My Trans Am the day I brought it home

Hey, man, I live in California. If ever there was a seat of car culture, this is it. I don't need to live anyplace where it is more so, so there's no need to let me know if there's somewhere worse.

In any case, driving is a big part of California life. I remember when I told a friend back in Chicago that I was moving out here, he said, "What, you wanna be in your car every free hour of every damn day?" It's true, people in California really do drive absolutely everywhere. I, myself, drive to the supermarket which is five, maybe six blocks away. Maybe if I didn't have the two-year-old I'd walk sometimes. Or maybe it's because I'm adapting to California, perish the thought.

Car culture in Silicon Valley is weird. Scary even. Chad has pointed out that any time you're stopped in traffic, stopped around you is several hundred grand worth of cars. Frightening, but true. And that's probably a low estimate at times.

My 1998 Honda Shadow ACE Tourer

There are just plain a helluva lot of cars in Silicon Valley. And why the hell not, the whole area's covered in asphalt, anyway. It's gotta be a trip for people who've lived here for fifty years, however many of 'em are left. Sunnyvale has an ordinance that says something like one off-street parking space for each bedroom, I think it is. We have that, our neighbors all have that, and it's not enough parking for everyone's cars.

And if three vehicles for our household weren't enough, right after Thanksgiving, Chad bought me my very own motorcycle, a 1989 Honda Shadow VLX, and got me learning to ride.

Pictured at left is my new bike, a leftover 1998 Honda Shadow ACE Tourer (VT1100CTLW), bone stock with the dozen miles Chad rode her home from the dealership for me. I didn't mean to abandon the VLX, I swear I didn't, it was just that I was not able to resist the Tourer.

First things first.

Me and my VLX

Just to get this out of the way right up front, I'm really a car novice. I am not one of those people who really knows a ton about cars. However, in a few years of driving (and especially living in California, driving in traffic on freeways and so forth) I have figured out what I like in a car. And being a generally inquisitive person who enjoys tinkering with things, I have decided to learn more about cars.

And then, of course, the whole motorcycle thing. A girl's simply got to wrench on her own bike, dammit, you can't have a bike and never ever take tools to it. Plus, if you take tools to it, you can put shiny things on it, and everyone knows shiny motorcycles are cool. Also, they're excellent for when you want to look cool in all your motorcycle gear -- you're liable to look dorky without the motorcycle part.

I was never one of those chicks who can't change a tire or anything, however. I learned to drive from my father, in his 1986 Blazer. Though pretty new at the time, that car left a lot to be desired. But since the other family car was an automatic, the Blazer it was, because my father definitely believed I needed to learn to drive stick. He was right. I also learned about 4-wheel drive in that car.

What's more, I got my first license in New York, where I really believe they do a better job teaching people to drive, and then licensing them, than they seem to do in California. Also, what with there being actual winter, I learned to drive in snow. Overall I was a reasonably well-trained basic driver, and I was generally very cautious to boot.

All that said, despite being a cautious driver, I once totalled a car. From that experience, I learned it doesn't matter how good a driver you are, shit can still happen and there's nothing you can do about it. That accident definitely took a toll on my driving confidence, and since I lived in Chicago then, where there was good public transit (yes, I'll call CTA good public transit after living in Silicon Valley!) so I mostly didn't drive often.

My 1989 Honda Shadow VLX

However, during that time I did accomplish what is probably my greatest feat of automotive derring-do, which is a roadtrip of something approaching six thousand miles, spanning about three months, in a Suzuki Samurai. Not your interstate cruising fun machine, not your backroad curvehugger, power nothing, with an absolute top speed of 65 miles an hour. Pretty good gas mileage though, and did have to get a new transmission about halfway through. I will never again take such a vehicle on a long drive. Or own one, at that.

Though I'd have to say I was something of a tomboy, the one main "boy" thing I neglected in my teenage years was being a car person. I mean, I was never one of those chicks who can't pump her own gas or change a tire or anything like that, and sure, I'd done stuff like install a car stereo, but I never learned anything to speak of about cars, or how to work on them or what was cool and what wasn't.

So, coming late to car geekery, and not without feeling like an utter poser, I have recently been learning a thing or two about cars. Therefore, one of the things I'm going to include is a links page that contains pointers to web pages where I've learned useful things like what in the heck a differential is. And, I figure the morally correct thing to do in order to avoid feeling like still more of a poser is to just fess up right off the bat that I'm an automotive newbie.