The End of an Era

Life is full of beginnings and endings, sometimes you are glad something has ended, such as Junior High School, sometimes you are upset that something has ended.

This is a story of the later.

It has been a few weeks and I still struggle to find the right words to match my emotions. Should I really feel this way about a car? Metal, plastic and glass?

Can I honestly say it meant that much to me? Does this devalue my relationships with flesh and blood?

I am not sure I can answer those questions, but I do feel both a huge loss and in the same breath feel a sigh of relief. How is that possible?

My STI is gone. I had to sell her and for much less than I wanted to.

You may have read my last article about my struggles trying to save the poor girl, after nearly 12 years of ownership I was just trying to give her a new lease on life and the entire thing backfired into a horrible spiral of blown turbos and gritty oil.

In that last post I outlined some of the options presented to me. I made the decision to take the middle option as I could not afford to purchase a brand new bottom end for the car and the shop was hopeful.

So I added another $2100 on top of over 5 grand already spent and pushed my 6 month total to around $8k. But if it runs good for another 5-6 years it is worth it right?

Here is what they did:

• New Oil Cooler
• New Oil Pump
• Oil Galleys in the Cam Gears sent out for professional cleaning
• Turbo Re-build
• Deep clean of the intercooler (oil was in it for some reason....)
• Fresh Oil Change
• Full inspection and testing

When I picked up the car the shop guys were super positive. "Dodged a bullet" was actually uttered. I spoke in depth with the mechanic who did all of the work and he was very detailed and very optimistic I could keep the car a long time.

I was on top of the world, by car had been saved from the brink and I would be able to drive her for a long time yet to come.

Is 1800 miles a long time?

I still commute to work everyday on my motorcycle, so the STI only saw a little bit of use on nights and weekends, trips to the store, etc. and occasionally down to work on days I just felt like driving instead of riding. So it took a few months to work up to 1800 miles.

My wife was out of town one weekend and I needed to use the car for something and noticed one of my tires was flat. Filled it up, but it had a slow leak. Took it in to the tire shop and they refused to fix it.

But hey, I had dodged a bullet and wanted to keep this car forever right? I went with the cheapest tires I could get at the time because I was not really interested in spending a bunch more money on the car so soon after the recent work. Just under $500. These should do the trick for the time being and the investment was worth it because I had just Dodged a bullet right?

Right?

Wrong.

About 200 miles later on a Thursday night when heading home from a meeting I heard an awful sound from the engine. Rod Knock.

Perhaps I had dodged the first bullet, but the second one hit hard, 1800 miles after the first was dodged.... 

I was devastated. I was able to limp the car home. I had a trusted mechanic come to the house and listen to the motor to confirm my suspicions, but yes, the bottom end was toast.

This was the last straw, the final hurrah. It was time to move on. I needed the money for something else and we had no more funds to put into the STI. I had to let go, and so I did.

There is one silver lining to this story. The man who bought her runs a small lot and shop and specializes in Subaru's about 50 miles away from where I live. He already had a new block set aside for such a project and was looking for a car just like mine. Because the rest of the car is in such good shape, his plan is to rebuild the engine and tune it up a bit for his brother to drive. He mentioned his brother tends to only have a car for a year or so until he gets bored and wants something different..... so I have already expressed interest to be the first to buy her back when the day comes.

But for now it is the end of an Era.

Goodbye STI.

I Know You Got Soul

   Back in 2007, a short time after I had discovered the BBC Show TOP GEAR, my wife and I celebrated 10 years of marriage with a 3 week visit to the UK, mostly in Scotland. It was on this trip I purchased and read a book written by Jeremy Clarkson, "I Know You Got Soul". His writing spoke to me and I instantly knew what he meant about mechanical things being able to have soul for one reason or another.

   Two years prior I purchased my first sports car, a 2004 Subaru Impreza WRX STI in World Rally Blue with the Silver BBS Wheels (I could not get my wife to agree to the Goldie's no matter how badly I wanted them). I first fell in love with the idea of an AWD 300HP Sports Car a few years before that when a fellow gear head work mate showed me the 22B and the kind of numbers and times it was capable of. I needed to get rid of my slow little truck and get a fast car, something with soul and this car had it.

   I had been looking at the WRX since it first came to the states in 2002 and while I still to this day love the looks of the 2002-2003 "Bug Eye" Rexes, I really wanted the STI Variant. 2004 was the first year of the "blob eye" Impreza and with it came the first Generation of the USDM STI.

   To purchase new was a bit out of the question for my means at the time, so in September of 2005 I bought a slightly used one with only 10,400 miles on the clock, it was just barely broken in and sitting at Bob Baker Subaru down in El Cajon, CA.  The man who only drove it less than a year and 10k miles needed a larger family vehicle and had traded it in on a Mini-van, something I vowed to never do. While my wife knew I wanted one and had sorta given her blessing for me to get a car, she was not aware of this particular purchase until I met her driving in on her way home from visiting family for the weekend. She was all frowns until I put her in the drivers seat and I instantly saw that crazy driving 17 year old girl I fell in love with 10 years prior. I was 28 years old and finally owned a car with soul.

