A little over a month ago, one of my dearest friends/mentees moved to Denver, Colorado. I've known Rachel since she was a freshman at TCU and we've been close for the past 6 years. Needless to say, when she decided it was time for an adventure and she was moving to Denver, I was excited for her and sad for me. When her mom came in town to help her move, she unexpectedly offered to buy me a plane ticket home from Denver if I wanted to ride up with Rachel a couple of weeks later when she came back to Ft. Worth to get her car. Not being one to turn down a free trip, I said yes!
I absolutely LOVE a good road trip. I love picking out snacks for the car. I love thinking about the perfect thing for the passengers to listen to in the car. I even love taking my turn driving. (Sometimes I've been known to volunteer for the late-night shift when I know everyone else will probably fall asleep. There's something great about driving in the dark and listening to chill music.) But the problem with this road trip is that Rachel drives a stick and I've never learned how. Taking my turn at the wheel was not going to be an option, but Rachel didn't mind doing the whole 12-13 hours herself. She just wanted company.
But then our plans changed a little and we had a great idea. We were initially going to leave on Monday morning, but decided to leave on Tuesday instead. That ended up giving us an hour or so on Monday night for a driving lesson! We went to a nearby parking lot and Rachel taught me how to drive her car. The people I know who drive stick are always talking about how much they love it. How it gives them more control as they're driving, etc. I pretty much think it just gives me too much to do. Too many things I have to think about while I'm trying to sing along to my music. But I'm sure if I had more time to get used to it, I wouldn't have to think about it as much.
Anyway, I had already learned some of the theory behind it, so when we started driving in the parking lot, I kind of understood theoretically what to do. But when I was actually behind the wheel, using both my feet to drive, it was...weird. As we practiced, I never stalled out and Rachel said I did a great job. She even had me drive on a couple roads so I could deal with stop signs and traffic lights and everything. But I was definitely confronted with a little bit of my own perfectionism. Every awkward jerk as I shifted was so annoying to me. I wanted to be able to immediately transition smoothly between gears. I had to realize that that would only come with lots of practice, which we just didn't have time for.
The next day, we rolled out of my driveway a little before 5:30 am, and Rachel drove to Amarillo, where we stopped for lunch, and then for another hour or so until we got into less heavily populated areas. And then - we switched. I only drove for less than two hours, I think. But it was helpful to Rachel, because once we got going, she was able to nap a little bit. And I got pretty good at shifting between 4th and 5th gears in some construction zones. I drove us from New Mexico into Colorado and when we stopped for gas, Rachel took the wheel again for the rest of the way to Denver.
It was lots of fun, and a little stressful. I would definitely need more practice before I would ever try to drive anyone's car alone, but I at least feel confident enough to help in a situation like this. And I learned something I've always wanted to learn! Hooray!
