Not exactly.
I created this title for this blog because I knew that I would be doing a lot of moving around in the next few years, hopefully to lots of different places around the country. I really don't feel like it's very appropiate right now especially.
I've been in Flagstaff since mid January, and I haven't gotten out much at all. Lots of neat stuff around here, but there's very little time to get out and enjoy it. Until last weekend!
The whole class went down to Phoenix for driving training. My first thoughts about the whole thing was that we would be doing a defensive driving course, then familiarize ourselves with the patrol cars. As class progressed on, stories from people who actually knew more about what was going on came out. It was pursuit driving training, and we were going to push the cars to the limits.
We drove down to Phoenix on friday, and enjoyed 4 hours of lecture in a classroom that smelled of urinal cakes. Yum, yum. After class, 8 of us went out and picked up the rental cars that we would be using for training. 3 Nissan Altimas, 2 Chrysler Sebring's, 1 Mitsubishi Gallant, 1 Chevy Impala, and 1 Chrysler 300s......Yes, a Chrysler 300. Too classy for what were doing with it. Hehe.
First thing Saturday morning, they took us out in the cars, and showed us how to do reverse 180's in the things. What a hoot.
Eventually they put us on the track, and they layed the ground work for safe, high speed, driving. It was tricky at first, but a lot of fun. The track had a lot of corners on it, and we all had the tires squelling eventually. We had no major spin outs, and everyone seemed to have a good time.
Once we had qualified on the track using as close to proper driving techniques as we could, it was time to do our pursuit test. One instructor hopped into the fleeing vehicle, and one student in the chase vehicle. It was on! The instructors were driving like bats out of hell. Power slides, 180's, you name it. They did whatever they could to try and lose us.
I must say, that was probably the most fun I've had in this class, with firearms coming in at a close 2nd. Just remember, no one hand driving.
