As the length of time your Dakota Quad ownership increases you may of had a driving situation were your appreciation and understanding of what your little dodge truck can really do in these circumstances, will... come to light.

As you can tell by the index page to this section.. I've already have had a few... and doubtlessly will continue to have more of these oddities of road driving. However the story I will unfold below is of a different nature.

Normally... driving your car should be a safe.. but calculated risk, with little problems if everyone follows the rules. But the reality is.. how many of you drive one or more car lengths (for every increment of 10 mph) behind the vehicle in front of you? How many of you are content in staying in your own lane... instead of driving like a pinball down the highway? How many of you have not raised a hand in gesture or have raised your voice out your window? How many of you come to a complete stop at a stop sign?. How many of you don't sneak through red lights? I could go on.. but.. I believe most of you will see where I'm going with this.

Gee... I guess there's not that many perfect drivers out there, and you won't see me claiming to be one either. With that being said I'll continue with my little story... for the purpose of sharing my Quad driving experience with you.

Driving To Work One Day......

I guess it was about 8:30 this particular morning that I was heading south on Falls Rd.... a road relatively unknown to most Marylanders except for those living in Northern Baltimore county who have learned of it's unique benefits. For me this June morning it was the main artery that took me and returned me from the neighborhoods I worked... in central Baltimore County.

At this particular time the air temp was about 75 degrees... okay for now, but the day promised to get hotter.

Normally in the mornings I drive this route at about what the speed limit calls for and no more than 5 miles over the speed limit. Top speed limit on this section of the road is no more than 45mph.... most turns on this winding road call for a min of 20 to 35 miles an hour.

Falls road is a rolling, curvy, twisty winding road with about 3 straight shots on the 20 mile section that I travel.

Passing on this road is limited and this year the highway administration has just removed one of the three remaining passing zones on the section I travel most. And would you believe they posted our fine Maryland State Police on two of those straight sections between the hours of 8 and 9:30 in the morning.... Monday through Friday..... this harvesting process seldom occurs on the weekends...... unless the coffers.. are in need of replenishment.

I almost forgot to mention...practically no place to pull over... other than to pull into a private entrance which would mean backing your rear end out a driveway cut into a hill... placing you blind to upcoming traffic.

Anyway....this particular, beautiful day I was in no hurry to get to work. Once I passed the intersection and blinking light of Mt. Carmel Road and Falls Road.. I couldn't help but notice a few vehicles had turned on to my road behind me. In my rear view mirrow... about 3/4 mile down the road I noticed a truck was making it's way forward through the few cars and was gaining on me.

About a 1/2 mile down the road I noticed this same truck getting closer to me than the 4 car lengths behind me that it should of been.

I accelerated... just few miles faster.. thinking maybe I'm not going fast enough for traffic this particular day....and wouldn't you know it... the truck behind me did same.. this time coming even closer... enough for me to easily recognize the truck in my rear view mirror as being a brand spanking new Toyota Tundra something or another... I can only remember the shiny but tacky looking hood insignia catching the glint of the sun rays as it filtered through the trees.

I accelerated again... a few additional miles toping out to 44 miles an hour and so did the truck behind me... once again.. as though I was some obstruction in the road the simpleton behind me... just needed to get even closer for some type of visual inspection. Perhaps... he has never seen a Dodge Dakota Quad Cab before, and was drawn to it.... uncontrollably by it's downright beauty.. hey... I can understand that, but this really wasn't the time or place to do such a thing.

If it was an emergency... I thought he could just blow his horn or flash his lights. Hey buddy.. I'm sorry, but their just ain't 2 lanes running south on this road... I recall wanting to shout out my open window.

I recalled thinking..... what was his hurry to justify riding my bumper. Did this guy just buy a new tundra and felt.... it was his due time to impress the world... or did he have a wanton desire to terrorize the Falls road corridor and it's drivers..... had commercial TV just gone to far and totally destroyed his mind? The thought even crossed my mind... did he want to seriously pit his excuse for a truck.... against my little puppy?

This is the part where I get you involved....hey it's okay... your at no risk! What would you've of done in this particular case? Write in and let me know.

I'll be finishing this story on the upcoming site, and will be posting what other quad owners would of done in the same circumstances (providing you guys write in ) In any case.....I'm sure most of you will like the ending ....... I sure did!

I'm sure some of you have stories regarding driving your Quad that... you think... would make mine seem like an episode of the Barney show.. but, you know... you won't prove that to me or the thousands of Quad Owners that read this kinda of stuff... if you keep it to yourself!

So.... I'm gonna tell you for the last damn time.. send it in. Pick up a piece of paper.. start scribbling your thoughts on it... after about 10 minutes take a break.. the next day add a little more and so on. Before you know it you'll have one hell of a yarn to spin on our web... site.. and besides entertaining yourself you will be entertaining our fellow Quad owners... now what could be more..ah...... different... or fun than that?

By the way, my name is Nick.You can email me by clicking this => Mail

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