   This was going to be my main driver and did a lot of driving for work. I knew the modding scene was hot and followed what the trends were, but I had made the decision to keep the car stock because the performance was more than I needed for street driving and the occasional canyon run. I was not taking this car to the track.

   This car had SOUL. The boxer grumble, the stiff clutch and 6 speed gear box, the whoosh of the intake when the turbo spun up, the continuous grip, even in the wet. I was smitten, and I got to drive it every day and loved every min of it. My wife never fully understood why I was happy as a clam to drive a loud vehicle with stiff suspension and a clutch every single day, even in traffic. But I love it.

   On the weekends I took every opportunity drive it if I could. We took it on a few road trips to Arizona to visit family, loving the huge power to pass slower traffic and set minor land speed records in the middle of the desert. We even took it up to the speed governor once in the middle of the night on a Christmas Eve with no other cars around for miles. It was glorious.

   Then one horrible day, May 30, 2010, just another day on my way into work I was not paying attention, entered an on-ramp turn too fast and went into a un-powered 4 wheel drift. The car hopped a few times and ended up going down a small embankment, ran over a small tree and busted the front up a bit. I was not racing anyone, I was not late, it was just a stupid mistake. I was very angry with myself.

   The Insurance company claimed the cost of repairs would be too high, even though the cost would not surpass the actual value. Even after my pleading they decided to "salvage" the vehicle, but this car had too much SOUL to let it go to the crusher or auction or to be parted out. It would of broke my heart, so I purchased the car back from the Insurance company who agreed to keep it on my policy with liability only if I could prove that it had been made road worthy. I got this done, though I would not have the cash to get it fully fixed for a while longer, it still needed some more work. It now had 102k miles and I went ahead and had the timing belt replaced for good measure, it was worth doing while the front of the car was sorta off it and led to a small discount on the work.

   It sat in my garage for at least a year before I could afford to get it running again and I drove it for a few more years on occasion with no front bumper cover and a dinged hood. At this point it was our third vehicle and no longer needed to be a daily driver, so this was fine, I was fine with a slow re-build. I was never going to sell this car, it would be a forever project. It had Soul.

   Eventually I started to notice the car was sipping coolant leading me to believe the head gasket had started to go in at least one location, something these motors are know for due to a multi-layer gasket and no head studs to torque down super tight. The car now had 132k miles and the clutch was probably due to be replaced, the AC Condenser had finally failed, it had been bent up a bit in the crash, but held pressure for a few years and had worked fine after a re-charge. My wife and I discussed it and put aside some money to get this big work done with the thought that spending some money now meant we could keep the car as a reliable runner for many years and miles to come, and with a new baby in our life, our first, a son, my goal was to eventually give the car to him and have it be the vehicle he learned to drive manual on. This car has Soul.

   This is where the story takes a dark turn. Two months ago we decide to go through with the work, I had a mechanic I had been using for nine years who has worked on many of my cars including this STI and they were certain they could do the work. I also had a local Subaru Specialist quote me the work, and they were $200 cheaper, but I knew the first guys and I liked them and knew their work, so I brought the car in for the overhaul. $4800 later I had a fresh top end, new rubber hoses everywhere, new Clutch, new AC Condenser, new Battery, new Plugs New Head Gaskets and a Stud Kit so the head Gaskets would last for life. Life was good. The car felt good under boost and no longer leaked coolant. I was happy as a clam, especially because there was no report of anything else being wrong from my mechanic. I had addressed all his concerns I had not originally planned for while the motor was out, Battery, plugs and new Hoses. But it was worth it I justified, the car had soul and needed these things.

   I drove it to work a few times because this has been the wettest year I can recall here in San Diego (my normal daily ride is a motorcycle), and put a few hundred miles on the car.

   On one of these days I get a check engine light on the dash, so I drive directly back to the shop and they find it is a VVT Solenoid, the motor work was under a warranty so the shop ordered a new one and just replaced it for me. I did not know and the shop did not know this was possibly a sign of something worse.

   Two days later I need to take it to work again and as I exited the freeway near my work I heard an odd noise from the turbo. I parked it and called my shop to tell them I was bringing it back in to be looked at that afternoon.

   On the drive to the shop the turbo stopped making boost and threw a check engine light. I nursed it to the shop with the realization that shortly after having this work done the Turbo failed.

   Shop tells me, No Problem, they work on Turbo Diesels all the time and have done many turbo replacements, they even had a few turbo diesels in the shop when I dropped it off. When I get the quote for the Turbo, I see the OEM model is $1300. I thought about getting a $400 turbo elsewhere, but my shop convinced me to get the OEM model since it would come with a 1 year warranty from Subaru and they would warranty the work for 1 year. It was worth it, the car had soul.

