As a teen, there is nothing more liberating than having a set of wheels- Which I DIDN'T have but Gary did and often he would have me tag along with him as we would roll to the outskirts of the city in an effort to get lost.
We did this many times, mostly after a shift at Luther's (the BBQ place that employed us). Each time we did it, it was an adventure- and it is truly amazing I am alive today to tell you about some of them.
Once, after a shift, we found a back road way out in the boonies somewhere. Now, that little Monza probably couldn't go over 70 miles an hour but we were going a hell of a lot faster than we should have on those little roads.
The air was crisp and the windows were down. I could feel the loose dirt under the tires as we floated from side to side without any real traction. The combination of that and the speed we were traveling made it feel more like we were hoovering than driving.
Because that wasn't crazy enough, every now and again Gary would turn the lights out. Now, I don't know if you've ever been outside at night on the back roads of Texas but if you turn out the lights IT GETS PITCH BLACK! So you can't see shit!
Which I'll admit, at the time- that was really exciting. STUPID but exciting.
So we were doing that. Rolling at top speed with the lights out- barely making out what was ahead of us and feeling indestructible- When suddenly Gary hit the lights just in time to see we were heading headlong into a sharp hairpin turn. At the base of the turn was a thick ass tree- abnormal to Texas as it is my feeling that most trees in Texas are really more like big bushes than trees.
It is amazing how fast your brain works shit out in situations like this.
When that light came on- we instantly calculated that our speed + the angle of the turn + the slippery ass dirt road + the huge tree in front of us = big trouble.
Gary, being a math genius anyway was already way ahead of me and hit the brakes as he spun into the turn. We would have been able to make the turn if the dirt had been more forgiving but things being as they were, the car slid sideways towards the tree.
I closed my eyes and braced for the impact-
When I opened them again all I saw was a thick collection of limbs and leaves that had been jammed into the window and amazingly none of them had ripped my face off.
Apparently, as we slid towards the tree, this huge bushy limb had slowed the car and prevented us from hitting the trunk. There was no damage to the car. There was no damage to us. That limb was pretty fucked up though.
We laughed at our fortune and on the inside I thanked a higher power as we sped off.
Another time- we decided to take Jerry with us and because we had been talking about how much fun we were having tooling around out in the boonies- little Jeff wanted to come with us- He had to be about 9 at the time, maybe 10. Idunno how it was that this little kid was allowed to go riding with us 16 and 17 year olds but I guess we had a reputation of being good kids. Idunno.
So, its the lot of us and we are out on some road in the boonies between San Antonio and Hondo. We were speeding down some dirt road that was very hilly. If you drive some of these roads fast enough you get a real roller coaster feel out of it.
Yo. We were hauling ass on this road with the car bouncing all over, then it would plummet down the steep end of some hill with us laughing and grinning the whole time.
Then Gary turned the lights out- OH SHIT! We'd roll for a bit and then Lights on. Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!
Then the lights would go out again.
After a bit we slid to a halt. Breathing hard and taking in the excitement of it all.
"Let's go again!" Jerry said.
"You wanna?" Gary replied.
"Yeah!" I agreed.
"Idunno- I think we should go home." Jeff threw in.
We all laughed. Even Jeff, albeit a bit more nervously than he would have liked. Gary spun the car around and we headed home giggling the whole way.
Again, we went rolling a lot and it wasn't always about trying to get ourselves killed. A lot of the time, we would have deep discussions about life and whatnot- at least- you know, what little we knew about it.
There was one night we went out riding that I will never forget. We didn't speed. We didnt' slide across any loose dirt roads. We didn't almost hit a tree or careen too fast down a hill.
We came across this vast onion field. The night was perfect and the smell of the onion field was amazing. All of it sat under a Texas sky littered with stars that shone brightly through the darkness- kinda like the whole universe was sprawled out above us.
I feel I really can't describe that night because words seem to fall short of how beautiful it really was.
I don't remember us saying much- just taking in how cool everything was. It was so...peaceful.
Idunno.
Night Riding was the shit.
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