Monday, July 13, 2009

#197: Two Warnings and a Ticket

I was pretty lame when it came to skipping school. I didn't watch TV, I didn't hang out with friends who were doing the same. I mainly just stayed home and either did nothing or wrote. Again, I was pretty lame.

I don't honestly know what I was thinking half the time I did skip school. My mom sometimes got home before school let out so I had to go somewhere and wait out the last thirty, sixty minutes. One time I hid in our storage closet, another time I hid out back in the bushes and another time I hid in my bedroom closet. I obviously didn't think things through as how am I supposed to come in the front door when my mom is right there in the front room? Well, needless to say I accomplished it. Not my proudest moment but it happened ten years ago and I'm over it.

So I got my first ticket three miles from the Kansas border in Colorado. I was going "83 in a 70" according to the officer but he gave me a ticket for driving in the left lane (which apparently you can't do) and he asked me if I saw all the signs along the interstate. Now, I love road and street signs. I look at all of them as I drive down the road and I never saw a sign saying I couldn't drive in the left lane. Now that doesn't excuse what I did but if there are no signs, don't lie to me and say there are just because I'm a "hick from Kansas". So anyway, Kit Carson County, Colorado was able to get $60 from me. And it remains my only ticket (and smudge on my driving record).

I have gotten several warnings though. The first was complete idiocy on my part. I was in an older car and got behind a car pulling a boat while going up a hill. I turned to look so I could get in the other lane, put on my turn signal and began merging. Unfortunately, I guess I didn't see that deputy sheriff's car in my blind spot, even though I did look, and ended up almost running him off the road. Noticing this, I immediately pulled over because I figured I'd have to sooner or later anyway. The officer seemed to have good spirits about it and asked me what I was doing. I told him that I was trying to get around that boat so I could get up the hill. He asked if my car would stall and roll backwards or something. I said "Maybe. This car is a piece of crap." He chuckled and just gave me a warning.

The next warning was given while I was driving to work at about 11:30 at night. I was on a country road outside of Lawrence heading to work and came upon these railroad tracks and slowed down to go over them. The speed limit on the road is 30 but you had to go over those at a minimum of 20 or you'd bottom out. So I slowed down, went over the tracks, and then sped up. A quarter mile ahead, there was a sheriff who, as I passed, began turning around. It took him two tries to accomplish this and he proceeded to chase me down. I pulled over and this deputy said I was "going a little fast over railroad tracks". O...kay. You were more of a quarter mile away from the tracks and even if I wasn't going 20 like I was, there was no way you could get over those tracks going faster than 30 and not damage your car. So I answered "I don't think I was but okay" and he asked me where I was going. There's a strip club a mile or so down the road and a lot of people have meth labs along the river between Lawrence and Eudora but I said "I'm going to work" "Where do you work?" "Pearson" and I held up the badge for my job we had to have. "Kind of late to be working. What do you do?" Kind of late? You're working! "I work for 1-800-Medicare. It's a 24 hour call center." He must've believed me because he just gave me a warning but he did follow me to Pearson and watched me pull into the parking lot. I was ten minutes late to work, too.

Until next time, I remain...
~Brian