I’ve joined the raft of lousy drivers here in Florida. Yesterday Jean and I had planned on driving out to San Antonio and riding a 40 mile bike loop. Friday night the weather reports said that a front would be coming through mid day Saturday. They said there would be a SSW wind at 20-30 mph before the front passed, then a NNW wind at 15-20 mph after it went by with a 60% chance of rain.

We decided to do the ride anyway and drove over early enough so we could get out on the ride by 10. We left at around 9:15 and were on our way out SR-52 going toward I-75. A fifth wheel trailer had pulled off to the side of the road, and got back on the road about 300 yds ahead of us. We followed it for the next 14 or 15 miles.

When we got to Bellamy Brothers Road, there was a traffic signal. The fifth wheel was so tall that even 5 car lengths back, I couldn’t see the light. I had just said to Jean “I hope the light is green because I can’t see it”, when the trailer passed through the intersection. The light had turned yellow and the trailer decided to go on through without slowing down at all. By the time he was halfway through, the light was red and there was no way I could stop. So I broke the law. There wasn’t a police car around so I didn’t get a ticket, but I should have. I expect I’ll see myself on America’s Most Wanted in a couple of weeks.

By the way, the ride was decent. We decided to take the 40 mile route that we know (which is really only 36.72 miles) so we wouldn’t be far from the car if things got bad. Since I hadn’t been feeling well, I got tired at around 30 miles. There was one stretch of road where we were going directly into the wind and it was definitely 30 mph with higher gusts. It was all I could do to climb some of the hills with the wind in my face.

We turned West and the wind was coming from our left and slightly into us. It was all we could do to keep the bikes on the road. The road was busy and there was no shoulder so it wasn’t the greatest experience but, all in all, it was a great ride. By the time we finished it was 70 degrees but still windy. We went to the bike shop, looked around a little while and headed for Hudson. The sky turned dark and within 10 minutes the temperature had dropped to 57 and the rain started. Great timing, huh?

I still didn’t feel very good during much of this last week, so Jean went to the YMCA without me. The other day she came back and said “You would have loved the trip”. She got to the corner to turn into the Y, and there was a woman sitting there in the wrong lane waiting to pull out onto Mariner. Down here they have demand lights which will only turn green if the sensors can detect a car. Since she was in the wrong lane, the sensors didn’t see her and her light never changed to green.

Jean couldn’t turn in, so she sat through a light waiting for the woman to move. She didn’t and a young guy coming from the other way pulled in and went on the grass to get around her. Jean finally decided she had to do something so she turned and went around the woman in the wrong lane since no one was coming. Jean said she parked in the parking lot, looked back, and the woman finally turned right from the left lane. Now I’m that same class of driver, so I shouldn’t comment on how dumb she was.

We whined a little about our run this morning. It was around 40 and the wind was blowing at least 20 mph. We don’t mind the cold, but the wind made it very uncomfortable. I ran 8 and didn’t get into a coughing jag until mile 6. Not bad but it made it hard to breathe.

We didn’t have anything else to do today so we drove to Pinellas Park again to get 48 more empty beer bottles. I’m going to brew another batch of beer with the same recipe but a different malt extract. They’ll be about the same age so we can have a taste test when they mature to see which one is best. On the way down and back we saw several drivers that just about caused accidents. I got their license numbers and will contact them to join my support group in the Pasco County Chapter of Idiot Drivers. I’m sure they’ll elect me treasurer.

Ta Ta,

Just (I’m A Criminal Now) Jack