Headline: Gas Prices Reach Record High. Again.
A lot of people are making lifestyle changes because of the high cost of gas – trading in their big SUVs for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, cancelling summer road trips, or just trying to drive less.
In Memphis, it’s really not practical to think that we can give up our cars completely. MATA is trying like hell to use this to their advantage and I’ve even looked into that possibility but the express from downtown back out to the suburbs at the end of the day is at like 4:30! How does that work for people who work 9 to 5? MATA is going to need to increase their route options if they seriously want to market their services to people who own cars.
So unless you live AND work downtown, you’re probably married to your car the way that I am. Which got me thinking. About cars.
- What was your first car?
- Who taught you to drive?
- What’s the longest road trip you’ve ever taken?
- If money were no object, what kind of car would you drive?
- What was your craziest/scariest/most unusual driving experience?
Leave your Friday Five in the comments. My responses after the jump.
- My first car was a green 1978 Plymouth Horizon that I bought in 1985. My dad co-signed a loan at the bank for me and I paid it off for $87 a month. It was a horrible car. I’ve refused to own a domestic car ever since.
- I never took a drivers ed class or anything (although you can be assured my son will). When we were in high school, my friend Shelley taught me to drive a stick-shift in her old-school VW bug.
- I once drove from Memphis to Corpus Christi, Texas by myself. In one day. I was about 23 and it was pretty awesome actually.
- Ever since I got the Benzo convertible I’ve kind of quit looking at dream cars. Although if money were REALLY no object, it wouldn’t be about the car – it’d be about the DRIVER I’d have.
- Once, when we were in our early 20s, my brother & I drove home from the Mississippi Coast during an ice storm. It was the scariest thing ever. Trees were laying down across the highway. The windshield wipers were like popsicles. We made it as far as Grenada and gave up and got a hotel room.
Responses to “Friday Five”
June 6th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
1. My first car was a 74 Ford Fairlane – and this was in 1991. It was not awesome at the time, but looking back, I loved that hoopty. It certainly made me stand out!!!
2. My mother taught me how to drive, unwillingly. I learned on an old country road with loud screams ringing in my ear.
3. Longest car ride was technically from Memphis to Arizona. Mentally, it is from Memphis to Dallas. My husband I went last year, and for some strange reason, it took us 10 hours. Neither of us can figure out why. Also, it seems like any time we go through Birmingham, for some starnge reason, 2 hours is added to a trip. What is it about Birmingham that is so difficult to escape?
4. Dream car is a convertible lexus.
5. Coming home from University of Memphis to Tipton County during Ice Storm 94. Why, you ask? Well, the power was out in the dorm, and my roommate and I needed to get board games, of course!!! At Covington Pike and Stage, I was coming to a stop when my car slid sideways. It was just like a comedy movie – my roommate and I screaming until the car stopped. Unlike the previous poster, I had ZERO ice training.
June 6th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
1. First car was a 1980 Mustang, and that was NOT a good year for Mustangs. White w/red & orange stripe down the side and a red interior. Oh, and it was a stick which I didn’t know how to drive.
2. A combination of people because it became clear very quickly that Mom & I didn’t have the patience for each other.
3. San Francisco to Memphis. My parents & I flew there to pick up a car & drove back, stopping here & there to see the sights.
4. A BMW, no doubt.
5. Westbound on Summer just past E Parkway. An older man in the right lane, I’m in the middle when he begins to pull over & into me. I tap my horn to let him know that I’m there, he pulls over anyway and SLAMS on his brakes for NO reason. My brakes lock up, I spin a few times & end up sideways in the middle of the street. I was so mad & scared that I literally followed him until we got to Jackson Ave & some scary street, stopped at a light, got out of my car & proceeded to scream like a banshee at him for scaring me to death. It caused quite a scene & I’m not proud of it now, but I was 23 then & I don’t think any driving experience has scared me more than that did. Oh, I’ve been in several accidents but I can still feel how terrified I was that day.
June 6th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
BTW, Kalisa ~ I bought my ’80 Mustang in ’85, financed it with Mom’s help & pd $87/mo. & didn’t own another domestic until I bought a Saturn. My next ride will not likely be a domestic…
June 7th, 2008 at 10:19 am
1. My first car was a Ford Fairlane, too! I don’t remember what year it was, but it was 1983 when I got it and it was pretty old then, so I think it was made some time in the 60′s. What I definitely remember is that it would not go into reverse, so I had to be very careful where I parked! I only drove it about 15-20 times because it was such a pain. Luckily, I didn’t have to pay for it-my Dad paid a few hundred for it and gave it to me.
