Hunted: Wyoming, Land of No Boundries, Spirit of Adventure

Devil's Tower, Wyoming: 20 Jun 08, Taken with a Nikon D3, Nikkor 105/F2.8VR Macro

Lisa and I arrived in Denver, Colorado 40 minutes early as the jet stream dodged southward and the 100+ headwinds that are otherwise typical, were no where to be found.

The Infiniti M35x was our vehicle of choice, as Lisa and I are going to be putting on a lot of miles throughout Wyoming, South Dakota, and Montana these next two weeks.

Heading, north of Denver on I-25 we were greeted by 75mph speed zones; I wish we had these kinds of speed limits in the rural highways of the North East as they really are wonderful.

We proceeded through Cheyenne and came by, Casper, one of the few towns which experiences road closures due to wind.

Our planned destination this day was Devil's Tower, Wyoming and the Devil's Tower Lodge, which is located on the grounds of the park.

Mapquest estimated that our 409 mile journey this day would take us 6 hours and 24 minutes, or so. We managed to make the trek in just under 4 and half hours.

Wyoming is GOD's country, with some of the best and sparcely traveled routes, no doubt. Our speedometer didn't go below triple digits for nearly 3-and-a-half hours straight. This is driving nirvana. Having just spent some time driving with Steve in Ohio and facing continuous heavy-handed traffic "enforcement," Wyoming is definitely a slice of Heaven on Earth.

In Wyoming, like other sparcely populated western states, the density of traffic patrol to square miles is extremely favorable and the straight unobstructed vistas that are presented, should be experienced by every performance-minded driver, at least, once in his or her lifetime.

Yes, yesterday was a good day, a great day, in fact.

While I thought I was going to be speed trap hunting with a Whistler XTR series radar detector, I instead found that I was making a pilgrimage to the Sacred volcanic extrusion, known as Devil's Tower. Yesterday's drive was, indeed, a spiritually transgressive experience for both Lisa and myself.

Wyoming had been in an extended drought for seven years, but they have been experiencing a high level of rain this season. As we arrived at Devil's Tower, there was a thunderstorm.

Devil's Tower: Taken with Nikon D3, Nikkor 200-400/F4VR

This morning we awoke at 0420, to catch a glimpse of the national monument at first light (as you can see, we don't sleep much).

Communing with our Creator

1st Light Strikes East Face: Take with Nikon D3, Nikkor 105/F2.8VR

When we arrived, yesterday, at the Devil's Tower Lodge we were treated to two wonderful human beings, Juliana and Frank, who operate this secluded Bed & Breakfast. Juliana is a substitute teacher and Frank who is a tremendously talented individual, was once a civil engineer (in another life), carpenter, a gifted pianist (to name just a few of his many eclectic talents), who currently spends much of his days free-soloing (climbing without ropes) the different faces of the 4000' tall extrusion as well as providing expert climbing instruction on doing the same.

Kristin, our hostess, is an avid painter, and a bed & breakfast inn-keeper, in-training, with Frank and Juliana.

A blessed spirit, Frank founded Project 365, whose mission is to help Lakota Sioux Native Americans (Porcupine Clinic) in receiving quality healthcare and related materials and supplies, among other life enhancing counseling services.

Juliana has founded two charitable organizations, Elementary Docents, Inc to help fulfill the fine-arts component of curriculum of the California public school systems and well as Devil's Tower Sacred to Many People, Inc. to be a vehicle for collecting and responsibly distributing much need funds to the Porcupine Health Clinic, located on the Pine Ridge Reservation in the middle of the Badlands, South Dakota—a place where Lisa and I will be traveling later this very day.

Frank and Juliana would appreciate any donations to help with their worthy causes, causes which are greater than each of us, and make direct positive impact on a large number of people of the Native American population, forever enduring, in this part of our great nation:

Devil's Tower Sacred To Many People

Sunrise at Devil's Tower: Taken with Nikon D3, Nikkor 12-24/2.8

If you ever are fortunate to make you way out to this part of the country, be sure to lodge at their special B&B and tell them you first heard about them with Cowboy Bob.

Bob, the Speed Trap Hunter

Hunted: New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut , Pennsylvania, and Hunted in New Jersey

As I had originally posted, if you run hard enough, long enough, the odds will eventually catch up with you no matter what equipment you use, and so they did (in New Jersey) and the hunter became the prey, but more on this later.

