Blog Note

At least a few people are having trouble seeing some of the Blur images, for which I’m very sorry. I had trouble with the images in the post, but I loaded them again and again and tested the post three times over a two-hour period before leaving. Unfortunately there’s nothing I can do about it now except apologize. I’ll definitely look into it as soon as I get home. Very sorry to the readers whose pictures are affected, too. I hope not everybody is seeing problems. [UPDATE: It looks like the problem is with TypePad. The image caching on one of their servers is faulty. It affects about one in four viewers. They’re working on a permanent fix, but this has been going on for a while now. Thanks to Roger Bradbury for bringing me up to speed with this.]

I had a lovely drive through the Indiana countryside this evening, passing Amish buggies and watching the red ball of the sun descend out of the haze and touch the treelines. I was in the car for 10 hours and 10 minutes, drove 505.5 miles, and got 35.4 miles to the gallon—not bad for a nearly 10-year-old car. I can tell you the worst speeders I’ve seen are Ohioans! New Yorkers are law-abiding by comparison (well, at least Western New Yorkers, that’s all I can say.) In Ohio I decided to drive exactly at the speed limit of 70 miles per hour, and many, many cars passed me very quickly and disappeared into the distance. A lot of semis passed me too, but more slowly. Doesn’t Ohio have a State Patrol? I finally got curious and paced one of the speeding SUVs, accelerating behind him to see how fast he was really going. Right about 100 MPH! That’s impressive on an American public highway. Takes some chutzpah, I think would be the proper Yiddish. It must have been an off-duty cop. Only a cop would have the nerve to speed like that. Although other cars that passed me seemed to be going just as fast.

Every day I get a gift whether I take it or not. Today it was an old country church, after dusk, with a graveyard next to it, and a sign out from that said “He Is Risen.” The composition was right there for the taking, but it was late—dusk—and I didn’t stop. Forgot the tripod, anyway! I always forget something. Long day, and my reward is a pretty marginal motel room that smells like somebody got sick in it a few nights ago. Oh well, I will never pass this way again. Tomorrow I will reach my destination.

Mike

Comments

[Julius]

“Every day I get a gift whether I take it or not”.

Words to live by.

[Roger Bradbury]

Mike

as another Typepad blogger I've been having a problem with missing images too. Typepad tell me that images sometimes get randomly corrupted on one of their cache servers; it happens for one in four visitors and Typepad say they are struggling to find a long term solution.

For the Baker's Dozen, I can only see the first shot (by Alan Sailor) if I click on it for the enlarged view. I can't see the second shot (by Rick Schermerhorn) at all, and the last shot (by Jürgen Holfort) is visible but I can't see the enlarged view. Another reader might be missing different photos.

I'll send you an email shortly, with the text of the help ticket I opened with Typepad. It might be of help.

Regards
Roger

[Steve Deutsch]

Going 100 in a 70 zone is OK if you're an APS-C SUV.

[j]

35.4 mpg is what european cars get on a bad day of city driving, nevermind a roadtrip. At constant 70mph I'd be getting close to 50 mpg. 40 would be a yearly average for many.

[Jeff]

I can’t see the first two. The other pics are visible, but all are blurry.

[James Weekes]

That is a shock to me. In the old days of Car & Driver, the Ohio state troopers were a legend for their zeal in handing out tickets for even 1 mph over the limit. They were only surpassed by the Maryland Highway Patrol.

Time change I guess.

[Gert-Jan]

FYI, I have a clear view on all those blurry images, both small and large.

[robert e]

A humorous opening sentence (though maybe only to people like me who have blurry vision); lovely last paragraph. Safe travels, Mike.

[John Shriver]

The Troopers are serious in Western New York. My daughter got more than one speeding ticket there.

[darlenr]

“The composition was right there for the taking, but it was late—dusk—and I didn’t stop. Forgot the tripod, anyway! I always forget something... Oh well, I will never pass this way again.”

That's why I have what I call a “mommy camera.” In the film days, it was a Nikom 35Ti; today, it is a Fuji x100v—a lightweight, small pocketable camera with an excellent lens for gifts of compositions on the fly. Shooting at high ISO (1200+) is never a problem. Solves a lot of photo regrets for me.

[JTK]

Hi Mike,
I can see all the images in the free Firefox browser, but not all in Safari.
I downloaded Firefox to help cure the viewing problem we have with Safari and also some other sites.

To our Euro-friends - the British gallon is 20 % larger than the American gallon, hence the milage difference.

JTK

[Speed]

Two weekends ago I drove Ohio Interstates 90 and 71 to Mansfield to photograph an event at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The Interstate traffic was orderly averaging 75 MPH or so. For sure none approached 100 MPH.

Cars on the track were faster. Louder too.

