Interstate Buddies

[ocnblu]

Seems a normal human proclivity to want to be near others of your feather. When on a road trip, do you take note of other vehicles around you? Do you tend to form a convoy of good buddies and travel for miles, maybe mildly jockeying for position in line, but staying together in a ragtag group? Strangers traveling on the road of life together, separately, having never spoken, maybe glancing over for a split second to see who's who...

And it all falls apart when they turn off, or when you hit the toll booths and they have an easy pass and you have to go into the "cash only" line.

[Drew Dowdell]

When I'm heading your direction, I usually find someone with NJ plates going at a high rate of speed and fall in behind them. I've done this before with a new (at the time) Corvette and I followed in my CTS from Pittsburgh to Lancaster at triple digit speeds. The oddest convoy I ever got into was also partially my doing. S-type - C-Class - with me in the FrankenWagen following close behind.

Then there was also the day I brought my Toronado home. It doesn't get much more "birds of a feather" than this:

[SAmadei]

I only cluster in with others if they are alert, speedy, friendly drivers. Its part of trying to drive at about the 95th~97th percentile speedwise. When you are part of a group, you are less likely to end up in the 99th or 98th percentile, where people getting tickets are. And police seem less likely to pull over a cluster of drivers all doing the same speed... within reason, of course.

[balthazar]

One time I was traveling MD > NJ on 95, when a Porsche 911 passed me and I noted a radar detector clipped to the visor. Right behind him was a Corvette and 1 other (capable) car. Clearly they were dodging the beams, and I fell in behind them. I was in a Super (Slant) Six Plymouth. No doubt it was a Sunday drive for them, for me the Plymouth was at 95% as we did 90-95 for a long while. The Plymouth was a super clean, bare-bones sedan with cop caps & big blackwalls; looked every bit the Gov't car.... and not being far from DC- they must've been wondering what was up. We passed everything for an hour +. Plymouth did pretty well for itself.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

I usually try to speed in a group and am usually the 2nd or 3rd car. (the first car is radar bait, the last is the one that gets pulled.

I'm always VERY alert about my surroundings though, in general (maybe it's paranoia -- I actually once watched a guy bar hop and 'stalk' my fiancé and her friend thru 3 bars... And not the "I'm looking to pick up chicks" thing; he was actually hiding behind corners and acting weird. My fiancé knew I was in the same neighborhood as her (I was hanging with the boys) but never even knew this guy was following them) and especially in cars. For example, I usually know if a car has been following me for an unusual amount of time. I once watched a Volvo in my mirror for almost my entire 2 hour trip to Charlotte.

It's not really an anxiety thing... It's more an "I'm bored and have nothing more stimulating to do" thing. I'm a psychology major and a people watcher by nature.

Edited July 24, 2011 by FUTURE_OF_GM