Having finished with my official business in Vermont, I said my goodbyes to my wonderful host at the Grey Gables Mansion and my friend Chris and Carol to begin heading my way towards home, and the Veil Gal, but not before Chris introduced me to the local cultural-side of rural Vermont—the Vermont sugarer.

In some southern states, moonshine is the special brew, prepared in the deep woods. In Vermont the special brew is Grade Fancy, Maple Syrup. Finer than Grade A, this is the stuff the local Vermonters keep for themselves. The "lesser" grades are the ones that typically make it to the shelves of retailers selling genuine Vermont Maple Syrup.

Chris took me to Hue, a 95-year young sugarer who has been preparing maple syrup for "his entire life." Hue is the real deal, one of the few remaining of the early last century ol' timers who spends much of his time reducing the sap of Maple trees by 40-fold (through a special boiling process) to produce some of the finest Vermont Maple Syrup there is, period.

Hugh was currently operating a 50% production capacity as he is changing to a vacuum-fed "plumbing" system. That 50% amounts to about 4000 trees! Know the it takes about 40 gallons of tree sap to reduce to one gallon of grade fancy maple syrup.

We started kibitzing, which led to joke telling, which led to raunchy joke telling. Hue invited Chris and I into his house for a visit and we ended up staying with this most-kind and spiriated gentleman for more than two hours; a gracious host spoke of the Great Depression and what it meant to a milling town and the logging families.

One couldn't help but admire the strength of character and fortitude of one of the Greatest Generation that forged this great nation (whose spirits are fading, through subsequent, younger generations). He didn't have an easy life, to be sure, but he continues to live it with the verve of his youth. Hue is a good man.

For some of the best damn authentic Vermont Maple Syrup, call Hue, and tell him, I (Cowboy Bob) sent ya, and while you are it, ask him to tell his "papa mole, mama mole, and baby mole," joke. I don't care who you, it's funny as hell!

Hi-Vue Maples
512 Jay Road
Richford, VT 05476
Owner: Hue Smith
Tel: +1 802.848.7776

All things come to an end, and so this week did too, we parted ways on Sarturday and I began making my way towards Saratoga Springs, New York, by way of Burlington, Vermont and some awfully pretty countryside.

I proceeded on VT 104 to Interstate 89 South, where I came across several Vermont State Troopers driving hunter green vehicles.

I missed the Lake Champlain ferry crossing by a few minutes, so I proceeded on VT 7 south to VT 22A and ultimately VT 74 west which crossed over the southern part of the lake into the Ticonderoga, NY area and northern Lake George region.

While on VT 22A, I came across an instant-on K-band trap where the speed zone had dropped abruptly 20 miles to 30mph. Sure enough traffic patrol was sitting quietly in a parking lot adjacent to the road running instant-on police radar getting vehicles going both directions.

At the time I was running the Escort Passport 9500i, the Beltronics STi-R, and a certain high-end Whistler windshield mount radar detector. As I had observed once before on this trip (several weeks ago on instant-K in Pennslyvania on my way out to Ohio to meet up with Steve), the Whistler actually alerted first to the instant-on speed trap.

This incredible experience solidly underscores that ultimate radar detector performance goes beyond mere sensitivity/distance numbers on charts.

In the real-world other factors come into play, which from time to time, can manifest themselves. My hat's off to Whister for being able to not only hang with the biggest of the big boys, but sometimes, outrun them!

I ultimately came to I-87 again and proceeded south to Saratoga to meet up with one of my old time college buddies and visit one very historic thoroughbred racetrack (older than Churchill, by one year: Founded in 1864) and much more exclusive (their meet only open only six weeks out of the entire year!)

One of the few racetracks which sport two, count 'em two inner turf courses

As expected things were very quiet on the Northway until I got to the Saratoga and Glens Falls area. Here I found a lot of instant-on and steady Ka action. One New York State Trooper was operating the Stalker Dual (I could tell because of the dual bogeys, signals provided by both the Valentine and the Escort Passport 9500ci. I understand, that while this is an incredible police radar gun setup, its quite expensive and requires a very skilled operator to manage effectively.

This was actually the second time I came across the Stalker Dual, the first being in Ohio, by Grayton road, with Steve one evening.

I just love gals who love guys in cowboy hats!

Big Brown is expected to run here in several weeks, at this years Travers Stakes

Where one gathers after hitting a big trifecta.