   Then I get a disheartening call, the new turbo failed during testing. He tells me something about Banjo Bolts being clogged with metal bits... I had never heard of a Banjo Bolt before. What the shop did not realize is the Turbo on a Subaru, at least on this model, can produce small metal fibers when a turbo fails that can get into the oil supply and the bajo bolt filters are designed to catch any bits that are not caught by the oil filter so they do not get into the turbo and cause further failure. Well, the shop had apparently not changed the oil when the first turbo was replaced. They also did not do enough research to find that it would of been prudent to change the Oil Cooler and the Oil Pump and get the Oil Gallies cleaned at the same time. They replace this turbo under warranty and tell me this second time they are pretty sure it is good to go. I come and pay the $2280 for the turbo replacement. The car has soul, it was worth it.

   Right before I drive off the main mechanic who worked on the car mentioned that he noticed play in the turbo shaft back when they first pulled the motor out for the head gasket change, but he "did not want to tell me back then because he did not think I would want to spend more money on it since I was doing so much work right then and there". I did not show it, but this angered me very much, I could have avoided all this turbo failing nonsense if they had told me that before and then I could have made the decision to replace the turbo then.... BEFORE IT FAILED.

   Whatever, the car was running, and I was happy to drive it home. I only live about 5 miles from the shop and less than a mile from home I hear a nasty whine coming from the turbo..... oh crap, it is starting to fail yet again.

   I park it and call the shop and let them know the car is coming back in a few days when I can get a tow truck to come get it. It has soul, it is worth it. My wife is starting to seriously doubt there is any soul worth saving, but I still believe.

   Shop has it a week or so and they have been communicating with the Subie Shop to get advice on what to do with the car(They guys I did not take it to the first time and whom I should have taken it to...). They ask me if they have permission to tow the truck over to the Subie Shop and I grant it. I am under the impression they are planning to pay for the tow as well as the work the Subie Shop is recommending.

NOPE.

   This is a huge slap in the face, here I have spent over $7,000 with them in the last two months and they are handing me off to another shop because they cannot do the work correctly and failed to do some key things when the turbo failed. And they are claiming they "did everything right" and this is not their fault. After nine years of being a loyal customer and talking them up to everyone I know as a reliable trustworthy shop, I am getting the shaft and the soul of my car is starting to die....

   At this point my wife and I have a conversation, it felt like we were discussion putting the dog down, I was probably going to lose my friend, my car, though it still has soul, is starting to become a place to throw money and not see much in return.

   I am literally dreaming of this at night in anguish.

   Perhaps it is time to let it go, to get a more family friendly vehicle, something to just get the job done. Something without soul.

   I end up paying the Subie Shop for the tow and inspection work and limp the car home, trying to keep the vehicle out of boost and cringing at the scraping noise anytime the turbo does spin up a bit.

   I have convinced the first shop to return the $2280 I paid for the failed turbo replacement by threatening litigation, something I really do not want to do at all. I still like those people, they are just not seeing this situation the same way I am and it disappoints me to no end.

   I am now faced with a few options;

• Try to get a dealer to take the car on a trade-in, I am not sure what they will give me and I won't be able to fool anyone that the car is in good running shape. With the noises it is making the turbo that has less than 30 miles on it sounds like it could fail at any time.
• Try a fix with the Subie Shop that involves rebuilding the turbo, getting the oil galleys cleaned to make sure all the metal bits are out, new oil cooler, new oil pump, put it back together and hope that all the metal bits are gone and the car has new life, this is another $2000 option, and carries not warranty or guarantees.
• Complete new bottom end replacement, new oil cooler, new oil pump and turbo rebuild. This would be a guaranteed fix and runs $7100. This is not something I can afford right now.
• Sell the car as it sits now, bring a trailer or risk driving it home, but no test drives, I have no idea what the car is worth in it's current state, and I might not get enough to have any decent down payment on something else....
• Non-op the car and park it until we can afford a major fix or figure out what to do with it....

   I know it's got soul..... and it is ripping me apart.......

Motorcycles - A Love Story

First I would like to preface this post with the statement that Lane Splitting as discussed is legal in California and this post is only referring to California, specifically San Diego freeways and surface streets.

Also, sorry it has been so long since I posted anything - I started riding motorcycles to work everyday back in 2011 and wanted to have some experience under my belt before I posted my opinions on the matter.

To say I am a fan of Lane Splitting is an understatement. I absolutely love that I have been able to take back my life by scooting past traffic on my way to and from work each day. The commuter traffic from North San Diego County to and from San Diego proper each day is quite bad.

I learned how to ride first on a quad, then on a dirt bike back in the mid 1990's when I was a teenager. I actually learned how to hand clutch before I had my first car and needed to learn how to foot clutch (but my junk 73 Superbeetle is a story for another time). I loved riding dirtbikes. Living in a small town and located off a dirt road gave me the freedom to travel all over, visit friends, have a secret girlfriend (don't tell my parents) and do all the sorts of things one must normally wait until they are 16 to do (if they also have their own car).

