Over the last couple of weeks as I drove up and down the I-5 corridor with a loaded up Sapphire Sled, I would mull over how to purchase an inexpensive pick-up truck. Or figure out a way to transport building materials for the Bastion of Bayne. One afternoon, I looked down at the gear shifter, and was reminded of how I learned how to drive a manual transmission vehicle.
One phrase you learn quickly is, “If you can’t find it, grind it”.
The credit doesn’t belong to any of the usual suspects, either! It belongs to a high school girlfriend. If memory serves me well, it went like this …
On Sunday afternoon we finished watching a NASCAR race at her apartment while her mom was traveling for business. I quipped, “Boy I wish I knew how to drive stick so I can drive a racecar.”
“Wanna learn?” she asked with an impish smile.
I shrugged, “Yeah, sure.”
She grabbed my hand, and car keys, and lead us outside to her pick-up truck. It was an old Toyota quarter-ton that had been painted all black with white wheels. Say what you will about it, but I loved it.
The truck was parked nose first on a downhill slope. My first lesson is figure out how to back up, uphill. I “killed” at least a dozen times. The gears complained as the teeth were grinding inside the transmission.
Thankfully the clutch and her were very forgiving.
She joked, “If you can’t find it, grind it!”
Next lesson? Easing out into traffic, but uphill to a stoplight. I’m terrified of this scenario but she talks me through it. We get cruising around Mountlake Terrace, Brier, and Lynnwood. All the while driving her pick up truck.
It was one of the best days I remember when I was with her. The windows were down, the tunes were up, the sun was blazing out, and we didn’t have a care in the world. Her brown hair was pulled back as usual but it did dance in the air. It was very much the opposite of the Jeff Gordon Test Drive sponsored by Pepsi.
I’m so grateful for that day, too. I still receive props for my ability to drive “stick”. One woman was really impressed I was able to parallel park on a hill in Tacoma without killing the engine, and in only 3 points. She was impressed.
I’ve noticed that there are not many drivers would be able to drive a manual transmission vehicle. I take pride in the fact I can!
Sports cars are supposed to be this way, not automatic. Besides, I have the ability of driving most vehicles if I finding myself needing to be clutch once again (see what I did there?)
There’s even a meme that displays a gear shifter with the words, “Millennial theft deterrent system”.
So my questions for you this week are plenty.
- Do you know how to drive a manual transmission vehicle?
- Could you do it today?
- If you can’t / don’t then what’s the reason why?
- If you can, who taught you to drive?
I’d love to read your answers this week! Please comment below. Until next week, be good like you should and if you can’t be good then be good at what you do!
Mic drop bOoM
‘los; out
All This Noise
