mountain driving memories

i love driving in the mountains. the curves, winding roads in which your tires get a good a good even wearing out of the tread.

for me, it just feels good knowing my tires are getting even wear that you cannot get from city driving. (something inside of me begins to wonder about this trait of mine…)

mountain driving is quite unlike regular city driving, not for the novice city driver mind you. oh, i’ve scared some people with my precise mountain driving. i think more than anything they are afraid they will go rolling down the side of a mountain.

that’s how i used to feel when i was new to the area.

remembering our bus driver and questioning her ability to drive that bus through ice and snow on sharp turns. she was a senior at our school, maybe four feet tall and 80 pounds.

mostly every day i wondered if this would be the day we’d all die. by rolling down the side of a mountain in that big yellow bus in a fiery crash. obviously, we never died and i came to admire how she handled that bus so well.

if you are driving in the mountains, here’s a tip. (unless you have a death wish or desire to piss off the locals) do not drive really really slow. i realize you are terrified that your car will go down the side of the mountain. if a car is following close behind, it means you are driving too slow which is dangerous.

do the right thing and pull over to the side and let that person pass you. there are plenty of places to pull over and by golly that is why they are there.

if you don’t think you can handle it, don’t drive to the mountains.