I like to drive.I started "Driver's Ed." when I was 14. I often wondered how I pulled that off until recently- reading others comments here at VK, I'm realizing I may have been one of the older guys in our class, and maybe there just weren't others with an interest.
Anyway, I got my learner's permit when I was 15, and proceeded to chauffer my family almost everywhere we went together for the next year. When I turned 16, I may have been one of the most experienced 16 year old drivers in the world! (Our family made a trip to California later that year, and I drove most of the way to L.A. and back.)
But the enjoyment of driving obviously has it's limits. Plunking your butt behind the wheel, looking at a view similar to the one above for 14 hours makes flying mighty attractive.
But ya can't move the junk necessary to furnish a two-bedroom apartment in a Boeing 737. (Well, ya could, but $$$$$$, you know!)
So we just finished driving approximately 31 hours... more than 20 hours of it staring at a sign that said "Interstate 40 Westbound".
Some thoughts about this trip:
-No matter how fast you go, someone always needs to go faster.
-Where the pavement is concrete the heavy trucks, in many places, have turned the right lane into a brain-liquifying experience. Where traffic was light enough, I spent most of the time in the left lane.
-Tumbleweeds really do tumble in the panhandle of Texas.
-From the New Mexico State Line West, this Hoosier Boy wished someone else was driving so I could gawk at the passing mountains.
-This Moving Van had no cruise control. 31 hours of driving without cruise control is cruel and unusual punishment!
-Pull off and buy gas, and the very next station you pass will be selling fuel for 2 cents cheaper than you just paid... irritating when the tank you're filling holds 40 gallons!
-Moving Vans should have either a CD or tape player for those of us that enjoy "reading" a book on tape while we drive.
-The Penske truck we rented was dramatically cheaper than the U-Haul or Ryder trucks we priced. This is our second experience with Penske Truck Rentals, and I heartily recommend them.
-Flagstaff Arizona is breathtaking. Go!
-There was snow on the ground in Flagstaff. Two hours and 5000' lower in Phoenix... we encountered nearly perfect "late Spring" type weather.
-Phoenix Arizona in February... a perfect 80 degrees.
-Phoenix Arizona in July... bake your Duncan Hines Yellow Cake on the front seat of your car.
-Car horns get a workout in Phoenix. With me, blowing your horn achieves the opposite of the desired result.
Cell phones... what would we do without them? They're indispensable on these trips!
Enough bits and pieces for now. I'm sure there's more to come later.
Your thoughts?
1 comment:
GB
Loved your comments on the trip.
I remember getting my beginners permit and I thought the world had just opened up for me. I made it into drivers ed just two weeks after my 15th birthday.
My dad would let me drive my 55 Chevy to G'wood and I always thought for sure that the police could read it on my forehead that I wasn't 16 yet.
You wrote that car horns get a work out in Phoenix. Here it is considered rude to honk your horn unless it is absolutely necessary. We can always tell when newcomers arrive.
It took me about 6 months to realize that people actually let you out into a line of traffic out of a gas station or a parking area.
They do this in areas where they actually still have the right away. Showing lots of Aloha. There again, you can tell the newcomers and hope that it rubs off onto them.
They have this gentle wave and you must acknowledge them with a shaka or wave back.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if the whole world took notice?
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