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Dad is still an excellent driver--I would classify this as a "first offense". But I'm going to be on high alert now for any possible second offenses. One thing Dad did concede: back when he was in his first year of the congestive heart failure diagnosis, he was sure he was going to drop dead at any moment (partly because his doctor told him that COULD happen). Ever since, Dad refuses to drive long distances, and he especially refuses to drive on the freeway. Fortunately, 90% of the places he wants to go, he can take back roads. The few times he's wanted to go somewhere far away that would require freeway driving, he asked me to drive.

This sounds like my one friend's dad. I talked to her last week and found out they'd just had to put her dad in assisted living, specifically a memory care unit as he has Alzheimer's. He knows he's not supposed to drive, especially at night...but about a week before they got him into assisted living, he took his beloved Cadillac out for a drive at 2:00 AM. My friend lives right next door to...well, now it's where her parents USED to live (her mom died last year)...and heard the garage door go up and the Cadillac start up. She quickly got up and got her husband up as well and the two of them followed her dad in her own car (she was too late to stop him altogether). Luckily, her dad only drove as far as the one gas station in town--maybe two miles from their house--and because it's our town, there was nobody on the roads except my friend and her dad. Her father couldn't understand why the gas station was closed (again, it's a small town--no gas after 11:00 PM, which used to frustrate me when I worked my last job and was on the second shift, coming home around, or after, 11:00 PM). My friend was able to convince her dad to come home; she drove the Caddy and her husband brought her car home.

That was one of the reasons Mom willingly gave up her driver's license. She couldn't bear the thought of hurting someone else while she was behind the wheel.

A little OT but...I had a dental cleaning last Friday and mentioned I'm not working right now. My hygienist, who I dislike almost as much as I love my dentist, TOLD me I should go drive a Laketran bus (Laketran being the public transportation service for Lake County, the county immediately north of me). I told her that would be a TERRIBLE job for me. I consider myself to be an average driver at best, and I wasn't even comfortable driving a rented minivan the one time I had to (long story--I was on vacation). I don't think I could handle a vehicle as big as a bus and I wouldn't want to be responsible for the lives of my passengers. If I got into a wreck with the bus and hurt somebody, it would wreck ME.

It IS ridiculous. They're staying, I think, three nights; the plan right now is for them to arrive Saturday and leave Tuesday morning (the 8th is a Monday; the eclipse will be visible from 2:00-4:15 roughly). A hotel room, IF she could find one (and that's a big "if"...not only do we have the eclipse happening, the NCAA women's basketball Final Four and championship game is the weekend right before the eclipse), would be out of her budget for sure.

I suggested she see if one of her many, many, MANY friends has an RV she and BIL could borrow. Unlike me, BIL is very comfortable driving large vehicles and we've had relatives in the past park their RV on the side of our house. But then...if they're too big to fit on a double mattress, would they be too big for an RV?