Alright...my world is right again....baby doll is back home =)
Let me say this up front....as far as that night went and my ticket...
I've served in the corps....I've traveled all over this world(literally), and I've been in a lot of places most people wouldn't want to be caught dead in even with a loaded gun in their hand. I "wasn't" risking my own life or anyone else’s....I know the difference. I'm not even sure how a rider could endanger the life of a cager to be quite honest, maybe in some extreme circumstances if they were cutting cars off and caused one to brake hard enough, or possible panic a driver and make them swerve. But beyond that, my experience has been, cagers are a constant threat to those of us that ride, not the other way around. I've been run off the road twice(again literally), have had....like I'm sure a lot of you....more close calls than I care to remember or count, and certainly more near misses than I would ever let anyone that loved me know about. Keep in mind I ride every day, year round, my exposure level is very high to say the least. My bike is more than a pleasure or hobby, more than a pass time or recreation, it's my transportation no matter where I go, no matter when I go, no matter what the weather's doing, and God willing, will be until the day comes I can't get it off the stand any longer. That will be one of the worst days of my life. I've been riding bikes since I was 9 years old, that was a long time ago. My whole point is I'm very comfortable on a bike, more comfortable than most people are sitting in their favorite chair. To be very honest and it might sound absurd but, I feel safer on one than I do in any cage going down the road /shrug. Can't really explain that one, maybe I've been riding too long. Now I will admit that I like to walk on the wild side....and actually prefer it...but I'm not reckless....it's more like a controlled explosion LOL. Alright, /rant off lol....I didn't mean to ramble, just felt the need to say something about all that. So now for “the rest of the story"
My wife went in the hospital Friday morning at 5:30 for major surgery, that was the 30th and my tabs were due that day. She was to be in surgery for 3 hours so the plan was to stay with her until they took her back, bring her car home, grab the bike and head to the DOL for my tabs and new plates, and make it back to Seattle before she came around. Things started going sideways right here. When I got to the DOL, they were closed, they closed that day for an internal audit just before I got there and wouldn’t be open for two more hours. I didn’t want to not be there for my wife so I couldn’t wait, back to Seattle I went. While she was in recovery, one of the nurses heard her ask me about my plates and tabs and me telling her I couldn’t get them and why. The nurse spoke up and said you know, there’s a DOL here in Seattle just down the road a few miles, if you want, I can look them up online and get their hours for you and you could go tomorrow. Sounded good to me. The next day then, Saturday, after staying with my wife over night, I told her I was going to go get my tabs in Seattle, then go home and shower and come back. Home is about 30 miles away. As I was leaving the hospital, they had the roads closed and were directing traffic a different way. Turns out it was opening day of boat season and a parade had been planned. Before I knew it I was turned around pretty good, when I finally found I-5 again I decided I had enough of Seattle back roads and got on the freeway to head home. My plan then was to go back to the DOL that I went to on Friday and get them. Not remembering if their audit was going on Saturday too, I planned on showering at home first then going there. When I got there, the dam place just closed, their Saturday hours are shorter than through the week lol. Yes I was a little pissed, but Murphy’s law was about to kick in and really put the icing on the cake. I went back home, packed enough stuff in my side bags for an extended stay at the hospital, went to a local joint for a beer and a burger than got a text from my wife saying she wasn’t doing to good. From what I could gather from her on the phone there was a complication, she was pretty doped up on morphine so all I really got was I needed to get there now. On the way back the traffic was light, and the flow was between 65 and 70, I was averaging 70 to 75. Now I will say this, one thing I don’t mess with are semi’s. I’ve seen too many pieces of their tires on the side of the road big enough to take my head off. After creeping up on one, then getting boxed in by a cager, it was time to get out of the way. The semi was on my right but not in the far right lane, the one next to it. As I came around him, there just happened to be another one merging on to the freeway. Assuming he didn’t see me since I was shielded by the one I just passed, and not knowing how far over he was going to come, I blew by him as well, and also a car that was in front of me in my current lane that would have boxed me in again. Then came the pretty blue lights in my mirrors. The thing is, to say you had to do over a hundred to catch me, is frankly ridiculous, it’s relative to time. You could have caught up to me doing 75, it just would have taken longer. Who the hell says you got to catch up to me in 30 seconds ? Oh well.