Driving.
What is it to you?
I have always been a driver. I love the white line. If I have time, I will always pull over and check something out. Especially old graveyards - they're one of my things. I think my best thoughts when I'm driving.
But what about you? Is driving just getting from A to B, or is it an opportunity to think about stuff?
As always, thoughts and observations are welcome.
I have just found a backroad route from East Lansing to Ann Arbor...pretty darned scenic.
I just spent a week driving all over rural Southeastern Oregon. It was a lot of fun, lots of wide-open empty space out there. We saw shoe trees, old abandoned buildings, and lots of wildlife. Love exploring like that.
I enjoy driving. It is more than the destination, but the trip! Stopping at weird, quaint, spooky out of the way places, meeting locals. I'm always up for a road trip!
Copy that, you're one of my kind.
@Palindromeman That reply was so Aussie of you! Oh wait.......was INXS from Australia??
@AzVixen52 No, INXS was from Austria. This is a common misunderstanding.
I have a converible and live in FL, so I like driving with the wind in my face when I am not rushed to do somthing or if I am dealing with traffic or super aggressive drivers. one can engage in mindfulness when driving, but I am glad I have access to uber when travelling for the most part.
I have a Mazda MX-5 (known in the US as a Miata). Incredible fun with the roof down.
@Palindromeman considered it. No turbo without aftermarket
@jperlow Naturally aspirated, mate. No concern about turbo lag. And the old girl does hold her own in the performance stakes.
My parents did this with us "kids" growing up - we stopped everywhere. We all carry snippers in cars in case of pussywilow sitings or a huge bunch of flowers.
Been in so many old cemetaries - love them! There's a cool one that was relocated in Massachusetts when the Quabbin Resevoir was built - been to both of those - the cemetary and the Resevoir! Saw my first Bald Eagle there and had binoculars - which we also traveled with!
It's the only way to travel!
I've been "the driver" since I first got my license. My last job I drove all over the state going to different schools. It was great--thinking time, looking time, music time, whatever. If I wanted to stop and look around, I did. I did a lot of driving when I lived in California, too. Loved it.
I was a sales rep for candy, tobacco and grocery companies all over the Northeast. I could be onthe road all day and loved to explore when I had the opportunity. Loved going to the White Mtns, rented a room from a customer that became a friend, and loved meeting people and discovering new places. Not doing much driving these days but love exploring and road trips.
Copy that.
I live in a highly populated city. No matter the time of day or day of the week you are going to be stuck in traffic or at the very least sharing the road with a million other people. I am pretty lucky in that my drive to work each day is on a pretty scenic road but alas I spend most of my time on it trying not to get killed. It really does take the joy out of driving. However, when I am driving in less populated area's I do, for the most part, enjoy it. Most especially in area's new to me.
I like driving as long as I don't have to be somewhere at a specified time then it's just work. Always want to stop and look at things, talk to someone or find out what is down that side road. Was counting pubs while driving through Trangie in NSW once and missed a turn, didn't realise till I was 50km down and it turned to dirt (by the way had counted 13 pubs.) Have pottered round cemetaries, been out to the beach at the Head of the Bight and had a tour of the water treatment plant at Cobar. Plenty of places I'd still like to go but it's always handy to have two people, especially when you are trying to get a car unbogged.
Good one. I'm always looking for stone angels in cemeteries. I've found the best places are old ones and - sadly - children's plots.
Driving is pretty relaxing for me. Even my commute in heavy traffic can be meditative. I really enjoy road trips... Side roads are the best way to see things. Interstates are quicker but fairly homogeneous.
For driving for driving sake I love a twisty mountain road. This was especially fun when I had my motorcycle.
I miss it desperately. Of all the things my vision issues have cost me, driving is the one thing that I still miss more than any of the others.
The loss of independence and freedom is devastating.
Copy that. That is a bad deal.
I believe I've ridden a motorcycle down every paved road within 200 miles of me. Unless I'm in some big hurry for some reason, I'll take my time getting from A to B, including when I'm in a car. I don't like the interstates.
I've driven most of the way from Asheville to Boston on backroads. And Asheville to Savannah. And Asheville to St. Louis. I love hitting every little town and stopping at interesting places, and in my mind it seems like it's more akin to what it used to be like before the interstate highways went in. An adventure.
I'm a truck driver by profession. I enjoy being behind the wheel of a vehicle, radio off, just listening to the sound of the engine. Recently went from delivery for a lumber yard to full time driving and I have to say that, even though I'm working more hours, my stress level has dropped drastically.
I miss being able to drive. With my vision getting worse, they won't allow me to ever get behind a wheel again.
I am very sad to hear that.
@Palindromeman It is what it is. Oh well. Thanks though.
@Sarahroo29 Ugh. If I may ask, how bad is the eyesight. Are we talking legally blind?
@Palindromeman Without my glasses, yes.
@Sarahroo29 I have minus six in one eye, and minus seven in the other. Without glasses, I would be a candidate for the stormtrooper school of shooting.
@Palindromeman Oh, okay.
@Sarahroo29 Just to be clear, I'm legal with glass - blind as a bat without them.
@Palindromeman I'm close to needing surgery.
@Sarahroo29 Christ in a sidecar, seriously? That is not good. Is surgery about restoring sight, or just holding the line against further loss?
@Palindromeman IDK yet. My vision is getting worse.
My life is a road trip, I can't do anything outside my farmyard without driving, my farm is spreaad out over 13 miles, anything I need comes from miles away. To get beekeeping supplies I need to drive 2.5 hours one way and to get parts for some equipment I need to drive 5 hours one way. Like I said my life is a road trip.
Hells, yes - respect.
I used to like road trips. Wyoming and it's suicidal cervids changed that for me right quick. My poor car ended up undriveable and in a looooonnnng queue of other cars wrecked by deer and other animals at the repair shop. After a week in a small Wyoming town with more churches than people, we had to leave and get the car later. The rest of the trip to Washington state was nothing short of harrowing. Especially having to drive a 25-foot U-Haul truck along a high, railless mountain pass the approximate width of David Tennant.
I eventually managed to find the one vehicle shipping company that admits Wyoming even exists and had my car shipped to me once it was repaired.
I'll probably go back to enjoying road trips, but even now, two and a half years later, that whole debacle is still fresh in my mind.