DRIVIN’ MY LIFE AWAY

article and illustration by LOU DAVENPORT

Here in my car, I feel safest of all.  I can lock all the doors.  It’s the only way to live…

I read somewhere that you can tell the “eras” of your life by the cars you remember.  That’s true for me.  I was a real “car nut” when I was little, and could tell you every make and model of nearly every car.  I couldn’t do that now, but I sure do remember every car I’ve ever “known and loved.” 

“Ooh I’m drivin’ my life away, lookin’ for a better way… for me…”

Right now, I have a little Toyota Rav 4 that is extra special to me,  because it came my way from one of my cousins and her husband, who “made me an offer I could not refuse.” I love it.  I hate to admit that there are still things in the back of it from the last time I moved, but I just figure it’s my extra “storage building.” 

Goodness knows I was in need of a newer car.  After my husband died, I eventually had to buy myself a new car, all by myself.  I had never done that before.

“Clowns to the left of me… jokers to the right…”

The little Safari minivan I had while the kids were growing up holds so many memories, good and bad, for me.  That van witnessed seeing me throw some hellacious pity parties, panic attacks, the whole nine yards. That van also made so many trips to Jackson for Larry’s doctor appointments, or when he had to spend time in the hospital.  Coming home from there one day, I got pulled over by the biggest Mississippi State Trooper the State of Mississippi had and I just fell apart and started sobbing, not even knowing yet why he had actually pulled me over.  I started telling my whole story, not to get out of a ticket, but I think I just needed to get a lot of pent up emotions out, and Mr. Trooper-man just opened the flood gates.   He only pulled me over to tell me my inspection sticker was out. I’m sure he let me go with a warning instead of a ticket so that he could get away from my crazy, crying self! 

That van helped me haul around three kids, who were all involved in many activities. It sure did come in handy.  I made the rounds to three different schools for a few years, taking and picking them all up every day.  Clothes were changed, baseball gear stored, various musical instruments flew in and out, ballet costumes poofed out everywhere, many stories told, and we always had some good loud music going.  We rolled!!

“You! Yeah, you! Get into my car!”

So, the time came to where I knew I had to get a newer, more dependable, car.  I hoped to find one that would last as long as possible, since I had no idea what my future held.  So, I drove a lot of different cars, and decided I liked and wanted a Toyota 4-Runner, with 4 wheel drive.  The salesman told me, “You don’t want that.”  Oh, really?  He lost a sale, and I found a much better deal and 4-Runner elsewhere. That 4-Runner became my “tank,” where I felt safe.  I drove that car for over 15 years. Paige and Matt have it now and I still get to see the first car I ever bought.

“Long may she run…”

Before I had my van, I had a black Pontiac Gran Prix.  I wouldn’t say it was the most practical car to have when you have little kids, but times were different, and it is crazy that car seats were NOT a big deal back then.  Mine would have figured out a way to get out of one anyway.  It was the car I drove back and forth from Aberdeen, Mississippi to Vicksburg, down the Natchez Trace, when we got to move.  It took several trips to find a house, but on the last one, the kids and I packed up the cat, “Kitty Boy,” and hit the road.  Not five minutes out, Kitty Boy escaped from his carrier, and I thought we were about to have a “wild cat” tearing up the car! But, strangely, he curled up next to the kids, and slept all the way to the new house in Vicksburg! I took that as a good sign that we were going where we needed to be going.     

Before the Gran Prix, I had a Oldsmobile Cutlass.  I had it before I got married, and I do believe my Dad “bribed” me with it so that I’d commute to ULM and not stay in the dorm. (He was probably right. I know I would have really had a good time living there!) Driving that car got me my first and ONLY speeding ticket.  And I was so guilty!   I took Hwy 139 from Bastrop to Monroe, and it was a very curvy, two-lane highway then.  I had just rounded “Dead Man’s Curve,” going about 80, when I saw the blue lights of a State Trooper car racing after me! It scared me almost to death!

“Never could tow the mark, and I never could walk the line…”

I was on my way to take my first math test, and I, of course, was running late.  Again, I started crying. This time it wasn’t so much from an intimidating State Trooper, but from me not wanting to go back home to face my dad.  The Trooper did take a little pity on me.  He wrote that I was doing 70 instead of 82.  As I slowly drove away with my ticket, all I could think was “Duke is going to kill me!” I even sat in the parking lot at Johnny’s Pizza for a while, just trying to gather my courage! Some of my aunts were at our house when I got home, so they ran a little interference for me.  He didn’t get too angry, MUCH less than what I had pictured and built up in my head,  but I did have to suffer one of his “talks,” and those were never fun.

  “…busted for things I did…” 

I will say, that State Trooper probably saved my life that day.  I was young and stupid, and I’m grateful to that man for making me learn a valuable lesson.  I have never sped (like that) again, and that has been 50 years ago.  My kids pick on me that I drive too slow, but, as I see it, where do I have to go that I have to be in that big of a hurry? (I also failed that math test.)

I learned to drive in my mama’s big Wildcat Buick. My daddy taught me how to drive it on the gravel roads out in the Game Reserve above Bastrop.  I drove, and he looked for deer.  That car was so big that eight people could get in there and be comfortable.  In Bastrop, where “cruising” was all we had to do, I “cruised” with a car full sometimes! 

“I love it when we’re cruisin’ together.”

That car took us on two trips out west.  It got us all the way up Pike’s Peak, the Grand Canyon, and to see “Old Faithful” at Yellowstone.  My daddy drove it right down the freeway in LA and into the parking lot of Disneyland, where he promised to bring us back the next day.  He lied.  He headed right back to Louisiana the next day by way of riding down the Strip in Las Vegas!

“Viva Las Vegas!”

As I’ve told y’all before, my daddy loved big cars! My favorite car he ever bought was a blue 1957 Oldsmobile 88, the summer before I went to first grade.  We went to Carlsbad, New Mexico, and my main memory was of how big Texas was!  I kept asking, over and over, “Are we through Texas yet?”  

“Waltz across Texas…..”

The very first car we had that I can remember was a red 1955 Oldsmobile Super 88.  I was sick a lot back then, and they would prescribe this tasty cough syrup!  I slipped around and drank nearly three fourths of the bottle, and when my mama found out, she called the doctor. I hid under the bed afraid I would have to go get a shot!  He told her I’d be fine, either sleepy or “drunk as a skunk.”  Do I even have to say what I did?  I remember dancing my little self all around the back seat to Elvis singing “Hound Dog!”  I had a great time, but my Mama kept that cough syrup hid from then on out!  

“You ain’t nothin’ but a Houng Dog…cryin’ all the time!”

Lyrics from Waylon Jennings, Elvis Presley, Ernest Tubb, Billy Ocean, Smoky Robinson, Neil Young, Gary Numan, Eddie Rabbit, and Stealers Wheel