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Today was mirror day at work. We installed a couple of mirrors inside a closet in Brentwood (big closet, about as many square feet as my master bedroom), then went to Agoura Hills to pick up and deliver a couple more to install in a house in Calabasas.
I was driving our big Toyota Tundra (with two expensive mirrors in the back) at about 70 mph on the 101 freeway between Agoura Hills and Calabasas, following a little pickup loaded to the gills with metal office cabinets. All of a sudden, three of the cabinets blew over and fell out of the back, right in front of me. I was following at a reasonable distance, so I managed to slalom my way through the cabinets as the slid past me, missing on both sides of the truck by inches. I don't know if the little Nissan sedan that had been following me too close hit any of the cabinets, but immediately after I passed the cabinets, I looked in my rear view mirror to see the Nissan skidding to a smoky stop after doing a 180º spin, facing the oncoming traffic with cars on both sides weaving to avoid it. I've gotta hand it to the Tundra...it handled the real-world emergency avoidance maneuver with grace, and although the mirrors in the back moved a bit, they were unharmed. The more I drive that pickup, the more impressed I am with it.
Perry, my boss, was on the phone and looking at his laptop computer, so he didn't see the events unfold until I started weaving. He was talking in a normal tone of voice, then looked up and exclaimed [insert the profanity of your choice]!!! into the phone. Seconds later, he was apologizing to the client he was talking to, explaining that we'd just missed by inches having the front of the truck wiped out because some nimrod had failed to tie down his load.
Why is it that Fridays seem to be our "automotive adventure" days? It was a few Fridays ago when we saw the Mercedes do the airborne 270º corkscrew and land on the driver's door between two parked cars.
I was driving our big Toyota Tundra (with two expensive mirrors in the back) at about 70 mph on the 101 freeway between Agoura Hills and Calabasas, following a little pickup loaded to the gills with metal office cabinets. All of a sudden, three of the cabinets blew over and fell out of the back, right in front of me. I was following at a reasonable distance, so I managed to slalom my way through the cabinets as the slid past me, missing on both sides of the truck by inches. I don't know if the little Nissan sedan that had been following me too close hit any of the cabinets, but immediately after I passed the cabinets, I looked in my rear view mirror to see the Nissan skidding to a smoky stop after doing a 180º spin, facing the oncoming traffic with cars on both sides weaving to avoid it. I've gotta hand it to the Tundra...it handled the real-world emergency avoidance maneuver with grace, and although the mirrors in the back moved a bit, they were unharmed. The more I drive that pickup, the more impressed I am with it.
Perry, my boss, was on the phone and looking at his laptop computer, so he didn't see the events unfold until I started weaving. He was talking in a normal tone of voice, then looked up and exclaimed [insert the profanity of your choice]!!! into the phone. Seconds later, he was apologizing to the client he was talking to, explaining that we'd just missed by inches having the front of the truck wiped out because some nimrod had failed to tie down his load.
Why is it that Fridays seem to be our "automotive adventure" days? It was a few Fridays ago when we saw the Mercedes do the airborne 270º corkscrew and land on the driver's door between two parked cars.