Red Light; Green Light

You can't stop them from riding, you can't give them “fast and the furious” and expect them not to ride with their family.

Riding is a feeling that can’t be explained by any other comparison. It’s a division all in its own.

Riding down the longest streets we have, building up speed as we go. First gear, second, and third making our way to that glorious finish. The smell of burning rubber on the asphalt, bringing happiness to my heart, and the exhilarating speed making my body fill with butterflies.

In this moment I am exactly who I am and I'm exactly where I need to be.

My cheeks start to flush with red as another driver pulls up to me - Johnson, in his glorious purple Falcon. He's adjusting his computer as I speed on up in Mad Max, the gutsy blue Lexus, here to destroy dreams. I laugh as his controlling his computer makes him slightly launch forward for a brief moment.

The light turned red and we stepped on the break.

Making sure not to break the law is best when driving in this footloose-styled town. You do anything wrong even if it's a tiny rock peck on your window, your getting a hefty ticket and your vehicle impounded. You need to be serious about the ride if your going to survive the roads here.

Smoke that had built up around the two of us had started to clear, but we wouldn't let it. Revving our engines as the light would be changing in seconds, prepping for that glorious 2 block strip to the finish line. The lights for the other cross turned red, it was go time.

I threw the blue beast into first and put the pedal to the metal, the smell of exhaust lingered in the air, GREEN LIGHT! Off to the races we were! I pulled away quickly, he was not far behind, when a cute little green Civic entered our race, making sure to follow the rules, using that v-tec to keep up. Poor guy almost spun out, this was a big boy game and he just couldn't make the cut. He shifted into a different lane to exit off onto a side street.

The boys caught up! Lance, Ben, and the others rolled up in the black Mustang, the dark purple Camaro, and we dropped out speed to the speed limit and did a nightly cruise with the boys, up and down the street, picking up any stragglers on the way.

Nights like these, when the lights stay green are the ones we look for, the good nights with buddies where we all just take it all in.

We made plans to gas up and hit the road for a longer cruise on better-lit roads.

A police officer rolled into the gas station, and saw us, he made his way over. Assuming that was game over our heads fell heavily. He was checking out the cars saying they were cool, he asked if we wanted a poilce escort if we were racing, we stated we were going for a cruise down the highway and he offered to escort us so we didn't get pulled over, a slow night perhaps?

How wonderful! He joined in on the cruise, any red light he waived to make into our own personal green-lit road. The magic was real tonight and I wasn't about to waste it. 76

So I decided to make an outrageous call and peel out of the gas station just after putting an octane boost into my premium and took the lead on the road, the cop who we soon found out was named Greg very quickly came up to me and flipped his blue light, not to pull me over but to mark as being an escort. We drove around the highway, made it to a drag strip and even Greg did a set!

What a night that won’t ever beforgotton.