Driving; manual style!

Cross another item off the bucket list!

That item is learning to drive a manual car. It seems like such a small, irrelevant, and somewhat silly thing to have on a "things to do before I die" type of list, but learning to drive a manual car has been something I have wanted to do for a very long time.

It all started when I watched my dad power down the autobahn in a lovely rented German car. I was extremely impressed and a tad jealous. He was driving a car that even if I wanted to I could not drive. When asked how he learned this magical skill he replied ever so casually, "all tractors are manual". Cool. (Both Barbie Girl and Duane worked on farms growing up; thank goodness they got out of Iowa.)

Anyway, as time went on I often forgot about my desire to learn the ancient art of manual driving and would only be reminded when someone told me they could do it or a situation called for it. I feel like everyone (or most) have been in that awkward circumstance where out of a group only one person knows how to drive a standard. We had such an occasion on my first trip to Australia. We rented an automatic car, but instead the car rental people gave us a manual. Thank goodness one of the girls in the group could actually drive it. She had to drive the whole length of New Zealand's south island. It was one of those moments when I thought to myself, "I really should learn to do this, and then I could be that heroic girl who saves the day/trip."

Well ladies and gentlemen the day has arrived. Not really, but it is soon approaching. For the small fee of Sonic limeades, my friend Libby is teaching me the rules of the manual road. The first lesson included learning the gear shift, the clutch, what happens when you let the clutch out too fast, what happens when you don't give the car gas, and etc. The second lesson started with an overview of the first lesson and then it was out on the open (circle around the mall) road for me! We did a few loops around the mall where I did stall out a few times and get one honk, but then we ventured out into a nearby neighborhood. As a final test to my acquired driving skills Libby let me drive her home, which included getting on two very busy roads; 360 and Mopac. Eeek! I made it home and was so proud I made Libby take a picture of me!

Obviously I’m no where near totally comfortable driving a standard on my own and my driving lessons will have to continue when I move over to Australia. I have already hired a lovely young man to help me with my task. He’ll help teach me the rules of the Australian road and getting used to having the gear shift on the left side instead of the right. Everything is so backwards and upside down! I don’t think it will be too hard or complicated; the real problem is where will I find a Sonic to pay Adsy in limeades?