10 years old, that’s when I had my first experience driving a car. My Dad said to me, “I’m going to teach you how to drive correctly before any of your friends teach you the wrong way.”  So we went to the old deserted airport that was next to the new 1 level which  later became the current Honolulu International Airport. The area was just a flat worn out old runway with a lot of weeds growing out of the cracks, bordered by seawater on one side (reef runway) and no cars around, you could probably drive right into the water if you weren’t careful. I was the driver, with my Dad to the right of me, and my stepmother was in back.  He had  an old Plymouth, standard column shift, 2 door car.   When I was driving, it felt like mini earthquakes every time I had to shift gears, especially from  1st to 2nd. And as I got better, the jerkiness went away. Learning the correct amount of gas to clutch ratio and shifting gears under the steering wheel (column shift) made it doubly  hard.  Each time, I hoped that I didn’t miss putting it in reverse or 1st. gear, or the consequence to face, was a horrible grinding sound when I did!  Steering column shifting is much harder to do than floor shifting, because you have to jiggle the stick  to get it into the 1st or reverse.  After only 2 lessons, my Dad was too nervous to continue. One reason was he yelled a lot, secondly he got excited at me every time I made a mistake, and thirdly I had a lead foot(pressed too much gas which made the car jerk, accelerate-zoom and screech tires).  My poor stepmother, would never, dare learn to drive after sharing these scary lessons with me.

The next driving event happened when I was 11 years old.  My aunt lived on Young Street near Washington Middle School close to the Ala Moana Shopping Center. While helping my aunt polish her car, she asked me if I could reverse it down the driveway. EASY!! I had lessons from Dad.  So I hopped in the car, started it up, put it into reverse and slowly reversed the car, straight back, down the narrow driveway, until she said to stop. What an accomplishment! My heart was racing. It was then that I  decided, driving is great fun! When could I do it again?

By the time I was in 10th grade,  “Joy Riding” had become a popular , so the opportunity to drive was numerous.  We always found “RIDES” with friends or some nice unsuspecting boy,  who was so happy to have  a bunch of pretty girls in his car.  I would always ask if I could drive a little and they would gladly oblige.  How reckless we were back then!  It’s a good thing there weren’t that many cars around (making it safer) and  that the cars were built like tanks.

Summer of 1965, at 14 years old, a bunch of Pineapple Cannery friends and I planned a vacation trip to Kauai. We stayed, all 6 of us at a relative’s house. We borrowed a girlfriend’s driver’s license to rent a Volkswagon.  All of us took turns driving(we were all under age). The most nervous part was when I had to drive the car out of the Rental Lot with the salesman standing right there watching me. I had so many side and back seat drivers telling me how to drive!  Thank goodness we had a safe trip, for back then there was only 1 traffic light on the whole island of Kauai. Most of the roads were dirt, with very few  cars around. A very safe place to drive, where the speed limit was whatever was safe for the area. It wasn’t until I was in the 11th grade that I  legally could drive.  My mother needed a way, to and from work and shopping, so I got my license.

Driving was fun! At first I collected a count of just how many different cars(Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Porche, Audi,etc.) and the different Makes (340 Cuda, Mustang, Impala, Cadillac, etc.), I could drive. Then it was, how many different states in the US( California, DC, Arizona, Connecticut, Mass. ,Utah, Oklahoma, Nevada etc) that I drove in. Also, weather conditions like snow, fog, heavy rain and strong winds. But the best memories of driving were  back when I didn’t even have a license!