Today's Ride

I rode my KZP from Everett to the Seattle International Motorcycle Show today.


It's the first time I've been to one of those. I thought it would be like the Seattle Bicycle Expo where you can get some good deals on clothing and bicycles. I'm not in the market for a motorcycle but I was surprised at the prices (and lack of selection) for clothing and gear. I was interested in a pair of over-pants, but the prices at the show were higher than what you pay online - at least for the couple of pairs of Tour Master pants that I looked at. They were asking MSRP but these things always seem to be on sale online.

It was a good day for a ride - sunny and 36 to 38 degrees, parking was free and I think I can use my ticket at a Harley dealership for $10 off on some gloves I want - so the show cost me a buck.

On my way home I snapped a picture of the 75 cent room sign in Pioneer Square -


I wandered over to Peets in Freemont and had a double espresso on the deck in front -



Then went under the bridge and got a picture of the troll -


Then I headed North through stop and go traffic on I-5 and got home in time to see the University of Montana Grizzlies win their football game against Appalachian State in the semi-finals. Game time temp in Missoula was about 18 F with some blowing snow thrown in for extra excitement.

Quest for Warm(er) Hands - MSR Hand Deflectors

I ordered some MSR Hand Deflectors from BikeBandit.com. They don't completely enclose your hands, and aren't insulated with fleece, like the Hippo Hands.

I have some cold weather neoprene bicycling gloves I wear under a pair of leather gloves that work pretty good - but it would be nice to have my hands just a little warmer. I think the MSR hand deflectors might offer just enough wind protection to keep my hands comfortable on short rides on cold days and those longer rides on chilly days.

The MSR units are advertised as universal fit - they strap on, so they don't require a mounting bracket. I'm interested to see how they work out.

Postscript Jan 7 2010:

The MSR hand deflectors didn't work for me. With the single strap they tend to flop around and were impossible to mount securely, orient correctly since they hit the mirrors and they tend to push on the clutch/brake lever as the wind pushes them back. You could, if you were so inclined, modify them by drilling a hole in them so they'd fit over the mirror stems and construct (or buy) a mounting bracket to keep them from pushing on the clutch/brake levers. I wasn't so inclined so I returned them.

I've figured out that the fairing on the KZP makes a big difference in wind chill compared to the Sportster, and for the type of riding I'm doing a pair of winter gloves is sufficient on the KZP. For the Sporty you would need some heated grips or gloves or some sort of wind deflector if you were going to ride it in below 40 weather (which I don't anyway since I'm not using a winter weight oil).

AMA Membership - Includes Motorcycle Towing

For $39 a year an American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) Membership provides some pretty good benefits.

You get towing service that covers -

• All of your motorcycles, cars and trucks
• Towing up to 35 miles.
• Up to five dispatched service calls per year
• RV's
• Trailers
• Trip Routing

You also get a subscription to American Motorcyclist Magazine and discounts on motorcycle rentals, lodging, campgrounds and motorcycle supply stores. You get a $10 gift card from BikeBandit.com when you sign up for the AMA.

I think getting the tow coverage for the price of a magazine subscription is a good deal. I'll find out for sure if I ever have an occasion to use the service.

For comparison purposes AAA"Plus RV" covers motorcycles and is $125 a year. The basic AAA membership is $59 a year but only covers tows up to 5 miles and doesn't cover motorcycles. It might make sense to sign up for the AMA even if you don't have a motorcycle.

Motorcycle Consumer News

I haven't read a lot of motorcycle magazines since I was a kid, but I have to say nowadays my favorite is Motorcycle Consumer News. The other magazines have lots of ads and pictures and tend to focus on a particular type of bike or riding. Motorcycle Consumer News doesn't have any ads and has a wide variety of articles of interest to any type of bike or riding.

They also have a Used Bike Value Guide that's a handy reference point when you're perusing the craigslist motorcycle classifieds. It's not surprising that the majority of motorcycle owners are asking more for their used bikes than the NADA price.

The NADA prices are for the "full retail value of a stock motorcycle in a reconditioned or clean, undamaged and well-maintained condition with average mileage, ready to be sold by a dealer or between individuals. The value assigned is a national average." These prices are a good starting point for determining if that craigslist bike is a good deal or not.

It's not online but Motorcycle Consumer News also has a summary of every popular motorcycle showing 0-60 time, top speed, horsepower, torque - if you like to compare those things.

