Slow Progress is Still Progress

Previously, I noted encounters with a red pickup truck with an "OU" sticker in its back window on Shady Grove Road in North Richland Hills. Most times, when you get honked at, it’ll happen once and you will never encounter the vehicle or driver again. Getting harassed by the same motorist repeatedly over time is rare. Unfortunately, Forester’s advice about this unusual situation in Effective Cycling has proved completely useless so far.

I encountered my OU truck friend once again Friday morning. This makes three encounters. I'm happy to report that I think we’re making progress. Perhaps there IS something to that “safety in numbers” theory and I’m simulating it by simply repeatedly encountering the same motorist over and over. See if you don’t agree

• First encounter – motorist honked with his extra loud and irritating air horn and then stopped after passing so he could threaten to back over me. This incident taught me to be more cautious about making even friendly waves to motorists. It also made me realize that if you are controlling the lane, that's not necessarily good if a motorist decides to jam his truck into reverse and crush you. Under those conditions, a position along the fog line gives you a better chance for escape. Luckily for me, that's not a frequently encountered situation and this guy did not actually go beyond shifting into reverse.
• Second encounter - motorist honked with his extra loud and irritating air horn and then slowed down considerably after passing, before deciding not to stop so he could then back over me. No threats the second time.
• Third encounter – NO HONK! All the motorist did this time was do one of those aggressive sounding “gun your engine accelerate things” as he passed. He was accelerating fast enough that I wasn’t able to take down the license number for possible future reference. How come these guys don't stop in front of me when I'm prepped to memorize a license number?

I never imagined a honkless pass would be cause for a blog post! At this rate, we’ll soon be Facebook friends and gather by the fireside to sing "Kumbaya" together. By the way, this guy MUST be very influential in the motoring world because nobody else honked all day, either. Perhaps I need to send him down to Orlando for a few weeks so he can calm down the motorists in the CommuteOrlando area.

singalong song

PS: Entirely by coincidence, when checking Shady Grove Road in Google Maps, I notice that part of what Google Maps labels as Shady Grove Road is actually part of a Walmart parking lot. I sense another in the "Parking Lot" series coming up. Perhaps Rantwick's mom would approve of parking lots as long as Google thinks they're really streets?