I recently helped a friend move from North Carolina back home to Oregon. The plan was for me to fly to NC and give a hand on the long, five day journey across the country. Before I even thought about packing my clothes and toothbrush, I made absolutely sure my Valentine One was in the bag.
As we were about to roll, I pulled out the V1. “What’s that thing?” my friend asked.
“This is a Valentine One radar detector, best on the market. I refuse to drive anywhere without it. You’ll see why.”
My friend has a fairly heavy foot, and he’s driving through Tennessee later on that first day. Another car has been hanging just behind us for a few miles. As we are about to crest a hill on I-40, we get a serious Ka signal ahead. I tell him to ease up and change lanes. The car behind us, now seeing wide open space, zooms past. As we top the hill, I spot two police SUVs maybe a half-mile down the road, waiting near an overpass. We had picked up their signal before they could even see us.
As we approach the overpass, one of the SUVs starts to roll. It’s on the freeway now, catching up to us, lights flashing, and my friend starts tensing up. Just as I turn to look behind, the SUV zips past and sets up to pull over our fellow traveler.
Without V1 and the situational awareness it provides, we surely would have been his prey. It spoke up at just the right moment a few more times on the trip, but the first one was the best, if only for the fact that, afterward, my skeptical friend exclaimed, “I have to get me one of those!”
Scott Wolfhagen
Portland, OR