I'd guess Motorcycle Consumer News probably appeals more to a mature rider, or someone who likes motorcycles, and riding motorcycles, in general and isn't locked-in on a particular brand or type of riding.

MCN is available at the Everett Public Library or you can get your own subscription for $22/year.

Google Chrome - For Linux

The Google Chrome browser is available for Linux now. It's still beta but seems to be working great for me - faster than the fox. You can search from the address bar using CTRL K, so you don't need a separate search box and you don't need to move your cursor to start typing a search term. Chrome has other Keyboard and mouse shortcuts that might make things quicker for you too.

I downloaded a pre-beta version months ago and it wasn't ready for distribution. Google developers were clear on that, so I just played with it for awhile and got on the mailing list for when the official beta came out.

Chrome will import all your Firefox favorites - so it's easy to switch over and see what you think.

Creamy Squash Soup Recipe

I made this soup yesterday using the recipe from the back of a Silk Soymilk container -

Ingredients -

3 cups butternut squash chunks (de-seeded and peeled)
3 cups vegetable stock
1 clove garlic - minced
1 cup Silk Organic Unsweetened Soymilk
1 pinch ground ginger
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the garlic in your saucepan, add the vegetable stock and squash chunks - let simmer until squash is soft (about 10 minutes).

Puree in a blender. I used a hand blender, because I don't like pouring boiling hot stuff in a blender, and didn't feel like waiting for it to cool off. You could probably use a mixer or a fork if you don't have a blender.

Add the soymilk, ginger, salt, pepper and reheat.

I used a couple of random squash (squashes? squish?) that were in the kitchen (not butternut) and it turned out very good - nice and sweet and good on a cold wintery day.

Time To Garage the Bike - Maybe

It was 28 F when I left for work this Friday morning. The cold isn't really a problem but the frost could be. I felt my tires start to come loose from the pavement while going around a corner - an adrenalin boost on a two-wheeler...but a little too risky for my tastes. Riding a motorcycle on icy streets is probably a bit stupid, so I'll be trying to avoid that in the future.

Postscript - Saturday was nice - sunny and cold, but there was some frost in the shady areas so we spent the day going up North to cut down a Christmas tree (drove the pickup...not a bike). Sunday afternoon it was 36 F and sunny. I rode my Kaw about 70 miles - mostly on the freeway. It wasn't bad at all with the windshield and riding suit. I just need something a little better for my hands - maybe some Hippo Hands or something like that.

I tried to fire up the Sportster when I got home and that 20-50 oil was like molasses in January. It's suppose to be good down to 40 F, so it was a little cold for that weight oil and the engine just couldn't get spinning fast enough to fire-up, plus it's probably not the best thing for the engine bearings, cylinders, push-rods to run that weight oil when it's below 40. I have the trickle charger/maintainer on it now and hope we see some 40 plus weather here in the not too distant future.

Kawsaki and Harley - A Few Observations

A few observations on the 4 cylinder Kawasaki vs. the Harley V-Twin - (a) it's a lot easier to change the oil and filter on the Harley. The Harley has a spin on oil filter and a drain plug held in place with a hose clamp, so you if you have a screwdriver and fairly strong grip to spin the filter you can change the oil and filter. The Kawasaki on the other hand has a complicated filter assembly that won't clear one of the exhaust pipe clamps, so you get to free that rusted nut before dropping the filter out. Make sure you get the two o-rings, spring, washer, and top cap back in correctly when you reassemble (see pic below for the parts that make up the oil filter assembly) (b) hydraulic lifters make the Harley worry free when it comes to valve adjustment. The Kaw on the other hand is supposed to have the valves checked, and adjusted using shims if necessary, every 3000 miles. This involves removing - the gas tank, 20 bolts from the valve covers and some other stuff (I haven't tried it yet...). and (c) The Harley has a belt drive. No messy chain lubing like on the Kawaski.

They are both fun to ride and wrench on. Just different. The Kawasaki is lighter and more maneuverable. The Harley gets up and goes at low RPM's. The Harley sounds good and gets 50 mpg around town. The Kawasaki sounds like a 4 cylinder engine revving pretty high (4000 rpm at 60 mph) and gets about 30 mpg around town (more than 50 mpg on the highway though).

Two Favorite Motorcycle Forum Topics - Engine Oil and Chain Lube

People love to ask and answer questions about what's the best oil to use in a motorcycle engine and the best lubricant, and how to apply it, for a motorcycle chain.

