In the interest of consistency
Usually I hop onto I-44 eastbound at the Classen ramp, which has two disadvantages for the hopper: there’s a blind spot almost exactly the size of an eighteen-wheeler, and it feeds into the left lane. Generally, if you see this out-of-the-blue merge coming at you, one of two things happens: you maintain your speed, and I beat you to the end of the ramp because I’m already going faster, or you slow down a bit, which is not kind to people behind you, but I beat you to the end of the ramp because I’m already going faster. (It is one of my cherished beliefs that it is the responsibility of the merger, not of the extant traffic, to get his own fat ass out of the way and into the flow.)
Today, I got to see Plan C: somebody decided to beat me to the end of the ramp. Not gonna happen, I said, and nudged the loud pedal. Bastard responded with his own Burst O’ Speed. Gwendolyn, perceiving the need, dropped into second, and I ran the revs up over 5000 for as long as it took to leave the interloper in his own farging dust.
Let it be known that I do not particularly enjoy 100-mph bursts half an hour before sunrise. But, as the phrase goes, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.
McGehee »
20 February 2009 · 8:48 am
Permit me to cuss out the bastard who tried to race you.
I’d really like to do it in person — did you get a tag number?
McGehee »
20 February 2009 · 8:49 am
jk
Jeffro »
20 February 2009 · 2:43 pm
I love the smell of adrenaline in the morning. It smells like victory.
CGHill »
20 February 2009 · 7:34 pm
This being a comparatively-civilized place, we don’t have front plates, and I certainly wasn’t going to be in a position to see his rear plate.
That said, it must be admitted that Gwendolyn is at least somewhat recognizable: there are lots of white I30s around town, but few have an obviously-aftermarket spoiler, and only one has a picture of a goldfinch where other people have front plates.
ms7168 »
21 February 2009 · 9:03 am
I avoid that entrance whenever possible. Why wouldn’t you enter from May which has a much more desirable ramp?
CGHill »
21 February 2009 · 9:10 am
It adds 0.8 mile to the trip length.
ms7168 »
22 February 2009 · 11:17 am
You and my Mom! She finds it positively ignorant for me to travel from NW50th to NW39th in order to pick up I-44. While it adds 0.8 mile to my trip length it’s faster than traversing city streets east in an attempt to make a more straight line to the highway. If I were to do that I would likely go on NW Expressway to the I-44 entrance just across from Belle Isle. It is a lot longer and nicer entrance too.
CGHill »
22 February 2009 · 12:22 pm
Longer, yes; nicer, maybe; functional, barely, especially in bad weather.