Just No Escape From Cell Phones

There’s nothing quite like being stuck at the top of a Ferris wheel with strangers for more than 10 minutes.

Marcida Dodson found this out when she and her two sons shared a basket with three young women at a preview of the new Disney park, California Adventure.

Some minutes after they became stranded because of “technical difficulties,” a cell phone went off inside the purse of one of the strangers.

“At which point, two of the women dug out their cell phones to figure out whose phone it was,” Dodson said. “And the woman whose phone actually rang proceeded to tell the caller that she was stuck on the Ferris wheel.

“Apparently the caller was also inside the park, because my basket-mate said something like, ‘Look at the Ferris wheel now. We’re the purple basket at the top.’ Thankfully, the Ferris wheel started moving before she could yak much more and she hung up.”

Added Dodson: “There is no escaping cell phones any more, I swear. “

DINING GUIDE FOR THE DARING: Hi. My name is Steve. Today, our selections include:

* Milk that seems to have had its quality and value removed (submitted by Marshall and Dorothy Schlom of Mission Viejo).

* Some free egg rolls that won’t stay $20 forever (Joseph Solomon of L.A.).

* A steak you might have reservations about trying (Joseph Clifford of Rancho Palos Verdes).

* Ribs with a sauce that has plenty of bite (Jeanie Eng Lee of Monterey Park).

STUPID DRIVER TRICKS: During a traffic school session in West L.A., a classmate of Don Ross said she had been pulled over in her SUV for barreling along a canyon road at speeds in excess of 70 mph with “my left foot high up on the dashboard while changing the CD player with my right hand.”

She said the officer’s opening comment was:

“I don’t know where to start.”

A SCARY ROADWAY SIGHT: “I was stopped at a traffic light on Torrance Boulevard,” said Kathy Smith of Torrance, “when I noticed that the driver of the huge, 70s-era Cadillac in the lane next to me was wearing one of those inflatable pillows around his neck--the kind you wear when you want to sleep sitting up. Needless to say, I turned off that street at the first available opportunity.”

NOT NECESSARILY DUMB MOTORISTS: After reading this column’s accounts of stupid driver tricks in Southern California, Gail Sprague of Maine wrote about a coincidence involving a new series of license plates in her state.

“The regular plates are a series of numbers followed by two letters, the recent letters being IQ,” she said.

She saw one that said 93IQ, adding that if that plate were hers, “I think I would pay extra for a vanity plate instead.”

PERFECT FOR THE SOUTHLAND: On the Internet, Wendy Andruschak of Gardena saw a listing of a car described as “built for cursing.”

miscelLAny:

An item here about a residence with two cats and a “Scottish terrorist” reminded Jonathan Schwartz of Marina del Rey “of a short story by the great American humorist James Thurber in which a man calls his wife to say he’s bringing home a cocker spaniel. But she misunderstands him to say a ‘cockeyed Spaniard.’ ”

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A., 90012 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.