The other Saratoga, standardbred racecourse

It was very hot in downtown Saratoga—my in dash temperature gauge registered 106F.

On Sunday, 8 June, after hunting the Northway for Ka action, which I found in spades, I ventured to back to the Burlington, Vermont area, to visit some family who spend much of their year living in a extremely remote and wooded area in the Vermont countryside. Black bears and other critters are often seen here, along with an occasional big cat.

Paula's and Al's place was a slice of heaven on earth, which allowed me to decompress for the evening to the sounds of the wilderness.

On Monday I had to move on to visit Boston for business for a couple of days, so with a heavy heart I said my goodbyes and prepared to make my way back to civilization. Al had relayed that he just got a speeding ticket, so I gave him one of mine, the Beltronics Vector 940 (V940) as a good starting point. Since Al never drove with a radar detector, I went over the basics including the proper role a radar detector should play in enhancing driving safety, how to mount it, operate it, and most importantly how to interpret its behavior.

From Vermont to Mass. on I-91

Heading to Boston for a couple of days on business.

Several days later, upon completion of the Boston portion of my trip, I decided to leave to get home. I hadn't seen the Veil Gal in a number of weeks for any real period of time, and my heart was starting to feel it. Although I thought better of it, I decided to make the trip during the evening, knowing full-well that I was at a higher potential risk for a speeding ticket.

Perhaps I should have listened to my instincts because, while both Connecticut and New York passed by quickly and without incident, New Jersey was another story, entirely.

I fell into the mistake of driving fatigue and not checking my rear when I pulled back onto I-287 south at nightime, after getting a full-tank of gas. I did not notice the NJ State Trooper, who must have been closely behind, when I re-entered the highway. At any rate, the Speed Trap Hunter finally, himself, became the hunted, being pulled-over for allegedly traveling 83mph in a 55mph zone.

With unarguably the best radar detector equipment yet conceived, how could this be? Simple. Remember, radar detectors are not cop detectors—the officer claimed he paced me the old fashioned-way, with his speedometer.

We'll have to try to win this one on a technicality, no doubt. I immediately called my personal police radar and traffic enforcement guru and proceeded to cry on his shoulders for a minute and to plumb his extensive knowledge of the subject of my outs (to use a hold-em poker expression).

Having a car badged with all kind of racing stickers and a bumper that reads GOT SPEED? didn't seem to be my strong suit. Indeed, it likely made my situation worse, as the ticketing officer cited me for an obstruction violation. The culprit, my trusty Valentine One, mounted very low on the windshield. Un-phased, I remained calm, professional, and pleasant (keeping in mind that it's OK to lose a battle and win the war).

Even if I don't win this particular war, I will ultimately chalk this one up to "taking one for our team," and as a form of an additional road-tax—for the privilege of enhancing my driving freedoms.

This incident—having set-back my average speed by quite a bit—now behind me, I managed to safely arrive home after accumulating nearly 6200 miles—all of them almost completely ticket-free.

Here are some real-world videos from this segment:

Whistler Outrunning the Biggest of the Big Dogs in Vermont against Sneaky Instant-on K-band Speed Trap


Just Minutes Later with this Same Sneaky Back-road Instant-on K-band Vermont Speed Trap


Opposite-side Approaching Steady 34.7ghz Ka vs 9500ci, STi-R, Valentine 1


OUCH!: Why EVERYONE Should Drive with a good RADAR DETECTOR


Passport 9500ci, Beltronics STi-R, High-End Whistler vs Three Approaching Ka-band Cruisers

The best for last: Beltronics STi-R, Escort Passport 9500ci Absolutely Trounce Approaching 35.5ghz KA
in a 25mph Speed Zone, After a High Speed Approach

At any rate, I have come away from this intense real world driving experience with a renewed sense of respect and awe for what both Beltronics and Escort have accomplished with their new ultra-high-end remote radar detectors, the Beltronics STi-R and the Escort Passport 9500ci!!!

Each of these fabulous radar detectors really are game changers, they're that good!

My next driving route will soon include the north-western states of Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana (and possibly Idaho and Washington). Fortunately for me, I am taking the Veil Gal with me on this business trip (along with my other trusted companions).

Drive happily and safely, and remember to keep it between the lines...

Bob, the Speed Trap Hunter

Hunted: New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Québec

After a moderately restful Sunday, come Monday morning, I was off on the road again—this time to the North (and ultimately Canada).

