Just about gave myself a heart attack!

 Earlier today I was driving home after work, windows down, not a care in the world. I looked in the rear view mirror to see what was behind me, went back to watching the road. So I knew there was nobody in the car with me. Suddenly, someone slaps me on the back of the head!

Lucky I tend to under-react, could have freaked out and swerved off the road or into a car or something! Didn't have any issues with the driving, but took me a moment to realise that it was a hat that hangs behind the drivers' seat on the hand grip which had started flapping around with the wind of the open windows and the peak was what had swatted the back of my head.

Had a bit of a laugh at myself, but for a moment - dang, nearly freaked out that there was someone skulking in the back of the car and I hadn't noticed them!

Test drive

Not something I do too often, but today I had a chance to take a PT Cruiser out for a test drive.

Very nice car to drive, they nailed the gearbox on this one. Was able to do a bit of city driving just using first and second (less gear changing ment less effort and stress driving in city traffic), and long legs for driving on the highway. Was comfortably doing 100km/h in fourth, with fifth gear still in reserve. I'm a tall person, so I appreciated the headroom.

What I didn't like was the placement of the window controls (all four in the middle of the centre console) and the dim setting on the dash / radio were too dark. Not sure if this is a setting that can be changed by the user, but it was dark enough that I essentially just had a blank, black screen that couldn't be read.

Admittedly, when I turned the headlights off and they went back on normal settings, they were bright and easy to see. But for safety, I drive with the headlights on and in sunny conditions, couldn't make out the screens.

Also, I definitely didn't like the layout of the engine bay. I had to replace the battery (hence the reason for taking it out for a drive), and it was very awkward and required other parts to be removed in order to remove the battery.

One of the main reasons I dislike cars designed by computers...

On the road

Off on another road trip, down to South Australia. Same on I've done before, difference is Tania will be waiting when I get back home.

Being away for a few weeks sucks, but it is much better than being away for months at a time.

This time I'm a bit more mentally prepared. Having done it before, I have a better idea of what I am in for and what to expect. No doubt there will be new and different challenges to overcome, but that's one of the reasons we do it. To become better.

Just gets annoying when we get jerked around for no good reason. Missed out on part of my rationed food and missed out on a shower. Neither is a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but the little things add up to make the whole thing unfun.