THE NEED FOR SPEED . . .

I love a musical thread.

I am a big Cake fan in general. "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" is my favorite, and their version of "I will survive" is better than the original. I won't post here because I can't fit either into the topic.

I got pulled over two months ago by a California motorcycle cop doing 90mph (he said) on Rte 24 between San Francisco and Walnut Creek. I was moving with the traffic around me, but he flagged me down. He came up to the window and noted my speed. I said I didn't think it was quite that high but assumed his laser was right. He asked me what I did in the Navy, adding that he was in the Navy as well. I have no idea how he knew that about me because there are no markings on the car that would indicate it. Perhaps they have a lot more info on their computers than I knew. I told him I was in aviation and asked him what he did, He said he was in submarines. In a funk about the ticket (I haven't had one in many years) and without thinking I said "I never met a submariner that I really liked" , adding that I have unforgettable memories of going through some Navy training with them. He immediately guessed that it was Rickover's Nuclear Power Training and told me that he had been an instructor at one of the training plants and guessed that I was one of the aviators enroute to a nuclear carrier. I said yes; he asked what ship; and the dialogue went on from there.

Then, getting back to business, he said that 90mph constituted reckless driving and called for the mandatory (six months I think) loss of my license, but that he would write me up for only 75mph. I told him I always knew that before my life was over I'd run in to another of those goddamn nuke submarine bastards who would again give me a hard time. We chuckled and he went on his way.

I never got the ticket.

you cannot keep your mouth shut can you?

His comments about the Rickover Power group was obviously a way to let him call you "old timer".

That section of I-5 that runs between Stockton and Sacto was where I always got nailed. There were a lot of entries and exits and large radius curves. While I was living there, I spent a lot of time doing some hi grading the remnant gold that was left over during the soil cleanup at Aerojet General over around Folsom. SO I was always in another world. Therefore driving over 90 mph is not an unreal number to achieve without thinking, especially since the bulk of the traffic was already doing 80.

You can't help but speed on hwy 24 between the Caldecott and the Pleasant Hill Road exit. It is all downhill. That's where the CHP likes to set up their speed traps.

You're right about normal speeds on those roads. I -5 is a real challenge staying awake while driving north from LA -- the road is so straight, featureless, and monotonous that falling asleep is a real hazard. There's a very large cattle feed lot West of Fresno that always wakes me up with the stink of cow ****. I suspect it has saved many drivers.

I do often have trouble keeping my mouth shut when I should, and end up with the consequences. (I'll bet ole Setanta has that problem too) That time I was lucky and it worked. You geologists don't have that problem because you are always looking under rocks.

You are right, and he caught me just East of there.

They have added a fourth tunnel at Caldecott so the old morning/evening backups are a thing of the past.

Speed seems to be an intoxicant for Americans and Europeans. Possibly other places also? I am not sure if many are even aware of its addictive qualities?

And, if you've hammering the interstates at 75 or so, it's really hard to make the 35mph speed limit when you exit into town. It's hard to convince yourself you're even moving.

The craziest, scariest sh*t i ever saw was in Seoul. The old walled city had nine massive, elaborately ornate gates. Two or three of them survive, the rest have been turned into open traffic circles about a quarter of mile across. The Koreans debouche into the circle, and aim at the street they want, then drive at the highest speed they can manage, straight across the traffic circle. If we were in a jeep, we would swallow our collective pride, and join the thin stream of cowardly Koreans who drove around the edge of the traffic circle until they got ot their street. Even that was not entirely risk free--they would enter the traffic circle and immediately turn right or left, based on their destination.

If we were in an ambulance or a deuce-and-a-half, we'd imitate the majority of the Koreans. We'd aim for our destination and floor it. The Koreans are crazy, but not that crazy--they'd get out of our way. That was in 1971. They may have become more restrained and considerate since then.












Yeah . . . right . . . ah-hahahahahahahahaha . . .

If you had the slightest bit of awareness, Max, which you have clearly exhibited you don't, you would be in a constant state of outrage with most everything that is uttered in and about the USA. It, and its people are the biggest bundles of hypocrisy in the world. For over 200 years.

See what I mean about the incredible hypocrisy. Setanta is an a2k leader in hypocrisy. He can " hypocritize" steadily in a series of posts with no pause whatsoever.

Good ole rule of law US of A.

Yawn.... I am getting bored of even making fun of JTT any more.

we are talking about Canada here, few people, and vast distances filled with straight roads though fields and wilderness. Hell ya speed limits should be above 61 mph. The American West is often 75 mph, that sounds about right. We have roads all the way up to 85.

That puts me in mind of the traffic in Hong Kong, 1964. The drivers were so fast I was afraid to cross the streets.

I hear a faint annoying buzz. Did someone leave a window open?

You're getting to be as good as anyone here at a2k with the always favourite squirrel routine, Max. And you started out so well, faking the "I'm an honest guy" routine. Nice acting!

Speaking of speeding, we had some excitement in the neighborhood last night around 1 am. Car plowed through a 7 foot cinder block fence reinforced with rebar on Ladera. The impact was so forceful it shook our house on the corner next to it. I woke up thinking I was in California and we had just had an earthquake. Strobe lights from ambulances, firetrucks, police cars and barking dogs were out there for a couple hours. The family in the house was lucky there was a tree in the way. From the looks of it this morning when I took the photo, that tree is the only thing that stopped the car. When I saw the car last night, the front of it was halfway up the tree, stuck in mid air. It must have been propelled into the air when it hit the curb before hitting the wall. When they carted the driver away, he looked unconscious. He must have set a low altitude flying and speed record on that street.