Memorable Car Rides

I was listening to a random Death Cab for Cutie song at lunch today, and it just so happened that the LA plan I was teaching for the day dealt with sensory imagery in writing. The song, I think "Passenger Seat", is just filled with sensory imagery. The song touches on quite a few of the senses, but sight caught my eyes/ears most often while listening to the song and visioning myself in the place the song takes me.

Where the song took me wasn't expected.

It took me back to California, January 2007. I wrote a post touching on what was happening in my life at the time. The Death Cab song reminded me specifically of the car ride back from Sonoma with Kristina. I think during that ride home, after wine tasting and Guitar Hero'ing (for my first time), I drove her Yaris back home through wine country at dusk, and we kissed for the first time. Kissing Kristina had been something I wanted to do for quite a while, but living together I didn't want to create any weird tension in the house. She ended up solving the problem.

I remember having a great time all day long with Kristina, from the ultimate frisbee in the morning, to using towel-wipes and deodorant between frisbee and the birthday party instead of showering, to the party itself. I remember being completely happy being designated driver the 150 miles home, so she could enjoy herself with her friends. I remember having a stupid Charlie Brown smile on my face and rosy cheeks when she leaned in and kissed me, while we were driving home, talking about the beautiful scenery and our amazing day.

That drive home through wine country was one of my most memorable car rides, so I tried to remember a few more.

When Stacey and I first started dating, she was living in Sacramento, and I was finishing up school in Tacoma. We met every month between when we started dating in February and my graduation in May. I had spring break in March, and we helped her brother move to Portland in April (I think). I distinctly remember a drive from Tacoma to Portland we took where my speed varied from 40mph to 90mph due to a distractorous shotgun passenger.

Other memorable, less riskae, car rides include:

Driving in the family van to Sun Mountain in Central Washington. The trip only takes four hours, but that seemed like eternity from 9-14. I remember one trip my cassette player batteries ran out, and I was listening to some female artist, and as the batteries started to die, her voice got slower and lower until it sounded like the possessed chick from Stigmata. It scared the hell out of me. A different trip to Sun Mountain had me reading one of my first fantasy novels, and I was listening to No Doubt's "Tragic Kingdom" CD on loop. Whenever I hear songs from that CD, I always think about the drive to Sun Mountain and the fantasy book where everything has a "true" name, and magic exists if you know the object's true name.

Driving to and from Santa Cruz my senior year in high school with Jonno and Andrew. I had two friends that were freshmen at Santa Cruz, and Jonno had a friend at UC Davis. Andrew got a $295 speeding ticket on our way down, so he ate plain Cheerio's the rest of the trip. We slept at the UC Davis athletic fields the first night, and felt the wrath of the sprinkler system. We spent a night or two in the Santa Cruz dorms, and hung out at the boardwalk. I collapsed a tent on Jonno on our way back to Seattle, because I was in a hurry to ask out a girl and have the house to myself... only to find the house canvased when I got back to Seattle, because I forgot about the painters.