[Please check out the short, 3 minute audio version which recreates the sound of life in the car, and the driver (in all of us) who will never change. Just click the title of this piece, and your software will play it, after about 1 minute to download it.]
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I love to drive. You could say I’m an auto-holic.

My life began in a car, so Dad tells me. I discovered sex in the back seat, too, and made my own kid there. I may die out on the road.

When things get boring, I drive around, looking for something else. If it’s no good here, I go there. Too hot? Just go North, into the hills; too cold, off South, just like the birds. Sometime, I don’t even know why I’m going, I’m just out on the road, rambling around. I’ve just got to get out there and drive, maybe for a day or two, see some country, some trees – I need to see nature.

I’ve worked in vehicles, slept in them, even lived in one. Can’t count all the hours I’ve just waited somewhere with the motor running, for a red light, for traffic to move, for somebody to come out, for anything. Who even hears the motor running there, under your thoughts? Vibration is good, moves the blood around. We don’t even smell these engines, unless something is broken.

I’ve driven them all. Motorcycles, three-wheelers, mini’s, SUV’s, compacts, pickups, a limousine, a truck, tractors, golf carts, you name it. If it’s got a motor, that’s good for me.

And the power! The roar, the jolt of energy, the thrill of speed! I’ve got this armored steel that can run away, run over, or damn near fly. My ride talks for me, tells you who I am. Without it, I’d be just a naked little animal, out there in the rain and snow. Like a snail without a shell.

Likely, I wouldn’t kill for fuel. But my taxes pay for soldiers who will. Gotta have gas. And if by accident I happen to run over some kid, or old fart, I may lose my license for a little while, but I’ll keep driving. We all need to get around.

OK, the weather IS getting really weird. You never know what might happen. If this place floods, or burns, I’ll toss my stuff in here, and go somewhere better. I’m not walking around like a loser. Notice anybody else getting off the road? Not likely!

On my dying day, when I go, it’ll be sitting upright, behind the wheel.
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Check out Radio Ecoshock, the planet’s only all-environment station, at www.ecoshock.org.