Sooner or later it was bound to happen. There I was on an open, straight section of I-80 in northern Nevada. Not a car in sight coming or going and a wide view of the highway in front of me (probably could see clear for 5 to 7 miles as the Interstate crossed one of those wide desert valleys). No wind. Poor judgment. Promise to never do it again. But ... The speed limit was 75. Billy Bones has a .77 fourth gear, so I was cruising along at 80 (4,000 rpm). Then I see the open road, no traffic, flat level ground, no wind, good tires, and before I could exercise good judgment, bad judgment took over. I pressed the pedal down and the Subie 2.2 began to hum. Soon I was at 85. At 88 I saw comm-trails streaming from my rear view mirrors. At 90 both mirrors gave up and flapped in. At 93 the whole front end began to glow a bright orange - eventually becoming white hot. At 95 my face became distorted. At 96 I almost lost consciousness and began to hallucinate. At 97 I cried, but poor judgment caused me to press on, and on, and on. At 99 my eyeglasses cracked. And then it happened - the GPS displayed the magic number. That one second at 100 seemed like an eternity. Good judgment again took over and I backed way off. Drove the rest of the way home at the speed limit. Dumbest thing I've ever done. Poor judgment, to be sure. Promise to never do that again as long as I live. It frightens me even now just thinking about it. But I thought I would share the experience. Maybe it will keep someone else from making the same mistake. Warren L. 88 Westy "Billy Bones" |
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