Saturday, October 6, 2007
Warning
On my drive back home, I got brave, set my control issues, my paranoia, and my anxiety aside and used the cruise control in my van. At the time I was in the completely boring/barren part of Texas between El Paso and San Antonio. The speed limit during the day was 80 (there's a different limit at night in Texas) and so I set the cruise control to 85. I figured I would be just fine. Partly because I just wanted to get home!!! It is such a long drive, and I figured the extra five miles would get me there just a bit sooner. After I had been flying along, I see lights in my rear view mirror. Great. This is only the second time I have ever been pulled over in my entire life. (The first time was because I didn't have my sticker on my plates. I always forget to send in a copy of insurance with my registration, so it takes forever to get my sticker. After he pulled me over and I went home, I found my sticker in the mail that day.....) I pull over, and he comes over to my passenger window and says to me "Ma'am, I clocked you going at 85". My response is "I know. That is what I have my cruise control set to". At the same time, he is seeing the inside of my van, which at that point, probably looked like we lived in it. Not to mention the two little kids in the back. He asked where we were coming from and where we were going, and I told him. I think he felt sorry for me because he knew just how long of a drive it was. He let me off with a warning. Needless to say I set my cruise control for just at 80 this time.
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7 comments:
Oooh, you are brave to travel alone with kids.
I usually set my cruise no more than 3 mph over the speed limit on roads like that. So if the limit is 75, I go about 78. I'm paranoid about being stopped.
One time, DH and I were driving home from Oregon in our huge dodge truck, loaded down with chairs we'd bought at a secondhand store. We were stopped 3 times just after we entered Nevada, which is weird because the speed limit is higher in NV than in Oregon! We could not figure it out, especially after the first time, DH was very careful to go exactly the speed limit, but we kept getting pulled over & getting warnings, saying they'd clocked us at 85 when we thought we were going 70ish. Well, finally the last officer who stopped us pointed out that the larger size tires on our truck may not have been calibrated to the speedometer. Bigger tires=faster speeds not registering accurately on the dial. Needless to say, that freaked me out enough to never drive that truck outside of town-no way am I driving anywhere and really truly not knowing how fast I'm going!
ooh 85 is fast. if i know i'll be traveling long distances i'll break it up and stay overnight some place.
i did stay the night in las cruces because i was coming from arizona. its just a really really long boring stretch of road.
I hear you. It's so boring. My kids kept asking "Are we STILL in Texas?" on our road trip this summer!
At least you only got a warning!
Only 85? That cop is a bit of a sissy don't you think? Pulling some one over for 5 over the limit is a waste of time, I bet people were speeding up as they passed you. Maybe he thought you were running imigrants or something in your mini-van.
i could have fit at least five illegals in my van if i had wanted to. luckily when he looked in it was full of suitcases, food, toys....no illegals...
UNBELIEVABLE! I had the EXACT thing happen about 4 years ago, also in between El Paso and San Antonio. I was clocked at 84 mph and got a ticket. The state trooper was nice enough, and performed the roadside strip search fairly efficiently. But still gave me a ticket. I guess it always helps to be a great looking gal! Good for you :)
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