Driving in the dark

[indigo_rose99]

When I first learned to drive, my parents lived in the country. There were many spots of driving at night with no lights. Tiny two-lane roads where I would be blinded if the oncoming traffic failed to turn down their brights quickly enough. In recent years, I almost never use my high beams. I live in a city, surrounded by more city. I see other drivers forget to put on their headlights at night.... because the ambient light on the road is so high, they don't notice the missing light. I completely understand how they would make the mistake.

And then.... Last night as I drove back from our new house after looking over the new closet shelf infrastructure with T. The sun had gone down while I was walking through the house with him. I realized that a lot of this driving in the dark is in my future. Our new house is OUT THERE. There are no streetlights for miles around our house. And the roads are tiny, making passing in the dark a challenge. There are often no shoulders to buffer any driving-while-blinded-by-oncoming-traffic mistakes. Just surprise gullys and ditches and creeks for the unwary.... No, of course there are no guardrails!

Comments

[reedrover]

I thought I would hate the country driving. When I first started dating Achaosofkittens, I felt like I was in the back of beyond and miles from civilization. Then, as I got used to it, I developed patterns for noticing change and traffic, making a note of where to pull off safely to get things from the back of the car, etc. Noting which houses usually had lights on and then checking what they looked like in the daytime was also a way I started connecting with the area. Now, of course, I zip on home and everything is comfortable and familiar.