Tuesday Tunes

I purchased my first motorcycle when I was in the 7th grade. It was a dirt bike, a Yamaha MX80.

I feel in love with riding. The only issue I had was that there was no gas station on base. To get gas for my bike I would have had to walk a mile and a half from the gate to the gas station and then walk that same mile and a half back to the gate to get back on my bike.

Or I could have ridden my bicycle to the station and back.

The other option was that I could ride to the closest point to the gas station. There was a hole in the fence.

So I would do that. I would take the gas tank off the bike, carry it through the hole, across the road and fill it.

It cost $0.25 to put a gallon of gas in the tank.

When we moved, it was a little easier to get gas. I could ride the bike across one road to get gas.

I sold that bike when gas went over a dollar per gallon. I couldn’t afford it.

About this time, Jimmy Carter managed to fuck over the economy to the point where there was a perceived shortage of gas.

This caused the price of gas to go up. It leads to gas shortages and other things.

The congress responded with exactly the wrong answer. The put a nationwide speed limit in place.

They decided that the maximum legal speed should be 55MPH.

Now, if you have ever lived on the East Coast, you know that the difference between 55MPH and 65MPH really doesn’t mean much. Traffic is bad. If you are lucky, you might shave 5 minutes off a two-hour trip.

On the other hand, in the Midwest and west, the difference between 55MPH and 65 or 70 MPH can make a huge difference. The distances being traveled and the ability to maintain those speeds make it a significant difference.

This song and the movie based on it are part of the culture of rebellion that was happening as The People pushed back against the 55MPH mandate.

In this video, you can see that the gigantic crime The Rubber Duck committed was driving 63MPH in a 55MPH zone.

We, The People, are pushing back. Thank goodness.