Life of Brian

Thank you random Subaru with Washington plates on I-25; you tried.

Somewhere along I-84 near where Idaho ends and Utah begins, cruising along at 85 MPH in the 80 zone, passing some and being passed myself when a Subaru Crosstrek started riding right next to me, keeping pace. Finally, I looked over and the passenger was waving at me, making gestures that looked like pouring something. They dropped back out of view for like 30 seconds and then came back alongside, and the passenger had her phone pressed against the window with some large letters. I couldn’t make out what it said. I had on sunglasses, my windows are tinted, and there was no way I could take my eyes off the road long enough to make out the word(s). So I nodded at them and they slid back.

My first thought was, maybe they like the color of the car. I had a compliment about it just this morning at the coffee drive-thru. Second and more likely, the bike was not secured on the rack. I did check it before I left, and it was looking secure through the rearview mirror. So when I took my snack break about 20 minutes later, I went back and looked; everything was fine. When I got back in the car a couple hours later after lunch in Salt Lake City and started the car, on the dash, in the spot where the MPH shows, it said, “Check Gas Cap.” Huh? So I got out and looked; the flap wasn’t closed, and the cap was dangling.

Wow, that is what my Subaru friends were trying to tell me. I had filled the car about an hour into the drive this morning. While it was filling, I was washing the dead insects off the windshield and emptying my trash. Senioritis. I just didn’t put it back, and because the filler neck is on the passenger side, I just didn’t see it when I checked the bike earlier.

I did a repeat of yesterday’s trick. After lunch I hit the “Avoid Highways” button. From SLC to Beaver was an hour and a half on I-5, but backroads came in at two and a half. The views were very different, hardly any farms, but chock-full of desert views and even a couple small mountain pass windy roads.

First leg of this mini road trip. It was all I-84 heading east until I got to Idaho. My last trip through Idaho, I spotted a gas station called Stinkers that has a skunk mascot, and I wondered if it was like a Buc-ees and had stickers of its mascot. I didn’t stop then, but this time I did. They had t-shirts, mugs, etc, but no stickers.

When I got back in the car, I plugged in this evening’s hotel, and it showed 2-1/4 hours still. That didn’t seem right, but I noticed I still had “Avoid Highways” on. Ahh, took that off and it said 1-1/4 hours. But the shorter route took me through Boise. I got nothing but time, so I put “Avoid Highways” back on. It was a nice zig-zaggy route through farm fields and small towns.

I have dragged along my new bike so as to check out any cycling stuff in Cottonwood. So on arrival at the hotel, I figured I’d take a small ride to shake off sitting in the car for 8 hours. I needed to mail a postcard to my neighbor with the second line of our third collaborative effort in limerick writing. It is only a little over 2 miles away, perfect. When I checked in, the weather looked fine, but when I went back out to ride, there were ugly thunderstorm clouds overhead nearby.

They looked as close as the numerous ones I dodged on my back road route. I decided to ride anyway. Less than a half mile in, the wind picked up and random drops were hitting me. I continued. On the way there those winds were in my face, so I figured at least they would push me home, and that is what they did. The sprinkling did change in intensity to real rain until I was back in the hotel room. Pheeew.