Flying Away

It's finally clicked. Me and my new car, Jupiter, have finally bonded.

Yesterday, I was riding along on a back road. My windows were down, the music was turned up, and I was going 60. It was great. Lovely. Wonderful.

And then this asshole, which had been riding my bumper for a few miles, decides he's going to pass me in a no-passing zone.

I'm not competitive. I don't have anger issues. But at that moment, something clicked in my brain. Who the hell did this guy think he was, passing me? When he shouldn't be passing anyone at all? Who the fuck-And that's when I floored it.

Now, you're probably thinking "Hey, Cass! That's dangerous!" You're not entirely wrong. But, there are two mitigating factors here. A.) I could see well in front of us and behind us, and I knew there was no one else around. B.) When I say "floored it", I don't mean I gently increased speed to play with him, I mean that I got up to 80 in a few seconds and left his ass in the dust.

There's something special about being able to out-drive someone with an arguably better car. Sure, yours is fourteen years younger and has heated seats, but do you know how to take your turns?

The poor sap tried his damnedest to keep up, but there was no help for him. He would almost catch up, and we'd hit a curve. He'd get close again, and we'd run into the stretch of that road littered with potholes. Eventually, he was a speck in my rear view mirror. I thought That's right, motherfucker. I'm better than you and I know it.

The important part of this story, though, is that the way I reacted showed a huge amount of trust and familiarity with the way Jupiter moves and handles. I made the decision to race this guy without thinking about it, because on the deepest level, I knew we could handle it. Let me explain it better with Chris Pratt:




(Sassy, Mr. Pratt).

I know my car. Not fully-there's still plenty to learn-But I know him and trust him on an intuitive level, one that allows me to make snap decisions. If I ever find myself in an emergency situation, I'll be that much safer. I'm that much happier. I'm that much freer.