Mar 11, 2007

“I’m driving!” Gary said as he released the tension on the hand control and the van went forward under its own power.

We spent an reassuringly uneventful half hour or so with Gary going up and down the empty part of a parking lot at the university. He practiced parking as well (the hard part is the van is so big it’s hard to see if you’re between the lines). Then Gary said he was ready for the freeway. I gave him a look. “You’re joking, right?” I asked. He was.

After he was finished, I too tried driving using the hand controls. Everything works easily enough. It’s just a matter to remember to push for braking and pull for accelerating (I tended to want to pull for braking – whoa, horsey! I guess ;-) ). I think I’ll stick to the usual foot pedals, though.

The hardest part may be to learn to back out of our steep driveway (Gary didn’t try that). I went very slowly but did the last part somewhat blindly since I couldn’t see the driveway out the back window.