Driving
I've mentioned many times that driving here is a totally different experience than driving in L.A. First of all, you actually DRIVE, not sit in traffic crawling along like a handicapped snail (most of the time, anyway.)
Still, it is not all sunshine and flowers. Take my trip out to Limoux yesterday to buy a cable for my computer.
I left the Possum Kingdom at 1:30, still in the lunch hour break. As I left the actual "official" village, I looked up in horror to see a car coming towards me almost entirely on my side of the road! Now, while beautiful, the road to Limoux is seriously lacking in space on the edges for most of the way. You are either on the road or in a ditch, down a ravine or headfirst into a tree. So, you can imagine that seeing this vehicle barreling towards me got the old adrenaline pumping wildly. Luckily, he either saw me or figured it out on his own, because he got back in his lane before we met in an unpleasant manner.
You would think that this was a one time thing and the rest of the drive would be without incident. But there you would be wrong. Granted, there are never a lot of cars between Chalabre and Limoux, but of the ones I saw (either coming in the opposite direction or ones I drove behnd), fully half of them seemed unclear on the concept of two-way traffic.
I will admit that the road to Limoux is filled with twists, turns and deadman's curves, but if you drive it at a reasonable (and I mean reasonable, not snail-like) pace, it is totally possible to stay on your side of the white line. And yet so many people seem either incapable or unwilling to do this. Now, while I can accept that on some of the turns if you hit them a little too fast, you might head into the opposite lane, on those places that are totally straight, there's just no excuse.
But that doesn't seem to stop a lot of the drivers that I see. They just seem to drive wherever the urge takes them, oncoming traffic be damned. When they do this as they head into a totally blind curve, it is frankly terrifying.
Amazingly, some of the worst offenders are NOT the people driving too fast, but rather those who seem barely able to keep their vehicles moving above 20 miles an hour. I have tried to come up with a rationale, but other than that their driving skills suck, I can't.
So, for all who venture into the Possum Kingdom, I warn you to keep your eyes open when you're behind the wheel of your car. You never know what may be coming towards you and you want to have as much chance to get out of the way, or at least lean on your horn, as you possibly can.
Ciao for now,
Randy
Still, it is not all sunshine and flowers. Take my trip out to Limoux yesterday to buy a cable for my computer.
I left the Possum Kingdom at 1:30, still in the lunch hour break. As I left the actual "official" village, I looked up in horror to see a car coming towards me almost entirely on my side of the road! Now, while beautiful, the road to Limoux is seriously lacking in space on the edges for most of the way. You are either on the road or in a ditch, down a ravine or headfirst into a tree. So, you can imagine that seeing this vehicle barreling towards me got the old adrenaline pumping wildly. Luckily, he either saw me or figured it out on his own, because he got back in his lane before we met in an unpleasant manner.
You would think that this was a one time thing and the rest of the drive would be without incident. But there you would be wrong. Granted, there are never a lot of cars between Chalabre and Limoux, but of the ones I saw (either coming in the opposite direction or ones I drove behnd), fully half of them seemed unclear on the concept of two-way traffic.
I will admit that the road to Limoux is filled with twists, turns and deadman's curves, but if you drive it at a reasonable (and I mean reasonable, not snail-like) pace, it is totally possible to stay on your side of the white line. And yet so many people seem either incapable or unwilling to do this. Now, while I can accept that on some of the turns if you hit them a little too fast, you might head into the opposite lane, on those places that are totally straight, there's just no excuse.
But that doesn't seem to stop a lot of the drivers that I see. They just seem to drive wherever the urge takes them, oncoming traffic be damned. When they do this as they head into a totally blind curve, it is frankly terrifying.
Amazingly, some of the worst offenders are NOT the people driving too fast, but rather those who seem barely able to keep their vehicles moving above 20 miles an hour. I have tried to come up with a rationale, but other than that their driving skills suck, I can't.
So, for all who venture into the Possum Kingdom, I warn you to keep your eyes open when you're behind the wheel of your car. You never know what may be coming towards you and you want to have as much chance to get out of the way, or at least lean on your horn, as you possibly can.
Ciao for now,
Randy
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