When this writer’s grandfather in 1909 parked the 2nd Model T found in Skagit County alongside Milltown Road*, it was a deliberate choice of gasoline over steam or electrical energy. If you drive Southern California freeways today (the 241 and 261 for this writer), it appears 1 in 4 autos are electric. In 2025 Tesla may sell 3 million cars. Times change, but the young have no context of comparison. *When the I-5 was built in the 1970s, Skagit County sold the rights to name off-ramps, giving Starbird his exit to recognize
Native Americans. Starbird’s house, recently demolished, overlooked the Skagit Flat, sited well west of the Freeway. After some consternation, “Starbird Road” was changed back to “Milltown Road” in the 80s, west of the Freeway; what is left (Starbird Road) is east of the Freeway (Starbird, himself, probably never walked it) and it passes through a lake bottom (drained by the Jacksons, Garbergs, and Thomsens) evidenced today by the dying trees deprived of oxygen as the deep ditch dug by these ancestors fills with debris. Is there a better day in one’s life than when a driver’s license is won? (This writer failed his 1st test at the corner of Broadway and Everett by the old Darigold plant, the the week after the 1st ever electric light (red and green) was put in Everett in 1960.) Perhaps “No,” except the contra is observed as our elders lose their licenses to age. “Driving” is such a luxury and few remember when the bus trip from Seattle to Granite Falls forded the Pilchuck (there was no bridge). Few remember the dirt roads and cars narrow tires. 
We take for granted what we have today and our children and grandchildren can’t imagine learning to read with kerosene lamps or driving Dorts and Briscoes. Only 1 lifetime here, so much has changed! That is the 1 thing one can count on in life, change.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Briscoe_(automobile_company)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dort_Motor_Car_Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Model_T
https://www.instagram.com/p/CvzjlDOJxad/
Henry Ford dreamed of a series of cars after founding his company in 1903. He started with a Model A and proceeded down the alphabet. The Model T was what # in his sequence (after the Model S of course)?
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