Driving home from work this evening in the middle lane of a 3 lane city street, I noticed a beefy, bald man in a large pick-up truck eyeing me and the SS. With his window rolled down, I figured he wanted to chat me up at the red light. I wasn't in a chatty mood so in usual fashion, I turned the radio up a few extra notches which usually discourages anyone who can't read the back of the SS from asking me, "what is it?". Keeping my eyes forward, waiting for the light to change, I could hear that this guy wasn't trying to get my attention, but rather rambling off something that I couldn't discern.
When the light turned green, we both accelerated at a normal pace with traffic in front of us. This guy was very adamant about continuing his tirade, speeding up and slowing down in order to stay next to me, get my attention and make sure I heard what he had to say. I sped up and moved into the left lane hoping the car in the middle lane that was in front of me would create a barrier. He proceeded to speed up and moved into the middle lane in front of that car, slowing down in order for me to catch up. Finally, while driving at 40mph, I looked in his direction, turned the radio down and gave him a "What's up?" head nod. What I heard was something along the lines of "I know you guys...yada yada yada". From his tone and rambling, I had the feeling he wasn’t interested in the number of horsepower so I turned the radio back on, sped up and moved back into the middle lane in front of him as we approached another red light. Stopped at the red light with him behind me, I could hear him continuing to rant.
When the light turned green, we had another 600 feet before we hit yet another red light. With a car approaching in the right lane, I had hoped to merge into the right lane just in front of that car and prevent this guy from getting behind me so I could make a right turn and disappear. As I moved over, the guy cut the other car off, gets in behind me and yes, continued his tirade.
I made the right turn and he turned right behind me. I moved into the far left lane and maneuvered around some cars, again trying to create some space as he was in the middle lane. When that wasn’t working, I realized I had a small window of opportunity to flip a bitch as there was a break in oncoming traffic and a concrete median was starting in the suicide lane. At the opportunity, I slammed the brakes, gave him a “goodbye salute”, spun the wheel, letting the rear tire slide during the 180 (don’t think I had traction) and hit the gas to get the 1/4 mile back to the intersection and through the green light before it changed. As I gained control of the SS after the turn and looked in my rear-view, I could see him trying to maintain control of his fishtail as he nearly missed the medium as he did a 180.
As I approached the intersection, of course, another red light. I jumped into the right turn lane and hoped traffic from the left would get the green light and make it impossible for him to turn after me. No such luck. He made the right turn and was behind me. Finally, at this point, there was about ¾ mile of road with hardly any traffic. I hit 90 mph (40mph posted) and after about ¼ of me creating a lot of space, he gave up as I lost him in my rear-view. I hit the next red light a mile down the road, made a right turn and quick left behind some buildings in which there was absolutely zero cars, zero activity and not a single living thing in sight. As I progressed behind the buildings to make my way back onto the street, I noticed a motorcycle in my rear-view. Thinking that no one had a legal reason to be behind the buildings at this time, I reached for my weapon which was stupidly locked in my glove box.
As I turned the corner from behind the buildings to make my way back onto the street, the motorcycle pulled up next to me. My adrenaline pumping and weapon now by my side, the guy on the bike asked me if I was O.K. Come to find out, he had witnessed the entire thing play out and had followed me to make sure I was good and asked what happened. We both acknowledged that we were surprised by the guys behavior because he had a very large Harley Davidson sticker on the back window of his pickup truck so neither of us good understand his actions or intentions. I almost wish I would have turned the radio down so I could hear what he said. I thanked the guy on the bike for having my back and made it the 25 mins home, just enough time to let my adrenaline levels return to normal.
We all know the SS draws attention, but apparently, it can draw the wrong attention.
Be safe.
.
