Momma is licensed to drive until she's eighty-five! (Class C license with back seat driver endorsement)

[Toto'sDad]

She's been studying for a week or two, this California driver's license isn't a pushover to pass. I took her out to Shafter a little rural town not more than fifteen miles from the house, since we live at the north end of town. I think we got out there quicker than we could have gone to any of the DMV offices in town.

We left the house, went out and got her license, went to the store, and did some shopping, picked up her Eliquis prescription, and were back home in a little over three hours! Woman knows how to shop! They were super nice at the DMV, I had gone out there a while back, and picked her up some study material and they were very nice then too. I'm a small-town guy, I'll drive out of my way to do business with a place in a small town.

 

[stxrus]

That backseat endorsement is priceless

 

[Toto'sDad]

That backseat endorsement is priceless

She's such a stickler for doing things legal, I thought she should have the endorsement! She's very accomplished at it!

 

[boris bubbanov]

Yeah, I think my parents messed up bad, by going into Paso Robles to try for their renewals. I believe that, had they "gone country" in a locale like Shafter or Wasco, they'd have been permitted to drive a little further into old age. So long as they stayed off of CA 46, they should've been fine and now at ages 95 and 96, The State of California has imprisoned them in their home as though they were attempting to drive in Los Angeles on the 110 each day.

+

Admission: I have a sense that, my Mom didn't really want to succeed and keep driving. Why? Because that would mean the car was there with keys in it, and she'd have to use her wits every day to keep my Dad from deciding he just had to do a little driving, when he's not at liberty to do so anymore. He gave up flying model airplanes, gave his motorcycles to me; gave up his touring bicycles, and now has quit running. But because the State jumped on him before he could relinquish the keys, he will never accept this outcome - because it was imposed on him.

 

[Toto'sDad]

Yeah, I think my parents messed up bad, by going into Paso Robles to try for their renewals. I believe that, had they "gone country" in a locale like Shafter or Wasco, they'd have been permitted to drive a little further into old age. So long as they stayed off of CA 46, they should've been fine and now at ages 95 and 96, The State of California has imprisoned them in their home as though they were attempting to drive in Los Angeles on the 110 each day.

+

Admission: I have a sense that, my Mom didn't really want to succeed and keep driving. Why? Because that would mean the car was there with keys in it, and she'd have to use her wits every day to keep my Dad from deciding he just had to do a little driving, when he's not at liberty to do so anymore. He gave up flying model airplanes, gave his motorcycles to me; gave up his touring bicycles, and now has quit running. But because the State jumped on him before he could relinquish the keys, he will never accept this outcome - because it was imposed on him.

I was very happy to see my wife licensed for another five years. My license will expire in 2024, I had hoped ONE of us would still have a license! If I'm still kicking, I'll probably be able to get at least one more license, I've never had any problem getting one before. I drove all the way to Isabella to avoid dealing with the fiasco of visiting a local office. I hadn't really considered Shafter until I drove out there and picked up a handbook for my wife. We live a short jog over from Seventh Standard Road so you can appreciate that it's more convenient for me to go to Shafter than to Bakersfield.

I really should have sold out when houses were selling in one day here, waited it out, and bought somewhere rural, I'd be much happier. My wife is just mired down here though because of the kids. The irony of the situation is both of our remaining children intend to move OUT OF STATE when they retire! Our daughter claims she's taking us with her when she moves, but I know that's just talk, and easier said than done. If anyone was ever more ill-suited to living in California than I am, I don't know who it would be. It's a great place to play golf, but soon I'll too old to enjoy that too. Wish I had an old wooden front porch to set and whittle on!

 

[bowman]

It’s a hard thing to be told you can’t drive anymore when you’ve been doing it for decades. My mom had a few (thankfully) minor incidents before we took her keys away. She fought it tooth and nail the whole way, even while agreeing that she should probably not be on the road. I dread the day it happens to me, and of course it will at some point.

 

[Toto'sDad]

The last time I drove a diesel truck was back when I was under sixty-five years of age. We had taken in the truck to do some work on it, and it was finished near five o'clock in the afternoon. The owner was a friend of mine and asked if I could bring the truck out to his shop, because he needed it to go out before daylight, but didn't have a driver for it.

I said I would and called my wife and asked her to meet me at the owner's shop and pick me up and take me back to my pickup. I hadn't actually driven a truck in probably ten years other than moving one around our place of business, occasionally backing one out if someone had trouble doing it. When I actually did a walk around and climbed up in the cab, it was kind of scary. It had a forty-foot trailer on behind the ten-wheel semi with a sleeper on it.

I had to traverse about fifteen miles of freeway, and some four-lane state highway that runs through town and make a few turns around some cross streets to get to the owner's shop. By the time I got the rig delivered I was getting the hang of it again, but man, the whole ordeal was nerve wracking. I found this peculiar after as many miles as I had driven, but a ten-year layoff is a long time.