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Windsong: a sample story from around 1992.
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Driving to Mountain View (A sample story from my autobiography, Windsong)
I quickly tired of driving to Mountain View five days a week. The 52 mile drive could be relaxing, but getting up early in the summer to beat the heat meant I had a very long day ahead of me. If I left home at 4:55 a.m., I’d make the office at 6:00 a.m. I might make into woods by 7:00 to 7:30 and be back in the office by 4:00 to drive home by 5:00. I might work a nine hour day, but I was essentially putting in 12 clock hours a day. As a young person I could do this, but it quickly began to wear me down.
This became significant in several ways. For one thing, I totaled two cars during my trips to Mountain View. After I finished college I bought an old green car for $700 that served me well until one day when Simon and I were driving down to Mountain View. I drove up a long hill behind slow traffic south of Norfork and came to a place where I could pass. I pulled out to pass and immediately oncoming traffic appeared in the road ahead. I floor it, and was past the car I was trying to pass when I think something went wrong with the front of the car.
Instantly, the car became almost uncontrollable. Suddenly I was swerving from one side of the road to the other, barely able to keep the car pointed forward, let along on the road. “What are you doing?” Simon shouted in a panic.
“Something’s wrong with the car,” I yelled back as I fought to keep the car from rolling or having a head-on collision. We’d slowed only slightly as the car left the pavement toward the right. I’d had just enough control to keep it pointed forward and out of the oncoming traffic. We bounced slightly on the shoulder, struck a culvert, and came to a stop next to a fence. Aside from perhaps some scared drivers, no one else was involved in the accident.
To my surprise, I managed to call a tow truck and have the car taken to the junk yard without involving the police. Today, 20 years later, someone would have called 911 and the police would have ticketed me for failing to control my car. But someone stopped at a nearby store, which was within sight, and called a tow truck instead. My insurance company never found out, so it never went on my driving record. The other car I “totaled” was much simpler. I bought an old clunker from a friend after the accident. It lasted two months. While driving it to work one day it stopped dead. Rather than fix it, I had it towed for junk.
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Post comment Comment (2 replies)
- Reply rich
- i bought a car recently, which was one of my dreams. however, it turned out that driving a car was much trickier, esp for a manual one than it seems. what i learned in the driving school is almost useless. real driving is quite different from exam-oriented training. there's really a lot for me to learn and practice.
- Reply sedgehead
- rich: i bought a car recently, which was one of my dreams. however, it turned out that driving a car was much trickier, esp for a manual one than it seems.Driving takes some practice but after a few hours you get good at it. I've taught three people from China how to drive and taken them on long trips.
