The RAV

I mentioned that our rental car, upon arriving in San Diego, was a Toyota RAV4. I pulled out of the rental car lot and a couple of blocks later took the entrance ramp to I-5. I immediately fell “in like” with the car. (I’ll reserve “in love” for stronger sentiments.) Anyway, I liked it a lot because it had a lot of “get-up-and-go” to it. I found this very helpful when negotiating the rapidly shifting traffic patterns of California freeways.

Californians like to drive fast. This was apparent immediately. In spite of the large volume of cars on the interstate, it really didn’t take very long to go quite a distance, because all six lanes were moving at break-neck speeds. An acquaintance told Anthony one time that in San Diego you could go just about as fast as you wanted in any of the lanes except the left lane. If you go much over the speed limit in that lane, you are volunteering for a ticket.

Other California roads besides interstates and highways also move traffic right along. Many major roads in town are marked at a speed limit of 50 mph. Even narrow, winding, canyon roads are marked at 40 mph -- this, even though there are driveways and intersections all along the way. (Contrast this to Park or W. Stephenson Streets in Freeport at 25 mph!)

Our first Sunday here, we were trying to follow a church member to another member’s house. The route climbed up a winding hillside road and then snaked down the other side. I was going uncomfortably over the speed limit in an effort to keep up with my guide in the car in front of us. Even Jacob, who loves everything fast, especially fast cars, was nervous. He said it reminded him of a slot canyon racing video game.

The peppy RAV definitely helped us fit in with the traffic patterns in our new area. It also fit in with the trend of white, small SUV’s that I suddenly began to notice. Isn’t it funny how you can become aware of something, like a certain style of car, and then you start to notice it every where. (Unless of course it is a ’93 Chrysler van, and then you notice that it isn’t every where. You would stand out less if you were driving a Mercedes station wagon.)

Well, the week that we had the RAV, while waiting for our Honda to be transported from Illinois, I saw white SUV’s in abundance. In fact, it seemed that I was always coming out of a store and walking to the wrong car. Sometimes I would figure it out by the time I was within a few feet of the car, but a couple of times I found myself standing by the driver’s side wondering why the key fob wasn’t unlocking the door. When the realization struck me that I was at the wrong car, I would look around sheepishly, hoping the real owner wasn’t on their way to the car, and then I would quickly try to locate the car that really matched my key. The next time I came out into a parking lot, I would make a mental note to be sure I was walking to the right car, but ridiculously, I’d often make the error again.

When the time came to return the RAV to the car rental place and resume driving our much-less peppy regular car, I did so with a sigh. I would miss the RAV; and yet, at least I’d recognize my car in a crowded parking lot!