Going Into My Fourth Driving Season

Fourth driving Season is a deliberate term of art since we do not much have a non-driving season in the North Georgia mountains. We had Winter last Saturday but today 55F and Sunny. If my 1965 Corvair Convertible had a charged battery it would have sufficed for my routine beer run. However, time accumulates and with those accumulations come progressions. For instance, the first two driving seasons I raced all over these mountains and wore out my tires in 5,000 miles. The third driving season I SPORTED all over the mountains and the tires are still good. However, I am a bit superstitious.

For instance, about ten years ago I was racing my Caddy CTS all over these mountains when the demonic stability control decided I should not be in such an extreme left slide. It forcefully redirected my point of aim Hard Right, rolled the right rear tire right of the rim throwing me upside down and backwards over a 15 foot cliff. Every surface on the vehicle was ruined, and as I noticed the trees passing by upside down I remember telling myself: "Damn. I will need an entire new paint job." Not one single air bad deployed.

But I tell you this. Releasing yourself from a seat belt while suspended upside down is not the piece of cake you might imagine. And getting out? At least the electric window still worked. But what has this to do with superstition? Perhaps not actual superstition, really. Perhaps a better word might be 'providence'. As I clawed my way out of the window and stood up I noticed a creek flowing about 30 feet to my right.

Floating in that creek [and I am not making this up] I noticed ragged wooden cross. About three feet high and two feet wide. It had been placed along the roadside to mark where three teenage girls had plummeted off the very same cliff and all three drowned while upside down and backwards in the creek. This did actually catch my attention. And resulted in some behavior modification. Those modifications were simple enough. Driving the Caddy I WAS racing all over the mountains. But after that my 'racing all over' was tepid by comparison.

Long story short. The first two Ferrari Seasons were 'moderate' racing all over these mountains. The third season was simply spirited driving all over these mountains. But after this Winter snow wild test-ride of last Saturday - and it was one hell of a wild test ride - I find it prudent to acknowledge my old age, advanced state of decline and will now "motor" all over these mountains.