DLand - Head Nod and a Smile

I must remember what it felt like today to drive around. Remind me of this entry when it's February and there is ice everywhere and I refuse to go near the 4WD money pit. I drove the Jeep to work today. Ostensibly, it was so Sweetpea could replace the battery in my Saturn while I was at work. But I took the extra time to take off the doors and roll up the back. I pretended I didn't hear the horrible grating noise of the clutch going bad as I slid out of the driveway and then eased out of the neighborhood. The tire noise and wind quickly put all that of my mind. And I was driving the time of my life.

This 1983 Jeep CJ7 Renegade has an extremely small wheel base and sloppy steering so I can weave in the lanes (on purpose) in time to the music on the radio and still not touch other traffic. I can hang my leg out the door and rest it on the front fender at stop lights. I could lean way out and touch other cars (although I think that violates some sort of unwritten vehicle personal space rule).

It is a perfect Jeep day. Get out your barometers and hydrometers and testify to this. Make thorough notes on it. I'm savoring every piece of it. Because in three months, when the doors are back on and the top is snapped tight and the plastic windows are fogged over from the temperature difference I must be able to flash back immediately to this day to remember why we would still own said money pit and why we would want to buy $500 worth of tires for it and $500 worth of new suspension and of course the $200 clutch.

I will need to be able to meditate while in the high speed tractor that it is and remember today. How my new haircut doesn't tangle in the wind. How strangers wave at me when they see me (in their little metal boxes all cramped up and tight). How good it feels to be in a car that deserves a head nod and a smile and occasionally a "rock on" hand gesture. Hyundai drivers don't do that stuff to each other on the road.