I don’t have a problem with any of that. I don’t fetishize cars quite like you describe, but I do enjoy being on a 3 hour drive because I know nothing is going to interrupt me, and usually I’m listening to music while I do.

My issue is the debasement of the language by a professional writer. This use of “categorically” is akin to “I was, like, literally starving”, and for whatever reason this grates on me. I stopped reading immediately.