
I just want to make the observation that this guy, his attention to detail and care, his decision making skills, his wordsmithing at the keyboard, and the very entity that employs this hot mess - are responsible for publishing stories that affect VERY REAL PEOPLE.

"Slapping Sounds"

That is all.

Have a great Father's Day Weekend y'all.

You didn't happen to get video of it? No reason.
 
In other words, Patriot News doesn't pay him much, so maybe that partially explains why he doesn't put out a better product and/or writes what they tell him to? At this pt I "almost" feel sorry for Charlie who doesn't drive as nice a car as some others may be privileged to drive. Sorry, but that was just a bizarre description and entirely unnecessary.
It's not so much the "accumulated mileage", but rather the fact that it's a 'Volvo". Vehicle choices can say much about a person.....we are what we drive.
 
In other words, Patriot News doesn't pay him much, so maybe that partially explains why he doesn't put out a better product and/or writes what they tell him to? At this pt I "almost" feel sorry for Charlie who doesn't drive as nice a car as some others may be privileged to drive. Sorry, but that was just a bizarre description and entirely unnecessary.
I thought it was funny. And no one would know the story at all had Thompson not told anyone--unless wensiver was carpooling with him, which seems unlikely after all.

I dont feel sorry for Charlie. He made his choices. He does not seem to be complaining. HE thinks it is funny.
 
Last edited:
I thought it was funny. And no one would know the story at all had Thompson not told anyone--unless wensiver was carpooling with him, which seems unlikely after all.

I dont feel sorry for Charlie. He made his choices. He does not seem to ne complaining. HE thinks it is funny.
I hope he is reimbursed for mileage and tolls.............:oops:
 
  • Like
Reactions: demlion and 91Joe95
  • Charlie gets back into the car and proceeds to connect to 76 into Philadelphia.
  • Charlie has an "oh shit" moment.
  • Charlie pulls over - on the FREAKING SCHUYLKILL - and gets out of the car
  • Charlie hoofs it back up the FREAKING SCHUYLKILL - during the AM drive mind you - about a mile - to the tollbooth.

A very minor clarification, but I-76 is the PA Turnpike from Ohio to the Valley Forge toll plaza. At that point (heading East), the PA Turnpike becomes I-276, while I-76 is the Schuylkill Expressway. So Charlie didn't connect to 76 into Philadelphia, he stayed on 76 into Philadelphia.

As for the rest, good grief. The hearing was in Center City at 10 am. As such, he would have likely gone through the KOP toll between 8:00 - 8:30. Traffic is crazy on the Schuylkill Expy at that time around the VF plaza.

Granted, his options for retrieving the wallet were somewhat limited. The first exit he would have encountered was Gulph Mills. If he had gotten off there, there would be no way to get back on in the other direction. The next exit would have been another Interstate, I-476. There is a way to get off and turn around, and get back on in the other direction, but it's not very obvious how to do so. The next exit doesn't allow drivers to get off going Eastbound (which he would have been traveling). So, he would have had to go all the way to the Belmont Avenue exit to get off, and easily get back on in the other direction, which was 11 miles after the toll plaza.

So instead, he walks back a mile to the toll booth. I'm pretty sure it's illegal to walk on the Schuylkill Expressway, but apparently no cops came along. It's also insane. It's an 8-lane Interstate at that location.

Unless Charlie went through the toll booth at the far right (as he entered the plaza), I can only imagine how he walked through all the traffic exiting the booths to get to where he dropped his wallet. I'm having a good laugh just imagining that scene.

Thanks for the story, @wensilver
 
I thought it was funny. And no one would know the story at all had Thompson not told anyone--unless wensiver was carpooling with him, which seems unlikely after all.

I dont feel sorry for Charlie. He made his choices. He does not seem to be complaining. HE thinks it is funny.
Well, it's not like he ran over it with his lawnmower or anything. :)
 
Well, it's not like he ran over it with his lawnmower or anything. :)

Excellent point.

I will say that although I, too, drive a 20 yo vehicle with over 200k on it, the windows all (both) work. I don't have an EZ pass, but I'm only on toll roads 3-4 times a year, so no big deal.

There are plenty of reasons to drive a beater which have nothing to do with being poor, but a 3 days a week paper likely does NOT pay very much. My experience with Charlie's work is that it is not worth very much.
 
I thought it was funny. And no one would know the story at all had Thompson not told anyone--unless wensiver was carpooling with him, which seems unlikely after all.

I dont feel sorry for Charlie. He made his choices. He does not seem to be complaining. HE thinks it is funny.
I did say "almost", did I not? BTW, he's been asked publicly to verify the story. LOL.
 
ADVERTISEMENT