Cali drivers - It Ain't Them

When I was in southern Utah for a while we drove north on I-70 quite often for business and family. During several trips a car would come up behind, follow close, then flash their lights for me to get out of the way. I was taught proper by my folks to always respect the elderly and humor the mentally challenged, and always slow down for such folk. Invariably the flashers would pass, show their gang IQ level, and pull ahead, revealing their license plate. California! I came to dislike Cali drivers and that feeling was added upon by encounters in northern Nevada. Then I went to California to work while staying with my wife. I was to become a California driver ??!

I very quickly learned that drivers in Central California are quite adept at maneuvering in heavy traffic AND they are courteous. Need to change lanes in heavy traffic and there is only one and one-half car lengths? Be my guest. No honking, no flashing lights, no gang sign, and unlike folks in Nevada and Utah, they don't speed up to close the gap thereby preventing you from making the change.

Now I found myself driving quite a bit between Barsow, CA and Las Vegas on I-15, it's back to light flashing if you aren't going 15 over the speed limit. My initial mistake was blaming all Calif folk for the misdeeds of those folk who live on the coast. Their rude, arrogant, and stupid behavior must be the result of stress - so much traffic, and the constant threat of earthquakes. That would scorch anyone's mind.

Soon my wife's work took her to San Diego and I tagged along, never one to miss a chance at the beach to sunburn my eyeballs. However, that put me in the middle of fruitcakeland, and sure 'nough, I'm moving along at 50 mph, following 100 cars also doing 50 when a car comes up from behind and flashes her lights. (Yes it was a woman. When they are that close to your back window it's not difficult to make a positive ID). So, what was I supposed to do? I wouldn't anyway. Finally a space opened in the right lane and she jumped on it, passed, and cut back in front of me. She gained two car lengths. She kept doing that until safely out of my area. However, to my surprise, the Cadillac bore a New Jersey license. All this time I have been making harsh judgments on the behavior of one group of people based on generalities and blaming California drivers as being the most idiotic in the United States, when all along it's folk from Jersey.

You can imagine my embarrassment