Get Off The Road

Time to refocus...

2008-07-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

I have been enamored for some time with two things. Driving. And Los Angeles.

I started this blog (as well as the few that redirect here) to have a place to share my thoughts about driving.

I started another blog (The Real LA, to discuss all things Los Angeles.

I have not taken time to so much as jot thoughts on either of them. Yet everyday the passion to express myself about these two things nearly bubbles out of me. It was recently, as I was driving home, that I realized they need to be combined.

I have been asking myself, "What is the "real" L.A.?" and, in the same breath, "What is wrong with drivers these days?". I have realized that one is the answer to the other.

I have (at least for now) convinced myself that the "real" Los Angeles can be found on its streets, roads, boulevards, highways, and freeways. The "real" Los Angeles can be observed in how we get "there".

To those of you who don't drive or ride in vehicles, this still holds true for you. Whatever manner of conveyance you prefer, right down to "hoofin' it" you are a part of the "real" Los Angeles... the traffic scene.

In light of this phenomenal revelation I have received, this blog will be absorbed into The Real LA blog. This post will serve as the final post and will hereby permanently direct visitors to The Real LA blog.

Are you still reading?? There is nothing left here! Please come find us at The Real LA blog.

Thank you.

When driving becomes a side-show

2007-10-28T18:27:00.000-07:00

We have all been on the road when something or someone is more interesting to the drivers around us than the task at hand... namely, driving!

Here for your perusal and examination, a study in Lamborghini!

Apologies all around for the quality of these videos being what they are but all I had was my cell phone.

Some of the more frustrating details of this interuption in an otherwise pleasant Sunday afternoon drive to the beach:

1. The obvious. Gawkers, jostling for 'postition' alongside, in front of or behind this vehicular masterpiece generated quite the traffic jam. Not uncommon for So. Cal, but still...

2. The rivalry that disregards public safety. The silver car you see in the second video is (correct me if I am wrong fellow car enthusiasts) a Mercedes CLK 63 AMG. These two, although they feigned disintest in each other, were obviously in the vehicular version of a coup d'état. I am not sure that any lives were actualy in danger, but neither am I sure that they would have cared if there were.

3. The buffoonery of the ill equipped. The red car (if I recall it was an Audi a4) believing himself to be either the peacemaker to the uber-wealthy, or a viable contender in the quest for dominance of the road thwarts the attempt of the Merc to pass the Lambo nearly creating a very messy wreck less than 4 car lengths in front of me and my 'sweet ride' ('03 Toyota Matrix thank you very much) :) Fortunately for all of us, these cats weren't running late for work and so managed to avoid the inevitable destruction of property that may have ensued if actual money was at stake.

4. They all reminded this auto-idealist that I am not driving one of those insanely fast, point a to point b monstrosities. My beautiful afternoon of blissful ignorance was shattered by the realization that I could have gotten from The Valley to Ventura about 30 minutes faster if I only had an extra couple hundred thousand laying around!

And now the 2008 Lamborghini Reventon.

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Don't let what you don't have fool you into thinking
That what you have is mediocre simply because it is commonplace
At least your not walking.

From YouTube

2007-10-11T22:19:00.000-07:00

At the reccomendation of a friend, I am posting from YouTube.

Just to get the conversation started (so to speak).

Don't forget to email me your stories, pictures or videos!

Thanks

Enjoi!

Honda Element - 101 Fwy/170 Fwy, North Hollywood, CA

2007-10-10T21:30:00.001-07:00

This Joker almost caused several accidents in the time that I was observing him.

Cut me off so bad that if I hadn't slammed on the brakes, he would have ripped off my front bumper.

Then swerved into the next lane (already occupied by another vehicle). Car in the lane that he took over had to swerve violently into the shoulder to avoid being hit.

On the exit ramp (from 101 W to 170 N) tailgated, swerved wildly, and almost hit several other motorists.

Took Burbank Blvd. Exit Where I snapped this gem!

Thats right folks, after all that dangerous driving, he was still only one car ahead of me!?

On Burbank Blvd. much of the same, scary stuff.

Still didn't get too far, as I ended up alongside him. It was getting dark, so the shot did not come out great, but here it is anyway.

Email me your stories and photos here