Well Mikey, she got out of her car with a big smile on her face and said (and I quote) "You've got to be freakin' crazy to drive this!" I'm not making that up. There is a slim possibility she was a Battlestar Galactica fan, but I'm 99% sure the word was "freakin'".
dhempy wrote:
Wonder if you found a lady cop she'd be in the passenger seat, too?
Nope, the passenger seat was chock full o' fenders by then, but I did ask her if I could take her photo with the car. She told me, "We prefer you don't," so okay, I didn't--it sounded like a policy statement and I'm sure the list of things I'd prefer the CHP not do exceeds the list of things they'd prefer I not do, so I didn't say "Oh c'mon, pulEEEZE?" I asked if she'd mind if I used her name in this travel log, I told her I use first names only, she told me her name but asked that I not use it on the internet. She'd never seen a Locost before and thought it looked like great fun, and Chet, she thought your side impact bars were an excellent idea. I tied down the fenders while she spotted for me, she was parked behind me with the rear window light flashing, most folks gave us lots of room and it was nice having somebody to talk with. I got back on board, buckled up, she complemented Chet's car again (and said she'd pass along the web site info to some people she thought might be interested) and wished me a safe and sunny trip back home. She said she'd pull out first so I could see the traffic behind me and I could follow at my leisure. Of course as soon as she pulled out, I grabbed my camera and got a pic of the departing CHP car, with its back window light still lit.
And ten seconds later, there was another highway patrolperson at my side. I took my helmet off, we introduced ourselves, I told her I'd just finished speaking with her colleauge (I gave her full name, figuring it couldn't hurt--the badges only show first intial and last name) and wondered if they'd been in contact, she said, "No, I was interested because you went past me about half an hour ago. This thing moves out pretty good, doesn't it?" She was smiling, but still, I didn't remember passing her, and there wasn't a whole lot of cover for the last 20 miles, which indicated that either she had gone to some trouble to find cover or I hadn't been paying attention when I probably should have. I gave a slightly sheepish smile and said, "Only within the limits of safety and the law." She laughed and said, "Of course. You were making sure you wouldn't get rear ended."
This didn't seem the best time to point out that my only recent accident experience indeed involved getting rear ended. We talked some more, it stayed friendly, I never asked where she'd spotted me or how well I was "moving out" but I did agree that I could probably compromise my safety procedures a bit and accept a greater possibility of being overtaken, and she agreed that public safety would be better served if I got back on the road rather than hanging around with her and filling out forms. "I already have plenty of paperwork," she said. I asked if I could take her picture for this trip log I was writing and she said, "We prefer you don't," so I figure that's the standard answer.
Both officers seemed more interested in safety than in the letter of the law. Officer K inspected the fender stays and assured herself they weren't going to get hung up in the tires, but was willing to let me skate on my fender placement (the passenger's seat). Officer J insisted I slow down in the future, but had a water-under-the-bridge attitude about my previous indiscretions. And so we parted ways, like sheep passing in the night, never to meet again. Presuming I behave myself.
At my next gas stop, both attendents recognized me from Brink. "Weren't you on television, that race to Vegas?" Yep, that was me. "I recognized the car, but the wheels are different, aren't they?" I explained that Chet's car was MAX's stunt double and had about five times the horsepower of the Locost they saw on the tube. The Science Channel had run the Brink episode again, apparently, which explained why some of the Route 66 spectators had mentioned it as well.
I missed my turnoff to the coast and ended up in Lake Elsinore, so I took CA-74 over the hills--a lovely Locost road if it hadn't been clogged with traffic. Sportbikes galore, but the most interesting/unusual/exotic car I saw was my own...with the possible exception of a 2CV with a pretty blond behind the wheel.