Adventures in Burgundy

When I traveled down to Burgundy to research my NY Times article on Thomas Jefferson and wine, I had a big hurdle to face: Driving. See, I can't drive a stick shift. And apparently there are only two automatic cars for rent in the town of Dijon. Both of which were reserved.

So, I decided to rent a car in Paris and drive the 300 kilometers myself. Pas de problème!

The day of my trip dawned and I picked up the car. At first, all seemed well. The car was an automatic. It was a normal-sized Dodge S...