Newbie disclaimer so go ahead and school me: I live in a pretty rural community. There's a few five lane roads in the middle of town.. long stretches of mini malls on each side with a turning lane between two opposing lanes of traffic. There's a sidewalk on both sides of the road but pedestrian traffic is nil. You're lucky to ever see people, just cars everywhere. I ride the sidewalk since there's not a bike lane nor shoulder and there's no one in the way..

Is that acceptable? (I've never run into trouble and I feel the cars booking it at 50-60mph appreciate me keeping out.)

Also, I always stop at side streets to look behind me and be sure no one is turning right. I have this fear that if I just blow across the entrance to a side street, a car is going to remove my bike and place it in a serviceable position. Is stopping and waiting the correct thing to do even though it slows me down considerably or should I be riding out in traffic?