Ah, youth- that time in our lives where we can get away with things simply because we're naive and ignorant of many rules that apply to the real world. We tend to do some pretty crazy things, especially when behind the wheel.
I remember when I was 17. My best high school friend and I had recently become pals with this guy Jacob we had met through a mutual friend. We had never hung out with Jacob when our mutual friend wasn't around, so we eventually figured it was time to, based on the logic of "Hey, why not, he's pretty cool". It turns out he had just put a down payment on a car, and wanted to take a joyride around town. Now, mind you, his parents didn't help him finance this beauty. It was purely him, and you could tell. The thing was ancient, barely had a backseat, came with a manual transmission, and something was a bit peculiar about the speedometer.
When we got into Jacob's car and left my driveway, I immediately knew he wasn't kidding when he proudly exclaimed he wanted to "JUST DRIVE"! He peeled out and basically drove like he was a wanted felon, shifting recklessly and giving his clutch a beating. If you saw his tires from the beginning of the night compared to the end, I'm sure there was a noticeable difference in the quality of the treads. Add to this, about half an hour into the joyride, his speedometer decides to start floating around, giving us no indication as to what speed we're actually going. But do we stop? Nope, we're teenagers, of course not! I wouldn't have been surprised if Jacob needed to replace several parts on his car after this particular evening.
We decide to go cruising down the highway into downtown St. Louis and wander around for awhile, looking for a youth nightclub or something to do. Some time passes and we decide to leave and head back to the county. Well, as it just so happens to be, Jacob decides to take a wrong turn while we're downtown, onto the highway 40 exit ramp going into oncoming traffic. Being that it's fairly late on a weeknight, we at first don't notice anything out of the ordinary. Then, all of a sudden, we spot a car in the distance headed right at us! If you've ever wondered what it's like to be in an action movie where one of the characters narrowly avoids a vehicle or some other fast moving object, that's how it felt. Not surprisingly, we pull over and quickly turn around.
We kept hanging out after that night, though once college came around, my group of friends dispersed and Jacob moved somewhere across the country. Despite not having seen him since, I tell the highway story to this day, and have used that night as a lesson on how to not drive a car!
What's the most ridiculous thing that's ever happened to you while in the driver or passenger seat? Tell us your story!
Nice story! The first day I had my driver's license, I was driving an '85 Plymouth Horizon, and the alternator was giving out - so I had to try to stay on the gas constantly. The car ended up dying and I, luckily, was able to roll myself into a parking lot. Then, I found a PAY-PHONE and called for a ride. This was in the year 1999. Ha. ~J @Tweetlaverdad
ReplyDeleteGreat way to start your driving career, eh? Thanks for sharing! By the way- I don't think I've heard someone say the word "payphone" in a long, long time.
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