Always a Boy Scout!

I've always been a Boy Scout at heart and I live by the motto 'Be Prepared'. I try to be the one who has thought of everything ahead of time, to look ahead and see what may be necessary to complete the task at hand. One of my 'rants of preparedness' finally came true after all these years!

I always maintained that you should know how to drive a 'stick', know how to drive an automobile with a standard transmission, because you never know when you will be asked to drive one in an emergency. Even if you have an automatic, you should know how to handle the other.

This weekend, a group of friends and I went out for a bit of skiing (snowboarding in my case). Late in the evening, one of my friends had an accident and tore up his knee (not quite sure how bad it is yet). He had to go to the hospital, he had to go now and of the five of us, only two, himself and I knew how to drive a standard. We had two standard cars, one driver, one injured person, and three other people to get to the hospital and then home again. It happened, my rant came true. Everyone should know how to drive a 'stick'!

I ended up driving my friend to the hospital in one car, dropping him off and then taking a cab back to the hill to collect the other car and the three stranded friends. After the hospital, it was back home; at least two more hours of driving, with two cars. So, one of our friends was drafted into the position of student, as I gave them a quick lesson in how to handle the 'stick' and off we went. The beginner in the car ahead and myself in the other car behind, tagging along to make sure things didn't get out of control. In the end we all made it home safely, but still, it could have been much worse. There you have it, the Boy Scout lives through an adventure/emergency and I stick to my motto, 'Be Prepared'.
- posted by the Tourist @ 21:21UTC - want to