You get all sorts of opinions.

Some folks think it doesn't matter what brand of oil you use and that is doesn't need to be specifically formulated for a motorcycle. I tend to think there's some happy median (medium or something). Harley recommends diesel engine oil if you can't find the secret formula HD brand oil. Diesels run hot and go long distances between oil changes, so the oil for those engines has to be pretty good stuff.

The economics of trucking make the price for diesel engine oils competitive, unlike motorcycle oil where people can afford and are willing to pay 10 dollars for a quart of oil - because it's all discretionary spending to begin with unless it's your only vehicle - which is unlikely.

Interesting that if you're driving a semi-truck you can get service at Peterbilt including - oil (up to 44 quarts), oil filter(s), fuel filter, water filter and chassis lube for $179.95, and there are people who claim a Harley dealer wanted $225.00 to change oil or $191.00 if you supply the oil (4 qts). For that price it's probably a good idea to buy a screwdriver and a manual unless you don't like getting your hands dirty or are wrench challenged.

I only recently discovered that motorcycle forums have almost as many threads on chain lube as engine oil...

Some people like to remove chains from motorcycles and boil them in kerosene and then bake them in the oven to get a nice coating of grease - those would be your single motorcycle riders with a lot of time on their hands, who have older bikes that have a master link in the chain. Recommended interval for drive chain lubrication is every 200 miles and if it's wet/dirty on the road you may need to do it more often - so the boil and bake probably isn't very practical.

Some people use 3 in 1 oil or WD-40 on their chain. Some people think you should use a lubricant that says it's for a motorcycle chain (I'm with them).

Some people don't think you ever need to oil a chain - they must of never ridden a bicycle with a dry chain and realized how much easier it is to pedal when the chain is oiled.

I don't have any answers when it comes to oil for motorcycles but this guy seems to know what he's talking about when it comes to All About Motor Oil.

I've been using Mobil V-Twin 20W-50 synthetic oil in my Sportster and Shell Rotella Diesel Engine Oil 15W-40 in the Kaw. I used some super cheap Safeway brand before the Rotella. From what I've read that isn't a problem, as long as you change your oil frequently - which I was planning anyway. I was using the Safeway oil to make sure I had the right amount of oil in the crankcase and as a pre-drain oil before I put in something better a few days later when I did my first oil and filter change on the Kaw.

Rotella is around 14 bucks a gallon and Mobil 1 is 10 something a quart, at Autozone, which is about 7 blocks from my house - which plays into my decision to use those brands. Both the HD and the Kawasaki use a little less than a gallon of oil for an oil change and the recommended oil change is every 5000 miles on the Harley and every 3000 miles on the Kawasaki.

Taking The KZP Out For a Spin Today

This is on the bluff by Legion Park - there's a hint of sun today,
after lots of rain.

Keeping Busy

I haven't been updating my blog for awhile because I've been busy with motorcycley things. Mostly outdoors or in the garage.

I really like my Sporty but I don't like riding it when it's wet out because it's so nice and shiny, and the saddlebags on it are made of leather which soaks through in the rain. I looked into saddle bag upgrades and a rack - but those are pretty pricey and I like the clean look of the Sportster as it is.

Not that I'd buy them, but a pair of color-matched Harley hard bags for a Sportster are $1400 and a rack/sideplates/sissy bar/light relocation kit is another $350. Throw in a windshield and a fairing and you are getting up there.

Once I'd justified to myself that another motorcycle might actually be less expensive then adding those things - and allow me to leave my Sportster looking cool, I started looking for a used bike. One that already had storage space, and maybe a windshield and fairing. Something I could ride and not care if it got wet and dirty. I know a Harley could be just fine in the rain and slop - I just wanted something to beat around on and want to keep my Harley shiny and new looking for awhile at least.

I ended up getting a 2000 KZP 1000 (Kawasaki Police Motorcycle Model P19), from a guy in Silvana, for commuting when the weather isn't so nice and for general banging around. The bike has 29K miles on it and belonged to the Snohomish County Sherriff's Department. He bought it at a local auction. The P models were made from 1982 to 2005 in Lincoln, Nebraska, and are all basically the same motorcycle so parts are easy to find.

