T-Rex

Want to know the source of my anxiety these days?

It’s a dinosaur.

A T-rex to be exact.

“T-rex” is the nickname County engineers have bestowed upon the beast pictured here: It is a 1995 KME fire engine with non-synchronous manual transmission controlled by an inconveniently located and smallish shift arm said to resemble the tiny forepaw of the legendary behemoth.

It’s tight, unforgiving shift pattern has been the downfall of many an engineer, some of whom—completely whipped and chagrinned—have surrendered the driver’s seat to a junior fireman or an annoyed captain.

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks driving this thing aimlessly around downtown Lancaster, struggling to make the machine “my bitch.”

So far, it’s a draw.

And the real test—not on these flat desert stretches, but the rolling mountainsides of the Verdugo foothills—is yet to come…

Dang! Missed my downshift!