I’m Adele!!

NORTHEASTERN NEBRASKA SKY.

Not even the wide open views like the one above can be enough to so entrance a driver that I don’t need distraction. As a teenager, driving my Ford Pinto station-wagon around the streets of my hometown (most would tell you I drove on two wheels, or too fast for a four wheels to touch the road) I always had some tunes on, blaring from the speakers as loud as I could stand it. I loved Led Zeppelin and Heart the most but Pink Floyd, Eagles, AC/DC and the real Van Halen and blues music followed close behind. Those are still top choices for me, but I have added Adele, Korn and numerous other alternative rock bands to that list.

One of the songs I loved by the Eagles was ‘Take It Easy’. Though as a teenager, I didn’t understand the meaning of some of the lyrics. I had no idea what they meant when they sang the line, ‘Don’t let the sound of your own wheels make you crazy.’ I found out what that meant when I started driving a truck; the constant whine and drone of the tires on the asphalt is unlike any other noise. It’s an animal all its own and mile after mile even on the days when I don’t want the sound of anything else in my world, if I’m driving, I have that drone for company. It’s not comforting by any means but it’s addictive in its own way.

When I’m driving, I ALWAYS have something for noise. It can be a local radio station or a CD or it can be an audiobook; most times, it’s anything that will drown out that drone. One thing that is typical of me is that I sing, whether it sucks or it’s out of tune, if I know half the words and only have myself for an audience, I open up and let it fly. That’s why I have always said that on my side of that windshield, I can be anybody I want. For several days in a row I might be Annie Wilson (as if anybody else could be), or Jonathon Davis, Etta James, Madonna, or BB King. Anyone I want, and nobody else has to suffer for it. And trust me when I say, that’s a good thing.

For now, on my side of that windshield, I’m Adele!!