Turned off a US highway onto a State highway this afternoon.?ÿ About a half mile later I looked in my rear view mirror to see not one but two highway patrol vehicles behind me.?ÿ I was a berry, berry good driver for the next eleven miles.?ÿ At the intersection with another US highway one trooper turned left and the other turned right. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!?ÿ I'm sure there was something I was doing wrong or some part of the vehicle that does not meet their standards but fortunately they didn't seem to care.?ÿ Perhaps I should invest in some lottery tickets.
A portion of my commute everyday is about 11 miles of road that we call the redneck Autobahn. It's a big wide road with almost no traffic. I was doing 65 or 70 this morning on the way to work and a law enforcement officer passed me and waved as he went by
I was about a mile away, yesterday, and I was running late when I realized I didn't have my wallet. I had about an 80 mile round trip to make, so I decided to risk it. I saw 2 county sheriffs going the other way...
Shoulda played the lotto
I was up in Alfalfa Co. (just shy of the Kansas line) knocking out some county bridge surveys.?ÿ The days were long and I usually didn't get home 'til after dark.?ÿ Heading south toward home one evening somewhere near Burlington, OK I was probably rolling around 90 or 95 on a two lane asphalt.?ÿ It's all wheat up there and pretty flat, but there's a 2 or 3 mile stretch of hills that are just tall enough you can't see over them.
At the top of a hill I meet a Oklahoma State Trooper rolling northbound.?ÿ I'm sure my speed made his radar sing.?ÿ I instinctively looked in my rear-view mirror and as he dropped over the back side of the hill I caught a glimpse of his brake lights...he was surely going to turn around and apprehend this old desperado...
I shut it down so fast it woke up my helper.?ÿ I pulled over off the road just on the blind side of that hill and waited for him.?ÿ In about 20 seconds he topped the hill at about a 'hunnert miles a hour'...in pursuit of me no doubt, and blew past me, his car lit up like a Christmas tree.?ÿ He shut it down quickly (locked 'em up)?ÿ and backed up a quarter of mile (you can do that up there, ADT's are measured in single digits)..so his car would be behind me.
As he walked up to my window he didn't look real happy.?ÿ I remember him asking me if I knew how fast I was going.?ÿ I told him I didn't rightly know because it was dangerous to take your eyes off of the road at those speeds....
The ticket was north of 250 bucks.
And to top it all off he followed me for the next 10 miles until I got to the state highway.?ÿ With the speed limit at 55 on surfaced county roads I was doing 54.9 the whole way... :hmm: ?ÿ
Back when the speed limit was set at 55 MPH nationwide I was driving up to Monterey to grade land surveyor exams one year and stopped at Pea Soup Anderson's for lunch, just like everybody who leaves Los Angeles for points north does.?ÿ After lunch I got back on the highway at the on-ramp right at the restaurant and a California Highway Patrol cruiser got on right behind me.?ÿ I let him pass me and fell in behind him in the fast lane so we wouldn't have to keep changing lanes to pass trucks.?ÿ People would come flying low behind me and flash their lights for me to get over.?ÿ So I did.?ÿ And lo and behold, there was the CHP to surprise them.?ÿ It got to be kind of fun over the next 110 miles.?ÿ All two hours of it.?ÿ The best ones were the people who tried to pass me on the right.
CHP doing the double-nickel? I find that hard to believe.
Years ago, I had just finished my summer baseball game for the evening and was on my way to the next town to see my then girlfriend. I was in my dad's "backup" vehicle (he delivered rural mail) a blue Ford Ranger. Anyway, I'm on my way, baseball pants and cleats still on, shirt off, windows down, Metallica's black album full volume, headed west on the two lane highway doing at least 80 mph (posted limit was 55 then).?ÿ
I came up behind a station wagon doing the speed limit, (how dare they!). I slowed down and my first chance to pass them, I did. I get around the wagon and they're flashing their lights at me, I'm not sure why at this point so I keep it at about 70 mph with an eye on my rear view mirror more often than necessary.