When my wife and I first married I convinced her to try out dirt bikes and she had 2 different ones in those first years of marriage. At one point we decided to move from the small town to a larger city and needed the money to get things going, so we reluctantly sold both the bikes and all our gear to help fund the move. But I never forgot those days and while working in the LA area and while traveling everywhere in a car I always kept an extra eye out for motorcycles. I was often jealous of them moving by as I sat in traffic. At one point my commute of 60 miles was taking nearly 2 hours to complete, one way.

Fast Forward to 2011, I have been a commuter to work since 1999 and after 12 years of sitting in a automobile in traffic for multiple hours each day I was ready for a change. I had a job change that year that allowed for a more relaxed dress code, Jeans n a t-Shirt, as opposed to wearing slacks and a polo or shirt n tie and needing to always carry computer equipment with me. We had been living in San Diego since 2003 and noticed that motorcyclist here rode year round due to the temperate weather. My wife trusted my abilities on 2 wheels and was not opposed when I brought up the idea of selling one of our vehicles to get a motorcycle. So I started looking for bikes and had already decided I was not sure I wanted to lean forward over a full sport bike, but I also did not want to lay back on a cruiser, a more standard position is what I wanted.

I went to the local Motorcycle Superstore and a friendly salesperson had me sit on a number of different bikes in the showroom which confirmed my initial thoughts. Being a Yamaha fan I settled on the FZ line, which is a standard sitting position with a sportier motor. The FZ6 is the 600cc version of the bike and are known to get 50mpg+, however not many were made, or at least the used market did not have many for sale and they held value quite well, so I found a first Gen FZ1, the big brother to the 6, 1000cc motor from the first gen R1 sport bike that had been de-tuned down to 130hp. FZ1's were actaully more plentiful and slightly cheaper than the FZ6 models at that time. Probably not the best first street bike, but with a number of years experience riding a 2-stroke 250 dirtbike I was sure I could handle it.

Please note - I would never recommend this to anyone else, always start on a smaller displacement bike and work your way up. My story is not the norm.

I live in Oceanside, which is at the north end of San Diego County. I live here because the cost of home ownership is nearly half that of living down in San Diego proper. The commute I had at the time was 34 miles from my home to the clients site, 12 miles back to my office and 33 miles home each day. The trip to the clients site in the morning took about 60 mins due to traffic and the trip home took anywhere form 60-100 min depending on the day of the week, wed-fri are a nightmare getting home. On the bike, with splitting lanes at a reasonable differential speed - more on that later - I reduced that time to about 45 min each way on average. This was saving me about 15 min each morning and sometimes as much as an hour in the afternoons, and countless hours when there is a car accident that can make traffic even worse. I noticed my frustration levels with commuting practically disappeared because I rarely had to come to a full stop and I could count on needing the same amount of time to get places no matter what the cars were doing.

Life was good, but in-experience leads to faults.

Like anyone new to motorcycles on the street, I dropped the bike, more than once - usually in a parking lot - but unlike a dirt bike that weighs significantly less, lifting a heavy street bike is an art all it's own. There are plenty of youtube video's on how to best do this without hurting your back and with the proper leverage even a very small individual can lift a large bike off the ground by themselves. I suggest new riders review and even practice this, also, don't ever get a brand new bike for your first bike unless you really want some scratches on it. I recently watched a young woman dump her fathers HD sportster because of inexperience. He was not pleased with her, but hey, he let her ride it.

As you might be able to tell from the tone of my other posts, I have strong feelings regarding the ability of other drivers that are lacking to say the least. Getting on a motorcycle did not help this as I started to notice all the drivers who have made the decision to distract them-self with just about anything other than driving.

I have seen the following since I started riding;
* Person with a tablet on her lap, swiping pages or something, traveling 65+ with kids in the back of her mini-van.
* Person on the phone sending or reading a text(this happens so much I can't keep count). Person eating a bowl of cereal traveling at 70+ with only knees on the wheel.
* Person with laptop on her lap, screen on the wheel, presumably her knees on the wheel as both hands were on the keyboard, BOTH HANDS!
* Random lane changes without signaling, cutting over the double yellow lines into or out of the carpool lane, the list goes on and on and I have documented much of it using a GoPro camera mounted to my helmet(Adventures in Lane Splitting). The point is, when on a motorcycle never, ever, assume the drivers see you or are even looking for you. On a bike you disappear. Always ride as if the cars around you do not see you.