Part of the route I was traveling this morning is the route that I routinely make when I road "test" radar detectors, because its takes me through Warren County (western central NJ) where state troopers like to patrol (and sometimes pretty fiercely) using instant-on X-band, Ka-band, and of course, police laser (lidar).

This morning things were fairly quiet as I traveled I-78 East towards I-287 which in turn flows northerly into I-87, the New York Thruway.

Again, things were pretty quiet this morning and afternoon and I did not see or encounter much traffic enforcement. I made good time to the capitol district, Albany, NY, took I-787 North passing the Mass Pike and picking up NY 7 West to Latham Circle, NY and onto I-87, the Northway, which heads directly up to the border of the US and Canada (Québec) into Quinze nord (15).

I briefly stopped by my old stumping grounds and managed a quick visit to the Watervliet Arsenal (where I spent some of my college youth, learning the 'physics' of high-powered munitions, among other things). Since 9/11, security has been greatly heightened and fortified.

I didn't want to spend to much time in the greater Troy area, as I had a lot of miles to go, before I slept and I was getting amp'd to experience the wrath of the New York State Troopers who routinely patrol the Saratoga and Glens Fall, NY stretch of the Northway interstate.

I wanted to visit an old college buddy of mine who still lives in the area around Saratoga Springs (and visit two wonderful horse racetracks, as is my usual preference) but was very much time limited, so I decided to hit them on my return trip. I did manage to make a pilgrimage to the second largest water falls in the US.

Niagra/Mohawk River, Cohoes Falls, Cahoes, NY

When I was growing up, several college roommates and I drove all over upstate New York, and I couldn't help but get a little nostalgic for those good ol' times (almost 25 years ago!). Particularly when you get up above the Catskill region on upwards to the Adirondacks, this is some of the prettiest driving country there is in the US, in my opinion.

Above Lake George vii, NY traffic gets much much lighter as there is not too much (in terms of development) between that area and Quebec (except for Whiteface).

It is very easy to let the speeds seriously climb in this region as you are surrounded by beautiful evergreens and not much else.

I spent a fair portion of the trip driving with Escort Passport 9500ci and Beltronics STi-R while swapping in/out of windshield service several other windshield-mount radar detectors, including, of course, the Valentine 1 (v3.861), Cobra XRS- 9950, Escort Passport 9500i (blue), Whistler Pro 78/Whistler XTR-690 high-end models, and the Beltronics STi Driver and I noted the relative behavior of each as I drove.

I had another déjà vu moment, from long-history, and almost got nailed at about the same place I almost got nailed 20 some years ago, about 10 miles south of US/Canadian border.

I had been moving at a very strong clip and there were very few other vehicles on the road. Note: this is one of the times when one is most vulnerable to getting tagged even with a radar detector.

Given the extreme sensitivity of the Escort Passport 9500ci and Beltronics STi-R remote radar detectors it can sometimes be difficult to spot the officer because the distances tend to be noticeably farther than what I have become accustomed to with Ka-band, but I believe I picked up an instant-on shot of very strong 35.5 Ka just as I went under an overpass.

It was starting to get dusk, so instead of "waiting" around like a sitting duck, and to be on the safe-side, I decided to make a "quick" exit and fill-up with fuel (as my fuel level was quite low), for what was going to be still a long drive east towards Northern Vermont on some very scenic secondary roads.

At the time, I ended-up paying the highest fuel rate in my entire life on a per gallon basis.

Having a full-tank of petrol, I proceed quietly back on the highway towards exit 42 (just five miles south of the US/Canadian border) and proceeded to my ultimate destination for the evening.

While on VT 104, in pitch-black conditions, my 9500ci, STi-R, and Whistler alerted to a strong instant-on blast of 34.7 Ka-band police radar. I couldn't locate the officer but he was sure to be very near.

Again, one of the many things I've been noticing with the 9500ci and STi-R is that their sensitivities (particularly) to Ka are so astoundingly high, that it takes a little time re-orienting yourself (especially in the evening) to the actual threat-level; that oftentimes you have a considerable amount of additional time to safely adjust any "transgressions", so to speak.

Other than this brief, near-heart-attack-causing-event, I safely arrived on Monday evening, at the Grey Gables Mansion Bed Breakfast in Richford, Vermont for my extended stay in this region.

