AMES Memory
The car had been completed. There was still a lot of work to do on it, but the AMES Electric Car club had been working very hard and we had finally got the car fully functional. We had driven around the parking lot several times, but there just wasn't enough space to really drive the car (not to mention the danger from other much larger cars). One day, I brought up the idea of taking the car to the track behind the school. Mahala Sakaeda and Jake Hillard (founding members of the club) loved the idea and we took off for the track. There were a few concerns with the track, mainly the snow, but we only cared about getting the car to the track. Jake was driving the car and we were lucky enough to find the gates to the track unlocked. We were excited to see that a long stretch of the track was not covered by snow meaning we could drive the car at full speed and avoid possibly damaging the car. However, we ran into a problem. The long ramp leading down to the track was covered in inches of snow. Jake wasn't phased and started to drive slowly down the ramp. When he hit the snow he stopped moving. The car was stuck! No matter how much he revved the car, it wouldn't move. So Mahala and I went behind Jake and tried our best to push Jake and the car down the ramp through the snow. The snow was melting and was very slick; Mahala and I were having a very hard time making any progress. We would push and push and the car would budge a few inches at most. We had at least 30 feet to go. Finally, I got angry. I went on my hand and knees with my other hand on the car. I pushed with all my might and the car slid quickly as I crawled down the ramp. When Mahala saw what I was doing she began laughing so hard that she stopped pushing and just ran alongside me pushing down the ramp. Finally the car was on the ramp. I didn't mind that I felt cold, wet, and tired; I felt pretty accomplished. Jake was finally able to go full speed down the track and that was a sight to see. He made wide turns on the turf and was doing sleek maneuvers. We timed the car and we were having a great time. We were finally seeing the fruits of our labors. After we had had our fun we decided to call it a day. All the excitement and running around had made us exhausted. Except now we had the same problem as before, but now we had to get the car back up the ramp. Jake got out of the car this time, and it took all of our combined efforts to get it up the ramp. When the car was back inside the school and we were all cleaned up, we couldn't help feel great. We had truly accomplished something amazing.