I was one of the few kids in my group of high school friends who didn’t have a car.
- I had to bum rides from whoever I could whenever I couldn’t borrow my mother’s minivan.
Back then I just wanted to spend endless hours driving with amazing music playing on the car stereo. This is what my friends and I would do more than anything else when gasoline was cheap back at that time. Although once I hit 18, we were often “smoking” in the car as much as I don’t like to admit to it these days. We would get something really strong, feel the effects, and then space out to some trippy sounding music that we’d take turns curating. This was right at the beginning of the smartphone era so we all had CDs and MP3 players at the time. I inherited an SUV from a family member after I graduated from high school and I’ll never forget how good I felt getting that car detailed for the first time and putting my stuff inside to make it “mine.” I had CDs all over the place by the end of my freshman year of college. Unfortunately, the air conditioner in that car only lasted for six months after I got the coolant recharged during my detailing visit. The mechanic thought that it just needed new coolant, but we later determined that it had a leaking compressor. You could top off the coolant in the car’s air conditioner, but then it would drain within six months of daily use, leaving you back where you started again.