Cars

I am like one of those mindless dogs who, when you open the door to the car, run over hill and dale to get in with a look on it's face like it's smiling ear to ear, wagging it's tail.  I love me a good car ride.

When I was a kid we didn't go on many car rides.  Occasionally we would hop into the car and make a run up to Grand Bend for an afternoon of sunshine and buy some fries on the main drag.  We drove to Florida on year at Christmas, but that was absolutely no fun, and a story for another time.  As a family, we just didn't do many of those Sunday afternoon drives in the country, but I sure did lots of it when I got my license.

I can't tell you how many hours or miles I spent as a teenager driving around.  If I could have 10 cents for every gallon of gas I spent, I would have a nice chunk of change right now.  It was right up there with going out to dinner or seeing a movie as one of my favorite things to do.  There was nothing like just driving, talking, listening to music with a friend in the passenger seat and me driving along with the wind in my hair.  I can't tell you how many world problems were solved during those rides, or how many times we talked endlessly about this crush or that one.  Time just stood still when you were driving around the country side enjoying the cool summer breeze.

My friend Karen and I used to start off at the coffee shop (another great C word) and talk and talk.  There was always some drama or something that upset us to give us at least an hours worth of chat.  Then we would drive around and talk some more.  It was during these times that we really bonded as friends, there were no secrets between us and neither one of us judged each other for the sometimes crazy (another great C word) thoughts that we would have from time to time.

Car rides were a great way to deal with serious stuff in a less than serious manner. I loved the feeling of being behind the wheel, in charge of my direction, especially when my life seemed to be so out of control with no direction.  Teenage years can be so challenging and difficult, but of course, for the most part we make it more challenging than it has to be.  Drama seems to be served on a plate every day at school and we would get so caught up in it, it started to feel normal.

The love of driving around didn't end when I turned 20, no sirree bob, it stayed with me for years. 

In my 20's I drove around a lot after work.  A friend of mine from work and me would close up shop at 2 or 3 am and go driving.  There were times in Aug when we would get in the car after work and drive out into the country side, lay on top of the hood of the car and count the falling stars (I know they are actually meteor showers, but that just isn't as interesting as stars okay).  We also talked about lots of world problems, but most we talked about this guy she was in love with (of course he didn't know that).  It seemed like that conversation lasted 2 or 3 yrs.  Often we would drive by his house, I don't really know why as I have no idea what she got out of it, but none the less that is what we would do.  It was fun, innocent, and just something you did when you live in such a small town there is nothing better to do.

I remember a time when this friend of mine from work and me took a little car ride in the middle of the day on Sat.  She had got her hands on some grass and was intent on smoking it while we were out that afternoon.  I was game so the partaking commenced.  It was great stuff and we were flying in no time.  The problem with smoking grass is you need to eat (like none of you know this fact LOL) so off to McDonald's we go.  We both got lots of food and sat down at a table where I commenced to laughing my ass off because the McDonald's symbol on her cup was on the opposite side of the one on mine.  Okay, so the cups were just turned different ways, but it didn't stop me from laughing my ass off.   Just when I would gather my composure I would start in again.  She had no idea what I was laughing about but she was laughing so hard she almost fell out of her seat.  After we ate we headed back home, well that would be after having another hit.  We found ourselves driving down by the river to watch the water go by.  Now for any of you who know my small home town you know there is a place called the flats where you can park your car and sit and watch the river, well that is where we ended up. We were sitting in the car laughing our ass's off about something when we realized that we were being overtaken by a wedding party.  They had come down to the river to have some pictures taken and there we are parked right where they want to do the shoot.  It wasn't till then that we realized that I had actually parked the car in backwards, so we were not looking at the water at all, and that made us laugh our ass's off.  What these people must have thought when they come down and find a car parked facing away from the river in the best river view area around.  What a fun day!

Now that I have a kid, we do go for drives ever once in a while just for fun. I can't say he is really into it, most of the time he just likes to stay home, but when we do take him we always find something fun to do in our travels, especially during ice cream season.