The Joy of Driving

I love to drive!

Since the day I turned 16, driving a car has been something that has given me a special kind of joy. Perhaps it’s the sense of freedom you have when you can just hop into your machine and go wherever you want. Or maybe it’s the feeling of the wind in your hair driving with open windows, an open sunroof, or an open convertible on a warm, sunny day.

It might be the way you seem to be on a mission of discovery when taking a road trip or other long-distance drive. Your car or truck takes you through places you otherwise would never have visited and treats you to sights and experiences you could not have had without your trusty metallic steed.

And even the routine commute to work, traffic and all, can be a pleasure – especially when compared to walking in cold and snow or riding on an overcrowded bus or subway train.

Yes, I love driving, and it is one of the few things I really miss living in Ukraine.  But it’s more than those feelings of freedom and discovery; it’s something that goes deep into the heart and soul.

Driving is Who We Are

Maybe it’s an American cultural thing, a special aspect of the American male psyche. To the American man, driving is hugely important. One of the things an American boy looks forward to the most is being old enough to get his driver’s license. It’s a rite of passage, one of the most important steps that signals ascension to manhood.

The ability to drive – and drive well – is an essential part of a man’s self-image. It runs deep and speaks to who and what he is as a man. For most American men, driving skill ranks second only behind sexual prowess in their assessments of their own manhood. If a man isn’t a master of the road, he is somehow less of a man.

I’m not sure if driving occupies such an important place in the minds and hearts of men in other cultures, but the automobile has dominated American culture for 100 years, and our love of cars and driving is deeply engrained into who we are. I suppose I can’t speak for all American men, but I do believe this is generally true. I know it is true for me.

Driving Memories

I remember years ago when my first new car saw me safely and comfortably on multiple trips between Massachusetts and Maryland. We (the car and I) often drove through the night to avoid the worst of New York traffic. Good music inside a smooth and reliable ride did more than just get me through those trips, it gave me a safe inner sanctum in which the rest of the world could not touch me, and my mind could soar. It was almost like meditation.

A few years later, I took another new car on my first cross-country jaunt, traveling from Norfolk, Virginia, to Monterey, California, to begin a Navy language school. That April drive treated me to the beauty of spring in the Appalachians of Tennessee and the absolutely new (to me) landscapes of the north Texas flatlands and the desert southwest of New Mexico and Arizona. My final prize on that trip was 100 miles of scenic wonder along the California coastal highway from San Luis Obispo, through Big Sur, to Monterey. It was pure magic.

When I returned to the United States after six years in Japan, my motorcycle took me from San Francisco to Fort Collins, Colorado, through some of the most beautiful mountain scenery you could imagine. That trip took driving magic to yet another level.

There have been a number of other fantastic, long-distance driving experiences. I’ve traveled between Colorado and Massachusetts several times, usually in a rented moving truck. And on several of those trips, I enjoyed the good company of a traveling companion. It was especially sweet when one of my daughters made the trip with me from the East Coast to Denver.

I’ve driven between Denver and Chicago several times, and in the 1990s and early 2000s, I made a number of trips between Denver and Albuquerque, New Mexico, and even a few longer trips all the way down to Las Cruces on the Mexican border. And there have been a lot of other road trips over the years.

That’s a lot of miles and a lot of memories.

Of course, not every driving experience is good. Besides being a joy, driving is responsible and serious business. You have to be focused and aware to keep yourself and others safe on the road, and for this reason you can sometimes become overly stressed. Bad drivers around you, difficult weather and road conditions, and other factors can conspire to replace your driving joy with unwanted anxiety.

But that’s worst-case, and in my experience, the pleasure of driving has always far outweighed those occasional speed bumps.

Becoming One with the Vehicle

The trucks and cars I have owned (and especially my motorcycle) are integral to my great driving memories. The vehicles become part of who I am, an extension of my identity and personality. It’s important to get to know the vehicle – intimately – and to become one with it. Together, you share the driving experience, and together you work through challenging situations.

You learn the essentials of operating a car or truck, but then you have to get used to the specific idiosyncrasies of any particular vehicle. You learn that no two standard-shift vehicles behave the same with regard to the engagement point or sensitivity of the clutch, the feel and throw of the shifter, the sensitivity of the brakes, the RPM range at which the engine operates most effectively, and so forth.

Experience teaches you that every vehicle behaves differently in snow, in heavy rain, or on icy streets. You learn to handle a front-wheel drive car differently from a rear-wheel drive. And you get to know the advantages – and the limitations – of operating your four-wheel drive truck in those conditions. And you get a real appreciation for good-quality tires, as well as for studs or chains when you need them.

For me, little can match the thrill of working with a four-wheel drive truck to negotiate difficult paths – or no path at all – in the backcountry. I’ve had three exceptional off-road rides: the famous, nimble and tough white Bronco (not O.J.); my classy and sassy Nissan Frontier; and the big, powerful and comfortable Nissan Titan.

The Bronco holds the best memories because it took me into the wildest places and saw me through the most precarious off-road situations. It had a long-throw shifter, like an older truck should, and I became adept at working the clutch at a higher rev to avoid stalls, keeping higher RPMs at low speeds for torque, power and sure-footedness, quick-shifting between first and reverse to rock the truck out of jams, and assorted other tricks and techniques. Together, we worked through mud and snow, over rocks and logs, and along roads a mountain goat might thing twice about using. It was special.

Colorado: Nothing Compares to You

In September, I wrote a series of observations about my trip to the USSA that I called my American Journal. In that post, I wrote about driving in Colorado and how great it was. The best part was driving to Steamboat Springs in the northern mountains.

We drove at night along lonely county and state roads and saw only a handful of other cars for hours. The drive back was in the daytime, and there were a few more cars, but with the bright weather and beautiful scenery, it was still pure motoring bliss.

For the most part, driving in Colorado is special. There are exceptions, of course. City driving in Denver or Colorado Springs is pretty much like city driving anyplace not named New York, Los Angeles or Boston; except for the view of majestic mountain peaks to the west. And I-70 into the mountains is to be avoided on any weekend during ski season or on major holidays. That’s what happens when too many people learn what an amazing place Colorado is and crowd in to get a piece.

But those problems aside, driving in Colorado is a joy. Mountain driving challenges you with occasional narrow roads, sharp curves, sudden snowstorms, and the chance that a deer, elk, bighorn sheep, moose or even a bear might suddenly dart in front of you. Those kinds of challenges are fun, but you have to be careful. In the end, you are rewarded with the opportunity to experience some of the most breathtaking and inspiring places on Earth.

I seem to be persuading myself that I need to return to Colorado and get back behind the wheel.

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