An Odd Recollection

When I was a kid, I thought the absolute coolest thing that I could ever do would be to take a tractor on the freeway and go full tilt. Any tractor would do. It didn't even have to be a fast one. Just to open up a piece of farm equipment to its top speed seemed to be the ultimate in liberating experiences. It didn't matter that cars would pass me at much greater speeds; they couldn't floor it like I could. Plus, there was the whole "forbidden factor" at play; tractors didn't belong on the freeway, like a Hummer doesn't belong on a go-cart track or a Harley-Davidson doesn't belong in a swiftly-flowing river. All that weird thinking came flooding back this morning when I saw this at 3rd & Virginia:

Yes, that's a mini-metal monster quite similar to this cute little fellow trundling down the street like it was the most normal thing in the world. I automatically thought that the driver would be ecstatic. I mean, clacking down the most ghetto-tastic part of 3rd Avenue in a mini-metal monster is the next best thing to taking a tractor on the freeway, right? Well, I guess the thrill wears thin quickly. The driver looked miserable and hungover. Another mini-metal monster followed not far behind, and its driver looked even more despondent. Have all my dreams and aspirations been lying to me? As I look back at my life up to this point, the answer is a resounding: Yes!