avi@hogpd.UUCP (Avi E. Gross - AT&T Information Systems at Lincroft NJ (remote from Napierville Illinois)) (08/10/83)
I get the impression that my original article did not make it off my machine. I am far from home, and my connection is noisy. My original article contained some additional parentheses in the header and was not even displayed on my machine - even though the file was there. ------ I have driven about 3500 miles in the last week and a half with another 1500 miles before I get home. I am catching up on the news and I am amused by some of the comments about how to handle tail-gaters - and how we should let people pass us on the road. I was doing 65, somewhere in S. Carolina, while trying to pass many cars in the right lane. About a dozen cars in front of me were doing the same. There was no way to either speed up or get back in the right lane. A trucker - obviously impatient with the flow of traffic - got on my tail. I HATE seeing nothing but chrome in my rear view mirror. I tried some of the tactics suggested on the net - such as putting on my parking lights. This did not seem to work. I SLOWLY applied the brake until we were both down to about 45 - with the truck still obstructing my field of vision. Then I speeded up to 75 to rejoin the pack in front of me. The trucker did not seem to get the "subtle" message that I did not appreciate being crowded. We went through this two more times before the lesson sunk in. Soon thereafter, we all passed the logjam. The truck suddenly appeared in the right lane where there was still not enough room to pass. It then started edging into my lane until I had to pull onto the shoulder or ruin my nice new car - and perhaps myself and my passengers. I was furious and soon got ahead of him in the right lane and speeded until he was out of sight behind me. The point I am trying to make is that some people do not belong on the road. I still believe that I do, but how can you offer courtesy to someone who does not care that you are not physically able to give them the right-of-way? On a related topic, how do you give the right-of-way to insects when you are going at 55? There seems to be a huge swarm of butterflies in Kentucky and southern Indiana that love to float over highways. My windshield had many unsightly yellow blobs on it. There were no signs saying: Butterfly crossing - next 250 miles so I did not have the opportunity to select an alternate route. I had to keep cleaning my windshield all the way from Miami, but this stretch of road gave me a headache. I wonder about the environmental impact of our transportation. I am glad that I am going back home along a northern route. The nice part is that I did get here and have met many nice "net" folks like Gary Murakami and Sarah Luchs. The Indian Hill BTL parking lot does seem to be well guarded. There is a guard about 200 feet from here looking out at the parking lot with Binoculars. My car has not been stolen, but I have to admit that I do not drive a corvette. For those who don't follow this, there has been a big discussion about robberies here - in btl newsgroups. Avi Gross AT&T Information Services (Formerly ABI) pegasus!avi hogpd!avi (Be back in a week)