When Wednesday evening came around, I convinced a colleague of mine to take a "short" trip to Montreal, Quebec, Canada—to join me in a very good authentic Montreal steak dinner (at the Moishe's Steak House). From our location, it wass about an hour and 15 minutes to the restaurant, in downtown Montreal.

My astute friend was sharp enough to suggest that I leave my box of 20 or so radar detectors at the B&B and not in my trunk...And fortunately, I listened to his suggestion, and that was a good thing because as I crossed the Canadian border checkpoint the Canadian border patrol guard examined the contents of my trunk!

Had he found 20+ radar detectors (which are banned in this part of Canada), I probably could have been brought up on "distribution charges!"

Here the Beltronics STiR and Escort Passport 9500ci remotes really came into their own, I must say, with no problems encountered!

We made our way through some very nice and quaint Canadian villages and then picked up dix ouest (10 west), towards downtown Montreal.

The maximum speed limit in Canada is 100kph, but I sometimes got "confused" with the whole english/metric conversion thing, so to make it easy on myself, I simply cruised steadily at 100-130 (mph) on the some of the most rural and sparce sections of 10, with very little fanfare, and what a pleasure that was.

We easily picked up a K-band drone sign from a great distance and then a little later, got alerted to what appeared to be instant-on X-band coming the opposite direction from a cruising officer, but we had plenty of time to adjust our velocity, accordingly.

We successfully navigated to downtown Montreal, Rue St. Laurent, and managed a parking space right off of the street.

I love the French feel of Québec (especially Ville de Québec) and was able to use my ability parler en peu français.

My friend, Chris, ordered a medium-rare 2" 12-ounce filet and I ordered a rare 22-ounce rib-eye (without bone) with a peppercorn cognac reduction and sauteed champignons.

It may have been the absolute meilleur steak I have ever mangé. With vin rouge and a couple of desserts and café au lait, the meal came to: deux cent quarante dollars. Not cheap—by any means—especially when one factors in the exchange rate is 30-40% less favorable than not so long ago, but it was worth every penny, nonetheless.

After dinner we drove around town and visited Vieux Port, Montréal where I had "fun" running with a silver Aston Martin Vanquish through a series of the traffic-light (while green) controlled intersections.

He eventually pulled-off to visit a boîte de nuit which had parked a black Lamborghini Gallardo in front, very nice, indeed.

At this time it was getting pretty late in the evening, so we decided to head back to Northern Vermont, taking the reverse track.

As we drove through the countryside, Chris suggested that I watch out for moose and he warned me that moose are extremely difficult to see at night, because the cones and rods in their eyes are of a different configuration than most nocturnals—meaning they don't light up like a cat's eyes. With moose, I was told, you have to look out for the blackness in the road ahead (yeah, you've got to be kidding me!)

At any rate, no moose were either seen or hit and after about 20 questions and presenting proper documentation to the US border patrol, we were permitted to re-enter our wonderful country.

It was very late (or early, depending on how you looked at it) so we called it a night—a night that neither of us will soon forget...

Here are some fun real-world videos from this segment of my 6200 mile journey:

Steady K-band Drone Sign vs. Escort Passport 9500ci, Beltronics STi-R, Cobra XRS-9950


New York State Trooper Traffic Stop


Conduite Rapide à Montréal, Québec, Canada


Parlé de la plongée sous-marine pendant la conduite sur dix ouest à Montréal.

Bob, the Speed Trap Hunter

Memorial Day Police Radar Encounters with the Beltronics STiR, Escort Passport 9500ci, and the Valentine 1!!!

I must admit I do not often get impressed or excited with radar detectors (at least in the last 12 years), but after driving with the Escort Passport 9500CI and Beltronics STiR, I am REALLY excited.

I have not been excited in the last 12 years because I have found that radar detectors being released in the last decade or so pack in features with very little performance increases........that is until now with the release of these incredible remote units.

We encountered SO MANY radar enforced speed traps and these two radar detectors performed flawlessly on every facet, in fact, so well that I have one on order.

It is not an easy thing to shell out the $ that these remote radar detectors require, but after seeing them in action with my own two eyes they are WELL worth it!

As they say if you want to play you must be willing to pay.

Escort and Beltronics have done a STELLAR job with these radar detectors and have set a new benchmark that all other radar detectors will be measured against (previous benchmark was the legendary Valentine One).

Below are some of the videos that we put together for your viewing pleasure:

Some really intense front & rear instant-on Ka action!

