If you grew up in the country in the 1930's or 1940's, and if you were a male, you probably learned to drive at a very early age, and most likely did some illegal driving out on the highway before you were old enough to get your license. I know I did.
I learned to drive in a little 1942 Crosley that my oldest brother left at home when he went to work in West Virginia. It did not have enough power to pull itself up either of the steep hills on the dirt road leading out from our house, so my other brother would push the car while I sat and steered it until we got to the top of the hill. We then ran all over the Laurel Branch section of the county. I was about 11-12 yrs old at the time.
Later, I graduated to driving my other brother's 1939 Fords. It was in one of these that I learned a lesson.
My brother and I were going to Christiansburg, and he let me drive after we got out of sight of our house. I had a pillow to sit on, and it was real tricky for me to put the clutch in far enough to change gears, but I could do pretty good.
Just past Webb's Mill we started up Will's Ridge, with its winding curves. As I rounded the second curve, we met VA state trooper Walter Moore. My brother told me to pull over real quick, which I did, and we exchanged places. We had only gotten about 200 feet back down the highway when trooper Moore came up behind us and pulled us over.
Walter came up to me, now sitting on the passenger side, and said, "Now, Don (he knew everyone in the county), I know that when I met you a while ago, YOU were driving. All I have to say is this....if you're gonna do it, you are going to have to be a little more discreet." And away he went.
I did not know what "discreet" meant, so the next day at school, I asked Annie Scruggs, the librarian, what it meant. She asked me why I wanted to know, and I told her. Mrs. Scruggs looked at me, winked, and said, "I think Walter just wants you to drive on the highway when he's off-duty".
A couple of years later when I went to get my driver's license, the red-headed lady (wish I could remember her name), had me drive around town, then come back to the courthouse and parrelel park. I had been doing this for about two years, so I just whipped the car into the spot. She looked at me real keen and said, "Are you the one Walter told me about?" But I got my license!