Zero-Zero...

 

"Your tolerance for assholes?" you ask.  No.  Well, it really is a matter of: are they assholes or just stupid?  There's a lot of stupid going around out there, but I don't consider stupid to be deliberate.  Being an asshole is definitely deliberate

While out on my motorcycle today, there was a lot of slow moving traffic - people who sat longer than necessary when the light turns green, or driving 16 mph when the speed limit is 30.  They aren't trying to be nasty, they're just stupid.  One young lady pulled out in front of me on Hwy 100 (the main drag through town)... she didn't look to her left, and I saw that she was going to go without looking.  I had to put on the brakes hard - hard enough to activate the ABS.  She pulled out, then stopped when it was very apparent she wasn't going to be able to merge into traffic.  Not because she is an asshole (although I probably thought so at the time), but because she is stupid.  When she finally turned her head to see that I was a couple feet from her driver's door, and laying on my horn, she looked surprised... then smiled and waved, and drove away.  She had no idea that she nearly caused an accident, nor would it register to look both ways next time.  Stupid.  STOOPID.

"But what about the 'Zero-Zero' thing?" you ask.  Thanks for getting me back on topic.  It was sunny when I pulled out of our driveway.  I had to run a couple errands before getting to just kick back and enjoy a ride.  When I came out of Walgreens, a fog was starting to waft in; that can happen pretty fast when you're right by the water.  I rode through town and across the causeway - you couldn't see the buildings on SPI from the halfway point of the causeway... yep, that fog is thickening up.

I rode around the island a bit, where they were also participating in National Drive Slower Than Necessary Day.  Back onto the causeway where the high part of the bridge was completely socked in.  I don't recall riding in fog this thick on a motorcycle before, but it was darn close to Zero-Zero - that's a pilot term meaning: zero visibility and zero sky clearance (how far above the ground the clouds are).  For an IFR rate pilot in an appropriately equipped airplane, that isn't dangerous, although the pilot will be looking for an alternative destination airport with better visibility.

I could see the white stripes on the road and that was about it.  It was a creepy feeling, since you use so many visual cues when riding.  I had looked behind me before going up into the fog in that high part of the bridge, and there was no traffic close behind me.  It could be real ugly to have someone come up behind you over-driving the conditions.

No photos - I didn't bring a camera and there isn't anything to see when the fog is that thick.  Duh.  By the time I got to the mainland side of the causeway, the visibility was greatly improved.  Fog can be that patchy, especially right over the water, when the water temp and air temp are different, raising the dew point in that area quickly.

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File photo...