Some people get in their car and drive; Monday Rebekah and I went “motoring.” We spent the day buzzing around Wake, Franklin and Granville counties with our generous friends Harold and Vickie. They are classic car enthusiasts who lovingly restored these two classics and – unbelievably – allowed me behind the wheel of both the Triumph TR6 and the MG-Coupe.

So what, you may ask, makes motoring different or distinct from plain old driving? Well, for starters you’re going to need one of these: Or one of these:

People typically drive in order to get somewhere, but when you motor it’s not about the destination at all – the point is the journey. When you motor you pick a circuitous route that’s fun to navigate. When you motor you have the windows down and the top down and you don’t listen to the radio because the sweet sound of a throaty engine is the best sound and besides, you’re having too much fun talking with your hot date to bother with electronic distractions.

So Monday we motored. We motored to Creedmoor for lunch but first we took a wide swing through Wake Forest, then Youngsville, then in an extended, serpentine loop through some gorgeous countryside and horse farms before cruising into Creedmoor.

We had a long, relaxed, conversational lunch before switching cars and motoring back to Wake Forest.

Somehow, we dogged 99% of the rain. Rebekah and I got a slight sprinkling in the TR6 but that was all. The cloud cover was enough to keep us from baking but we got enough sunshine and had enough fun to, almost, feel the undercurrent of a call to summer vacation.

Thank, generous friends, for a memorable day of motoring. Like I said to Rebekah, “I gotta get me one of these.”

Happy motoring – DEREK