Tailgaters

[Bill Dugan <bdugan@domain.elided>]

This story takes place last summer; I bought my Scout in March of last
year, and by May I had the hardtop off. I had just replaced the side
mirror on my (driver's) door. It was rattling around and I tightened it
down; about two days later it was loose again and I didn't have the
chance to tighten it again. That having been said:

One fine summer morning I was driving my Scout into work up I-83 north
of the Baltimore Beltway. I pulled into the fast lane to pass a
slow-moving truck only to be held up by a jam of people ahead, and
couldn't get ahead, or even get back into the midlle lane. A nice young
woman in a shiny new Acura pulled up behind me about 2 feet off my
bumper and stuck there like glue, doing the "I'm weaving so that means
get out of my way" trick I love so much. I pretended not to notice, but
she was getting a little more irritable and erratic in her driving.

The tractor to my right pulled off to the righthand lane, and I sped up
as traffic cleared out in front of me; She slowed a little and pulled
off my bumper by about 10 feet. About 30 sec. before I was planning on
hitting my blinker and getting out of her way, I glanced over at her car
in the side mirror on the door, which suddenly disappeared. I looked in
the rearview to see the shiny chrome mirror hit the pavement once,
bounce up and hit the hood of her car with a SMACK! and fly off the side
of the road.

Strangely enough, when I stopped at the light from my exit, and she
pulled up behind me to lean out her window and yell, I couldn't hear
anything over the sound of my engine, which kept revving for some
reason. A trip to the local Pep Boys later, I had a new side mirror.

Further proof that my Scout has a mind of its own-
Bill D.