Driving the $300 Car : #1 Redneck thing to do on summer vacation.

Friday was the last day of school for my kids. They had to go
with me yesterday for part of my teacher's workday, so today
is their first full day of summer vacation.

#2 son is happy to lie around and play GameBoy all day, with
Cartoon Network playing in the background. #1 son is a bit
more ambitious. He has read a Popular Science magazine,
played GameBoy, downloaded a program to make his computer
look like it is running Longhorn (he already has one that makes
it look like a Mac), and has driven his (yes, his) $300 car. Oh,
and we all played some basketball: sons against Mom. I won.
Woohoo! I can beat a 10-year-old and a 7-year-old in a game
of basketball on a 7-foot goal. I'm quite the athlete!

Now getting back to this car business...if you have read this blog
before, you might be familiar with the $300 car. It was the star
of my April 25 blog, currently in the April Archives. My husband
bought this junky car, and then decided he needed another junky
car. Because that's what rednecks do...we buy numerous junky
cars instead of one new car. So he said he would give the $300
car to #1 son. Who is 10 years old.

I thought he meant that when the boy was 16, he could have the
car. Oh, no, no. He meant now. So he taught the boy how to
drive this 1996 Toyota Tercel 4-speed manual transmission that
is currently running on two cylinders. It's not like he could get
hurt. He always straps on his seatbelt (he's a little bit of a nerd,
not a redneck.) As the boy says, the car won't go out of second
gear. He only gets to drive it around the yard. OK, so it's
a six-acre yard. He ran out of gas yesterday evening. He says
that's because Dad was riding with him.

Yesterday Grandma picked them up from school so they didn't
have to annoy me all day while I was trying to check out of both
my school buildings for the summer. She said she had quite a
time. She sat on the porch with a walkie-talkie. #1 son had one
in the car with him, and #2 had one in the house with him. They
would call if they wanted her. We are technology-friendly
rednecks. #1 would call her as he drove by to see if his signal
lights were working. He is very safety-conscious. He took her
for a ride, and demanded that she put on her seatbelt. Oh, and
she had to ride in the back seat. They took out the passenger
seat because it was too ripped up, and the Porche seats they
were going to put in it didn't bolt down.

My boy loves his car. He told his 4th-grade buddies that he
could drive a stick. "Hey, Mom! A fourth of our class says
they can drive a stick too!"

It must be a redneck thing...teaching 10-year-olds to drive.