I guess we are on the topic of driving speed.

As the resident nay-sayer about speed, here's my take on it.

Took a trip from Maine to Seattle a few years ago on a BMW 1200 RT which is a pretty fast and nimble motorcycle. In 2 1/2 weeks I put 7600 miles on it. At one point I was tooling around in northern Nevada where it was flat and open country and decided, "Hey, wonder what this puppy would do?"

At a buck and a quarter, there was plenty more left. At a buck thirty five she was still winding out. Do you have any idea of h-o-w f-a-s-t that really is on a motorcycle?

My V-Max was even faster. I got it to a buck and a half and it possibly could go faster.

Lemme say this: At a certain point, whether it's buses or bikes, the tiniest thing can go wrong and all that is left is paperwork. I am much younger than most of the posters here, I am sure of that, with lightning reflexes, but at certain speeds a bunny rabbit or a piece of debris can turn a nice day into a wet spot in the pavement.

IMHO a bus is a casual, slow-moving dinosaur and the pleasure of driving it is to get it down the road with the greatest comfort and ease. We've all seen the Super-Duper Type A guys rocketing down the left lane in the buses, perhaps because they can.

I think it's a dumb idea for me to pretend the Bonneville Salt Flats are on public highways in a bus, but then maybe I'm just getting old and crusty like some of the old geezers here.

Take your time and enjoy this beautiful country that we have and smell the roses.

Of course, I could be wrong.