Learning to Drive
I took Driver's Ed in high school and learned to drive there, but that was a car with an automatic transmission. Our family vehicle was a Willeys Jeep Station Wagon, with standard shift. I was eager to learn to drive it but I needed to learn how to shift. Finally my dad said he would teach me and we went to the Jeep which was parked in front of the garage. The garage was in the basement of our house.
Our driveway paralleled the road but there was a steep bank between our driveway and the road. The house was on a higher level than the road. We backed out of our garage and angled to the left then pulled forward to the right and went to the end of our driveway.
If we backed out of our garage angled to the right, we could drive to the barn. This was my route of practice. Dad took the Jeep out of the garage and then I was to back it up, turn, drive to the barn, turn it around and drive back to the garage. It was going to be a continuous loop till I got the hang of it.
Using a gear shift was not anything like what I expected it to be. I let the clutch out inch by inch and nothing happened. So I got tired of that and let the clutch out the whole way. Too fast! We went flying backwards as fast as could be. I slammed on the brake and we were inches away from going down over that steep bank.
My dad never let on how scared he was when we did that. I was plenty scared. I think I made two turns and just felt too shook up to continue. That's enough for now, I told him and we got out of the car. Dad told me much later that he was really glad that I'd decided to quit practicing that day when I did. Teaching someone to drive is a scary thing to do.
I learned to let the clutch out properly and did it quite well for many years. When it was my turn to teach young people to drive, I took them to a school parking lot in the evening when there were no cars there. I gave them verbal instructions, and showed them by example and then let them try to do it. And there was nothing to bang into, and no steep banks to plunge over. I think I was a good teacher. I'd almost forgotten, though, what a scary thing it was to learn to use the clutch when the first time you engaged it you could plunge over a steep bank backwards!
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