The Great Summer Drive – by S2KI member ralper

Editors Note: As I scour the forum, I come across gems like this that I think would appeal to all of you. It is my hope that you will enjoy this piece by our member ralper, and convey your thoughts and feelings.

It’s been an awfully long winter. We’ve gotten more than our share of snow. We’ve gotten more than our share of rain, and we’ve had enough grey and gloomy days. Yesterday and today were the first two nice days in a long, long time. Still I fear it may just be a tease. We’ve still got plenty of winter and nasty weather left. As I sit at my desk I think about spring and summer and the great summer drive.

What is the great summer drive? It isn’t a meet or even a group drive. It’s something that you do by yourself. Just you, your car and perhaps a passenger. It has to be done on a warm and sunny day, a day in which you can feel the warmth of the sun bathe your body. I has to be done in a convertible. No roof to block the sun or to prevent the warm breeze from whispering through your hair.

It isn’t a race. You can go fast if you like, but you don’t have to. It’s more of a tour, a time to see something new or something that you just enjoy seeing. Remember when you were a kid and you sat in the back seat of your parent’s car, face pressed against the window? It didn’t matter where you were going or when you got there, your pleasure was watching the road pass by and seeing the other cars and everything else that there was to see. That’s what the great summer drive is all about. No time to get there, no real destination, no place to get to and no reason to go except just to go.

In order to do it right you have to clean your windshield. A crystal clear sight is all important. You need to take down your top and be in the environment. No radio, no tunes, just the sounds of your car, nature and the person sitting next to you. No real destination and certainly no time to get there. You do need to have a little sense of adventure and no fear at all of being lost. As a matter of fact, if you get lost the drive gets better.

So, where are you going this summer? Here’s one that I have in mind.

Lunch in Woodstock. One of my favorite places in the whole world is Woodstock, NY. It’s a simple 125 mile drive from here straight up I-87 except that I’m not going to go that way. I’m going to take the old Route 17 through the Catskills. Years ago, before there was an Interstate 87 people from Brooklyn used to take Route 17 to the summer bungalows and summer resorts in the “mountains”. Route 17 wound its way up to where people used to spend leisurely weekends in the summer. That’s all changed now. I-87 has been open a long time. And like many of the old roads, Route 17 has been bypassed. The Red Apple Rest, a landmark along the way, is long gone, and nobody takes Route 17 anymore. Nobody except of course someone taking a great summer drive.

Who knows, maybe I’ll even end up in Woodstock. Lunch at the Little Bear on Tinker Street would be nice, or maybe at the Bearsviile Inn, of maybe just a few slices at Woodstock Pizza. Who knows? But that’s one of the drives that I have in mind.

Anyway, dust off the S, change the oil, clean the windshield, check the tire pressure. In two and a half months it’ll be warm enough for the great summer drive. I can almost hear the road calling now.

How about you? Where are you going for the great summer drive?

- ralper

Originally posted on the S2000 Vintage Owners forum. Click here to view the discussion thread. Image courtesy of S2KI member Jakkfrostt

NOTE: S2KI welcomes the opinions of its members on the S2000 and on all topics related to the S. Should you feel the creative urge to pen a few words then by all means do so and PM energetic, aashish2 or Onehots2k OR send us links to what you would like us to write about and we will feature you (or your community) on the S2KI Home Page.

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