etiquette

Driving etiquette around here is to wave to oncoming traffic, and that is about it. 

It seems you don't always have to stay on your side of the yellow line, and I am not talking about changing lanes to pass.  Especially if there aren't any other vehicles in sight ahead or behind, the pot holes and dips in the highway are such that it even feels safer to drive in the middle.  And with some of the turns, you can maintain a higher speed by adjusting those angles a bit.  Of course, it makes one a bit nervous coming around a corner, say, about the time a parent will be late to the bus stop to pick up kids unless speeding really fast.

And the turn signal is just another stick off the wheel to hang hair bands.  I can't shake the use of it myself, but maybe people already know which trucks turn on which roads/driveways, so it's not such a big deal.  Half the time there isn't a car in sight on the road, so using a turn signal isn't really a signal to anyone but myself, and ultimately, it's not signaling me anything I don't already know.  The other half of the time Tom is with me making fun of me for signaling when there isn't another car in sight.

So I head to Denver last week and did my darnedest not to lift a finger off that wheel.  Highway driving and busy streets are usually no big deal, but it's on the side streets that I catch myself.  When Tom is with me, I sometimes try to play it off like I'm suddenly Italian and talk with these big hand gestures.  Surely, I am not fooling Tom.  But then being alone this trip, I'm not sure which makes me look crazier - waving to another driver or gesturing my hands as I talk to myself.

The part that is more embarrassing to me is coming home and doing stupid stuff that the neighbors might see.  Drivers around here know the car and driver, so it's not as anonymous on Highway 21.  After a few days in Denver, I'm unconsciously hyper-vigilant with my turn signal.  My typical driving in a day leads me out the driveway onto our road for 30 yards maybe before turning onto the highway.  I wind back and forth and across straight-aways until I reach Cimarron - north and west of home.  I make a left turn off the highway to the office and park.  I reverse the route home.  Yesterday I hadn't even gone forty feet when I realized I had signaled out of the driveway onto the road.  This safety precaution seems most ridiculous, but it happens.  Aware of the foolishness, I pay better attention, but find myself forgetting on the way home.  There are numerous "tight" turns - practically 90 degree turns - along the highway, though I never actually stray from the highway, nor does it fork.  So when I caught myself hit the signal before making the turn around the Sweetwater turnoff, I felt like a moron!  I quickly flicked it off, relieved there was nobody ahead or behind me to see it. 

When will I ever learn!?!?