[JTK]

I meant to add, although I can see all the images in Firefox, they are a bit blurry.

[Roger]

Embrace the speeding vehicles. They are free and accurate radar detectors.

[Dave]

"Only a cop would have the nerve to speed like that."

After Good Friday services, I was returning home, driving the usual five over; 65 mph. I noticed a car in the passing lane approaching rapidly. He seemed to be going 45 mph faster than me, as he passed. So, it happens in Ohio.

In northeast Ohio, the orange construction barrels keep the speeds down during the warm weather months.

Linndale, Ohio used to have the highest per capita rate of more than 4,000 cases per 100 people. Second place back in 2008 was Hanging Rock with 531 per 100 residents. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linndale,_Ohio#cite_note-12) (https://www.thisamericanlife.org/629/expect-delays)

Only 422 yards of roadway, but that village made the most of it!

[Tim Walters]

I was recently tailgated (by a BMW) on a rural road. The speed limit was 55, but against my better judgment I let him browbeat me into doing 70. Finally he found a spot to pass and blew by me at 80 or so... only to be pulled over at the bottom of the hill.

Schadenfreude: not just a town in New Jersey.

[kirk]

In mostly unpopulated West Texas someone going "only" 100 MPH on a four lane highway would be considered to be holding up traffic...

On my way to Maria, Tx. I was passed by two large German cars each doing in excess of 130 MPH. They come up and go past so quickly it's amazing. How do I know how fast they were driving. We ended up staying at the same hotel in Maria and me not being shy...I just asked em.

Couple of young Austin tech execs.

And, On Topic: The first two images were blank on my browser.

[Mike Ferron]

Some of the toll roads here in Austin have a speed limit of 80 mph. One stretch between Austin and San Antonio has a speed limit of 85 which means 90 probably won’t get you in trouble. I stay in the slow lane at 75.

[Mark Jennings]

I can't resist. The "Indiana-Ohio Pike" long had a rep. In the 90s I telephoned interviewed Kirk White, the owner of the car that won the first Canon Ball Run. That was a new, 1970, Ferrari Daytona. The piece was for some mag or another, but I don't remember which or if it was published. I already had a good track shot of the car at an FCA event. It might have been the first in the country, and in the 90s Kirk still had it.

He told me that he hadn't owned the car long when motor journalist Brock Yates called to see if he and Dan Gurney could use it for the race. Kirk said OK and the next day brought it to Chinetti for new tires, tune, and a general going over.

It didn't take B and D long to get past Ohio and Indiana, and I think they did it at night and thought it a relief after the City and environs. In fact, they averaged more or less 140 over the entire cross-country trip. But check me on that. Whatever the now fuzzy figure, it gave me something to think about.

Kirk got the car back, put on new tires, etc, and drove it to work a few days later. The car cost a boat load, but you got your money's worth.

I've been in one: smooth, and it just keeps on accelerating waay up into the rev range. Probably a good traveling car. As fast as a light aircraft. Antique by today's measures.

But, yeah, The Pike was a known strip.

[Tom Burke]

@j: Don't forget that a US gallon is smaller than an Imperial gallon. The latter is 1.2 times larger than the former, so Mike's mpg for the latter would be bigger by the same amount: 35.4 x 1.2 = 42.5, just about.

[John Camp]

"In Ohio I decided to drive exactly at the speed limit of 70 miles per hour"

Amateur.

(One of my favorite interstates is I-10 in west Texas. 80mph speed limit and they'll give you an extra 10.

[Merle]

Reminds me of this article, though now over three years old, on the Cannonball Run that Mark Jennings mentioned:

https://www.core77.com/posts/91737/The-Car-Gadgets-and-Tricks-Used-to-Drive-From-NYC-to-LA-in-275-Hours-Without-Getting-Caught

[Mark Jennings]

Merle,

Today probably there are 2 or 3 times the number of vehicles on the road compared to 1970, and in many places probably 10 times the number of deer. Nice article you linked.

Best deer avoidance story I've heard: a motorcyclist traveling west stopped for gas in the Dakotas and was warned about deer. As evening approached swarms of them appeared all along the otherwise empty road and forced the rider to stop and think it all over. Running slow in a low gear risked going dry before the next station.

Finally a semi rushed by and the deer did get out of the way for That. The rider tucked in behind the next. And probably got great mileage too.

[Thomas Mc Cann]

35.4 mp(US)g = 42.1 MP(UK)g

Got caught speeding last year. Earned 3 points on my license. Another 3 points and I have to inform m y insurance company and that will do wonders to my premium. I stick to speed limits now much to the apparent annoyance to following motorists. Feck'em I say.

[Howard]

Personally I would use the Yiddish term "beytzim"; 80 mph is chutzpah, 100 mph is beytzims.