[fintstone]

Yep. Never left one on the highway. Even if I had to push it a long way to get it into a safe spot.

When my wife and I were first married, we had little money. I joined the military, and we were always stationed on the other side of the country (or world) from relatives. Plus, we were moved every few years as I was trained and progressed. Visiting relatives was always a cross country drive (and back) as that was prior to airline deregulation and phone company break up so flying and long-distance calls were beyond our reach.

We always had an old beater car (typically mid-sixties) that I was just able to keep running (I was not much of a mechanic), so it was not unusual to break down along the way...or barely limp in in at either end of the trip. Often it was a battery/starting issue where I could push start the car while my wife sat in the driver's seat and popped the clutch. Typically, it was a drive from Colorado, California, Texas or Noth Dakota to NC, and back...often going through Virgina, Illinois or on occasion NY to see other relatives along the way. we usually tried to drive straight through...maybe napping at a rest area to save on hotels. It was exhausting, but we stayed with relatives when we got there. It was worse when we moved, because the military would not pay for your move until you were E4 over 4. So, until then, everything you owned had to fit in the car with you or be given away. I remember driving a '65 Mustang from Denver to South Carolina with a mop and broom...and an Ironing board on the shift console (from the back seat) as we really could not afford to replace things.

I tell 20-somethings about driving cross country in an old beater car without even a credit card...much less a cell phone...and they are aghast. How did you find your way without Siri? What if you ran out of money? What do you do when your car breaks down in some remote place and you don't have a cell phone and AAA to rescue you? Did you call Uber? What about your mom and dad?

Of course not. I had a toolbox and my feet. Heck, my wife hitchhiked to meet me at my first assignment after Basic (Denver) from NC with just a suitcase and a few dollars cash. Although less than 5' and around 90 lbs, she was pretty tough back then. Right before I met her, she blew her '66 VW's engine about 150 miles from home and left the car and got a ride with a trucker back to her hometown. She taught me to drive a stick when we were dating. When we went overseas, we had to stay in one room (with 2 kids) and walk everywhere for over 3 months before we could find/buy a car (walking) and lease an apartment.

We didn't let it effect our travel/adventures in Europe once we had a car either. Once we were having alternator problems driving from Germany to Italy and back and every time I slowed down to go through a border crossing or stopped, the wife had to climb over to the driver's seat and we had to push start the car to start it after it stalled. I used to joke that we had pushed that car through every border crossing in Europe.