Traveling Lite...

 

I got together with Mark and Ron today, to work on some music.  Sometimes you play music, other times you work on it.  Mark had laid down several more music tracks on his latest song, and we worked on that, as well as some other songs.  It was a productive day.

A fun part for me: I traveled lite, taking a scoot to get there.  Expecting heavy traffic, I took Joan's Xmax; it has a higher top speed than my Burgman.  And, I can take the HOV lane.  It was 62º and sunny on my ride there.  I wore my high-viz jacket with a liner, and needed it.  All I had to take was a mic, an XLR cable, my iPad, and a clip to hold the iPad to a mic stand (it all fit in a backpack stowed under the seat of the Xmax) - Mark provided me with a guitar and amp, Ron brought an extra mic stand.

Traffic was steady on the way there, but I didn't get slowed down.  In fact, traffic in the HOV lane was moving at 75 mph and occasionally higher... I feel it is important to stay with the flow of traffic.  The Xmax has enough power to run at those speeds and have more in reserve in case you need to accelerate out of a traffic situation.  When possible, I like to ride our bikes in the HOV lane if I have to be on the freeways.

I keep my head on a swivel, use the mirrors, and watch carefully ahead to stay on top of any developing situations.  No issues.  It was close to 4:30 when I left Mark's place.  The going home commuting traffic was thicker, but easy to get around once I got onto the Loop 101 (where traffic generally runs faster than the Interstate).  The only issue on the way home: at 75mph, I could see something flopping around on the front end of the car in the next lane.  I decided I didn't want to be anywhere around that when that piece came loose.  I cracked the throttle open and got ahead of him.  The front end of the car was crunched up pretty good, and could picture that flapping piece catching me in the face-shield at 75 mph.

Again, the traffic was moving my whole way home.  Traffic going the other direction (west on I-10) was bumper to bumper and barely moving for miles.  Glad I don't have a daily commute in that mess.

Looking south where the Loop 101 meets up with I-10...

That's an old file photo - the traffic these days is a LOT heavier.