The time we almost got run off the road.

I told you yesterday about the day trip my friend HC and I took up to the Santa Ynez Valley here in California to go wine tasting.  What I didn't mention was a little situation that happened while we were there.

The drive from Los Angeles to the Santa Ynez Valley took us first up the main freeway along the coast (the 101, for those of you familiar with the West Coast), and then once you have taken the 101 for about two hours, you take a smaller highway that cuts inland toward the wineries.  You are on the smaller highway for about 25 miles, and it's one lane in each direction, with an occasional added lane to pass slower cars.  

There was a line of us cars all driving together, and I was the second in the line.  We were going at a plenty fast pace for the windiness of the road - to have gone faster than we were already going would have been getting into the "not so safe" speeds.  At one point, a passing lane was added, and the Honda SUV that had been driving immediately behind me whipped around me to the right, trying to pass.  Immediately after the Honda passed around me, I saw the Cadillac Escalade that had been in line behind the Honda come flying up right against the back of my car - all while the others of us in line are already driving 60 mph.

Long story short, the Cadillac (which was clearly a limousine SUV, which you see sometimes in wine country so that people can drink and not have to worry about driving) was being extremely reckless, came way too fast at my car, and forced me to swerve into the oncoming traffic lane to my left, in order to avoid having him hit me on my right as he was so hastily trying to pass me and the car in front of me.  HC and I were in the car yelling as the Escalade sped off - we totally could have been hurt because of his total carelessness.

I was shaken and upset by the driver being so completely reckless and obviously not putting thought into how his actions affected the other people that he was sharing the road with.  If I hadn't been paying attention to how quickly he was flying toward us, I wouldn't have prepared myself to swerve, and the Escalade most likely would have slammed into me.

Fast forward a couple of hours.

We got lunch in Solvang, we visited the first stop on our vineyard tour.  Then we pulled into the small parking lot of our second vineyard stop and were walking into the building, when I spotted a black Cadillac Escalade out of the corner of my eye.  I stopped and looked - and lo and behold, the license plate (which was only two letters and one number - very easily memorable) was the same as the black Escalade that had run us into the lane of oncoming traffic.  And while the party that he was driving was inside doing a tasting, the driver was sitting right there in the vehicle with his window down, reading a magazine.

Adrenaline immediately pumped, and I was bothered all over again.  HC and I continued into the building, where I told her to hold on one second and I'd be right back.

I walked back outside, right over to the driver's side window of the Cadillac.  "Excuse me, sir?"  He looked up at me, smiled, and answered, "Yes?"

I kept on: "Hi, my name is Lacey.  I had to come over and speak to you because...well, I'm the car that you almost hit on the drive out here.  You forced me to swerve into the oncoming traffic's lane, and thank goodness there wasn't anyone coming from that direction at that moment to have hit me and my friend.  I just wanted to come out and say hello to you so that you actually knew that you affected a couple of people today when you were driving so out of control.  Nothing more than that - I just wanted to let you know that you upset us and you scared us, and I hope you'll be more aware of what you're doing and that you'll be safer driving home tonight.  That's all."

He stuttered throughout, asking me if I was sure it was him (I was positive), and telling me he didn't remember being so reckless.  I said to him that it was fine, that what's done is done, but that I hoped he would be more careful and more cognizant of himself.  I said it all with a smile on my face and a non-confrontational tone so that he didn't think I was attacking him, because really, all I wanted him to realize was that it was two people that he almost crashed into - not just the grey SUV that we were driving in.

He apologized, and I accepted, and I went back inside to continue enjoying my wine tasting tour.  

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