We had to make a trip back to Santa Cruz and we were not very confident in the van, so we decided to rent a car. This would have been on a break. I think it was spring break. Dylan and I were tasked with getting the rental car. As I recall, both of us were in a decent mood. We chatted quite a bit on the drive over.

When we were done with torturous task of getting the rental agreement etc. completed, I momentarily thought about letting Dylan drive the rental car. I opted not to, because I wanted to drive a newer car. I was still driving the ’96 Civic at the time. We were off. Dylan was following behind.

Maybe I needed to pee. Maybe I wanted to get home. Maybe I just wanted to drive fast. So that is what I did when I rounded the corner of Bouquet Canyon and Newhall Ranch. I punched the accelerator and took the rental… Well, lets just say I accelerated double digits over where I should have been. Not wanting to get too far behind me or wanting to feel the rush of the air through the car, Dylan stayed right with me.

This made it easy for the kind police officer hiding in a side street off of Newhall Ranch to pull both of us over in the bus stop near the Walgreens. I’m sitting there in the car waiting my turn thinking, “Why did he just have to stay with me?” He should have known better than to do what I do. He is supposed to learn from my mistakes. Haha. Then, it occurred to me. I couldn’t make him pay for the ticket. Shit, I was going to have to pay for two tickets for the joy of a little frivolous street racing in a rental car and a 15 year old tired Honda Civic. Ugh. He had to do his own online traffic school work though. I drew the line there.

I chose this picture, because his grin could be interpreted as mischievous. And he is wearing a Mario t-shirt that made me think of Mario Kart, a racing game.

Looking back now, it was worth it. I miss you, son.