It has two hard bags, a big rack, three nice bright head lights, a windshield and fairing with a couple of storage pockets. It also has a big trunk the previous owner gave me off another bike that I can mount with a little drilling and adapting.

I've been busy riding and learning the basics of maintaining the bike, getting the owners manual, repair manual, oil and filter change, air filter, tire pressure, brake pads, chain lube...that kind of stuff.

It's a fun bike to ride to work and has enough storage space to carry my stuff. So far it runs great and it's old enough that it needs a fair amount of tinkering for fixing small stuff - which I like. It still has the run-flat tires on it so if I ever have to run across a spike strip roadblock, I have that going for me.

____________________________

I've been doing some online lurking in the various motorcycle forums like What is the strangest thing you hit/almost hit? - ADVrider

You can learn a lot from those forums - for example I learned that if you ride a motorcycle you should stay the hell out of Georgia - they have all kinds of weird crap on the road that might hurt you. One guy from Georgia has this almost hitlist -

"1) A live turkey, back roads, Austell, GA. Spun me around but I did not go down.

2) Aluminum Ladder, I-285 Atlanta. Kinda jumped it, should have wrecked but didn't.

3) A steel nut, about 2 inches in diameter, straight to the chest (thought it stopped my heart it hit so hard) I-285 Atlanta

4) Muffler and attached exhaust pipe, 575 near Canton, GA. No wreck

5) Water melon, I-75 near Valdosta. Almost, and I mean almost but no wreck.

6) Wooden pallet (empty) East/West Connector, Austell, GA. Scared me shitless.

7) A helmet, unstrapped and blew off another rider in front of me, Daytona. No wreck.

8) German Shepherd, near Bo-Bo's house. No wreck but torn up a guys fresh grass stopping it."


"Weirdest I have heard, guy from Earl Smalls Harley Davidson in Marietta, Ga was headed to the Hard Rock Cafe in Atlantawith a group of bikes. I-75 south after dark. He hit an upside down wheelbarrow tub that already had the wheels and supports knocked off. Was almost a perfect ramp. Said he was about 8 feet off the ground, got some good distance and landed without crashing. LOTS and LOTS of damage to the bike."

But he's not done yet...

"And then on I-20 near Madison, Ga early one morning I am zipping along behind a big generic Fed-Ex/UPS kinda truck when he abruptly swerves and right there was a camper shell from a pick-up! Easy to react on a bike but still odd. Same place the next year was a bed liner."

They must not have much traffic in Georgia because if there was that much stuff laying on I-5 in the Seattle area we'd have total gridlock or a lot of accidents quick.

My stories are boring compared to that guys. I grazed a pig at high speed one time (me at high speed not the pig...he was going pretty slow and came up out of some brush as I was rounding a corner). I was Southbound out of Columbus Montana just before the bridge over the Yellowstone River, steep banks on either side - so there wasn't much room to maneuver. I swerved and just clipped him which bent the shifter pedal sideways. Another time lane-splitting in California I got my foot caught between a tire on a car going about 70 mph and my foot peg. The friction from that spinning tire melted my cheapie tennis shoe really quick. Nothing that exciting - I haven't got any air jumping over upside down wheelbarrows on the interstate...yet.

"It Is Better to Travel Hopefully Than to Arrive"

The title of this post is from Robert Louis Stevenson.

I ran across the quote in a good book called Lois on the Loose written by a young woman who left her cubicle in London to ride a 225cc Yamaha Serow trail bike from Anchorage, Alaska to Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina at the tip of South America.

There's an interesting article about the author Lois Pryce here and information about her motorcycle at this link.

She doesn't think the world is a scary place, and consequently is able to do things some people only dream of and others would never consider.

______________________________________________

A little side-note on Robert Louis Stevenson.

He is considered one of the first outdoor adventure writers for his book Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes written in 1879. He writes about the sleeping sack he designed saying "I was determined, if not to camp out, at least to have the means of camping out in my possession; for there is nothing more harassing to an easy mind than the necessity of reaching shelter by dusk, and the hospitality of a village inn is not always to be reckoned sure by those who trudge on foot."

His sleeping sack was 6 x 6 feet, waterproof, lined with sheepskin and so bulky it forced him to travel with the donkey to carry it.

The hull of his schooner the Equator is stored at the Everett waterfront.

Rode To The Olympic Peninsula Today

I rode my motorcycle over to the Olympic Peninsula today. It was a fairly long day with two ferry rides and quite a bit of circling around through Port Orchard to locate the office of the person I was meeting. I should have listened to his directions a little better - but my iPhone saved me from having to ask for directions again.