2. I only drove a couple of times w/ my Mom or Dad before I took my driver’s test. I did pretty well, but could not parallel park to save my life. I swore to the man testing me that I would not ever try to parallel park anyway, so he passed me.
3. We rented an RV and drove from LA up to Tahoe. Plan was to hit as many ski resorts as possible, but after the first night in Tahoe, we discovered the heat didn’t work in the RV. So we headed south through Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and Death Valley until we ended up in San Diego. Not sure how many miles we did, but it was a great trip.
4. Never thought about it. Maybe a convertable BMW.
5. Driving to Hot Springs a couple of years ago, I passed a semi and have no idea what I did to piss him off, but he passed me again and literally tried to run me off the road. And then he did it again! Where are the cops when you need them?
June 8th, 2008 at 12:01 am
1. My first car titled in my name is the 1989 light blue, 2-door Honda Accord which I am still driving (it has 268,000+ miles).
2. My mother taught me to drive down two-lane Highway 71 from Shreveport to Coushatta, LA.
3. The longest road trip? In 1992 from Tampa, FL, to Anchorage, AK, with a little help from the Alaska Marine Ferry. In the little blue Honda.
4. I just want another Honda Accord (with four doors this time) that will last me another 20 years. 15 years without a car note is a dream come true with the cost of gas.
5. Driving in snow that came up to the hood after a blizzard in Alaska. Thankfully the snow there is very powdery.
June 8th, 2008 at 1:34 am
1. First car was my Dad’s ’66 VW Squareback. It was a great car. But, I had it in college in a very cold climate. This was not so good. First car I bought was a lime green mustang. It was used and not in the best shape, but looked cool.
2. My Dad helped me learn to drive. He was very patient. I also took driver’s ed. in college. It was great because it was offered by the school. The teachers were upper class students taking the class to get a driver’s ed teaching certificate. It was free, and I go 1.5 units of credit!
3.NYC to San Francisco w/ my boyfriend when I was 17. I can’t believe my parents permitted this. It took us 7 days. I didn’t do any driving. (No license yet.
4.If the driver comes with the car, I’d like a Rolls.
5. Scary road trip: Driving down Tuolumne Canyon in the Sierra Foothills. A very,very narrow, steep
road with no room for two cars and a very steep drop on one side.
June 6th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
First of all, MATA is a crime and a shame, one of the worst things about this city. How a major city can exist without reliable public transportation is just a wonder. My friends from other places are always shocked when they learn there’s no way to get from point A to point B without walking miles to a bus that might or might not come once or twice a day. And taxi prices in Memphis are shocking compared to the rest of the world – why is that?
Anyway.
1. Oh gosh, I can’t remember the name of my first car. It was an undistinguished green station wagon, bought used. It broke down with regularity and finally threw a rod, stranding me in the middle of Fayette county, far from civilization. On the upside it had plenty of room – there was even room to sleep in the back, which I did on more than one occasion.
2. My grandfather taught me to drive. He was a very genteel, patient man. I never saw him become agitated over anything. But he just about turned green the first time we pulled out onto Poplar near Highland and I wandered into the next lane! My father also did something very important – he taught me how to drive on ice. He took me down to an empty iced-over parking lot at Memphis State during Christmas break and taught me how to get out of a skid, how not to panic, how to brake properly, how to maintain a rate of speed that would keep the car from stalling, and all sorts of cold weather skills that most Memphis drivers never learn.
I also took driver’s ed from the Pitners, who I believe are still teaching it. Hey, y’all, perfect driving record here, thanks guys!
3. A friend and I drove up to Canada together with a horse trailer. She was crazy! I believe the car was a Bonneville… anyway it was a luxury car with tons of power, and she kept up an average speed of around 100 mph while pulling a trailer with a horse in it. It took us two days from Memphis to Toronto.
4. I really like the cute little modern muscle car look of the 2006 Mustang. I like it in green. But for daily driving I would want something more comfortable.
5. As a teenager, I went out with a friend’s brother who was visiting from out-of-town. He borrowed my sister’s car, despite the fact that he didn’t know how to drive a stick. Then when we were downtown he somehow got on the Memphis bridge going the wrong direction. I thought we were going to die – semis headed right for us, honking horns. Somehow he got pulled over and turned around but I never, ever went out with him again.