?!

… which is another way of saying: “Fun times driving up and down Kern Road.”

I was corresponding with a friend earlier this week, and I was totally reminded of a certain car ride that took place back in my high school days.

When I was a lad, I didn’t have my “own” car. There were cars that were owned by my parents that I was able to drive whenever necessary, but they weren’t exactly “mine”. One such vehicle was the little red Ford Ranger that had previously been Pops’ work truck. At the time of the following story, Pops had replaced the little red Ranger with a larger truck, so I had access to her whenever I needed a car.

One night, Mr. Josh had been over at my house for some reason – it may have been that we were just hangin’ out in front of the TV or maybe we had gone out to do somehting. Regardless, it was probably a Saturday night. It was in the winter for sure, and it was quite late when he and I climbed into the red truck so I could take him back home.

Throughout the evening, snow had been falling. Not too much, really, but there was enough on the roads to make it a bit adventurous for driving. To add to that, the little red truck was a rear-wheel drive truck, with a manual transmission, and it didn’t really have anything heavy in the bed to provide any additional traction.

For those of you that have never, ever, driven in snowy conditions, you probably won’t be able to relate to this story at all. At all. But anwyay…

I was driving down Kern Rd on the way back to Josh’s house, and, well, decided to make things a bit more interesting. I down-shifted and gunned it, which broke the tail-end loose immediately. Once that happened, it was play time! I kept a little bit of pressure on the gas pedal, and started slightly turning the steering wheel from one sided to the other. The result of this was that the truck would be sliding forward with the passenger side leading, and then the rear would slide back around to where the driver side was leading, back-and-forth, etc. It was all fun and games until the point where the truck stopped moving forward and instead began sliding sideways toward the curb, but it wasn’t that big of a deal… we bounced off of it without any problems. It was like a giant pinball game.

Josh and I couldn’t stop giggling. It was WAY too much fun. And, because it was such a good time, I haven’t been able to drive conservatively in the snow ever since. I always seem to find a way to (carefully and with control) get my car to slide in one way or another. I currently have a car with front-wheel drive, so it is a bit harder to break it loose, but I always find a way.

Having said all of that, I find it perfectly normal to drive on slippery, slushy roads. I have no problems with getting to and from the places that I need to be when the roads get nasty. If my car starts to get squirrely, I’ve always been able to keep it on the road without any damage. (insert jokes/comments about jinxing myself here.) I truly don’t comprehend people that drive 20 miles an hour on major roads during RUSH HOUR (including the interstate) when there is a slight dusting of snow on the ground.

If you’re guilty of such, please, please,…please… stay in the right-hand lane so that those of us that have places to be, and have experience with controlling their car, can continue on our way. By driving so FRIGGIN’ slow, you’re actually becoming more of a hazard on the road than a help, and that’s not good for ANY of us.