I experienced an accident in my second year riding, late 2012. I was on a 2-lane road approaching a line of stopped cars at a light and I moved into the "shoulder" area, this is kinda debatable in this location as it could be a turn lane for the cross street ahead and part of it is painted red to allow vehicles to move down this shoulder as no cars can park there. Anyway, I was scooting along at about 10 mph when a car that was in line decided they too wanted to scoot to the front to turn right at the light and the front bumper of her Toyota Camry punched into my radiator and pushed my left leg and my bike towards the curb. I was already starting to pass her when she moved over and did not check her mirror. Even moving that slow it happened very fast and had she waited 1 second I might have gotten past and not learned my lesson. The bike hit the curb and I just rolled off the bike on the dirt patch between the road and the sidewalk unharmed. My insurance put me at ZERO Fault and laid 100% of the blame on her. Her Insurance put me at partial blame and did not give me much for my now Salvage titled FZ1. Moral of this story? Don't ride on the shoulder. You don't know when a car is going to pull off the main highway. Riding on the shoulder is NOT lane splitting and is not legal. In cases like mine, if you are turning up ahead, keep your differential speed way down and expect any car to suddenly pull out and in some cases just wait in line until there is an actual turn lane or you get to the intersection itself.

So I used the term, Differential Speed. What does that mean? That is the speed difference between yourself and the vehicles you are passing. This term applies whether you are lane sharing or not. This is the term the CHP used when giving guidance on safe lane splitting before they were required to remove it from the CHP website as it was being confused with actual law. Now this is my personal experience and opinion, there is not one specific differential speed that is "safe". Nor can one regulate or legislate what a "safe" differential speed is. One's differential needs to change based on the conditions, lighting and lane width. Not all sections of freeway are created equal, some area's have much narrower lanes than others.

On my commute which is mostly on interstate 5, the lanes are about 12 feet wide, and considering the average automobile is about 6 feet wide, if all vehicles traveled in the center of their lanes a motorcycle would have about a 6 foot wide tunnel to ride in. In reality on my commute the vehicles in the number 1 lane (furthermost left) tend to be more aware of motorcycles and hug closed to the inside of the freeway leaving more room for bikes, and others notice you and make room. Only a very rare few insist on trying to stop a motorcycle from getting past this way, I have experienced it once in 6 years. Overall San Diego and most of California that I have ridden in are aware and friendly towards motorcycles after years of legal sharing in the state. That said, there is one section about 1/4 mile before the southbound carpool lane starts where the number one and number two lanes seem to get smaller and the gap decreases some. When I approach this area I slow down to compensate for it, and sometimes get in line with the cars, though on most days I can continue to split. Everyone needs to practice what feels safe to them when splitting lanes and this is not always going to be the same speed for every rider, bike and locality.

Some things to keep in mind when splitting that I have seen personally, first "Mind the Gap". What do I mean by this? The most dangerous time to be splitting lanes on the freeway is when traffic is speeding up or slowing down and gaps start to form between automobiles. Some drivers are always looking to get ahead of everyone else by a car length or two by moving into a "faster" (mythbusters did a great show on this once and proved that there is no long term advantage to doing this) lane. These drivers are looking for these gaps to form and will "dive" into them quickly, without signaling or checking mirrors for motorcycles who might be lane sharing at the time. So Mind the Gap, keep an eye out for cars that are giving signs they might try something like this. Also, be ready to stop or speedup at a moments notice. During heavier traffic the chances of cars slowing and stopping is higher and one will need to adjust accordingly, and in cases where a car dives into a gap and crosses your path you may need to slow suddenly. To deal with this I keep one finger on the brake lever and my right foot hovering over the rear brake pedal when splitting.

Splitting on surface streets changes a riders behavior yet again. In most cases you are not really splitting lanes, but rather "filtering" to the front of the line when approaching a stop light, and in some cases a stop sign (though it is very rare to have a 4 lane highway with stop signs at intersections in this state, as mentioned before there is no current way to legally split on a 2 lane road since splitting must happen between 2 lanes traveling the same direction). Surface street lanes are tighter than the freeway so extra caution is needed, some cars share lanes to allow some to make a right hand turn, some cars stop and block traffic behind them to allow a car in or out of an intersection, these cars can cross your splitting space, so be aware of those situations in your area. Don't think that because you area allowed to ride there that drivers will think to look for you there.

I have had the safety of splitting conversation with many people over the years, even before I started riding motorcycles on the street. People tend to fall into 2 camps if they are against it;
1> They do not ride, they only drive and in reality have ZERO experience splitting. Some of their arguments come from jealously at being stuck in line with all the cars. Everyone has a choice and I choose to ride a motorcycle and deal with the weather and the increased dangers of being on 2 wheels and without a metal structure around me to keep me safer in a collision.
2> They are riders, but from out of state (not California) and don't think the drivers in their state would be open to allowing bikes to split. My response to this is 95% of the globe allows lane splitting along with California, and most people are able to deal with it on a Global scale, so I am certain those in your state will eventually get used to the idea of bikes being in between the cars.

One last thing about the safety of lane splitting vs not lane splitting. The most common type of automobile accident by far is the rear-ender. Cases where one car driving along side another car suddenly loses control and slams left or right into the car besides them are so rare they are not kept track of. That said, no matter where you put yourself, when on the road on a motorcycle you are going to be between 2 automobiles, either front to back or side to side. I have witnessed enough rear-ender accidents over the years to know I would rather have the cars to my sides, not behind and in front of me when traffic suddenly slows or stops.

