transport

I used to believe that the way they paint the lines on the road was to have 2 men (one with white paint, the other with yellow) hanging upside-down from thier knees on the back of a truck. I still think that's a better way than with machinery.

I used to believe…

When we went on car trips my parents used a stick-on screen on the car windows, to keep out the sun. One time my brother took one off the window and placed his finger over a hole in the bottom of it. He told me it was peanut butter, and I remember trying to get it out as hard as I could.

i used to sit in the back seat of the car and use the frost scrapper as a steering wheel, pretending to drive. on the way to the store, we'd pass under i-270, and i swore that the day i got my driver's license i would hop on 270 and ride it till the end, wherever it took me. i was devastated when i learned i-270 was the city outerbelt, and driving it to its end would mean driving around in circles.

I used to believe…

While driving in our car, I asked my father what the "Falling Rock" signs meant. He went on to tell a story about an Indian boy who was sent out into the woods to retrieve an animal for food to prove his manhood. The boy never returned.
My father explained that whenever I see that sign it means there has been a sighting of the young Indian boy named Falling Rock.
The sad part is that I thought I saw him a couple of times. Hey, I was young, alright?

I used to believe…

When I was little I used to believe that when you got your drivers license you automatically new how to get everywhere. I still remember sitting in the car with my dad and asking him this question. He never did answere me, he just laughed.

I used to believe…

When I was a kid, I believed that gas stations were set up where they struck oil, like in cartoons: "Eureka! there's oil in them thar hills!" And they would quickly build a gas station. The truth was told to me when I remarked to my parents on a 4-gas station New Jersey intersection: "They sure discovered a lot of oil around here."

I thought that there were pods (rooms) under ever intersection. There were ladies that worked a switchboard to change the lights when they saw too many cars in line.

I used to believe that the semi-trucks that transport livestock, actually were used to collect wind throuhg the slats on the side. The driver drove around, collected the wind in the trucks, then released it at lakes or the ocean. This was the conclusion I came up with when I learned sailboats used wind to move. I figured you had to have a way to guarentee there would be wind to move the sailboat. The first time I actually saw cows in a livestock truck was really sad and confusing. My mom had no idea how I had come up with the idea.

I used to believe…

When I was a kid I thought the traffic sign with a camera on it meant that there was a good photo opportunity ahead, like a nice landscape. I had been driving for about 3 years before I realised they were speed camera warnings.

I used to believe that my Dad's car knew exactly where our destination was and it told my Dad where to turn by signalling him with blinking green arrows on the dash.

I use to believe that when the car in front of you put on their turn signal you would have to put your signal on too so that the cars behind you knew that the car in front of you was going to turn. It was only later I realized that everyone was turning.

I used to think that the wind-chill factor was the wind-shield factor, and that when you touched the windshield of your car, that's what temperature it felt.

I used to believe…

Like a lot of other people, I believed that there were people underground at all the intersections making the traffic lights change. But for some reason I specifically thought that it was a group of out-of-work pirates.

I used to belive that the road moved like an escelator and the car stayed in one place.

I used to believe that the cricket from disney's pinochio was inside the traffic lights pressing buttons. I also thought that the green straight-ahead arrow was telling people that they could go straight up rather than forward, and I always perplexed my mom by saying "you can't go up!" every time I saw one

I used to believe…

Red cars cause accidents.
When I was around 5 my older brother told me that red cars are in the most accidents. Obviously, he was quoting something statistical. For years I thought there was something intrinsically dangerous with red cars and was puzzled why people would intentionally purchase something that was known as "more dangerous".