What we still watch after eight months of Garrett driving
Miles, gas money, the app score and the phone rule. What we check each month now, what we stopped checking and why.
All posts in Teen Driver
Six months licensed: Garrett's passenger rule changes
In Missouri the one-passenger limit loosens after six months. What the law allows now, what we allow and how we talked about it.
Garrett's first drive home in a hard rain at night
His closing shift at the grocery store ended in a July storm. What he did right, what he told me later and the wipers we replaced next day.
Garrett's parking-lot scrape: $640 we paid ourselves
A light pole, a rear bumper and a call home at 8 p.m. Why we didn't file a claim and how Garrett is paying his half of the fix.
Garrett's first oil change on his own car
He did the work and I handed him tools. Four quarts, one filter, $32 and an hour, plus the drain plug lesson he won't forget.
Garrett's first month with a license
The curfew, the one-passenger rule and three rules of our own. What went fine, one phone call at 11:40 p.m. and what we changed.
Garrett turned 16, and his driving test is Thursday
Ten months on a permit, 40 logged hours and a test at the exam station. How we got ready, including the parallel park we did 30 times.
Garrett's first merge onto I-29
Six months into his permit, we tried the interstate on a Sunday morning. The on-ramp, the speed, the semi and what we practiced first.
Night driving hours, the part of the log we put off
Ten of Garrett's 40 hours have to be after dark. Country roads, the Belt Highway at 9 p.m. and what scared me more than it scared him.
Filling a 40-hour driving log with a 15-year-old
Missouri wants 40 supervised hours, 10 of them at night, before an intermediate license. Our notebook system and where we practice.
Garrett passed his permit test on the second try
25 questions at the Highway Patrol exam station, one bad guess about following distance and a return trip a week later. How it went.