My wife really enjoyed going on short rides down the coast with me on the FZ1, but the pillion seat and position is not very comfortable for longer periods of time. We talked about renting a big Harley Davidson for our anniversary in Sept of 2014, but our plans changed and we could not do it. The cost was fairly high as well and for a 5-6 day trip it was going to cost close to $2,000. After more discussion we decided to just buy a second motorcycle and if it was not for us we could sell the bike and not be out $2k. My wife really wanted a Harley, however I was able to convince her we could get as good/if not better bike from Yamaha for much cheaper.

In April of 2015 we purchased a 2007 Yamaha V-Star 1300 Touring for $4900, equivalent HD's - Similar year, mileage, size - were $7k on the cheap end and most were about $10k. This bike came with saddle bags, a rear top bag and a much more comfortable rear seat for her. After a few rides I immediately got the bug to hit the open road and in June I took my first trip with some friends. We managed 1500 miles in 4 days, camped 2 nights, crossed the Sierra Nevada Mountains 3 times and I just loved it.

This was a whole new experience on 2 wheels and really needs to be experienced at least once in a persons life. There is nothing like seeing the countryside while riding on a motorcycle, feeling the weather change through the day and as the terrain changes, smelling the environment around you, experiencing a sudden rainstorm on a hot day. Just amazing, I was hooked.

In 2016 we planned another trip, this time all the way up to Oregon. We did 2200 miles in 4 days this time and pushed 1000 in the first 24 hours to meet a goal for the Saddle Sore challenge from the Iron Butt association (something I still have not turned my paperwork in for yet). The experience was once again amazing with things like the Cascades, the Oregon Coastal mountains via bear camp road, the Oregon Coast and miles of desert vistas. It was yet another epic few days spent on the back of a bike and something I plant to do every year from here on out.

I feel like I have finally found the reason for my love of motorcycles, but it seems that I am reminded of why I love them every time I step over the saddle.

My next dream is to get an adventure bike of some sort and take a week to ride to the tip of Baja California, ferry to the mainland and ride back north, camping along the way. It may be a few years before I can afford such an adventure and learn to love motorcycles again for all new reasons, but I am a patient guy.

You DO NOT have the right of way......

On Monday this week I saw a scene unfold before me that was unbelievable. First let us examine what the California Drivers Handbook has to say about pedestrians: http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/hdbk/misc_lic_info.htm#pedestrianresp http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/hdbk/right_of_way.htm

Notice this quote: "Do not suddenly leave a curb or other safe place, and walk or run into the path of a vehicle close enough to be a danger to you. This is true even though you are in a crosswalk. The law states that drivers must always yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian, but if the driver cannot stop in time to avoid hitting you the law will not prevent you, from being hit."

I also found this article written by a police officer very enlightening: http://www.livermorepolice.org/traffic_articlesbicycle.htm

Essentially the point I am trying to establish before I tell my story is that you are only a pedestrian if you are Walking. If you enter the crosswalk at anything besides a walking pace (Running/Jogging/Skateboarding/biking/rollarbladeing) you are no longer a pedestrian in MOST cases.

So now the good stuff. I am heading into work and approaching a very large and busy intersection. The road I am on has 5 lanes of traffic, 2 are left hand turn lanes, the center is a forward only lane, and the right 2 are right hand turn only lanes. During my approach I see the 2 left hand turn lanes are stopped with traffic because of a red left arrow, the center lane has a green, and the right 2 lanes have a green which is about to turn to a green right arrow.

From the left a young man on a skateboard enters the cross walk on his skateboard, and because the traffic lights ahead are green he is doing so on a "Don't Walk" signal for him. So far 2 negatives for the skateboarder. I watch in horror as the skateboarder skates past the stopped cars in the left hand turn lanes and right in front of a VW Jetta that had intentions on proceeding directly through the intersection.

The VW narrowly stops in time to avoid running over the skateboarder who has to pick up his board as he lost control of it trying to stop.

Now, this is where the "unbelievable" part of my story comes into play.

The skateboarder raises his arms at the VW driver in what looked to me like an attempt of body language to say "Whats wrong with you, you almost ran me over". Granted I cannot say for sure if that is what he meant, it just looked like that to me. During this time the main green signal turns red, and the VW driver is going to miss the light, HOWEVER the right hand turn green arrow is alive and well, and traffic turning right never seemed to see the skateboarder or slow for the action happening. Instead of realizing he was in the wrong, the Skateboarder - whose intelligence must be severely lacking - gets back no his board and rides right in front of the moving traffic once again, forcing the traffic 2 cars ahead of me to stop.

Luckily for me I was observing this entire situation and was driving slowly enough to not have a rear end collision from the sudden stoppage of traffic. At this point I am starting to get irritated at this person.

