Life is Like a Song

Will you drive it in the rain?

So far, it has been my destiny to drive it in the rain. Even today, some raindrops sprinkled down.

At last, the skies above are blue. At long last, it was time for a proper drive.

You would never suspect how many people are cruising about on the freeway with cameras at the ready until you cruise about in an unusual vehicle. And if seeing one of these on the road is unusual, you might imagine that seeing a pair of them would be a memorable experience.

Consider the surprised travelers in a small sedan that merged onto the freeway behind the shiny black car. In front of ... an orange one, just like it. The passengers in the rear seat didn't know which way to look. Forward. Back. Forward. Back.

Or the guy in a mightily mud-splattered off-road vehicle who threw open the passenger door to deliver an enthusiastic "Bonita!" as they passed. Following a similarly muddied Jeep, they were friends out for a good day's fun - just like we were - but ... different.

And then there was the vehicle in my rear view mirror, on an isolated rural road. It was SUV-like, maybe it had some antennas. The driver was clearly familiar with the road, as he had caught up to us. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it until we had negotiated a particularly curvy stretch and I checked my mirrors ... he was right on my tail. Just as I calculated that this was probably Not A Good Sign, the grille lit up with all manner of flashing red and blue lights, a siren wailed, and I saw "Sheriff" on the door as he pulled around me and stopped the shiny black car.

Turns out that he just wanted to warn us to keep an eye out for the free-roaming wild boar and remind us that it's pretty desolate out there, no emergency services nearby. When he was done chatting with the shiny black car, he gave me a wave as he climbed back into his vehicle. And we all continued on our way.

I saw a pair of coyotes on a hillside pause and turn to watch me pass. No wild boar, though.

I put more miles on the car today than it had accumulated in the preceding 10 months, and I loved every inch of it. When I got home, I cleaned away the splattered bugs (no mud for me, today).

Yes, Scott. I will drive it in the rain. The wipers work.