i had a good weekend up in chicago, i had not driven there for a couple of years (my last car would never have survived, nor would i). Needless to say, i'd forgotten how involved and adventurous a solo car trip can be. First and foremost, it is fun to drive fast. I always try to calculate my arrival to my destination within a plus or minus 5 minutes. I'm surprised how often i hit this goal. All the while, I still find myself doing way too much fractional math in my head to find optimum speeds versus miles per gallon ratios. I think i've settled at 72 on cruise for the more chaotic portions of highway/interstate travel. However, i was glad to learn that people still drive really fast on 90/94. Going with the flow of traffic kept me between 80 and 85, and that felt slow.
Then of course there's the skyline in chicago, which i'm sure many take for granted. But it's rather breathtaking to round a bend and suddenly see one of the top 20 most populous cities in the world looming to your immediate right, crawling along beside you in the opposite direction.
Then there's that satisfaction of memorizing the directions to where you're going and not depending at all upon maps or written notes. If you get lost, you get lost. Just avoid that, and you're set.
Please remember, i am a small town person that didnt really start driving at all until right before i left for college. in fact, the longest i drove by myself was the 92 or so miles from danville to lincoln my freshman year. now i just want to drive all the time.
So i do.
I'm kind of hoping that one day i'll drive somewhere nice and just stay there for awhile. start new, fresh, all that crap. see what happens. i just need to pull together the courage to leave some stuff behind, but i've said that before.
new beginnings are always exciting.
in the meantime, the wait can be punctuated by adventurous travels. | 
