The Driving Test

Scott is a licensed driver! Woo hoo!

But it wasn't easy.

The whole ordeal started a couple of weeks ago when Scott and I went to the DPS near us and discovered he would have to wait six weeks to take his driving test. We weren't happy about that, but weren't sure what we could do about it.

I had heard that the DPS an hour from us had shorter wait times, but the only way to find out would be to drive there. The DPS is too busy to answer their phones any more (as the message on their phone so nicely states). I wasn't thrilled with the idea of the drive, but one morning I got up and did it. I made the drive.

The only good thing? There's a very nice Buc-ee's along the way. I love Buc-ee's! (And if you don't know what Buc-ee's is, that's your loss)!

After waiting a few minutes, it was my turn. I asked the nice woman behind the counter how long the wait for the driving test was. She told me they were making appointments for a week from that day. I asked her if there was any way we could change Scott's appointment to their location. She asked if he was with me, I said no, but I had his permit. She took it, looked him up online, and asked when the following Friday we would like to come in. I left their office with an appointment for Scott the next Friday! Hallelujah!

The day finally arrived. We made the long drive to the DPS. After waiting a little bit, Scott and the DPS tester went out to the car. About 15 minutes later they walked back in.

Scott was not happy.

Apparently he had hit the curb while parallel parking (which is the first thing on the test). This was enough for the tester to flunk him. He didn't even let him do any driving. Because he hit the curb while parallel parking. (I'm still not sure what they were doing out there for 15 minutes).

We were very annoyed, to put it mildly. We rescheduled for the following Monday - 10 long days away.

It was not a fun hour drive home.

I blame myself for his parallel parking problems. With Robert working in Salt Lake City, it fell to me to teach Scott to parallel park. I'm a pretty good driver, but I'm not a good parallel parker. I understand how to do it, but the execution isn't always good. Also, the night before his test, we had driven to the DPS closer to us to practice in their parallel parking area. He was doing great there. The problem is that their parallel parking spot is about 2 feet deeper than the parallel parking spot where Scott took his test. So he got used to going further into the spot.

But even if he had hit the curb, that seems to be a stupid reason to not let him continue the test.

Fortunately Robert came home the weekend before the retest. So on Saturday we made the hour long drive to the DPS so Scott could practice parallel parking there. And receive coaching from Robert - who is a very good parallel parker. By the time we left, Scott had parallel parking down.

Monday morning we made the long drive back to the DPS. Unfortunately he had to retest with the same guy.

Fortunately we had a much better outcome this time. He passed!

As we waited at the desk for the tester to complete the paperwork, he told Scott that he needed to work on relaxing while he was driving. Really?!? This man had already failed Scott once, and he expected him to be relaxed while driving with him? I really had to bite my tongue to keep from saying something!

Needless to say, it was a much pleasanter ride home!

And now my baby is a licensed driver. Here he is in front of his sweet ride:

(Okay, it's not a sweet ride. But it's ride. And that's all that Scott cares about.)

It's nice to have him driving. But now he's really independent. And that's a little bit sad.