et2 wrote:
Heavy stop and go traffic. Being on the brake and throttle continuously to keep the knuckle heads from jamming half their car in your safety zone at the last second. Stop and go traffic is very nerve wracking.Nobody wants to be behind you, and that little spot you left in front has their name on it.
Making sure I can get in and out of the gas pumps. Even using the truck stops, afraid of making the wrong turn.
Wow you just summed up what I was going to post precisely.
I plan my routes very carefully to try to avoid tight spots and traffic. One of my biggest fears is making a wrong turn that would be difficult or impossible to recover from (having to back up or swing a tight u-turn).
I was a nervous wreck on my first trip in my newly-restored rig. All of the mechanical things that could go wrong with the engine I installed ran through my mind, plus the stress of never driving something so big. I chose back roads for the whole 150-mile trip. Mostly 50 MPH limit through farm country, slowing a bit through the small towns. In one of those small towns there was a nasty accident at a 4-way intersection. Traffic came to a halt. Stop-n-go traffic, backed up as far as you can see, 85-degrees outside and wondering if the old 454 was going to overheat or vapor lock. When I finally got to the accident scene there was a DETOUR onto some tiny, steep, winding farm roads - all backed up with far more traffic than they were designed for. It was my worst nightmare come true. I lived to tell the tale and have become a lot more comfortable driving the thing.
But - traffic, getting gas and navigation is still stressful.