What were they thinking?
How do people of such limited intelligence seem to remain alive?
I am glad I did not have to witness a death on the street that morning, but if one had occurred would I feel bad for the deceased or rejoiced at once less intrusion to intelligent society?

One thing is for sure, I would never blame the driver that hit such a person.

Why is it ok for the CHP Drive like Idiots??

So last week on my ride home (oh yeah I bought a motorcycle to commute on, but that will have to be another post) I was cruising in the number 1 lane going about 80mph following a late 90's 3 Series when on the right 2 CHP's driving Crown Vic's fly past both of us doing what had to be close to 100mph at 4 in the afternoon right at the beginning of drive home rush hour.

At first all I could think was; "glad there was something more important to get to than giving me a speeding ticket".

This made me reflect on that entire concept and wish that was the case the last few tickets I received, isn't there ALWAYS something more important for the CHP to be doing instead of wasting our time with speeding tickets on the freeway? I am not condoning going 55mph through a school zone at 3:30 in the afternoon when kids are rushing around everywhere, this is the freeway, 75-85 IS safe for the modern cars we drive......

Anyway, back to the story. I noticed that both CHP cars entered the Car Pool lane which was just 1/2 mile ahead even though neither had "2 or more persons" as the law states, though one was a K-9 Unit, perhaps he felt his dog was a qualifier....

PLEASE NOTE: at no time during my story did either CHP car roll code (lights flashing and or sirens blaring).

Being on a motorcycle I too entered the car pool lane, legally, and in a short while the CHP cars were out of sight.

Now it gets interesting. I can barely see up in the distance the CHP have moved into the next lane over (not sure if you still call it the number 1 lane when a car pool lane is present...) in an attempt to pass the cars ahead of them. This effort failed as I caught up to them just in time to see both of them cross back over the double yellow into the car pool lane.

Lets check out tally so far:

Speeding in excess of 100mph - CHECK
Driving solo in car pool lane - CHECK
Crossing out of and back into the car pool lane over double yellows - CHECK

If that had been anyone else we would consider them to be (insert expletive name here) drivers, and if the CHP saw you doing that you would enjoy well over $1000.00 in fines and probably get your car impounded.

Now that they were back in the car pool lane and for the foreseeable future stuck behind drivers going 75mph I caught up to them, but not too close.... :-)

Once the car pool lane ends they turn the heat up, the lead driver proceeds to immediately start tail gating the car in front of him, and then swerve to the left into the shoulder to show the guy in front he wants to get by, this is known as Harassment and carries very large fines in the state of California if you are caught doing that to another driver.

When this happens I am kinda shocked, it is one thing to roll code on your way to an emergency, I know I would want people getting out of the way if I was stuck in my car, upside down, on the side of the freeway. But then of course it is the local fire department with the jaws of life that I want to be first on the scene, not 2 CHP officers.

Now, because traffic is somewhat light this afternoon and flowing around 60-65mph I on the bike am able to nimbly move around traffic and keep the CHP officers in view for the majority of my ride home. This harassing behavior continued as long as I could see them. I finally lost sight of them about a mile before I turned off onto another freeway and was just a few miles from home. I went and checked with google maps and can say this crazy behavior lasted 19 miles from the time they first passed me until I finally lost sight of them. I am not sure where they were when they started nor where they ended.

I want to believe that they had an emergency to attend to, but then again if that was the case why not roll code? Why instead harass drivers who are just trying to avoid all the jerks on the road and have a safe trip home? Why set a bad example of CHP breaking the law because they can and you the average driver cannot do anything about it?

I just have this sinking feeling down inside that this is just another case of law enforcement using their badges to blatantly break the law for their own selfish reasons.

Final tally:
1> Excessive speeding (30mph or more over the limit)
2> Solo in car pool
3> Crossing double yellow lines twice
4> Tail gating over and over, at least 20 cases from what I saw
5> Harassing drivers over and over, at least 20 cases from what I saw
6> Hiding behind a badge in order to break the law

Yeah, if that was me and I got caught I would be spending the next few week in prison for that behavior........


/sigh

Please turn in your Drivers license and get a bus pass....

Sorry I have not posted in a very long time but it seems it takes something special these days to motivate me to Blog about my daily travels.

This morning's commute began much like any day, the first Freeway I travel on had light traffic, but we were moving along at about 70mph. I was in the number one lane ("fast lane") and I noticed a 90's model Dark Blue Dodge Ram full size truck coming up behind me at a fast pace, if I had to guess about 85-90mph. There was a car to my right so he had to slow down and not pass me or give me time to move over. He then proceeded to get very close to me, I could no longer see his headlights in my rear view mirror close. I gave the light tap on the brakes to inform him I was not impressed. I considered giving a hard brake check, but was not interested in dealing with him rear-ending my truck. What happened next I did not expect. He pulls into the shoulder and passes me.

