I Live in Mayberry.

The other day my car window broke. The glass didn't break, it was the electronic roll-down thingy that broke. Pat and his dad were kind enough to take my door panel off and stick a screwdriver in the door to hold up the glass until I was able to take it in to get it fixed. They are nice like that, cuz they live in Mayberry.

I called Mayberry Honda and found out that electronic roll-down thingies are covered by my warranty. Wtf? Warranties usually cover everything except what you need fixed. Not so in Mayberry! Hurray!

I took my car in early on Friday morning and I brought my bike so I could ride the rest of the way to work. I wasn't really sure how I was going to handle the 1.5 mile stretch of Camelback Road before I reached my super-safe 3rd Avenue complete with my super-wide bike lane. But in Mayberry, there is no traffic turning right on Camelback during morning rush-hour so I was able to ride my bike safely on the sidewalk. Hurray! You know what else happens in Mayberry? There are pedestrians that say hi as they pass and people who smile at you and friendly police officers on motorcycles who challenge you to a race when you are stopped at a red light next to them.

It was a Mayberry morning. Hurray! Unfortunately, I don't work in Mayberry...so let's skip to the afternoon commute back to the car dealership.

I was pretty nervous about taking Camelback for the 1.5 miles back. I was pretty lucky that morning...no one was turning north because all traffic was heading south to downtown and no one was turning into parking lots because shops and restaurants weren't open yet. But in the afternoon, traffic goes all directions. Camelback is a hugely busy street with zillions of businesses and restaurants. There are driveways literally every 15 feet. It was dusk. Riding like a moron on the sidewalk (because I'm too scared to ride on a street without a bike lane) was not really a smart thing to do. But I did it anyway.

And it was okay... because I live in Mayberry. First, I rode past a bus stop. A bunch of people were on the sidewalk waiting for the bus. Uh oh! But no problem...they saw me coming and they all got out the way. With smiles on their faces. Seriously. They were ALL smiling at me. One guy even said "Enjoy your ride!" as I passed and he wasn't being sarcastic. A few yards later, a car was waiting in a parking lot driveway to pull out on to Camelback. Uh oh...gonna get killed now. But no, he saw me coming and he backed up to give me room to pass. Then a car was stopped at a stop sign on a side street. I started to wait for him, but he backed up and waved me by. This was getting weird. Another car was trying to leave a parking lot. She backed up for me, too. And she smiled and said hi to me from her open window. Huh? And then a car was going to turn into a parking lot but stopped and waited for me to pass. I glanced in as I rode past and the driver didn't give me the dirty look I deserved for being an idiot riding on the sidewalk....the driver smiled at me instead. One more car waiting in a parking lot driveway...one more driver who backed up for me to pass. As I was nearing the dealership, two people were walking toward me on the sidewalk. They stepped off the sidewalk to let me by and one said "Sure is a nice evening to be out a bike, isn't it?" Again, no sarcasm.

This was one of the weirdest 15 minutes of my life.

I kind of like Mayberry. I think I was just voted Mayor.