Queen of the Morning Road

She was a beautiful metallic sky blue turquoise and metallic white. Her engine rumbled. I love those old glass packs. They may be called something else these days but, back when I was a teen, they were glass packs and they took the energy, the character, the mood and the power of the machine and rammed it all the way through your bone marrow clean into your soul. You knew by the rumble the force you’d be reckoning with, and you knew whether to pass her or just let her fly and exult in the thrill of metal meeting what felt like the supernatural.


I sat in my adorable Camry, old lady mufflers and all, knowing darn well I could take the turquoise dream on the grade, glass packs and all. I played dumb, acted like I didn’t notice her so as not to tip off the driver that granny was about to blow him and his dream machine plum off the road. I’ve been there many times and it’s fun to win. Usually it’s the flatlanders in their sports cars that I like to show who's boss-o'-the-mountain. But, occasionally, a truck whose driver doesn’t deserve her comes along with the wrong attitude and it’s on. And I win; but, not today.


Chrome. She had real chrome. Hypnotized, awestruck, smitten, call it what you want but I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. Sometimes a machine is built for more than just driving and this was one of them. One in a million maybe. I had to give her the road, feel the engine and see the sun ignite the metal.  I kept up just enough speed to keep her in sight. The driver was no dummy. He knew how to punch her and get her in the lead without abusing the engine. It was powerful! Just enough gas to rumble the essence of the queen of the road into my soul, and, yes, all the way through my bone marrow in the process.

It was an honor to step aside. This doesn’t happen often, and when it does it is usually a Harley Davidson, not a pickup truck. Especially not a Ford F250. Those are usually ordinary and boring, completely unnoticeable. Not this gal. I dubbed her Queen of the Morning Road and I’m glad to have met her. Made me smile and maybe made my day. Sky blue turquoise, metallic white, and chrome competing with the sun: my hat is off to the sunrise special that wanted to blow me off the road but gained a friend instead. Hope to meet you again sometime. Maybe I’ll always let you win.

Copyright C.Jacobs April 19,2010 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED