Okay, so I rode up to Dallas the first weekend of the month for my friends' 4th annunal chili cookoff. Austin to Dallas and back on IH35 is not one of my favorite trips. Maybe 'cause I've driven and/or riden it probably a couple of hundred times in the last 23 years and the traffic just continues to build no matter what day of the week or time of the day. I'd say that on the average there's 3 to 4eighteen wheelers and 6 to 8four wheelers per mile and of those probably half ormore are absolutely clueless. Add to that an average wind from the south of 20 miles an hour, a lot of turbulence from the big rigs and a variety of road surface and construction factors and the trip becomes more like a job to do than a pleasure cruise no matter what kind of vehicle you are piloting.

Still, good times with old friends are invaluable experiences and worth every effort.

I headed back on Sunday. Rode with two other friends on softtails to Stroker's on Harry Hines Blvd. for hamburgers and a beer before getting on the road for Austin. Got on Stemmons Frwy in SE Dallas and was making my way toward the South Dallas mixmaster. There were five lanes and I was running about sixty in the second lanefrom the right.

I saw a little white Ranger pickup truck coming up from behind me in my left mirror. Just as it was going by about seventy a black Mercedes C class two lanes to my left abrutly changed lanes to it's right. I don't think the Mercedes driver even looked. It just pulled right in front of the Ranger and forced it to swerve right in front of me to avoid plowing into the back of it.

When I say right in front of me I mean the back bumper of the Ranger would have clipped my front tire if I had not been paying attention and braked down to avoid the collision.

I was livid to say the least. I didn't know who to be more angry with - the white Ranger or the black Mercedes. I decided on the Mercedes.

As we continued on it was clear to me that all three of us were going to be taking IH35E south across the Trinity. It was also clear to me as I pulled along next to the Mercedes that the driver was a black woman with blond hair. "Strange combination" I thought. She was dressed to kill and waschecking herself out in the mirror and touching up her hair-do as I passed, completely unaware that I was next to her or that she had justperformed a manuever that had nearly caused an accident that would have more than likely cost me my life.

I thought about making some sort of angry gesture in her direction. I thought how it would be nice to have a handful of lugnuts to toss in her direction. But it was clear to methat these things would have done no good at all. It would have been like scolding a puppy for peeing on the carpet an hour after the fact. If I had given her the finger or shook my fist in her direction the meaning would have been lost on her. She would have just thought that I was some predjudiced honkey cracker redneck biker type. Itwould have served no good purpose.

It was also very clear to me that I had a multitude of other things that required my focus - my undivided attention. There were cars and truck all around me and all of them traveling from 55 to 70 mph on the average. There is no room for even the slightest error under those conditions so I made a decision - to let it go and move on and just

GIVE IT TO THE WIND!

Therewere simply too many things in front of me that required my attention to allow myself to be distracted by someone who neither knew nor cared about the effects of their driving on those around them.

This is probably the biggest challenge that I, and I'm sureall of us who ride, deal with on a daily basis.&

 

Give it to the wind....
What great words. I can't believe I've never heard it put that way & I love it.
I really needed this story & it's outcome,
Thanks,
HH

 

True wisdom is seeing people for what they are and not what we want them to be. Great job keeping it together, most of us don’t get there without some age behind us.