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"If anyone has the opportunity to practice driving stick-shift: "go-for-it" and let me know. I will try to find an opportunity for myself before we go."
I referred them to the blog entries about our rental vehicle and request for driving help from Tora.
A year ago when our group met, no one claimed recent experience driving a manual-transition vehicle. In recent months, I hadn't had an opportunity to try and hadn't heard that anyone else in our group did. Therefore two weeks ago, I wrote Tora and casually asked for help if someone was able. To cover the bases, I expanded my request to our group.
To my surprise, I received a reply that one gal's last car was a stick-shift. She and another gal planned to practice before the trip.
Hooray!
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How things open up when one decides to Ask Again.