The purpose of my trip was to look at a nice old Harley Davidson leather jacket I saw on Craigslist and to enjoy riding on what may be the last warm/dry day for awhile. The jacket fit me perfectly and cost less than a 1/4 what you'd pay for a new one. It's heavy leather and like new - never been wet or scraped along the pavement. The guy I bought it from was really nice and interesting to talk with. He wants to downsize before moving back to Tennessee so he's selling a lot of items he's collected over the years at good prices.

He bought the jacket at a Harley dealership when he lived in Hawaii, but it was generally too hot to wear it there so it hung in his closet for years. He's 66 and currently doesn't have a motorcycle, but he loves to talk about them. His grandfather was riding motorcycles until his 80's and one of his uncles into his 70's - until he died in his sleep on the front porch after a motorcycle ride.

It was a good day. I got to ride along the West side of the Hood Canal which I've been wanting to do for quite awhile. I got to feel the weather warm up and cool down as I rode. There wasn't any rain. It got a little chilly riding in the shady areas, but not too bad. I need to work on my layering techniques and get a pair of warmer gauntlet style gloves for longer rides when it's in the 50's or below. The ferry ride from Edmonds to Kingston is $5.15 for a motorcycle and rider.



View Around Hood Canal in a larger map

Motorcycle Links

I've been immersed in reading about motorcycles lately - magazines, books and online.

These are some of the links I've bookmarked.

General Interest -

Adventure Rider Motorcycle Forum
Horizons Unlimited
MicaPeak dot com

Sportster / HD Specific -

The International Portal for Sportster and Buell Motorcycle Enthusiasts
The Sportster Home Page
V-Twin Forum
Harley-Davidson USA
Home Page - Sound Harley
Washington Motorcycle Dealer - Eastside Harley-Davidson
Harley Davidson Maintenance - Harley Davidson maintenance tips and advice.
How to change transmission oil in a sportster
Poor Man's Sportster Service Maintenance Guide
Self Help Information and Tips - Harley Davidson Community
YouTube - Harley Davidson Motorcycles : How to Do an Oil Change on a Harley Davidson Sportster

Equipment -

webBikeWorld

The most interesting link for me right now is the first one - Adventure Rider Motorcycle Forum. It has stories from a guy who rode a Harley hard-tail chopper around the world The WRONG Way Round.... on a Chopper! - ADVrider and one about a young man who rode a moped from Australia to London Sydney to London on a moped called Dot - ADVrider

Nothing new about boys wanting to have a motorcycle adventure as you can see from these early 1900's Online Books at MicaPeak dot com. I haven't read them but they look amusing and it's interesting to think about what young men in 1906 were reading.

MicaPeak dot com also has Motorcycle Registries where owners leave their impressions of motorcycles they own or have owned.

Horizons Unlimited looks like a good site if you want to ride your motorcycle across the Sahara Desert or something like that.

2000 Miles

I've put about 2000 miles on my motorcycle in the last 5 weeks. I've been going in circles a lot and haven't gotten much more than 100 miles from Everett. If I would have driven in a straighter line I could have driven to Juarez, Mexico or Madison, Wisconsin. Maybe next year.

It's interesting to think about what makes a good motorcycle and why people buy motorcycles and ride motorcycles. I've been lurking around the Harley forums and some owners like to modify/customize their bikes not so much for riding as for the aesthetic pleasure. That's cool - you see some real works of art.

Other people like the speed factor. That's cool too - but when you get to be my age enough speed tends to be something quite a bit less than it is when you are younger. Before I bought this latest motorcycle I was thinking about putting a motor on a bicycle, but I wasn't sure if it would have enough power to pull me up a hill. So my sights (powerwise) were set pretty low.

Some people like to belong to a club or define themselves by what mode of transportation they use. That's not really my cup of tea - I'm happy riding a bus, bicycle, train, airplane, subway..walking etc. But I don't think of myself as a member of the occasional bus riders club. I'm not really brand or mode sensitive when it comes to transportation.

My definition of a good motorcycle is one that runs. I like all sorts of motorcycles but I'm especially pleased when I see some old beater type bike that someone keeps running and uses to commute or for touring. There's just something about the functionality and keeping something old running that appeals to me. Not that a nice decked out BMW, Gold Wing or Harley isn't cool too.

