I’ll start off with my appreciation for @jminer and the rest of you who helped set this place up. We have some Opponauts (this one included) going through some shit this year, and it’s been very uplifting to see people get support on a car forum of all places. Here’s to hoping everyone can harness some of those positive vibes into the New Year.
I’m cruising around on the Harley, and make a left onto a metered onramp to get onto the freeway. I make note of the fancy new Tacoma next to me, also making a left onto the freeway. I check my mirrors as I enter the onramp, making sure no one is riding my ass approaching the red meter light. The teenager in the Tacoma must have been staring at his phone, because he hasn’t even started making the left yet. Good, so I head towards the freeway, briefly thinking I should just blow through the meter since I’m the only one on the ramp. I decide to be a good boy, and slow my roll as I approach the meter, stop, and wait for it to turn green.
Before it does, I hear screeching tires behind me. Fuck. I immediately start to release the clutch, and give a little peaksy in my mirror, just in case I might be able to see death right before he careens into me. As I look innthe mirror, a big white blur passes maybe a foot from my right arm. It’s the Tacoma, and homeboy is the Oppo champ, as me managed to avoid both me, and the retaining wall, correcting his skid and merging into traffic like a boss.
After giving a round of internal applause, I notice there’s another white Toyota, this one a Four Runner, sitting diagonally across the onramp, a couple feet from my rear fender. I give the driver “what the fuck?” hands as I point at the meter light, and he rolls down his window and apologizes.
I get the hell off that onramp, and see the Tacoma getting off on the next exit. Against my better judgement, I decide we should have a chat. Really bad idea, but I figured after two near misses, today is my lucky day, and he probably won’t shoot me.
We stop in a grocery store parking lot a quarter mile down the road, and the kid rolls down his window. I pull up next to it (again, really bad idea, but I was on a roll). The kid is in tears. He starts apologizing, saying he dropped something and looked down to grab it and didn’t see me sitting there. I wasn’t angy, and am starting to question why I even followed this guy. I was filled with adrenaline, but it was “happy to be alive” adrenaline, not “I want to fucking kill someone” adrenaline. I tell the kid I’m ok, but to remember this feeling, and be extra cautious while driving, especially around motorcycles. I give him a fist bump, and head into the grocery store to buy a lotto ticket.
I don’t know what the deal was with the Four Runner. Only thing I can think of is he was trying to beat the Tacoma to the zipper merge, and didn’t realize the onramp was metered. The Tacoma beat him, swerved to miss me, and then inattentive Four Runner driver sees me sitting there as he’s full throttle down the onramp. Thank god it stayed dry all day.
Holy shit, I need a La Croix. Post epic saves.
Went from 113F in southern Oregon to 60F once we hit the Redwoods. Fantastic camping in these ancient forests. Cutting all these magnificent trees down was one of the biggest of humanity’s blunders. Headed back into the abyss, so I’ll catch you all in a week or so.
We’ve driven across Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. We lost a turn signal, half a quart of oil and a bit of coolant. The new rad cap has kept the coolant at bay since SLC. We have two more weeks of Montana camping coming up then will probably hang out in the canyonlands for a few days. The dogs and kids are still going strong. Feeling grateful to live in a place that still has open space, and hope it stays that way for a while longer.
@dr-zoidberg Those guys buried something in your yard. Go get a metal detector.
If an older guy with lots of toys mentions to you that he’s going through a divorce, work their asking price down. He even let me test ride it, which is something I’d never do when selling a bike. This was my first time riding a Harley, and holy shit are these things heavy. Feels like riding a cement block with a diesel engine attached to it. I wouldn’t want one as my only bike, but it should be good for lazy cruisin’.
2000 883 Sporster custom with a dealer installed 1200 “kit”. I called the dealer and they said their kits include the cylinders and valve work, but there is no paperwork to verify, so I’m going to install an SS kit along with a new head so it can actually breath. Fires right up and runs smooth. Gonna wait until I’m a bit more seasoned on it before making it faster, as these things do not handle like motorcycles are supposed to handle. It’s nice to have modern brakes again, though!
