So, as I have been traversing this great country of ours, I am discovering the further west I get the more I am driving like an alien (not an illegal one!). However, I do believe I may be violating all kinds of traffic laws, or at least traffic ettiquette. I am learning that not everyone tailgates just because someone is on front of them; that only in Massachusetts does yellow mean step on the gas as hard as you can, and the first few seconds of a red light is really pink; and my personal facorite - turning left in a busy intersection. I learned this lesson while in Santa Fe this past week. In New Mexico there are actually green arrows at every stop light, after the green arrow turns off, the light stays green. And me, being the typical Massachusetts drive thinks this means I have to pull out as far as I can into the intersection and hang my ass out there like a 12 year old girls pair of victoria secret's thongs hanging out of her jeans. So there I am in this civilized city - not honking, lots of Obama stickers, crunchy granola, people pretty nice - and I am driving like a complete Masshole. At some point it just happens, kind of like the accent and you just don't realize it until you are someplace other than Boston. While I was hanging out there in the middle waiting for that space where I can hit the accelerator during the 2 seconds before the next car, I looked in my rearview mirror and realized unlike Boston, the guy behind me was not also in the intersection - rather he was behind the white line - politely waiting for his space and not jumping the gun! Oh well - and then the same day you could see me and the Orange Element, the large dog panting in the back and the fancy bike on top, with Masshole plates - not conspicuous at all...doing another only in Boston behavior - I was pulling out of a Trader Joes parking lot into a busy intersection and needed to turn left. So I did what every good Masshole does - I just pulled into the interesction until someone stopped and let me through.

Now I noticed there is no honking of the horn in Santa Fe. No screaming, no swearing or flipping the bird - I may have been the only one in Santa Fe with road rage. Well, on Saturday I was coming downhill on my bike on a remote rode in the mountains. It was well traveled because it was a scenic route and there were many leaf peepers that day. And while I was riding along in relative tranquility I heard a strange, yet familiar noise. Not a bird, but a horn. Someone was actually honking in Santa Fe - I looked up from my aero bars and what did I notice? New York plates....Oh I miss the east coast!

Until next time....