First time driving…

One of the first times I ever drove, I was probably about 14 years old…

I was Behind the P&C supermarket off of Cascadilla, where a vacant lot filled with dirt piles was a playground for my pseudo daredevil friends and I. Spending hours on end, riding up and and down piles of dirt, in between scrounging up quarters for store brand cans of soda, we rode til sunset as often as we could, occasionally witnessing the feats of Locals legends…

One such Legend was Kelly Baker, his skill and irreverence was a combination none of us had ever seen, and when we saw his spray painted 70′s beetle roll up, with a bike in the back seat, we all quietly knew we were in for a treat.

This afternoon however, he didn’t pull his bike out of the VW, rather a Crudely built homemade cannon, crafted out of Folgers coffee cans, duct tape, and some lighter fluid.

He aimed it at us and grinned, with his famous KB look, We didn’t know what it was, till we heard the first “BADOOOOSH!”, and saw fire blow out of the end. It eventually blew apart, while we all looked on with awe.

It was probably 6pm, and a late spring afternoon in Ithaca Ny, and Kelly was also drunk. He was also still drinking, and decided he couldn’t drive…

Somehow, and I don’t remember why I was picked, but he had enlisted me to drive him around. Where to? Who knows…. I was 14, had just witnessed a madman wielding handmade artillery, and was being directed by said lunatic to steer his 72 Volkswagon Beetle, which was covered in Graffiti.

One catch, aside from not really knowing how to drive, It was a stick shift, a manual transmission. Well maybe there was another catch, It only had 2nd and 4th gear…

Any idea how overwhelming that situation can be?

“DUDE, it’s easy, just….”

He might as well have been driving, amidst the pile of empty green bottles of Rolling Rock on the floor board, and a nervous kid riding the clutch around a small town bordered with steep hills. I loosely remember figuring it out, and am guessing old VW’s are geared pretty low, which didn’t hurt.

It must of worked out okay, for the rest of my memory of that day has faded and I don’t recall any tragedy, but moments like that have paved the way for me to travel farther than just Stewart Park, and I still get that same feeling, every time I see that dude, especially If I am in a car with him…

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