I didn't find the baloon refreshing at all. In fact, it hurt a little because it was right on my ear that it hit. So what I did was I went back to the kid, told him what he did was very dangerous, that he could get in Big Trouble(TM) if someone got hurt. I then asked where his momma was at and if she knew what he was doing. I think this was good because he then said he was going to drop his last baloon... and nailed his buddy with it. I cracked-up and gave him a high five for that one.

In any case... I think next time I'll just move along. My brother once got the bejeepers beat out of him for getting a little too much attention on his bike while riding through a rough 'hood (OK, he gave the finger to someone...).

I forgot to mention one more thing from my adventure -- a copy nealry ran me over. Not surprisingly, at another one of those diagonal intersections, a cop coming the other way did a U-ee (how do you write that?) directly in front of me. Had I not seen it coming, there's a very high probability that he would have splattered me across the road. I truly relished running the next red light right in front of him because I knew he didn't see me (thus wouldn't see me run the light -- I usually never run lights with cops in the area).

I actually know the route pretty well because it's my route back from CP. I was really shocked by the agressive traffic, though. I guess I used to ride that way during the middle of the day when it's thinner. I think I will try another way for now, taking yesterday as a sign that maybe I shouldn't go that way!