It’s great getting back to what I love doing after being sick most of the week. I fought a cold all week and still went to work without calling off. That’s what I call dedication. I still attended my Toastmasters meeting Tuesday night and had dinner last night with Mr. Clougherty.
Tonight, we’ll begin with a look back not at this week but about 20+ years ago. It’s the Fall of 2001 and I’m living at the Hiram G. Andrews Center and attending class at the local community college. In my first semester of college, I was enrolled in a life skills program that centered around learning to drive. This class was like your high school driver’s ed course but without the fun of using the simulator to practice driving. I was given the Driver manual to study in my spare time. Eventually, we scheduled my written test at the local DMV in Johnstown, near Richland Township. I passed, but barely, and now officially had my learner’s permit.
In the Fall of 2001, my name came up to start training behind the wheel. For the first month, I practiced driving around the school. Eventually, I got out of my comfort zone and learned to drive in the residential areas in and around Westmont. The training wheels came off when I learned expressway driving on PA 56 going towards the mall. There were a lot of learning curves that came with my training behind the wheel. I experienced adverse driving conditions a few days before Thanksgiving when it snowed while I was practicing driving on Scalp Ave. My biggest tests came at the end when I learned night driving on PA 56 towards Seward and going towards PA 954 near Indiana. The next morning I did my final test and passed with flying colors, even with so much distraction hindering me along the way.
For all the work that I put into Driver’s Education at HGA, I didn’t put any of it to practice afterwards. From the duration of my time in Johnstown through my stay at Slippery Rock University, I didn’t drive at all. It would have really come in handy with a limited public transportation system in Slippery Rock. There’s lots of things I’d still redo about my experience there and that would have been one of them. I finally got it right in the summer of 2006 when I practiced with a state trooper. One day was all that I needed and I was set. I drove to work for the first time in October of that same year (15 minutes down the bypass to Kings).
I did very well for myself and finally mastered driving on the Parkway a few years later and even drove a company van for WIS for several years before I stepped down from the company in late 2021. I’m not driving as much now since I work five minutes from home at Giant Eagle but I still like traveling every so often.
Last night, I wrapped up the Dinner Series for 2023 with Mr. Clougherty. We had our last meal of the year at Kings in Hempfield. Maybe it was a slow night, but seven cars in the parking lot during the dinner rush is pretty sad. I was told they are more busy at breakfast and lunch but what I saw last night was not a good sign. This once proud restaurant chain offered me my first job out of college. Kings is now down to four locations and on life support as it is. Please don’t tell me this is the next Kings on the chopping block. Kevin ordered a K-Boy and I ordered the Country Fried Steak.
Kevin enjoyed his burger because it might be his last K-Boy and I enjoyed our time together as always.
Stylish 🍒 