Riding in cars with dads

On road trips or en route to scheduled things like dinner or an event, my dad is a terrifying driver. He is constantly trying to get around and ahead of people, jerking between lanes. It is the only time that I prefer to not be riding shotgun, a luxury which my mom often gives me due to my long legs. When I do sit up front, I am tightly gripping the overhead handle.
But there are other times when riding with my dad is the best. When it is just the two of us picking up firewood, returning empties, or any of the other chores and errands we work on together, that is when we are in sync. We both have strong personalities and been called stubborn or worse on numerous occasions, which can lead to some disagreements between us for being too similar. I don't associate times of year with people, save my dad. He is the fall. The time of year when our earth tone flannel shirts are in season, our brown leather jackets are fitting, and we do things around and for the house together. When I was younger, this included things like 'policing the yard' which I will never force upon another person, but now I take comfort in working beside him. Creating a system for hauling firewood from the driveway into the garage, playing patio furniture jenga as we stack tables and gliders, or move things into the musty crawlspace.
This past autumn, he had me come with him to pick up a hoosier that he had found antiquing. We had to go all the way to Norwood which is about a twenty to thirty minute drive. The antique store was in an old mill building that had actually been converted into a very interesting complex of stores, each room a new vendor with new motifs and types of goods ranging from aged Americana to the more expensive boutiques. This was my first time going there, and I only had a glimpse as the place was closing down for the day, but I knew I'd have to come back, and have been twice already.
On our way back, we made comfortable small talk, and not the daily kind like "How is work/school?" but things like Michael Brown, the Ukraine, ISIS and the state of the world (I think 2014 has been a globally depressing year). And it felt right to be in that car, riding with my dad past the foliage looking like flaming trees on the side of the highway.