As much as I want to use all the explatives I was using while in the DOT office in Umatilla I will refrain but I'm going to vent anyway.
I will start off by saying that in the past 6 months I have been through 3 inspections in California including a full one in Banning where I got new CVSA stickers on both the truck and trailer. For those of you who haven't seen my trailer it has mirrored stainless running the entire length of the trailer from the bottom up to about 5' high. You can stand back 100' from it and check your teeth for broccoli.
Anyhow I have only had a reason to go into Oregon a couple of times in the past 5 years and have chosen to bypass it completely because we are considered "Hobby Trucks" and therefore they do not wnat to sell us permits but because we have a DOT number and apportioned plates we cannot get a hobby letter. Anyway I can get a permit but I have to do it through Ryder and it's a real pain in the rear. This past week I needed to run up to Mt. Vernon, WA from Reno. I had originally planned on going around but I get held up in Sacramento and Reno and got a couple days behind. I decided Saturday to go ahead and jump through all the hoops and get the stinking permit so I could pass through on I-5 and since I was already that far along in the process I added I-82/84 for the trip home.
This morning I rolled out of Mt Vernon early and all was going well. I rolled into Umatilla and pulled across the scales with the aformentioned 53' long mirrors staring back at the scale officer. I got the sign to come in so I grabbed my several hundred dollar permit and headed inside. This guy immediatly asked for my CDL which I handed him then he went around the corner. I stood there with my registration, permit and IFTA in hand watching all the trucks crossing the scales while no one was at the desk. A few minutes later he came around the corner and asked what year my trailer was so I told him and he disappeared again. 10 more minutes go by and this little ****-head walks up to the door, hands me my CDL back then hands me a traffic ticked for driving my truck without reflective tape on the trailer. An $82 citation and a moving violation to boot on my absolutely spotless driving record. He then had the nerve to say have a nice day. I went ballistic and within another minute I was being escorted outside by an Oregon Highway Patroll officer and told to just get in my truck and leave before I get arrested for making threats to a public official. I yelled some more, spoke real highly of the officers mother and family gene pool then left.
These people never asked for the truck registration, trailer registration, IFTA or the very expensive permit I had to buy just to get to this point and get the ticket.
Blow some more smoke up my arse and tell me how the DOT is out there just for safety. The only thing they wanted was the money for a ticket and could have given a ____ about safety. My trailer is a giant mirror, all the graphics and lettering are reflective material the same as is used to make the godd_mn tape and highway signs but I don't have the hideous red and white stripes so now I have a traffic ticket and $82 less cash in my wallet.
I can say that from this day forward I will never drive this truck into Oregon again even if I have to run 1000 miles out of the way to get somewhere.
Thanks for letting me vent. (Chris1, you can stop laughing now, this guy was probably one of your extended family members)