Team Blog

Driver’s Blog - 3/15/09

These are three of the essential survival items necessary when driving a Maxwell in the Pacific Northwest in early March. Googles - check. Gloves - check. Ear Muffs - well….I only wish I had them today. The weather was overcast with periodic sprinkles of rain and temps in the 40’s at best. I’ve been traveling 2 hours each way once a week to Whidbey Island from Seattle for Maxwell driving lessons and practice. I can’t help but wonder on a day like today when I am wearing two layers of fleece, a coat, wool socks, a hat and wishing I had ear muffs what driving the Maxwell might be like in mid June somewhere in the Midwest. I can only hope we will have no use for ear muffs and the weather will be much kinder to us.

Getting down to business today - Dad showed me how to turn the battery on from under the back seat of the car. I also learned to turn the gas on from under the car being careful to turn just the right lever. No need to have fuel come gushing down on my face this early in the game. We went over the engine so I could jog my memory on what is what and where things are. Not only have I been learning to drive this unique piece of automobile history, I am learning to listen. Listen to the sounds of the car - what sound might signify something is off, not running well or might be coming loose. It is important for me to learn to differentiate what might be a mechanical issue versus what might just be operator error!

Today I went back to basics and practiced shifting. I had surgery at the beginning of February and am still weak - nothing like trying to shift a Maxwell to show me just how out of shape I really am! I had to refamiliarize myself with the clutch/brake - all one pedal and where the line is between the two. I used my parent’s circular driveway to go around and around stopping, starting and shifting from neutral into first gear. I need to get to a point where I don’t have to look down to see whether I am in gear or not. I know this will eventually come and for now it is nice to be able to look down and simply recoginze the notches of what is what.

It was good to get back into the driver’s seat. It has been awhile since I first learned and practiced on the 1910 Maxwell. This is my first opportunity to really get in the driver’s seat of the 1909 and start to feel, listen and work the car. Today I left feeling more determined than ever at the challenge of mastering this thing. I liken the process to when I learned to drive a stick shift. At first you are constantly thinking about all the steps of what should happen when and how. There eventually comes a time when the thinking seems to stop and the actions become automatic. Presently I am still in the thinking phase but I know if I just keep at it eventually I will get to the point of just acting and going through the motions. I look forward to that day - perhaps it will be in the middle of the Midwest in June minus the ear muffs!