My Aunt was having a bbq and I had decided to ride to Salem, in lieu of riding with family.
My trip was rather uneventful, and I skirted the outskirts of Albany and then rode through Jefferson and out to Salem. When I got to Sunnyside, I got on the freeway and took the Detroit Lakes exit to Lancaster and then to my Aunts House.
I would like to take this opportunity to point out that after what I believe is the Kubler drive exit, there is a speed limit sign that I clearly remember saying:
"Speed 60"
Okay, perhaps it said:
"Speed 55"
Regardless of what the sign said, traffic was CLEARLY SPEEDING because I know that the speed limit was below the usual 65.
I read an article that talked about the most common excuses that police hear when giving speeding tickets.
I don't care how many cc's your motorcycle is lugging around, you will be using one of the excuses on the list.
"I was just trying to keep up with traffic."
I wonder if a trooper will give a 250cc Rebel a ticket for speeding or shake his head in amazement? Perhaps if I beep and wave merrily as I pass.
The trip back was a rather uneventful trip down the entire freeway.
Both the trip up and the trip back were uneventful.
I think that God was giving my eyebrows a break from their workout last Sunday.
Last Sunday was a rather beautiful day and I decided to get some chinese for lunch.
I had decided to go through North Albany and then wander to Corvallis for lunch.
I ended up going past the golf course on Springhill drive and turned right on Independence Highway. I had picked up a pickup behind me (punny, ain't I?) and was a bit surprised that the pickup didn't use one of the straight stretches to pass me.
Just after the Independence Highway turn, there is an 'S' turn.
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That's where my eyebrows got their workout.
I would like to point out right now that my mistake was treating the 'S' turn like one turn and it's not. An 'S' turn is two turns. In my case it was a left and then a right.
Two turns. Each needs to be treated as it's own turn. Ideally, you end the first turn by setting up for the second.
When I began the turn, I was looking through the turn and already looking head to the end of what I perceived to be the end of the turn.
I had noted the three bicyclists and the car.
The bicyclists were in the exact middle of the 'S'. The car was just behind them.
In scanning back through the turn, I again turned my attention to the bicyclists and car.
I would like to point out that the CIA is not going to snatch me up due to my superior intellect.
I point this out because I actually spent a second or two trying to figure out what happened to my road.
Taking up the left 1/3 of the road is the bicyclists.
Taking up the next part of the road is the car (off the center and several feet in my lane). It has thoughtfully left a LOT of room for the bicyclists.
And then there is me, stupidly trying to figure out where my road went off to (Excuse me, has anyone seen my road? I thought I left it right here, but someone must have moved it).
Essentially, what I saw, directly ahead of me was a car.
Fortunately, I was in no real hurry during the ride and had also slowed down to take the turn. I was probably going a max of 20 miles per hour.
When my brain finally caught up with reality, my eyebrows got what cartoons probably call a 'wild take'. That's where the eyebrows pop up about a foot above the head, and that is what mine did.
And then I did the only thing that could be done.
I swerved.
I would like to point out that I spend a lot of time swerving.
No, not around cars trying to run me off the road.
The pavement reflectors at LBCC are actually a hoot if there is no traffic and I am getting quite good at them. At ART class, we swerved at 30, 35 mph and I know that I could have done faster. (I wouldn't try this. Security will probably write you a citation, and I don't do it very often. Just when I know they are elsewhere on campus and there is no traffic on the campus road.)
The only issue that I had was I wasn't sure if the car was done infringing on my lane. Apparently he was and my swerve was flawless.
Especially since I didn't panic once. Not a bit.
After I peeled my eyebrows off the top of my helmet, I turned left at the next left (Suver Road) and then left again at the next major highway that runs right into Corvallis (99W).
The pickup that I had picked up chose to pass me after turning on Suver Road. Probably decided that he didn't want to follow someone who apparently attracted so much attention.
Ta!
Balisada
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