John, that's so funny!! We only had 4 acres in Thousand Oaks, but with all the stacking and delivering of hay and work that had to be done, my dad was like, "Okay, you can drive it around here to do your chores!! And maybe out on the street in front of our house. But nothing beyond that!!" When I took driver training in HS I'd been out on the highway so much and the instructor said, "Has anyone here ever driven?" I raised my hand up reluctantly and said, "I have." He said, "Have you been on the freeway or over the Camarillo grade?"
"Yes sir, many times, pulling a horse trailer with my dad." He said, "Jump in front, get us over the grade and out to Camarillo."
I did so and by the time we got out to the middle of nowhere he said, "Tom, get in the back seat, you're done. Now does anyone else have ANY experience driving??"
It was funny because from then on, he'd say, "Tom, get us to _______ and fast, we only have a 45 minute period and these kids need driving experience!!"
We'd end up in the middle of nowhere and he'd say, "Tom, get us back to school!!" I'd say, "Sir, we only have 20 minutes to the end of the period!" And he said, "I'm a teacher, don't worry, you can push the limits!!" So I did. We got back in time..... JEEZE that was a long time ago..... sorry for the VEER!!!! LMAO!!