sunset and speeding

[ironymaiden]

tonight was the last hurrah of Les Petites Mains, and the first time i've been home before dark. the 5 was blissfully clear, as was the sky, so i found myself zinging my way home with Mt Rainier in the rearview. i like to drive with the windows down and music blaring; i learned after my first speeding ticket that the moving air helps to increase the feeling of speed and lightens my lead foot. still, i was fighting to stay within a radar gun's margin of error tonight. as much as i love living where i can leave the car behind, i have fierce bittersweet memories of driving over hills and through turns in summer twilight. sometimes i drove nowhere just to get away, and sometimes i drove to reach friends/ice cream/movies/and later C. the air was thick with humidity and the spicy scent of wild phlox, and the frogs almost sang louder than i did to my Rocky Horror 8-track.

i've always liked to go by myself; just my thoughts, and the road rolling ahead. friends in the car generally detracted from the pleasure of driving, as did my mother's tendency to pump the imaginary brake (frabjousdave doing the same mostly amused me). i only like the open road, and twisty is best, so C is generally at the wheel in the city. i may need to do a night run down Coal Creek this summer, just for the hell of it. it's reminiscent of creekside roads in Pennsylvania. (recommendations of other twisty roads with trees and periods of low traffic flow are welcome.)

the last fashion show went smoothly, and evego's dress was much admired. i suppose i was too, but i'm just the medium. because the dress and gloves are paper, i can't bend my knees, waist, or elbows (or grasp) when i'm wearing it. since the hat covered my face in purple tulle, my lips and eyes were a bright primary blue so that they would read as purple. all this meant that at the reception afterwards evego fed me tidbits of finger food, and i hope to make a new userpic out of hgross's shot of me eating a strawberry. now that the press opening is over, i'll be able to post a few pictures of the dress (when i get them).

oh yeah, and the swag included a nifty dark green knockoff nalgene bottle. i read today that models spurred the trendiness of bottled water by toting water bottles around. hm.

Comments

[frabjousdave.livejournal.com]

The imaginary brake impulse has not left me, as lindylousmith will attest, not without some irritation. However, after a recent and blessedly brief trip with another of our LJ friends, whose identity I shan't reveal here, I've reached a whole new level of car fear: complete paralysis.

[buhrger]

complete paralysis
and here i thought you were just stiff after driving from kamloops to edmonton with so few stops :-)

Au contraire

[frabjousdave.livejournal.com]

You're one of the first people I'd call if I needed a ride. Not scary at all.

The driving, I mean.

[ironymaiden]

i could shrug off any irritation knowing that you were there because you needed a ride...i shut up my high school crowd for good by actually carrying out the threat of stopping the car and giving them the opportunity to get out :)

[frabjousdave.livejournal.com]

In my defense, note that I never complained. The imaginary brake is hardwired into our brains, ever since the first clams crawled up on shore and slid down a dune. It's completely involuntary self-preservation!

[ironymaiden]

no, indeed, you never complained. i thought it was cute.

It's completely involuntary self-preservation!
so riding with me repeatedly was thrill-seeking behavior?

[sapphoid.livejournal.com]

there's an amazing road, Jones Road, in Renton. It is just off Maple Valley Highway... if you took 405 to Maple Valley Highway and continued on Maple Valley Highway toward Maple Valley, you'll pass a golf course and then Jones Road will be a left turn... go over a funky little bridge and then it curves, go forward thru the stopsign and it becomes a great curvy road along the river, along some horse pastures, etc., not much traffic.
If you like the feeling of speed (without necessarily breaking too many laws), I should take you on a motorcycle ride sometime girl!

[writersweekend.livejournal.com]

There's that road that goes around Mercer Island...but there's a better one on Vashon Island...

we used to take the Lotus out there for the annual Lotus owners car club picnic and motoring jaunt...