Learning to Drive

[InTheWoods]

Do you have any special memories when you learned to drive? I do because we were out in the country on a caliche road. I had gone with my best friend to spend two weeks in a cabin on the lake and we were about 13 years old. One afternoon my friend's mom asked us if we wanted to go for a drive. That was the first time I ever got behind the wheel and I will never forget it. I was so nervous and excited and we rarely saw another vehicle.

Anyway, when I taught my two sons how to drive, we did the same thing. I took them to a country road near the lake. I think there was much less worry for them as well as me.

 

[Grandpa]

Not to give my age away but I was 5 when they put me behind the wheel of our old farm truck to steer down the rows of hay while Dad and older brothers pitched the hay on. They would get the truck moving in low gear, then jump out and I would steer. If they yelled, I would just flip the ignition switch to kill the motor.

When I turned 14 and went down to the sheriff's office to get my license, the old man himself went for my driving test rather than the usual deputy. After making me drive around town a few minutes, he asked "how long you been practicing"? I just said, a couple years out in the hay field. He said "BS, your Dad has had you hauling grain to town for the last 3 years, now I expect you to keep driving as safe as you have been so I don't have to throw you in jail." Wish cops today had that kind of humor.

 

[CozInCowtown]

My daughter is 15, they are all special moments.....:censored::frusty:

 

[Footprints]

I remember my bad experience of the first time I drove. My friend got off the bus at my house,which was a few miles from her own because we wanted to hang out. She started getting worried she would get in trouble when her mom found out she didn't come home so I offered to drive her home, before anyone knew what had happened. I was 14, and we drove my dads huge old pickup truck down our country road.

Everything was going fine, until I decided I didn't need to brake going around a turn. I fish tailed the truck, spun around and stopped facing the opposite direction. After I could breath again I righted the truck, took her home and we never spoke of it again!

 

[outwest]

I was maybe 10 if I remember correctly? A neighbor had gotten a smaller bike for his son and I just had to give it a go. We lived in a place that had decent hills and I remember terrorizing my mother on the back at first. Once she realized I wanted to drive myself and the neighbors dad was okay with it after giving me a quick lesson, she started to ease up when I started to ride better than my buddy.

 

[JollyRogers]

Do you have any special memories when you learned to drive? I do because we were out in the country on a caliche road. I had gone with my best friend to spend two weeks in a cabin on the lake and we were about 13 years old. One afternoon my friend's mom asked us if we wanted to go for a drive. That was the first time I ever got behind the wheel and I will never forget it. I was so nervous and excited and we rarely saw another vehicle.

Anyway, when I taught my two sons how to drive, we did the same thing. I took them to a country road near the lake. I think there was much less worry for them as well as me.

Caliche?... you know you're in New Mexico when... That's the only place I have heard that term used.

 

[GPER]

My daughter is 15, they are all special moments.....:censored::frusty:

Mine just turned 15 too, for tha past couple of years I have been letting her drive me around on trails in our Polaris Ranger. I fixed the 6 wheel drive this winter so she should be unstoppable.

 

[Smack]

I was 12 when my Dad let me take his old Chevy pickup out around the field on our farm. He gave me a quick, basic lesson and after that, I'd drive all over that farm by myself.

 

[jason]

Nothing that I can really remember. My brother took me to an empty parking lot to drive stick. A few drives with my father when I had my permit. Usually I was his chauffeur for where he needed to go. I do remember driving around the neighborhood when I got my first vehicle to practice shifting.

I think my mom had the best experience. My grandfather took her down one of the fire paths for a few miles were we lived. He stopped, told her to get behind the wheel and told her to back out. He told her if she can drive reverse, she could drive forward.

 

[oldsarge]

I learned through my friends as a teenager, out driving country roads, I was the designated driver (long before there was such a thing) while everyone drank beer. I wasn't allowed to drink and drive until I got legal. It's amazing how when you look back at it all you realize just how stupid we all were...and lucky too!