Crazy Larry's Excellent Adventures: My TARDIS

In the science fiction series Dr Who the main character gallivants about the universe in a time and space machine called the TARDIS, for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. From the outside it looks like an old British Police Public Call Box, but on the inside it's huge, leading everyone who first sets foot inside to exclaim "It's bigger on the inside!' Well, my motor home, though not small from the outside, is like the TARDIS in that once you push out the slides it's even bigger on the inside. When I was storing it in Kim and Mathieu's driveway I couldn't put the slides out all the way because of the proximity of the houses on either side, but now that I'm set up in Arizona, IT"S HUGE! And I LOVE IT! I'm not sure I like it much when it's rattling and clanging it's way down the highway but I sure love it when it's parked in Arizona.

I've been here for 5 days now and haven't done a jump, but I've been out for hours and hours on my bike every day. Yesterday I went for a ride with the Loud Crowd from Eden North (both the machines and the riders), and today I went to Salt River Canyon. It's been hot since I got here so despite John Smiths repeated warnings that it would be cold I decided to head into the mountains. For the first couple hours the sky was clouded over and as I climbed up higher to where there was snow piled up at the side of the road he was proven correct, it was damn cold, and I didn't care. I was doing 80 miles an hour on a twisty mountain road, grinning like an idiot despite my shivering.

This was the road I got pulled over on twice for speeding by the same cop when I was here 2 years ago. He let me go with a warning both times, so this road holds a special place in my heart. The sun came out just as I reached the canyon and started down the switchbacks, encouraging me to go even faster as I went. It's about 4,000 feet to the bottom, then you cross a bridge by the ghost town before starting back up the other side. As soon as I reached the top on the far side I turned around to do it again. When I was nearing the top I started catching up to a slow moving tractor trailer laboriously dragging itself up the steep hill. Not wanting to get stuck behind it I dropped a couple of gears and wound in a bunch of throttle while I was still able to safely pass him, and shot past doing well over 100 miles an hour before quickly leaning into the corner. Just as I was about to slow down I realized that I was about to climb up the ass of a Highway Patrolman that had passed the truck a minute before. Even if he hadn't seen me he had to have been warned of my approach by the screaming of my engine, and even before I grabbed the brake he had his roof lights on.

Crap.

I slowed to his speed, put on my turn signal, and got ready to follow him onto the shoulder, which is when his roof lights went off, and he just kept rolling along down the highway at 55.

A moment later a Mustang came tearing around the next corner going to beat hell - roof lights on - the Mustang slowed down, - roof lights off. And the trooper kept rolling along at 55. Over the next 30 miles the process was repeated several times, everybody slowed down, nobody got a ticket, and everybody had a good day.

As I followed that cop all the way into Globe I wondered if it was the same one who 2 years earlier had told me "You were doing 86! That's a felony! I'm just going to give you a warning, but SLOW DOWN!" I decided I didn't care, that I probably couldn't get away with this a fourth time, and decided that tomorrow it was time to start skydiving, it would probably be safer.