Wow, now I have done some dangerous things behind the wheel in my life, mostly when I was a teenager, but I was not expecting that level of idiocy from another driver. Our side mirrors almost touched there was so little room. What I would of given for a well placed police officer at that moment. I may think speed limits are set too low, but I would never advocate that kind of driving.

So, ok, whatever let the moron continue on and ruin someone else s day, he was now 200 yards ahead of me and speeding towards what is always a backup at the intersection to the next freeway. I ended up getting past him due to traffic flow at the intersection, and about 6 miles later I see him coming again in my rear view mirror. At this point the freeway normally gets down to a slow and go pace with max speeds of 35 and sometimes stops. I have found that the fastest lane is actually the number 4 lane. What I have noticed is most people who get on the freeway in this area rush to get into the number 1 and 2 lanes, and the number 3 lane is dominated by Semi-Trucks who don't want to deal with entering and exiting traffic.

Now this is where things get really weird from my point of view. I notice him take a picture of my car, or at least that is what it looked like when I glanced back in my mirror. I am not sure if he is planning on reporting me to the authorities, but good luck with that. He then gets into the number 3 lane and pulls next to me and rolls his window down. Ok, he wants to tell me something, what I cannot imagine since he was the driver breaking all the laws this morning. I open up with a big smile and say "good morning!" hoping to throw him off base. I was partially in shock to see this man was in his mid to late 40's, perhaps early 50's. Someone who should know better right? He replies to my greeting and I promptly follow up with "you know passing in the shoulder is illegal" Still smiling. He replies "You know slamming on your brakes at 65 is illegal", as I am sure anyone reading this knows, using ones brakes is never illegal, in the case of one car stopping suddenly and another running into the back of it, the person who hits the car in front of them is always at fault, why? Because their following distance was unsafe. I quickly replied "no, tailgating is illegal" I then laugh and roll up my window and traffic conditions separate us from talking further.

I was shocked as his lack of intelligence to say the least.

I stayed on course in the number 4 lane and watched him get caught in the slower moving traffic as he tried to change lanes over and over to find the fastest lane. After a few miles he was no where to be seen.

Somehow this middle aged man was able to justify speeding, dangerous illegal passing and tailgating. Dear sir, you are obviously lacking in mental capacity, please hand over your Drivers License and keys and get a bus pass, we do not need you making our roads more dangerous than they already are.

Poor little guy, long absence

So, I was all gun ho about writing a blog about cars and driving and then on a very sad day in July I came into a corner a bit too fast on cold tires and ended up running over a tree with my Subaru. yes the tree was only about 5 inches thick near the base of the trunk, so I took the entire thing out.

I ended up making out pretty good on the insurance and bought the car back. It is currently sitting in my garage as a daily reminder of how one brief moment of not paying close attention behind the wheel can lead to disaster. My hopes are to save some money and start fixing her back up. She is paid for free and clear, and if it came down to it I could part her out or sell the complete car for well more than I bought her back from the insurance for.

Being a car fanatic, it has taken me this long to get back in the mood to talk cars and driving and put it all down on paper, so to speak.

Something happened last night that prompted me to get back into action and hopefully start writing on a more regular basis again.

Last night after dinner My wife and I take our dog for a walk around the neighborhood. I live on a street that has a 30mph speed limit, but people who travel down the hill from the east tend to zoom in around 50-60mph because the speed limit further east is 45mph, and there are no houses that have driveways right into the street. Personally i feel the speed limit should be 25mph cause I have to back my car out into it everyday, kids ride their bikes on the sidewalk, etc, etc.

So we get up the street a bit and right as we are approaching the 30mph speed limit sign a small dog across the street gets loose from his owners. I know this because all of a sudden I hear someone screaming for the dog to stop. It would seem the little guy saw us and our dog and wanted to come say hello.

As the dog enters the street I also see a small Hyundai jamming down the hill going way above 30mph, if I had to estimate at min he was going 50. The dog ran right in front of the car not 15 feet from us and got plowed. A piece of plastic from the underside of the car even came loose. The driver never even slowed down, though he did turn around and come back.

Poor little guy was twitching and bleeding from his head. Two men came out into the road to get him while my wife slowed another speeding idiot heading down the hill to make sure the dog was not hit again.

One of the owners picked up the dog and carried him to the sidewalk while the other was frantically screaming out in agony over the loss of his little buddy.

Shelly and I both felt sooo bad for them and the little dog. It still brings tears to my eyes now re-living that entire scene. It happened so fast yet I remember it happening in slow motion.

I really wish the city would do something extra to slow people down, but I fear a human will have to be injured before anything is done. There was a portable radar machine that showed the speed limit out there a few months ago and that seemed to really slow people down, but the second it left the speeds went back up.

I guess people just don't care to notice the speed limits and why they are slower in neighborhoods, unless they live in those neighborhoods.

Please, please slow down when driving in neighborhoods, I can only imagine how much worse that situation could have been if it was a child who ran out there.