MIKE'S LICENSE COUNTDOWN

3 DAYS until my road test!!!

ROAD TEST: Wednesday, October 8, 3:30 PM

SUN. OCT. 5, 11:20 PM: I TURNED 16 ON FRIDAY!!! It's official. All that's left is the road test on Wednesday after school. Dad and I did the parallel parking cones one more time tonight with the porch light on and I got it in on the first try four times out of five. The fifth time doesn't count because the cat walked behind the car. 3 DAYS!!!

[ Driving Log | Driver's Ed Horror Stories | Parallel Parking | The Quiz | The Car Fund | THE BIG DAY ]

Hey. I'm Mike, I'm a sophomore in Colorado, and I built this page back in May when I was still 15 and the countdown said 140-something days. It's been a long summer. This page is everything I've learned about driving so far, plus my plan to get a car, plus the day I actually get my license, which is THIS WEEK.

>> DRIVING LOG

I've had my permit since April. Dad said fifty hours with him before he'd let me take the test, ten of them after dark, and he made me write down every one. Here's the total:

FIFTY. Plus six hours behind the wheel in driver's ed with Mr. Morrell, in the driver's ed car, which has an extra brake pedal on the passenger side. You can hear him put his foot on it. Even when he doesn't push it, you can hear his foot get ready.

Most of my hours were Dad and me driving to the store, to church, to my grandparents', and around the empty parking lot at the high school on Sunday mornings. July was the most because we drove to my aunt's for a week and Dad let me take a whole hour on the highway.

>> DRIVER'S ED HORROR STORIES

• First time out with Mr. Morrell I turned on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal. On a sunny day. Twice in the same block.
• Mr. Morrell used his brake on me one time, at a stop sign that was half behind a tree. I saw it. I saw it LATE. He didn't say anything, he just wrote something on his clipboard, which was worse.
• My mom took me out once in June. She held on to the handle over the door the whole time and said "Michael" about forty times, in forty different ways. We agreed that Dad would do the rest.
• Dad's car has a big blind spot on the right side. I know this because Dad yelled "SHOULDER!" every time I changed lanes for a month. Now I check my shoulder in my sleep.
• I have hit the same orange cone in the driveway so many times that Dad gave it a name. Its name is Big Orange. I don't want to talk about Big Orange.

>> PARALLEL PARKING

This is the part of the road test everybody is scared of. Dad set up four cones at the end of the driveway, about the size of a parking space, and we did it over and over all September. Here's how I do it:

1. Pull up next to the car in front of the space, about two or three feet out from it, with your back bumpers even.
2. Turn on your signal. Check your mirrors AND look over your shoulder.
3. Back up slowly. When your back wheels are even with the other car's back bumper, turn the wheel all the way toward the curb.
4. When you're at about a 45 degree angle, straighten the wheel and keep backing straight in.
5. When your front bumper clears the other car's back bumper, turn the wheel all the way the other way.
6. Straighten out and pull forward a little so you're in the middle of the space. You want to be close to the curb, not touching it.
7. GO SLOW. Slow is how you don't hit Big Orange.

>> THE QUIZ

I made this from studying the driver's handbook. See how you do. The answers are hidden at the bottom. Highlight them with your mouse.

1. What does a solid yellow line on your side of the center line mean?
2. Two cars get to a four-way stop at the same time. Who goes first?
3. A school bus stops in front of you with its red lights flashing. What do you do?
4. What does a flashing red light mean?
5. What does a flashing yellow light mean?
6. How much room should you leave between you and the car ahead?
7. An ambulance with its siren on comes up behind you. What do you do?
8. Can you turn right on a red light?
9. What shape is a yield sign?
10. What's the first thing you do when you get in the car?

ANSWERS:
1. No passing. 2. The car on the right. 3. Stop, and stay stopped until the red lights go off and the bus starts moving. 4. Same as a stop sign: stop, then go when it's clear. 5. Slow down and go through carefully. 6. At least two seconds (pick a sign and count), more when it's wet or snowy. Mr. Morrell says three. 7. Pull over to the right and stop until it goes by. 8. Usually yes, after a full stop and when it's clear, unless a sign says no. 9. A triangle, point down. 10. Seat belt! Then the seat and the mirrors.

>> THE CAR FUND

There is a black 1986 Camaro with T-tops for sale by a guy who works with my dad. It has 98,000 miles and it's perfect. He wants $2,800 and he says he'll hold it till Christmas if I can show him real money by Thanksgiving. Dad says I also pay half the insurance, which he says is going to be "a lot," which I'm choosing not to think about until Thursday.

Bussing tables at the pizza place (weekends since June)	$680
Mowing lawns all summer	$210
Birthday money (Grandma, Grandpa, aunts)	$150
Sold my mountain bike	$100
TOTAL SO FAR	$1,140

$0 [ each box = $100 ] $2,800 11 boxes = $1,100, plus $40 in the jar. $1,660 to go.

Austin got his license in July and drives his brother's old pickup, and he says the Camaro is "a lot of car." Sean says I should get something boring like a Corolla. Sean is going to be walking a lot.

>> THE BIG DAY