Hot Rod Commute

The weather has been perfect here in Austin this past week, so I’ve been putting my model-a coupe through its paces as a commuter. I actually live about 25 miles from downtown, so my drive to and from work is usually a good one – blast down 290 and enjoy the hill country views, up on 71 in south Austin for some freeway time, finally dumping out on to South Congress for some short stoplight dragging right into downtown Austin.

This morning was interrupted by some pretty nasty traffic on the freeway. An accident had pretty much brought all forward progress to a hault for about 10 minutes. I sat there enjoying the sound of my cam at idle and contemplating the scene. I was surrounded by folks in suits dreading what is to come in the board room today while thumbing the steering wheels of their foreign commuters to the beat of the latest top-20…

I could almost see the misery in these people’s eyes… and today is Friday. I was beginning to feel a little enlightened until I realize that most days I’m right there with these people – dreading the day. The only difference between them and me is that I was engulfed in my passion. That old flathead is loud enough to drum even the most dispairing thoughts out of my head.

I’m not enlightened… I just really like old cars. And that’s the great thing about having a passion – you can get lost in it. It’s easy to forget how lucky we are sometimes.