Story by Jon Stalnaker AKA The Studebaker Dude
I haven’t been driving much since we moved to Oklahoma. I used to love taking long trips in a car or truck, but not so much anymore. I spent the first 18 years of my life having never been in a state other than California.
After I graduated from high school, I enrolled in an Electronics Trade School in Chicago. I answered an ad in the back of a magazine and was visited by a salesman from The DeVry Institute of Technology. They had schools in several locations around the USA, the closest one in Arizona. But I wanted to get as far away from California as I could, so off to Chicago it was. However, it was not in a car; I was “leaving on a jet plane”. If you are anywhere near my age, you sang that quote.
I spent about 4 months in Chicago, getting used to riding on buses, elevated trains, and subways. You didn’t even need a car in that city. With Uncle Sam knocking at my door, I flew home for Christmas and never went back. Soon, I would get the chance to see the world.
Uncle Sam sent me to Texas, then Colorado, where I got a chance to drive across the country. I flew home to California and got myself married. We went back to Colorado in a 3-cylinder VW bug. It got us to Colorado, but just barely.
Now that I had a steady income, I could buy a decent car. I got me a brand-new Saab 96, and when I got orders to report to Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, I decided to go home the long way by driving north through Wyoming and Montana, then west through Idaho and Washington, then south through Oregon and into California. After a stop at home, it was time to head to my new adventure in Nevada.
I wasn’t that thrilled about being stationed in Nevada, as it was too close to home, and I wanted to get as far away from California as I could. I put in for a transfer to every other base that had F-111 Fighter-Bombers. I hit the jackpot with orders for Great Britain, specifically RAF Upper Heyford. I left my new Saab behind and hopped on several planes to England.
I finished my military commitment there, so I was there long enough to get another car. This time it was a Mini and I had a blast driving it all over the back roads of Britain. By the time I was back to civilian life, I had seen lots of roads all over the world. I was still young and adventurous, and I managed to drive all over the Continental U.S. during my four decades with the Postal Service. I have yet to achieve my goal of seeing all states, but it’s not as important to me as it once was.
Now that I am three times retired, driving is more of a chore for me. I’ve made four long trips since we moved to Oklahoma. One to California and back, driving through nine states. Two round-trip tickets to Arizona and back through four states, and a round-trip ticket to Pennsylvania and back through seven states.
Driving in 2025 is way different than driving back in the 70s. The roads are bigger; the speeds are faster, and there are way more cars on the roads now. And then there is the fear of distracted drivers all over the place.
These last three trips have been hectic. I try to drive as safely as I can, following the posted speed limits, but it seems as though I often become a hazard by doing so.
It’s not so bad when there are three lanes. I can set cruise control for the speed limit and stay in the middle lane. But I often found myself unable to maintain the speed limit when I look in my rear view mirror and see a big rig approaching my rear bumper, wanting me to get out of his way.
If I have another big rig to my right, I found myself bumping my speed to 80 mph until I could move over in front of that truck and slow down to the 75 mph posted speed limit. I can’t slow down to move over behind the truck beside me, when the big rig behind me is already too close to my back bumper. It’s almost impossible to drive the speed limit without somebody following way too close.
All of this activity takes the fun out of driving for me. It’s no longer a relaxing trip with all these crazy, hurried drivers surrounding my car from all sides. It has become a stressful chore. We plan out each trip so as not to be in any hurry behind the wheel.
I wouldn’t mind going slower if I wasn’t made to feel as though I am the hazard. I still need to drive from time to time and hopefully I can adjust to today’s faster pace. I know, I can always fly, but that’s another whole story by itself. And I’m running out of room on this page…
