Who knows how the fire departments will react with me behind them in the parade!
Look at all the fire departments participating!
November 30 Wednesday 6pm–9pm Beavercreek
December 02 Friday 6pm–9pm Redland
December 03 Saturday 6pm–9pm Holcomb/Hilltop
December 04 Sunday 6pm–9pm Oregon City
December 07 Wednesday 6pm–9pm Clackamas
December 09 Friday 6pm–9pm Oak Grove
December 10 Saturday 6pm–9pm Milwaukie
December 11 Sunday 6pm–9pm Milwaukie
December 14 Wednesday 6pm–9pm Westwood
December 16 Friday 6pm–9pm Town Center
December 17 Saturday 6pm–9pm Happy Valley
December 18 Sunday 6pm–9pm Happy Valley
Sounds like a grand ole hornoff! Hope the cops in the back don’t get p.ohed but what would they do anyway, Improper use of horn? Lol it’s proper use! I’ll just make sure to let them make some noise too.
Hmm, I just went to one of the parades tonight. I was horning all the time for about an hour, about half way through their route. Then, the guy in the red pickup truck told me that he’d rather me not do it because it can cause accidents, and that’s why they don’t do sirens/horns in the back of the parade (yeah right) and because I’m not officially a part of the parade… Everybody liked 'em so I kept on doing it for a while. Then they sicked their *PT cruiser on me to block me off from the parade and the guy said the horns were illegal blah blah blah and indicated that he was about to get the police or something. He told me to turn around and go home.
Anyway, tomorrow night I’ll be in the front of the parade most of the time. It’s cool how there weren’t any police cars in the parade tonight.
*They had a guy in a PT cruiser towards the end of the parade to help block traffic and such.
Tonight’s canned-food drive tag along went really well! I was in the front of the parade the entire time (leading the parade). The firetrucks were mimicking me with their horns and stuff. Apparently they don’t have a problem with my little Honda, just maybe the Chief in the back and the PT cruiser guy.
No problems at all.
Wait till they hear my jingle-bell equipped (E-bell) Honda at the end of this week.
How the Viair 400c did with near constant duty for a few hours; I unlocked my hood so the fan against my compressor can suck in some cold air during the parade, the motor was barely hot, the head was too hot to touch for more than a second.
The first night I had the hood closed, the compressor got really hot but never thermal tripped. It was on even more this first night, like 95% duty for a full hour run.
OK, 3rd night of parading tonight. First time with the E-bell.
The red pickup in the back is different (the fire chief?) but the same PT cruiser guy in the middle of the parade.
The PT cruiser eventually pulls over and blocks me off from the parade and comes to my car. We get in a friendly argument and he walks back in his car.
I ring the bell some more and toot the horn once or twice, he pulls over again and comes to my car. Says something like “What don’t you understand” “this is your final warning” and something about running a stop sign.
He gets back in his car.
Then a few minutes later, two Dodge Charger police interceptors are pulled to the side ready to pull me over. I get pulled over. Policeman is very nice and understands that I mean nothing malicious and I’m just spreading Christmas cheer (pretty much).
We have an understanding that what I’m doing isn’t illegal but says that he’ll find something if I keep on tailing the parade. He didn’t know about the Shockers but I let him hear the E-bell.
So, I head back to the main road. He goes right, I go left. About 10 minutes later I’m in front of the parade leading it again for about 15 minutes.
Then I take a break to empty my video camera to my laptop and besides, the parade took a break at about that time too.
Anyway, about 30 minutes later, I get back in the back in the parade. No more problems the rest of the night.
At the end of the parade route, the guy in the red pickup (different guy than the first 2 parades) comes to my car and is real nice and just asks a few questions about what I’m doing and everything. He’s pretty understanding and he just said that I was suspicious and that’s why they called the cops. Ha!
So, the final parade is tomorrow, Happy Valley day 2. It’ll be a blast.
Well, they called the cops again. Still no ticket or anything. Apparently there is a noise ordinance in Happy Valley Oregon, something I didn’t know about.
I think they were concerned about why I had a dash camcorder and rear camcorder. The cop said that I needed permission to film in public! LOL! I told him there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in public but he still said it was illegal. Total bull. He didn’t ask that I shut it off or anything.
Anyway, didn’t get in any real trouble but it proves to me that the parade boss is a prick.
The cop followed me out of Happy Valley. I went back in after an hour break and the parade wasn’t quite over so I belled up the end of the route before they got there and some other parts of the final neighborhood.
I’ll probably be back next year, but I won’t be ringing my bell or honking my horn around the parade. I’ll be either far ahead or far back. Probably far forward because the kids are waiting for the parade and will be on alert. Just as long as the kids come out and cheer! That E-bell can resemble Santa’s bells with a little imagination and kids have lots of that.
Other counties besides Happy Valley, if I have the time, I’ll test the waters and see how they respond and go from there.
Edit: I think the parade crew were concerned about my dash cams, maybe they felt threatened by them. I don’t know why. That’s a good reason why both times I got pulled over these 2 days, my video camera were mentioned and this second cop tries to tell me it’s not legal.