I just made the trip to LAX for the Australian’s motorcycle suspension. From my house, it’s roughly 91 miles. That doesn’t sound too bad, but it’s L.A.
My friends came out from Australia to race the AMA Supercross Futures. It’s an amatuer race that runs the day after some of the Pro Supercross races. They brought their own suspension, gearing, and plastics to mount on the bike that they own and keep in my garage. They packed this suspension, worth roughly $10,000.00 BTW, in a pelican-type rifle case for the trip to the States.
The races went well and it was time to return down under. So once again, they packed up the suspension and brought it with them to the airport. You would think that things should go as smoothly as it did on the trip out here, but no.
TSA wouldn’t allow the suspension on the plane!
For whatever reason, nobody would tell them why it couldn’t be loaded on the plane. At first TSA claimed that they could smell gasoline on the suspension, but it turns out that that was not their reason after all.
It never should have been able to leave Australia
As it turns out, because the suspension was pressurized and contained oil, it’s not allowed on a flight without a hazardous material permit and certainly not a passenger flight. Somehow this was missed by TSA in Australia.
Since my friends are coming back in October for more Supercross racing, I went and picked up the really expensive suspension and brought it home.
It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.
The trip out to LAX wasn’t bad. I left in the late morning hours and things went pretty smooth. The trip back was another story.
Apparently, everyone is trying to get out of Los Angeles at the same time, daily. The traffic begins early in the afternoon and carries right on through the evening. Every day of every week. Fridays are the worst but fortunately for me, it was Tuesday.
Go and STOP!
California traffic is unique. Nobody obeys the speed limits. Everybody drives fast and they do it bumper to bumper. California Highway Patrol doesn’t stop you for driving fast as long as you are in a group. Then you are considered “keeping up with the flow of traffic”. Let there be an accident though, and all hell breaks loose. Especially if the accident is in the other direction. Traffic backs up more because of people slowing or stopping to look than it does by the actual obstruction.
Another neat feature of California traffic is how the “accordion effect” of stop and go can last for several hours after the actual accident has been cleared. A lot of this is due to the speeds and closeness that California drivers operate. The speeds go from well into the double digits to zero in a second, then back up to speed again. The differential between the speeds being so great, that it makes it difficult for the accordion effect to dissipate.
The things I do for my friends.
It was an adventure, for sure. I was successful in picking up the suspension and no vehicles were hurt during my journey, especially mine, and definitely none cause by me.
Economic Value
CONS: Long trip, lots of fuel, much potential for a crash, and another meal eaten out.
PROS: Doing something good for others, driving by yourself, and you just can’t put a value on Friendship.