I remember the first time I got to drive by myself. I was probably about 10 or 12 years old and had gone to the ranch with my grandfather. We had been working on a water sprinkler and after awhile we had worked our way about a 1/2 mile away from the pickup. The pasture was wide open and Grandpa had been giving me some basic instruction on driving, but with him in the pickup with me.
I guess he took advantage of me because he asked me if I wanted to go get the pickup and drive it back to pick him up. He must have been planning this ahead of time. Of course I ran the 1/2 mile to the pickup and drove it to him. He asked me to pull up to a specific fence post and stop just before I got to it. I had to back up and try 3 or 4 times before I got it right. By then he was through with the fencing job and it was time to go back to the old trailer house that served as somewhat of a line camp for the ranch.
This comes to mind because the grand kids are visiting this weekend. This morning we went out to the ranch where they did a little fishing in one of the ponds while I did some work. Their father was with them and the two oldest got to take turns driving the Polaris Ranger. He was with them giving close instruction.
This afternoon the 2nd oldest (who is a very tall 8 year old) and I went back out to do some feeding and he got to drive the pickup. I sat in the passenger seat and he had full control. He got to drive about 1/2 mile from the pens up to the gate which leads out onto the county road. He was pretty excited about it.
I'm looking forward to having some young legs to help me out during the summers. If he only knew why he was getting to learn to drive....
No comments:
Post a Comment