{"id":445,"date":"2010-01-13T17:18:14","date_gmt":"2010-01-13T23:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2010\/01\/13\/the-drive-home\/"},"modified":"2010-05-08T11:45:45","modified_gmt":"2010-05-08T17:45:45","slug":"the-drive-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2010\/01\/13\/the-drive-home\/","title":{"rendered":"The Drive Home"},"content":{"rendered":"Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

I live about 15 minutes from the city limits. That means that part of my drive includes highway, secondary highway, and country roads, paved and not.<\/p>\n

One of the things I love about the drive home is that during the last 30 minutes or so of the drive there are only 2 intersections with traffic lights. For the last 10 miles or so there are none.<\/p>\n

On a good night, I feel myself starting to unwind as soon as I leave the city lights.<\/p>\n

On a good day, the turn off of the main highways signals the last and funnest part of the drive. I realized today that not many people get to do this. I am grateful that I get to.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I got a new (used) car recently. It’s a VW Passat. It’s the most luxurious car I’ve ever owned. That’s really nice, but it’s also pretty peppy, which makes the last few legs of my journey especially fun. You see, once I turn off the highway I get 6 miles of paved, straight, *un-patrolled* secondary highway with almost no traffic. So, when the day is clear and the road is dry – I speed. Almost every car I come across speeds on that stretch of road. The other day I broke a personal speed record: 160 kph. Fun. My own personal Autobahn for my own personal VW.<\/p>\n

The next bit is just as much fun but in a different way: it is ~2 miles of paved, windy, hilly road, also with nary a car to be seen most days. This one’s the Rally Road. Cross the yellow line on the turn? Who cares? There’s no-one else there.<\/p>\n

On wintery days, the very last leg, the 50 meter stretch up the driveway right after a hard turn amounts to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. If it’s at all slippery or snowy you need to take a run at it. You also need to keep up some momentum while at the same time *not* sliding off the hill to the side or into the fence that lines the drive.<\/p>\n

This is also fun. All those people who park at the end of the drive rather than attempt it don’t know what they’re missing.<\/p>\n

Autobahn, Rally Road, Wild Ride. What more does anyone need?<\/p>\n