I was thinking about putting on a different seat, shocks and saddlebags but the more I think about it I think I'll just leave my bike as it is and see how long I can keep it running without having to take it to a mechanic.

I just have to stop looking at other motorcycles on Craigslist...there's a 2007 Suzuki Bandit 1250 with various upgrades and 2900 miles on it for sale in Ellensburg for $5900. That looks like a nice bike and a good price - but it doesn't make sense to have two motorcycles sitting in the garage over the winter. Maybe next spring...

_______________________________

That's a picture of the back of the stock seat at the top of this post. I like the stitching that says "Sportster Since 1957" - it looks sort of old fashioned and reminds how long this particular Harley model has been around.

Harley Davidson motorcycles have a long history, having been around since the early 1900's.

My maternal grandfather John Williams had a Harley in the 1940's, and he and my grandmother belonged to a motorcycle club that would go on rides around Wisconsin and stop to have picnics and socialize. He was a machinist and quite mechanically inclined - he built my mother and her sister an electric car and built his own speedboat, among other things.

He was killed riding his motorcycle when a car load of women who had been drinking stopped to make a U turn in a blind spot in the road. I'm sure it was very sad for my mother, her sister and mother to lose a father and a husband. My grandmother was an independent sort and worked as a school teacher for many years, after moving back to Montana from Wisconsin, where she'd worked in a defense plant during WWII.

Katsura This Fall

Katsura This Fall
Originally uploaded by Jack Crossen

This Katsura tree has done well in our front yard. It has a nice shape and delicate leaves that really get bright in the fall. I used to pinch off the ends of branches when it was small to stimulate more branching, and prune the crossed branches - but it's doing fine on it's own now.

Ferry Then Motorcycle Ride

I took the ferry from Mukilteo to Whidbey Island on Sunday and this motorcycle was in front of me in the ferry line. It's a Suzuki 650 that looks like it's been around the block a few times - including Alaska. It's a functional bike with the metal saddle bags, large rear rack and GPS. The guy riding it lives in Seattle and was meeting his friend who got on the earlier ferry. I hadn't thought of a 650 as a touring bike but reading through reviews at micapeak.com it's obvious that owners really like the Suzuki DL650 for distance riding and lots of other things. It's got a big gas tank (5.8 gallons), top speed of 115 mph, 0-60 mph in 3.98 seconds and there's a new one on eBay for $6000 (MSRP is $7500).

The fare for a motorcycle is $3.05 and you get to get on and off first. You have just enough time to drink a cup of coffee on the run from Mukilteo to Clinton. You get to park your motorcycle on the front of the ferry on the main deck at water level so you get a nice view too.

I rode the back roads along the water up Whidbey Island to Langley, over to Fort Casey State Park and then north over the Deception Pass Bridge and dropped down to La Conner where I sat by a fireplace in a bookstore and drank a cup of coffee.

These are a couple of pictures I took at Fort Casey of the water and some tame deer that were hanging around.

Columbus Montana Stone Quarry

Tours Feature Monuments to History

My daughter Becca ran across this article.

Bad Driving - Kills People

Riding a motorcycle makes you hyper-aware of how bad some drivers are. You learn to drive defensively - look ahead, plan ahead, anticipate what may happen based on what's ahead, never assume someone is going to do the sensible thing and leave yourself an escape route for those times when you need it.

I was driving East on Madison last night at about 9 pm. At the intersection with Broadway the light was red. The light turned green right after I stopped and no one was behind me so I wasn't in a big hurry and sat for a couple of seconds after the light turned green getting ready to enter the road. I was wearing some goggles that force me to turn my head to see to the sides, so that added some time as well.

A guy in a full sized pickup talking on a cell phone blasted through the red light. He would have hit me if I would have entered the intersection as soon as the light turned green or if I would have arrived a couple of seconds earlier and went through the green light. The speed limit on that part of Broadway is 35 mph and he wasn't going any slower than that. He apparently had no intention of stopping since the light was red for several seconds before he drove through it. I don't know if he didn't see me or just assumed I saw him and would stay out of his way.

I followed him for a few blocks at a distance because I was curious to see if he was drunk or just an idiot. He got out of his pickup at what I assume was his house/apartment and was still talking on his cell phone standing on the porch.

Edgar Waiting For His Soccer Ball

He can play fetch all day..