I told this guy I really liked his Jeep as he was loading his groceries hoping to get a laugh out of him. He just stared at me like an asshole and drove off. He was wearing a Triumph shirt, and I was dismounting my Harley, so maybe he just has a searing hatred for American iron. I guess you can’t expect much from people in a Whole Foods parking lot. Guy loading up next to me said it’s a Bronco, which nearly put me in tears. Stay excellent, Oppo!
@gin-san That's what happens when you trust an oil filter company to deliver packages.
The driveline is completely redone with lots of custom stuff. She’s rocking a tuned up 350 with some sort of manuel tranny attached and higher gears in the rear. Very fun cruiser.
@aestheticsinmotion Hey look! A manager who actually knows how to manage! RIP aestheticsinmotion corporate career 
@dr-zoidberg That a very cool spot for a cupholder. I like how Toyota hides small conveniences like this. My Tundra has cubbies under the rear bench. They’re small, but have enough room for my roadside emergency gear along with a few ratchet straps.
Step 1: slap an Earl Sheib special on the long boi
Step 2: post it to a certain car auction site which shall remain unnamed
….
Profit.
@bison78 My dad’s neighbor’s brother was filled with bloodclots from covid during the early days. I consume a lot of turmeric and ginger, so clots are not too much of a concern for me. No numbness, discoloration or any other clot symptoms, but I’ve been taking it easy on the squats and deadlifts over the last week. Gonna grab some more calcium magnesium today and see if that helps.
@bison78 Yeah, my graduate program focuses on many of those forever chemicals, some of which were highly regarded by certain scientists when they were first developed, mainly because they were poorly understood, yet marketed as if they were safe.
I believe I actually posted that article in a comment to someone on Oppo a few weeks ago. Pretty interesting tidbits about Dr. Robert Malone and his view of mRNA vaccines. That guy is a pariah now.
I know you like to stay up to date on my personal medical history. I’m waiting on another covid test result and my last round of blood tests before scheduling my shot appointment. My kids have been exposed a few times since the beginning of September, and I don’t want to get vaccinated if this thing is floating around in my system. No symptoms for anyone in my family, but I’ve had some weird muscle cramps lately. Hopefully it’s just a bit of dehydration.
@cobrajoe I’d argue that sanitation has played an equally large role as pharmaceuticals in the rise of life expectancy. Although improper use of pharmaceuticals have also recently played a role in shortening life expectancy in the US (in the form of synthetic opioids).
@bison78 The technology that has allowed mRNA vaccines to become effective is pretty new. That “special coating” (term used by the CDC) which allows the mRNA molecule to stick around while your body builds antibodies to it is new (again, according to the CDC). Prior versions of mRNA vaccines were broken down too quickly for the body to form antibodies which is why we never developed a SARS, MERS or cold vaccine using the technology. I feel like I’ve typed this same paragraph to you a dozen times now.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/hcp/mrna.html
While it doesn’t directly interact with DNA, pretty much anything taken into your body, even food, can affect gene expression in some way (you learn this in 100 level bio courses). That’s the new frontier of biology: understanding how our environment effects gene expression. We’re already learning some surprising things in regards to gene expression and epigenetics which is changing our views on heredity. It’s a brand new area of study, so our understanding of it is extremely limited.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6127768/
I wouldn’t recommend that you inject any part of your Tesla into your body.
@qaaaaa said in When should a kid be charged as an adult? When she steals a car and runs someone over:
@dipodomysdeserti https://www.namespedia.com/details/Kasama a super uncommon one, or a different form of a similar name? idk. Still a weird name.
No idea how common. A friend visited an Inare shrine in Kasama, Japan, when he was there for a Jiu Jitsu tournament.
@qaaaaa said in When should a kid be charged as an adult? When she steals a car and runs someone over:
@dogisbadob Parents should be jailed as well for giving their kid a made up name
Pretty sure it’s an actual Asian name.
@davesaddiction said in Gavin Newsom survived the recall election:
He said he's a transitional candidate, but he's not making it easy for whoever attempts to come after him.
I think he’s making it much easier for whoever comes after him. He’s gonna take all the flak so whatever comes after him seems normal. He’s setting precedent, especially in regards to OSHA.
@davesaddiction According to the courts? Eighteen.