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My highs and lows of 2009
High: Speeding along the highway, heading north to Orillia, on my Harley on a warm day.
Low: Getting pulled over by a cop for speeding – the only time this year – on Hwy. 400 north of Barrie.
High: Being let off with a warning when I explained I was on my way to the OPP headquarters to interview the motorcycle precision riding team.
Low: Dropping the heavy OPP bike when I was invited to try some of the riding manoeuvres, which I'd told them looked pretty easy.
Low: Almost running out of gas during a trip to the White House in Washington on my bike when I couldn't unlock the filler cap.
Lower: Running out of gas in a Honda Odyssey minivan on Hwy. 401 after listening to a great podcast with my family and not noticing the low-fuel warning.
Lowest: Listening for half-an-hour to my wife, two children and brother-in-law tell me what an idiot I was for running out of gas, while waiting for the CAA rescue.
High: Filling up the Toyota Prius when the tank was almost empty, and finding it cost me $22.50.
Higher: Driving the Honda Insight like a Formula One racer (well, sort of like it...) and still getting better than 8 L/100 km (35 m.p.g.).
Highest: Driving home in the Tesla all-electric roadster, quicker than your average Porsche, and using no gas whatsoever. I even marked the date – Nov. 23 – as a turning point in my driving career.
Low: Seeing other drivers on the highway after dark unaware that their lights were out.
Lower: Seeing other drivers with their GPS units on the windshield right in front of them, instead of properly off to the side to cause less of an obstructing distraction.
Lowest: Seeing other drivers on the highway watching TV with video players on the dash.
Low: Locking myself out of the Jeep Grand Cherokee diesel in Yellowknife, with the engine running, at minus-40 degrees.
Lower: Watching the tow truck guy pull the hidden key from my spare key fob and opening the Jeep door in 10 seconds flat.
High: Driving north from Yellowknife and onto the frozen ice roads of the Barren Lands in the Northwest Territories.
Higher: Arriving in Toronto in the Jeep after 5,500 km across Canada in February.
Highest: Parking the Jeep at the AutoShow, filthy with dirt and salt, and seeing that somebody then wrote on it with their finger: "I wish my wife was as dirty as this."
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