The joy of a casual drive

Today I got up and decided to go and take a leisurely drive. I enjoy driving and generally do drive pretty often - even living in the city. Admittedly, I get lazy sometimes and drive sometimes when I should walk or take public transportation, but having a garage space makes it so easy to drive sometimes. Plus, I really enjoy driving my car.

Driving alone is different than when I'm with Lori. So today, I drove to Lake Shore Drive - or LSD (little less than 2 miles from our house) and headed North. I had no point of destination. I simply wanted to take advantage of the quiet roads - being the Holiday weekend - as well as the very unseasonably warm weather. So I just drove casually North on LSD to Sheridan Road along Chicago and the nearby suburbs North Shore - along Lake Michigan.

This took me into the suburbs like Evanston, Winnetka and Highland Park. I ultimately turned and headed back home upon entering Highland Park as I was right in the middle of the shopping district. Being the Eve of Christmas Eve, I did not want to be anywhere near a ton of people and cars - kind of defeats the purpose.

Sheridan Road had some fantastic "twisties" - which I enjoyed thoroughly. That is definitely one of the biggest differences going driving by myself - being able to take twists and turns at maximum speed and not have to worry about the passenger holding on tight and getting ready to vomit. :o) For those of your who are unaware, the MINI Cooper is among the best handling cars in the world, period. Fastest? No. Most precise? Definitely. That is not to say the MINI is not fast - it is plenty fast; but it isn't marketed as the obnoxiously fast car. So in addition to driving with complete disregard for a passenger (not present) I also listened to my music very loud - something I don't get to do with a passenger.

All in all it was about an hour 'round trip and I enjoyed it. It's been a while since I've gone out for a drive simply for the sake of doing so. But I will be doing it again soon as I had fun pushing each of my cars 6 gears to their limit and then downshifting only to accelerate even harder on the next twist. Don't know when - or if - I'll ever get to drive 318 curves in 11 miles though.