Escort Passport 9500ci, Beltronics STiR, Valentine 1 versus Ka, 33.8ghz, Local

Escort Passport 9500ci, Beltronics STiR, Valentine 1 versus Ka, 33.8ghz, Highway

Escort Passport 9500ci, Beltronics STiR, Valentine 1 versus Ka, 35.5ghz, Highway

Steve, Speed Trap Hunter (Ohio)

Hunted: West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennslvania

Once I settled down at a Deep Creek lodge Wednesday evening, I decided to create this blog, and created the first Speedtrap Hunter Blog post.

First light Thursday morning, May 29th, and being refreshed from a good night's rest, I decided to put my two new stealth radar detectors—the Beltronics StiR and the Escort Passport 9500ci to their ultimate test...against...you guessed it, Virginia state troopers (at least, in theory).

But, before I got back on the interstate, I had to stop because of [an] Accident.

No, it's not what you are thinking, I didn't have an accident, I had to stop at [an] Accident...Accident, Maryland...by mistake, I might add.

After catching a quick bite, I returned to my Easterly route on Interstate 68 towards Hagerstown, Maryland to pick up South Interstate 81 which would take me back through a piece of West Virginia and ultimately through the long side (western) of Virginia (about 320 miles in total! just in Virginia) but through some very, very enticing roads!

What speed would you be inclined to drive on this stretch of road?

After the intense experience in Ohio, the roads seemed extremely quiet in comparison and not much action was seen in Virginia. For this portion of the trip, I had to power-off and remove my Valentine One from operation.



Both the Escort Passport 9500ci and Beltronics STiR behaved well and it was a real pleasure to drive without concern to any nasties—in the form of the Spectre III or Spectre IV+ radar detector detectors—as both high-end remote radar detectors use the same dual-LNA (low-noise-amplifier) platform that debuted in the venerable and undetectable Beltronics STi Driver windshield-mount radar detector.

Having successfully charted I81 and I77 south, I proceeded into North Carolina—on my way to South Carolina—where I was happy to re-engage the service of my Valentine One (v3.861).

Call me "crazy" or "over the top," but I believe, I get a lot of utility of running all three radar detectors together (the two stealth remotes, and a high-end windshield-mount like the V1) because I get the best of all worlds: the potential to have all three pieces of information displayed at the same time—the number of bogeys by band (provided by the Escort Passport 9500ci), the frequency of the "strongest" band (provided by the Beltronics STi-R), and of course, the likely direction from which the police radar source(s) is coming).

Another important reason, while I still choose to drive with my Valentine One(s) is they continue to serve as my reference radar detector(s): the purity of the alerting to both police radar and police laser remains unmatched and remains the platinum standard. Using the instant-on/instant-off nature of the both radar and laser detection provided by the V1, allows me to accurately gauge the nature and severity of the threat as well as the actual performance of the other countermeasures that I use, in combination.

And yet., with all this equipment in operation, and the knowledge to use them appropriately, it never fails me that I almost, I am mean almost got nailed on I77 south coming into Statesville, NC just above exit 50. The speed limit drops precipitously down to 55mph and three things always seem to happen when I come through this section of highway. 1) I forget that this stretch is heavily enforced, 2) I tend to miss the speed zone transitions, and 3) I almost get nailed as a result, everytime!

It was no different this time around, but I had a couple of things working to my favor, most importantly I had remained in the right lane and there were a lot of surrounding vehicles on the highway at the time. I got an instant-on blast (at very close range) of Ka (of the 34.7 variety, I believe) and my goose was probably cooked, however, the officer still had to make a visual identification of the "offending" vehicle. Fortunately for me, I managed to bring things down quickly (and quietly) while staying in my lane, like a good little boy.

Just to be on the safe side, I decided to stop at JR's and get a carton of smokes., immediately getting off the interstate at exit 50.

I let things cool down a bit and by the time (10 minutes later) I re-entered the Interstate, the dark stealth SUV that was running radar on the right shoulder already had a "customer."

I damn sure need to program this stretch of highway into my 9500ci as SPEEDTRP, for the next time I forget to remember.

Whatever you do, if you ever happen to travel I-77 around Statesville, North Carolina, watch-out around exit 50 and keep in mind that some sections of this interstate carry an additional $250 speeding penalty!

