Speaking of getting lucky... I think I told part of this story before, but not all of it.

I'm on US 322 somewhere in the mountains between State College and Lewistown, PA. There's a little turnout before you go down the mountain, where trucks are supposed to stop and check their brakes, and read the sign.

So I'm going along here, getting close to that, and I see a bunch of trucks on the side near the top of a hill. Wow. Why are all these trucks jamming up the downhill read the sign thing?

So I flip my blinker, and start to pull in. I actually have some tricky negotiation to get through the maze of trucks, and up to the sign with all the escape ramps printed on it.

But there's no sign. That sign is at the next hilltop or so, and not here. This is just a random DOT check, and I wasn't invited, but just crashed their party in a rather phenomenally obviously way.

Funny thing was I had a cracked trailer wheel seal cover I was nursing along, feeding it grease every so often to keep from burning up the axle. Stank, made a big mess, grease everywhere. I was just nursing it back to the shop. Bottles of grease are cheaper than road service, and I was keeping it full.

So I walked right smack into a voluntary DOT check with an OOS violation (I expect a seriously leaking wheel seal would be OOS.) Talk about the name is DuMass.

Of course he wanted to check me out, since I had just raised my hand and said "I'M A STUPID TRUCK DRIVER! I'M BENT OVER, AND HERE'S SOME VASELINE! ROCK MY WORLD BIG BOY!"

He looked at my book, did the light bit, and somehow I was able to will him away from the huge mess, and the axle grease stink, and he eventually wished me a happy day, and told me to go away.

I don't know how. I could smell that grease from inside my cab, like the ticking of the Telltale Heart.

 

Cute Story Silvan.

I am home for a rare night while I'm supposed to be out on the road. Took some manuevering but I got a load in Denver for tomorrow after I dropped in Loveland [approx. 40 miles north tonight]. Hence, I decided to check my e-mail since I still haven't put a laptop on my truck.

Well I have a new story, just happened yesterday in Arizona. I absolutely think this is my last chance b4 something will happen....

First of all, I was thrilled to be out of L.A. everytime I go there I swear I'll never go back and I go back everytime. So I was just chatting away on the C.B. and having a good time. Yesterday morning before departing Hesperia [north of L.A.] there was a plane crash into the median just past the truck stop. Glad it didn't come down in the truck stop. UGH!!! So I guess I was filling pretty happy that I wasn't involved in the plane crash. I knew that I was heading to Denver and was a happy driver.

I was going up I-15 in Neveda just crossed into Arizona-it is a very short distance that you go through AZ on the 15. If it wasn't for the steep canyon drive you wouldn't remember the drive at all.

There was a construction zone for approximately 1/2 of the AZ miles [I think there's only 30 mile perhaps less in AZ]. As we got into the zone I asked the driver behind me if he had it on. He said, he did. I said, well come up here and we'll block these 4 wheelers so they don't come cut us off. He came up and we were just going to do "our deed".

[There were 3 Highway Patrol in the zone and I didn't even think for one second they'd be listening to us.p] Well all of a sudden one of them came zooming up the shoulder and looked me straight in the eyes and said on his mike, "Hey Moron, you better stop blocking traffic or I'll give you a ticket. " Thank goodness, I saw him fly up otherwise I was just about to say, Who the Hell are you calling a Moron you Frickin Moron.

Another driver, apparently totally oblivious to his flying up in the shoulder said, are you talking to me?

The Jerk said, no she knows who I'm talking to I'm looking right at her.

I proceeded to say. Thanks for calling me a Moron. I so desperately wanted to say. That is totally unbecoming behavior for an Officer. However, I really didn't want to get a ticket. Somehow some way I'm sure he would have come up with something.

Now I want to know why it's o.k. for the idiot 4-wheelers to fly up and cut people off. When it's not o.k. for us to slow them down and make them obey the "law". Seems to me we're helping the situation not hurting it. Go figure.

I'm still so pissed off I'm seriously thinking about calling and finding out who his commanding officer is and report him. Unfortunately, there wasn't a number on his car. However, I'm sure the other two will know exactly who he is if his boss so chooses to say anything to him.

I'm sure I"m not the first one he's treated unprofessionally nor will I be the last one.

If I don't report him, he'll just keep doing that and god knows it may get worse. 8) :roll:

 

noone ever believes this until they get stopped! The worse DOT are in Missouri and Kansas! They literally live to stop you! In MO when going down I-70 through downtown always, always try to stay in the middle lane, why? Because DOT always pull truckers off who drive in the right lane on I-70 right by Van Brunt, Jackson curve, and 27th street exits! Have a safe one and never drive faster then your guardian angel can travel!

 

Syl77dar I lived in in the backwoods of Missouri for 13 grueling years before my divorce. I swear, even before I was a driver the Highway Patrol are merciless there as far as tickets are concerned. If you got stopped you could guarantee that you were going to get some sort of ticket.

Thanks for the heads up re: St. Louis. I usually drive in the center lane anyway-it seems safer to me. I usually come in from the Illinois side and I immediately get into the center lane right past the Arch. Although, some drivers will argue you don't "have a way out-in the center lane." I'll take my chances it's so dangerous watching them fly off the entrance ramps and barrel in-4 wheelers have no concept of what the word merge means.

One time my Ex and I were rushing up to St. Louis he was flying out somewhere on business. We were running late and he said step on the gas. So I did. All of a sudden an "officer" pulled us over. We explained that we didn't normally speed but that he had a plane to catch 60 miles away. He took his sweet time writing the ticket.

My Ex barely made it onto his flight. I know if you want to be somewhere start earlier but something had happened that day that didn't allow us to leave earlier-can't remember what it was.

While living in Misery, I had two speeding tickets and if I got one more I would have lost my license. They are hard there. You could only have 9 points and you'd lose your license. Each speeding ticket on the highway no matter what the speed was was 3 points. I think here in Colorado it's 14 points. Although, I think they should reduce it since 1/2 of L.A. has moved here and the lack of driving courtesy reflects that.

When I lived in Missouri one of my friend's husbands called me to ask what the law was re: losing your license. He was a driver and said you know more about the laws than most drivers do. I was still a 4 wheeler at the time. I said because I must have a magnet on my car somewhere that draws law enforcement to my vehicle.

It's a good thing I have a slow truck. Although, as you can see in prior posts that really didn't matter much in California or Oregon. I got a speeding ticket while delivering trucks in California. Boy, was that expensive. Thank goodness, at the time they still let you do online traffic school to expunge the ticket from your record. EECCKK!!! I so enjoyed ungoverned trucks, while delivering trucks as opposed to freight-especially in the west. The states you really have to watch out for are California, Oregon and Washington. Neveda is a joy-I can't remember the last time I saw a Bear there. 8) :roll: