Out Driving

My first car was a 1996 Toyota Supra. I was a junior in high school; I’d just watched The Fast and the Furious, and I wanted to be Brian O’Conner. I kind of pulled it off. I just did it in the wrong order. Brian was a cop who became a street racer. I was a street racer who became a cop, and eventually, the guy who teaches people how to drive.

In this episode:

• Begging for the Supra, and my dad flying to Texas to drive it home
• Car meets, cruises, and the friends I still have more than twenty years later
• A tree, a hill, and a one-year ban from my local mall
• The Driving Tip: why every big feeling, good or bad, changes how you drive

Your turn: what was your first car, and what did it teach you? Send me a postcard at outdriving.com or answer in the comments on any of our posts. Yours might end up on the show.

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PusbCDqEg2A
Read the Journal: https://www.outdriving.com/thejournal

Some places we go because somebody we love went first, or tried to. My dad drove all the way to Mount Rushmore when he was younger, and the morning he got there it was fogged in. So he's been to Mount Rushmore. He just hasn't seen it.

This week: the roads we inherit, why the trips that go wrong are the ones that get handed down, how to drive in fog (low beams, more room, and patience), and a postcard from Karen, who has sixty-five years of road behind her.

What's a place you inherited? Or what's your family's fog story? Send me a postcard: https://www.outdriving.com/contact?topic=postcard

Watch the film, American Stories | Mount Rushmore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3H3qyLY9kI

Read the full story and my Milestone rating: https://www.outdriving.com/journal/visiting-mount-rushmore

Get one story like this every Sunday: https://www.outdriving.com

Find the drive that moves you.

On the way home from Montana, I had one stop planned in South Dakota: Dignity of Earth and Sky.

I wanted to stop. I had planned to stop. And somehow, as I got closer, I still caught myself wondering whether I should just keep driving.

That small moment led to this week's Conversation: Why do the things that make a trip memorable sometimes start to feel like they're getting in the way of the trip?

We also talk about keeping your attention active during long interstate drives, and Patty Kelley sends our very first Postcard from Richmond, Indiana.

The Conversation: The things that slow us down
This Week's Driving Tip: Keep your eyes moving
Postcards: What I missed in Richmond, Indiana

Watch the Dignity of Earth and Sky film on the Out Driving YouTube channel.

The road is waiting. Go find the drive that moves you.