Road Trip

eaglecatcher · Post by **eaglecatcher** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 3:24 am

This is awesome, my family and I are going to take a cruise this week, never been on one and think it may be fun, so were gonna try, but we get to go on a 5 hour car trip to get there. The best part is, my parents are gonna let me drive most of the trip. As soon as my dad gets us on the right highway, hes gonna let me drive most of, if not the rest of the way, until we get to houston, which I think is like a 5 hour drive. Unfortunately, its an auto, and my parents will be in it, so no "spirited" driving, but it will be fun to drive some. Yeah, it sounds stupid, but for a kid with a permit, is a hella fun. Just thought I post this, not that it really means anything. It also has cruise control, so now, I can operate the entire car with ONE HAND. I will use this as an arguing point for getting a stick, as I don't think there is cruise control on a manual, is there?

screenname · Post by **screenname** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 4:08 am

eaglecatcher wrote:The best part is, my parents are gonna let me drive most of the trip. As soon as my dad gets us on the right highway, hes gonna let me drive most of, if not the rest of the way, until we get to houston, which I think is like a 5 hour drive. Unfortunately, its an auto, and my parents will be in it, so no "spirited" driving, but it will be fun to drive some.

Trust me, once the novelty wears off, you'll be begging your parents to take the wheel. Driving in a straight line is one of the most boring things you can do with a car. Looking at your car in the garage would probably be more exciting. This is compounded because you're in an auto - with a manual, you might downshift for passing opportunities. No such luck with an auto, because it's "put your foot down and wait 2 seconds for the transmission to kick down and pass the car in front of you" the whole time. Just watch out for cops.

eaglecatcher wrote:Yeah, it sounds stupid, but for a kid with a permit, is a hella fun.

Like I said, for the first few hours at most.

eaglecatcher wrote:It also has cruise control, so now, I can operate the entire car with ONE HAND. I will use this as an arguing point for getting a stick, as I don't think there is cruise control on a manual, is there?

There IS cruise control on a manual. My car has it. I use it all the time. And you can drive the car with NO hands at all!

With all that said, have fun on your road trip.

Warner · Post by **Warner** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 4:11 am

Yeah, manuals can have cruise control.

Do you actually live in Dallas, or are you from one of the surrounding suburbs? I'm just curious.

eaglecatcher · Post by **eaglecatcher** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 4:31 am

I live in N. Dallas, almost on the border of Richardson, really close to where Central and LBJ intersect, if you know where that is, which you probably do.

vp · Post by vp » Thu Jul 06, 2006 6:35 am

Is it just me, but I don't downshift when passing on the highway. (I drive dad's car on the highway, a 6MT high-torque diesel). There is no oncoming traffic in the passing lane, so no need to worry about being precise, I just floor it in 6th and it accelerates fairly quickly.

papyrus · Post by **papyrus** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 9:33 am

Have a great time! And I agree with screenname to a degree - highway driving can be reaaaaallly boring, especially if you're in the Plains. But when I was learning to drive I looked for any excuse to do so and had fun doing it.

Enjoy the roadtrip and enjoy the cruise!

Post by **jomotopia** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:19 am

when i had my learner's permit i always wanted to drive everywhere no matter what. yeah highway driving can get boring, but seat time is seat time

and yeah my car has cruise control too but i hardly ever use it. i hardly ever used it in my autos either.

and to vp: i don't often downshift for passing either unless i'm at the bottom of 5th or 6th. my gears are short enough and my car powerful enough that i can get a good pull in either of those top gears so unless i've REALLY gotta get on it (or just want to

), no real need to downshift. what this means for me though is that i have little practice/experience downshifting to pass, so when i do it's not usually very smooth or pretty

gotta practice that. the 6-4-floor it shift is like a kick in the ass.

papyrus · Post by **papyrus** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:21 am

Heh - I could just see Jomo pouring a whole gallon of milk down the drain..."MOM! We're out of milk. I'll go get some. Where are your keys?"

SteveUK · Post by **SteveUK** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:58 am

When I was in University I had a year in Leiden University in the Netherlands. It was great because I could get in my car with my friends and drive all around Europe. Now that was a road trip. Different countries, different rules, different langauages and all on the wrong side of the road!!!

I recommend this to everyone. Yeah you can do it in the States, but it's all pretty much the same from state to state. Also as I was driving a British car, I couldn't have any photographs from speed cameras sent to me!

Post by **Standardshifter** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 11:08 am

Similar rules, same language and same side of the road, but going from 119 degrees and 120 feet below sea level to 10,900 feet and snow in 72 hours makes for some interesting variety on a cross-country US trip.

Also nice to pay only 2.90 a US gallon.

Sypher · Post by **Sypher** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 12:21 pm

Hey, have fun on your road trip. Yes driving on teh highway can get a bit boring, but like Jomo said, seat time is seat time. Also, when you get on a open stretch, getting up to 160km/h+ is fun

Watch out for police interceptors though.

eaglecatcher · Post by **eaglecatcher** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 5:25 pm

I wish I could go that fast, but my parents wont let me, and I'd rather not get a ticket with my permit, because then i cna't get my license until I'm 18, another 2years.

StandardShift.com

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