Trying Audio Books

Usually I share long car drives with my family or, if I'm heading to a conference, with another author or two. I pass the time with conversation. However, on the drive from Colorado Springs to Manhattan, KS and back for the Great Manhattan Mystery Conclave, I was on my own. So, I tried two books-on-CD and thoroughly enjoyed both. I picked light, humorous stories to keep me awake on the long drive, and they did the trick! They were BLUE SHOES AND HAPPINESS by Alexander McCall Smith and TISHOMINGO BLUES by Elmore Leonard. Not only was the text of the stories terrific, but so were the readers and all the character voices they could portray. However, I realized that a large fraction of my attention went to following the story versus what was happening on the road. So, I only listened to the CDs while on the highway and turned them off when I was in towns/cities and needed to focus on looking for street names, making turns, stopping for red lights, and such.