Perils of the Road

I always rather thought of myself as someone "at home" in the "country." I've spent a great deal of time in the cities and metropolisis of our fair nation but always kept in mind my first twelve years when I lived in Oregon, had chickens, did lots of camping, fishing, hiking sorts o' things and so on.

Now that I'm a grown-ed up and am living in another rural area I am discovering that I'm not quite so used to living in the rural areas as I thought. The perils of the road, specifically, out here are numerous and I'm low on experience in dealing with these perils. Deer and other animals were expected, but even more hazardous for the ill-experienced are things I never considered.

Last night, for instance, I was driving back from dinner up in the happenin' Nevada City (population something like 2 or 3 thousand) and realized I didn't know how to deal with high lights. I'd always used dimmers 'cause there were always street lamps and other cars around. Picture me driving down a winding highway and alternating between flashing bright lights at cars passing and then managing to turn the lights off completely from time to time. By the time I got home (roughly 20 miles later) I had it down, but it was a bit trecherous at the start.

Then consider the stars. They are so bright and plentiful here that I find them terribly distracting.

And then on the bicycle, the roads are fairly poor - no shoulders at all, pot holes abound and overall the roads are narrow and winding with cars going by rather quickly.

What scares me the most though are the poochies. There are dogs all over the place that aren't tied up (why should they be, it's the friggin' country?) and many of them take exception to the intrusion of someone riding by on a bicycle. About half the time I go out I have an encounter with a doggie. Often I can get by them and peddle away quick enough that they feel they've done their duty in scaring me off. The one close call (when I was slogging up a hill at the blistering pace of about 3 or 4 mph) was averted by an alert fellow rider who used a deep voice and managed to make it go away. Today I encountered a doggie just hanging out in the middle of the road. Luckily it was a relaxed creature and just smiled in its doggie way at me as I carefully rode around it.

So yes, the roads here are frought with dangers I never understood.

Thank goodness I'm so strong and powerful.