Other than that, things remained pretty quiet on I-77 South until I got to the border of South Carolina—where my Passport 9500ci, Beltronics STiR, and Valentine One all alerted to an officer running instant-on Ka towards the northbound lanes as motorists first entered North Carolina and the Charlotte city limits.

One thing worth nothing: I have been driving with the Cheetah GPSMirror for quite some time, in preparation for an extensive real-world review of this GPS detector (redlight and speed camera detector), and I noticed a subtle, but very nice "feature" of this GPS Mirror: the wide-angle view provided by this rear-view mirror has some real advantages, I believe, in the realworld on the highway: the ability to allow me to quickly scan to the rear, the on-ramps and overpasses behind me for any speedtraps from behind, without requiring me to actually turn-around (and take my eyes of the road in the process).

It's got nothing to do with the performance of the unit in its ability to accurately alert to red light and speedcamera/fixed-camera locations across the North America, but I feel, it's an important aspect of the potential safety enhancements provided by the Cheetah GPS Mirror.

I managed to arrive without incident to meet up with my friends Danny and Frank at Buy Radar Detectors, located in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Both of these good-ol'-boys are some of my favorite radar detector dealers.

During my stay, I showed them the progress we made, first hand, with Veil G4 and made some videos that will soon be appearing on the Net that I hope you'll find both entertaining and informative.

I ended up crashing at one of my cousin's house outside of Charlotte, North Carolina before turning around to head back home, to Pennsylvania, by basically the reverse route, I-77 North to I-81 North to I-76 East towards Philadelphia.

Along I-77 in Virginia, I met up with another driving enthusiast and we ran hard together for a good while, swapped leads from time to time until we had a near-miss.

Sometimes when you move at the rates that we sometimes do, you inevitably are going to climb up behind and sometimes (if you are not paying sharp attention) walk-on-by the wrong vehicle, as my friend did:

Don't pass a unmarked state trooper, even if it means going 35mph in a 65mph zone!

Fortunately, he managed to receive a harsh reprimand, while driving, from the officer riding shotgun along-side. When I pulled-up along side my lucky comrade, we shared a great laugh at our gaffe.

At that point, it was time to part our separate ways— he continued on I-77, while I veered off to I-81 to make my long northerly trek through western Virginia, back through West Virginia, Maryland, and ultimately to the Keystone State.

Later on I81, while I was running pretty hard, I noticed brake lights (for no apparent reason) well up ahead, which only meant one thing. Even though the radar detectors remained silent, I knew there was a trooper sitting up ahead waiting to ambush me.

Note: Always remember that a radar detector is not a trooper detector...it's only a valuable support tool—the most important "detector" still lies between your ears.

I made sure my speed was in check as I approached the area where the vehicles ahead had been braking and lo and behold, he was there! While I passed him, my radar detectors stayed siltent—meaning he was being very selective in pulling his trigger.

Note: At the time, this thought also occurred to me that troopers who run Spectre RDDs in VA can afford to sit back and be very judicious with their radar gun, to maximize their chances of detecting (hearing) an approaching driver operating a conventional (detectable) radar detector. They could use the alerting of the Spectre RDD to determining the precise moment when to pull the trigger to not only nab a speeder, but a radar detector user as well. Simply hiding your conventional operating radar detector in Virginia (or other areas where their usage is deemed "inappropriate") is not enough as the Spectre RDD will easily sniff them out.

Fortunately for us, Beltronics and Escort have completely mitigated this threat with their Beltronics STi Driver, Beltronics STi-R, and Escort Passport 9500ci radar detectors.

Note: Don't let the name fool you—the Escort Passport 9500i is not the windshield-mount version of the Escort Passport 9500ci as the Escort Passport 9500i uses a "conventional" radar detector receiver (in so far as its not completely immune to radar detector detectors).

Knowing that this is a routine occurrence at many of the emergency-vehicle-only-turn-arounds which adorn the center median, I managed to snap this video at a later time.

These types of instant-on ambushes are routine on interstates and highways that have similar large wooded, hilly, or grassy medians.

I finally manged to crawl in around 0100 on Saturday, 31 May after accumulating a little more than 4200 miles since the start of Memorial Day Weekend little more than seven days earlier—safe and ticket free.

Managed to get a glimpse of my wife along with a good day's rest only to prepare to head off to New England and upstate Vermont (along the Canadian border), the following Monday for another 10 day business/road trip...

Bob, the Speed Trap Hunter