On Sun, 8 Jan 2017 13:06:10 -0500, Keyser Soze wrote:

On 1/8/17 2:20 AM, wrote:
On Sun, 08 Jan 2017 01:02:45 -0600, Califbill
wrote:


I pretty much gave up on stick shifts for daily drivers in 1968. I
remember miles long traffic jams from Laguna Seca raceway via Gilroy of
stop and go traffic. My leg would start shaking from the clutch work. And
pulling a race car trailer. Later, drop it in drive, and enjoy power
brakes.

I still like actually driving my sporty cars. A slush box is fine in
vans and trucks. I have worked very hard to avoid stop and go traffic.
I worked midnights for the past 11 years I was in DC. It was great
driving home in empty lanes on the beltway and watching the cars piled
up going the other way. SW Florida was very rural when I moved here
and a few tricks to avoid the trouble spots kept me moving right along
most of the time. They did not have much in the way of computer
customers in the tourist areas



I grew up on stick shift vehicles and in the winter I earned a few bucks
with my dad's jeep and plow. I always thought the stick shift gave you
more control over what the wheels were doing and made stopping safer
because you could more easily shift the vehicle out of gear. After my
experience yesterday and today with the 4WD stick shift truck, I still
think I am correct. Though we only got about 7" today of snow, I got
through a couple of drifts two and three times that height (where the
roadway was plowed) without problems.

My most exciting snow experience was on my way to Endicott in the
winter in my Corvette. When I left Harrisburg it was lightly snowing
but OK and I did the illegal "drive around the barricade" thing to get
on 81 in the area that was not open yet (local knowledge thing). No
speed limit and no traffic, also no help if you got in trouble.
Suddenly I found myself in about 8" of snow in a car with about 4" of
ground clearance. I figured if I ever stopped, I would never get going
again so I just cranked it up and went, looking like a snow plow with
a steady stream of snow blowing out to both sides from the spoiler and
coming over the hood. I did that for about 10 miles until I hit the
next exit where the road was open. I was really happy to see those
barricades and the people coming down the ramp were surprised to see
me.