Driver's License

[Janet Harrington]

In that Ford Galaxy, I drove from Howard to Severy and topped people's hill at 100 MPH.  I had a girl named Carol Gray and my little sister in the car.  We were on our way from school to Eureka for a Rainbow meeting.  I think I scared Carol half to death because I don't remember her ever riding with me again.  Anyway, I thought it was fun.  I don't know if Patti did.  In my tenure as sheriff, I got to driver my patrol unit and ambulances very, very fast.  I loved it so much and I really have to watch my speed when I'm driving a regular vehicle.

[Joanna]

I got my learner's permit as soon as I could at 14. My mom is the most patient driving teacher in the WORLD! I asked her if she wold teach my kids to drive since I knew that I'd never be as calm and patient as she was

We had an automatic, but my parents insisted I learn how to drive standard too. Tex Carson, a family friend let me go with him to the bean field and I'd back the pickup across the field to refill the seed in the planter every little bit. I ran over more than one metal 5 gallon can, I can tell you. You'd have thought he'd learn not to set them behind the tires. HA!

I remember early on he had me follow him out to the field, he in the tractor and me following in his pickup.  There was a HUGE steep hill in one area that he'd forgot to warn me about, so halfway up he pulled the tractor over to make sure I could do the down-shift and manage. I thought he wanted me to stop and the hill was so steep and so muddy (and I was so short) that I had one foot on the brake and one on the clutch, both to the floor and I was stretched straight as a board trying to hold them, petrified and staring at the ceiling of the truck cab!  He tried so hard not to be mad and then not to laugh as he got off the tractor, walked to the truck and took over to get the pickup to the top of that hill.  And he still let me drive after that. What a great guy

[Jo McDonald]

I learned to drive when I was 15, but didn't get a license until I was 17.  I didn't have to take a test then but when I applied for a CDL I took one and passed.  Fred always drove a LP Gas truck, and a transport and I helped drive both of them, so had to have the special license.  We moved to Oklahoma in 1955, and I had to take the OK driver's license driving test, plus the written.  I hated the parallel parking part of it.
I thought maybe the patrolman was so glad to get out of the car, that he let me pass. 

[W. Gray]

As mentioned, I learned how to drive in the country. There were few, and usually no, cars on the road.

When it came my turn to teach a fifteen year old (with a learners permit) how to drive, I was mortified at having someone at the wheel who had never been there before. Even in our close in country areas, the roads are all busy and people here drive like maniacs, so I did not know how I was going to go about it.

I looked around and found an abandoned Home Depot like store and took her there the first couple of times. Got her use to the car and had her drive around the empty parking lot.

After a short time, a parking lot gets boring even to a novice. I soon discovered a huge subdivision that had been abandoned. Before the builder went belly up, he had black topped all the streets, put up all the stop signs, street lights, sidewalks, etc. (as required here). He had managed to put up only four houses of about two thousand planned.

This was one great place to teach a kid to drive and she could drive up one street and down another. Nevertheless, when we finally hit the busy streets, I was still nervous—but she got there and is now in her late thirties.

One of the requirements that I placed on her was that after she got her license, she had to change a tire. I had her jack the car up, take the tire off, put it in the trunk, take it out, and then put it back on. We did this on two different occasions. I might add that she was not too happy about getting dirty, but a few years later after she found she had to do it herself, she thanked me.

[Roma Jean Turner]

The first thing I drove was an old Allis Chalmers tractor with the hand crank start.  I would drive it across the fields as fast as it would go, which was never fast enough.  I was probably about 12.  I got a learners permit I believe at 14 at 15.  My grandparents and Mom and stepdad all took turns riding with me.  I remember them being nervous and pressing there foot into the floor as if they were in control of the brakes.  I learned on a stick shift.  The worse part was at this one railroad intersection on a hill.  It was nerve wracking trying to shift and keep from rolling backwards.  I did a lot of learning time on the good old country roads around Chanute.  My favorite person to drive with was Grandad, (he had been letting me steer the car when just the two of us since grade school, our secret).  I remember once, I told Grandma that I liked driving with Grandad best and she said; "Of course you do.  The two of you drive just a like.  You watch everything but the road and talk all the time."  Ha, ha.  Turning 16 and getting my first car, a 1949 Maroon Ford, was one of the happiest experiences for me.  That license was a proud moment.

[Delbert]

Janet Harrington is driving me crazy, I know it is a short drive.  She got her start driving nails and cattle.

[Rudy Taylor]

 

[Janet Harrington]

Janet Harrington is driving me crazy, I know it is a short drive.  She got her start driving nails and cattle.

Delbert,  I would so enjoy getting you into a car with me and driving as fast as that car would let me.  You being a former driver's ed teacher and all.  I would show you how to do emergency driving and pursuit driving like you have never seen. LOL

[Janet Harrington]

And, Rudy.  What are you smiling at?  I would like to do the same thing to you.  LOL

[pepelect]

You had better buy a new car.  That little gas sipper wouldn't out run a jackrabbit.  Maybe a vw rabbit down a hill.   I could take you on my ten speed.  Now that would be a sight....my fat *&% .....in bike shorts.....gettin beat by the ole popo in the economizer.