Prudence and Others

My recent highway odyssey from Long Island to New Mexico reminded me of the first few times I crossed the country, in a beat-up, mechanically dubious, bright red 1972 Chevy van with something like a hundred thousand miles on it.
Nothing on this machine worked except the drive train, and that unreliably. The radio was defunct, there was a bracket for an eight-track but no eight-track, and the engine was practically in the passenger compartment and hence very noisy.
What was I to do for entertain...