SeaCat
Hey, my Halo is smoking
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2003
- Posts
- 15,378
My wife and I are safely back home where we will remain until early Christmas morning. It’s just plain crazy out there right now.
This morning we decided to do some light shopping. Dinner for tonight as well as a couple of small things. Nothing too large. We decided to take the bike, that’s why we have it. Also the weather was perfect for riding. Kind of cool with a light wind.
We geared up, fired up the bike and headed for the open road. R-I-G-H-T!!!!!!!!!! I hadn’t taken notice of the traffic in front of our place. WE motored down to the park entrance and were confronted by a solid stream of cars, three lanes wide passing by. I do mean solid, it looked like the front stretch of Daytona Speedway early in the race. I watched as the light further down the street from us changed and watched as the traffic kept on with cars coming from the side road. What in the world was going on here? Finally after five minutes I ease into traffic and we’re off, just as I realize what was happening.
The local mall, a fairly large one, is roughly two miles down the street from where I live. Most of these cars were heading that way. They weren’t being nice about it either, these people were in a hurry to get their Holiday Cheer going. AS soon as I could I worked my way across the lanes of traffic then ducked a left into a side street. Even here traffic was fairly heavy with cars cutting through to the main road. We managed to duck and dodge and made it to the other end safely. At the next main East West road I turned west and hammered it. Okay this was better.
Our first stop was a grocery store. We wanted a Spiral Cut Ham and they had them on sale. We eased into the parking lot and dodged cars up to the front of the building. The lot was full! I finally made me a parking spot on the sidewalk behind one of the posts. A cop walking past wanted to say something then looked out at the lot and told me I had a good spot. (Whew) In we go where we get the next to last Ham. Back out at the bike we load it into the cargo box and off we go again. We had three more stops to go. The next stop we made was at a local Fast Food place for lunch. After that it was a strip mall with a pet supply store in it. (Unfortunately it also held two big name stores.) Once again the lot was a zoo. I hid the bike between a Light Support and one of those large concrete shopping cart holders. You’re not hitting my bike in there. The last stop was much the same although I stayed with the bike as my wife went into the video store. I had to move the bike twice when people decided the parking spot I was in was just the one for them.
When we finally got home we were both wrung out. What would normally be a one hour trip had taken us three hours. We had seen multiple minor accidents and more than a few people in Road Rage Mode. My head was on a swivel so fast I danged near got whiplash. We parked the bike and unloaded our purchases. We walked inside, looked at each other and vowed that we weren’t going anywhere on the roads unless it was an emergency.
So how was your day?
Cat
This morning we decided to do some light shopping. Dinner for tonight as well as a couple of small things. Nothing too large. We decided to take the bike, that’s why we have it. Also the weather was perfect for riding. Kind of cool with a light wind.
We geared up, fired up the bike and headed for the open road. R-I-G-H-T!!!!!!!!!! I hadn’t taken notice of the traffic in front of our place. WE motored down to the park entrance and were confronted by a solid stream of cars, three lanes wide passing by. I do mean solid, it looked like the front stretch of Daytona Speedway early in the race. I watched as the light further down the street from us changed and watched as the traffic kept on with cars coming from the side road. What in the world was going on here? Finally after five minutes I ease into traffic and we’re off, just as I realize what was happening.
The local mall, a fairly large one, is roughly two miles down the street from where I live. Most of these cars were heading that way. They weren’t being nice about it either, these people were in a hurry to get their Holiday Cheer going. AS soon as I could I worked my way across the lanes of traffic then ducked a left into a side street. Even here traffic was fairly heavy with cars cutting through to the main road. We managed to duck and dodge and made it to the other end safely. At the next main East West road I turned west and hammered it. Okay this was better.
Our first stop was a grocery store. We wanted a Spiral Cut Ham and they had them on sale. We eased into the parking lot and dodged cars up to the front of the building. The lot was full! I finally made me a parking spot on the sidewalk behind one of the posts. A cop walking past wanted to say something then looked out at the lot and told me I had a good spot. (Whew) In we go where we get the next to last Ham. Back out at the bike we load it into the cargo box and off we go again. We had three more stops to go. The next stop we made was at a local Fast Food place for lunch. After that it was a strip mall with a pet supply store in it. (Unfortunately it also held two big name stores.) Once again the lot was a zoo. I hid the bike between a Light Support and one of those large concrete shopping cart holders. You’re not hitting my bike in there. The last stop was much the same although I stayed with the bike as my wife went into the video store. I had to move the bike twice when people decided the parking spot I was in was just the one for them.
When we finally got home we were both wrung out. What would normally be a one hour trip had taken us three hours. We had seen multiple minor accidents and more than a few people in Road Rage Mode. My head was on a swivel so fast I danged near got whiplash. We parked the bike and unloaded our purchases. We walked inside, looked at each other and vowed that we weren’t going anywhere on the roads unless it was an emergency.
So how was your day?
Cat
Thank goodness for a well placed roadside tree!
