Formula Jr
04-01-2003, 06:54 AM
Time for some serious driving.
Along the way there's some truely absurd news on the radio, regarding the snipers in DC. Someone had stepped forward to say they had seen the shooter at the Home Depot event. White guy. White box van. AK74. What the heck is an AK74?
My first impression was "Whaaaa?" Wrong caliber, wrong gun. That was known, prior to this informant's information. But the press, led with it anyway. And it made me wonder if there is any integrity left in journalism. Do they just mouth what ever is on the table now-a-days? And then, the press reported on the exact flight patterns and range of the spy planes circling Washington. I deeply wonder now what's going on. They gave up that asset like it was a party favor. Its later revealed that Mohammad and Malvo had tried to make direct contact with the authorities on four seperate occassions. Each time, they were blown off as crank callers. Welcome to the the DC Metro area - "Its more than you can imagine. "
The Locals took it all, exactly the way I'd expect them to. The hottest item to fly off the shielves is a T-shirt with a large red and white bull's eye on the front and back. Note to self - I gotta get me one of those.
I'm 60 miles east of the intersection of I-85 and I-95 when the radio blips in at 8:15 PM that there had been another shooting in Ashland Va.
I pass one rest area while feverishly pounding the radio station selector to see what going on. Nothing. I pull into the next rest area and set the radio on AM Scan mode to see who is picking up the story. I broke out the maps to find Ashland, and realized just how screwed I was. By now, the the police would have set in place the road blocks. And then, I have to admit, I got scared. These snipers could be anywhere. They might even be the next car that pulls into this rest area; well outside the range of the spy planes. I'm the ONLY vehicle here. And with each moment of regular AM programing, a basket ball game, trite talk shows, pepsi and dentine ads, I'm getting more and more angry. How are we going to ever catch these guys, if there is a news blackout? I-85 is a ghost hiway except for a couple Highway Patrol cars flying East at well over 100 MPH. There is NO other traffic. This is surreal for this area. I take Henry for a walk throught the wooded areas surrounding the rest area. Very Spooky. Two, pregnant hours go by before the "crisis news" breaks in: 97 is shut down, the belt way is shutdown, Route 50 is shut down, 301 is shut down. People are being pulled out of VANS at gun point. There is no access to Naptown tonight.
I go into the rest area station were there's TV monitors, and while watching the coverage, I have an epiphany on the situation. See, on the west coast they don't have TV access at rest areas. I'm still the only person in the entire complex. I knew at that point, that the snipers were using rest areas: transient, but plugged in for the fix. HEY NETWORKS! I'm a better profiler than all those freaks YOU trotted out!
The news cycle followed its course throught the night till One AM, when they said the roads were vacant. After One, it wasn't interesting anymore, the helicopters went to base, and we were all returned to our regularly schedualed programming.
Cool. After Five hours, its like it never happened.
Before getting back to Dentine commercials, the news' operative words were - "The roads are vacant." I'm not going to pass that up in a DC drive through.
I was 2 miles South of Ashland when the gas gauge said to refuel. Everything is a still a ghost town at 3 am except for the poor bastards that happened to be driving white box vans. Of which, I saw many on the side of the road. Stupid. This is really stupid.
I pulled into the gas station and started pumping. The bright lights of the station wiped out any night vision to the many open surrounding areas. There was a guy with NY tags on the other pump, "hiding out," between the car and the pump. I set the fill and walked out a bit in the open, in the full light. I was pissed - had drived 800 miles, and had not slept in a while. I stood out there and gave a silent finger to the darkness. The next thing I heard was a loud "**** YOU!" It was the guy from NY. He was standing in the open light now too. Index up and probably alittle more pissed off than I. We both stood there, for maybe 20 seconds, cursing the night. It was one of the coolest of spontantious acts thats ever happened to me. Thats a keeper.
Along the way there's some truely absurd news on the radio, regarding the snipers in DC. Someone had stepped forward to say they had seen the shooter at the Home Depot event. White guy. White box van. AK74. What the heck is an AK74?
My first impression was "Whaaaa?" Wrong caliber, wrong gun. That was known, prior to this informant's information. But the press, led with it anyway. And it made me wonder if there is any integrity left in journalism. Do they just mouth what ever is on the table now-a-days? And then, the press reported on the exact flight patterns and range of the spy planes circling Washington. I deeply wonder now what's going on. They gave up that asset like it was a party favor. Its later revealed that Mohammad and Malvo had tried to make direct contact with the authorities on four seperate occassions. Each time, they were blown off as crank callers. Welcome to the the DC Metro area - "Its more than you can imagine. "
The Locals took it all, exactly the way I'd expect them to. The hottest item to fly off the shielves is a T-shirt with a large red and white bull's eye on the front and back. Note to self - I gotta get me one of those.
I'm 60 miles east of the intersection of I-85 and I-95 when the radio blips in at 8:15 PM that there had been another shooting in Ashland Va.
I pass one rest area while feverishly pounding the radio station selector to see what going on. Nothing. I pull into the next rest area and set the radio on AM Scan mode to see who is picking up the story. I broke out the maps to find Ashland, and realized just how screwed I was. By now, the the police would have set in place the road blocks. And then, I have to admit, I got scared. These snipers could be anywhere. They might even be the next car that pulls into this rest area; well outside the range of the spy planes. I'm the ONLY vehicle here. And with each moment of regular AM programing, a basket ball game, trite talk shows, pepsi and dentine ads, I'm getting more and more angry. How are we going to ever catch these guys, if there is a news blackout? I-85 is a ghost hiway except for a couple Highway Patrol cars flying East at well over 100 MPH. There is NO other traffic. This is surreal for this area. I take Henry for a walk throught the wooded areas surrounding the rest area. Very Spooky. Two, pregnant hours go by before the "crisis news" breaks in: 97 is shut down, the belt way is shutdown, Route 50 is shut down, 301 is shut down. People are being pulled out of VANS at gun point. There is no access to Naptown tonight.
I go into the rest area station were there's TV monitors, and while watching the coverage, I have an epiphany on the situation. See, on the west coast they don't have TV access at rest areas. I'm still the only person in the entire complex. I knew at that point, that the snipers were using rest areas: transient, but plugged in for the fix. HEY NETWORKS! I'm a better profiler than all those freaks YOU trotted out!
The news cycle followed its course throught the night till One AM, when they said the roads were vacant. After One, it wasn't interesting anymore, the helicopters went to base, and we were all returned to our regularly schedualed programming.
Cool. After Five hours, its like it never happened.
Before getting back to Dentine commercials, the news' operative words were - "The roads are vacant." I'm not going to pass that up in a DC drive through.
I was 2 miles South of Ashland when the gas gauge said to refuel. Everything is a still a ghost town at 3 am except for the poor bastards that happened to be driving white box vans. Of which, I saw many on the side of the road. Stupid. This is really stupid.
I pulled into the gas station and started pumping. The bright lights of the station wiped out any night vision to the many open surrounding areas. There was a guy with NY tags on the other pump, "hiding out," between the car and the pump. I set the fill and walked out a bit in the open, in the full light. I was pissed - had drived 800 miles, and had not slept in a while. I stood out there and gave a silent finger to the darkness. The next thing I heard was a loud "**** YOU!" It was the guy from NY. He was standing in the open light now too. Index up and probably alittle more pissed off than I. We both stood there, for maybe 20 seconds, cursing the night. It was one of the coolest of spontantious acts thats ever happened to me. Thats a keeper.