Reflective strips that is!

On Sun, Jul 26, 2009 at 5:51 PM, jonathan waters <shponglevan@gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi Don & All,
>
> We just got back from Tofino, (rain rain rain rain rain!!! )
> Anywho, saw a Van ahead,
> in the dark rainy day,
> with a bunch of yellow
> diagonal stripes on the rear hatch
> and one long horizontal red / white
> strip along the bottom of the hatch.
>
> Could see that puppy from Seattle I'm sure !!!
>
> I don't like the look, but I'm sure
> it would look better than an a** ended Vanagon !!!
>
> I will be going this route for sure !!!
>
> Vanagon taillights a way too dim !!!
>
> jon
>
>   On Sun, Jul 26, 2009 at 3:08 PM, Don Hanson <dhanson928@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> This morning I headed up to Olympia, Wa. from Lyle-land in the Gorge for a
>> bike race.  It was so nice I decided on driving home the longer way, over
>> White Pass (between Mt Ranieer and Mt Adams) through Yakima and back to
>> home
>> from the east.  Quite a beautiful drive, first along the Cowlitz R. then
>> the
>> Tieton and Natchez rivers and finally back down the Columbia River Gorge.
>> Well, it being Sunday and quite hot in the cities, everyone was out with
>> all
>> their toys (like me) and I got to see some pretty 'bone-headed' moves.
>>  One
>> really stands out, since it almost caused me to die in a multi-car and
>> truck
>> crash...
>>
>>  As I headed west on Wa. Hwy 14, a two lane road with average (about 6'?)
>> shoulders and a lot of semi-truck traffic (they avoid some Oregon DOT
>> weigh
>> stations by using the smaller road)  I topped a blind rise and
>> encountered,
>> almost rear-ended, a big ole Buick.  He was backing up, having missed a
>> turnoff to the Maryhill Museum.   Two older couples, out for a Sunday
>> drive.   I just barely got the van stopped before I smashed into his
>> bumper...with lots of traffic whizzing by in the oncoming lane and a
>> pretty
>> deep ditch beside the road on 'our' side...I had nowhere to go and almost
>> pushed my brake pedal through the floor getting stopped.   So now, this
>> guy
>> just KEEPS coming back until he's almost against my bumper and then
>> just sits there...He wants ME to back up so he can continue on backwards
>> for
>> another 3-4 hundred yards back to the turnoff to the Museum..it is a left
>> turn, too.  He makes no attempt to move over...He's just sitting right in
>> the middle of the lane...looking at me like ...I dunno what.   I am
>> thinking..'well,  this guy may now pull ahead and move as far to the right
>> as possible and we MAY be able to squeeze two cars into our one lane as I
>> get past him...but he'll probably just go ahead, like he should have in
>> the
>> first place, until he finds a safe place to do a U-turn or
>> something... Then, over the rise behind come a semi...at about 65mph and
>> HE
>> locks em up....Smoke pouring off his tires, horn blasting...And I have no
>> where to go because Buick Man is almost against my front bumper and the
>> traffic is still whizzing by in the oncoming lane....  The semi got it
>> stopped, too, just barely.  So I finally yell out my window, but the
>> BuickMan is not hearing...So I slip out of my drivers door and walk up
>> sideways and knock on his window and ask him to get the ----out of the
>> road...all the while cars whizzing past and now traffic is backing up
>> behind
>> the semi...at least you could see his truck over that rise...
>>  This fellow finally got it and went on up the road to the next place to
>> turn around...Maybe he was expecting all of us to back up...What a
>> bonehead.
>>
>>  It just reinforces what I learned in another crash I had while I was
>> stopped by a flagger and got rear ended...Life is uncertain and even if
>> you
>> do everything just right..sh--  *still* happens that is not your doing...
>>
>>  Sorry for the semi-rant, but that was pretty unbelievable..
>>  Don Hanson
>>
>
>