When I pulled back in from passing the wagon, I was just barely over the painted lines marking a no passing zone.?ÿ
So I'm doing 70, the wagon is falling further and further behind me, I check my mirror and nothing. I look back at the highway and then back to my mirror and BAM, there's a Kansas Highway Patrol right behind me. I swear to this day he fell straight from the sky.
I pulled over, he got out of his car and was the poster boy for the highway patrol. Hat flat on his head, high and tight haircut, no facial hair and you could've cut yourself on the creases in his shirt and pants. He was ALL business.
Long story longer, he told me to slow it down and gave me a ticket for "passing in no passing zone".?ÿ
The next evening, my mom who rode to and from work with a woman who worked in the local courthouse, asked if there was something I had forgotten to tell her. Something about a ticket recently?
Good times and lessons learned.
I think they were toying with me.
A couple from Ohio were traveling through Wyoming at 95 miles per hour when they were pulled over by a state trooper.
The trooper asked for the husband's driver's license.
The wife, being hard of hearing, asked, "What did he say?"
The husband replied, "HE WANTS TO SEE MY LICENSE."
The trooper then asked for the registration and insurance cards.
The wife asked, "What did he say?"
The husband again spoke up and said, "HE WANTS TO SEE THE REGISTRATION AND INSURANCE CARDS."
The trooper said he was going to let them go with a warning because he was reminded that the worst sex he ever had was with a woman from Ohio.
The wife again asked, "What did he say?"
The husband replied, "HE SAYS HE THINKS HE KNOWS YOU!"
Don't know if it's still true but in the '70s the stretch of highway 240 through the Hanford Nuclear Reservation wasn't patrolled by State Troopers, a jurisdictional dispute with the Hanford Patrol.?ÿ The exotic car aficionados figured it out so every now and then on long straight stretches you'd be ambling along doing 80mph and get passed by a Lambo doing 150+mph.
The other oddity was (is?) it's illegal to pull over and stop anywhere along the highway.?ÿ
You just had to bring up the 55 years....Still have nightmares about driving across country in my 67 mustang at 55...…..what a waste.
I get a lot of looks from the police when i drive my Atom.?ÿ Don't really know why, I keep the plate clean and easy to read.
When the 55 mph speed limit was first put in place (1974?) I was working 7 days a week and still trying to have a social life.?ÿ I woke up one Saturday morning at 7:30 and had to be at work at 8:00.?ÿ That was a good 45 minute drive and I still had to shower and get ready.?ÿ I was cruising on I-285 around the north side of Atlanta at who knows what speed.?ÿ The speedometer on my 1972 Malibu was buried past 120 so I don't know.?ÿ I looked in the rearview mirror to change lanes and WAY back I saw blue lights.?ÿ I was stopped, sitting on the trunk with my license in my hand when the County Mountie got there. He wrote me up for 90 because he never got close enough to clock me.?ÿ Due to a mixup in the court when I went in it cost me $28.?ÿ Today I would be in jail trying to make bail.
Andy
?ÿ
Predatory troopers on the hunt will follow you at night with bright lights on well within the danger zone of riding your bumper to intimidate you or else they got to get a real good shot of your license plate so they can call you up on their computer and get a readout of your history.
Good times grading the exam in Monterey. So sad when they stopped that. Best Western right on the beach baby.
Listening to the waves crash on shore all night long.
I used to drive up on Thursday so I would be refreshed for the Friday session. That is why I was in no hurry and could play CHP games.
Grading all day Friday, Saturday, and some on Sunday mornings. I would usually be the last one there to work the unfinished grading because so many graders who flew in had to catch a plane early Sunday afternoon to be back home to be ready for work Monday. I never had to be back to work until Tuesday, so I was glad to help out with other problem grading until it was all done. And then a leisurely drive home Monday.
Anyone else remember the dual speed limit signs way back when??ÿ Might show 65 for daytime and 55 after dark.?ÿ As I recall the night time number would shine out when the headlights hit them.
Anyone else remember the dual speed limit signs way back when??ÿ
Sure do. Iowa had them.
I had to put it in lower gear and rev it up, going across Iowa was the worst, they would stop you for a few MPH over. Should have kept that car, it had the 289 engine so it wasn't a hot-rod but it was a good little cruiser, drove nice. Not long after cars got so bad. ?ÿ
