So, I was takin’ a supposed-to-be, for non-race-fans-anyway, three-hour journey Compass North today … er … Sunday, really, but it was a looonnnnggggggggg, terrific day, grin …
WINDY damned day, too. About 45 minutes northeast of Lansing, I finally found and tucked in behind another Earnhardt fan – always cool. We were keepin’ it below 90mph, barely, but that’s an amazing feat when crosswinds are doin’ at least a third as fast as we were goin’ on what sometimes feels like a baja trail thanks to crappy roadwork. So, from Flint to Standish, along the dreaded “corridor” where our MI State boys are always on our butts, we were haulin’ the mail. His was a slightly bigger truck than my own, so I pushed him, he pulled me … awesome stuff. We reached Standish, and I pulled alongside … at the same instant, we launched three fingers, grinned, and went our separate ways. (Word to the speedy — always have a “3″ sticker proudly displayed if you like draftin’, grin …)
LIFE IS REALLY GOOD WHEN YOU HOOK UP WITH A DRIVER LIKE THIS!
Comin’ back south much, much later, and after another speeding ticket on M-23, sigh, the miserable two-laner that just rashes my rear-end on a regular basis … nothin’ but idiots. Put most women (ok, so I’m a woman, but that’s hardly the point) in an SUV (ok, so I drive an SUV, but that’s still not the point), and they become absolutely, completely and quite entirely dumb. Across miles of expansive fields, winds were gusting snow toward white-out conditions on an otherwise clear, crisp evening, and thus drifts were piling up on I-75. Worse than the occasional wind-yanks and snow tufts, then, were the ice-patches — long ones. So, you’ve gotta’ tack into the wind and at least correct your slide when you sense your ass comin’ around at over 80mph, right? No sudden movements, for God’s sake … you just work the wheel when you feel yourself sailin’, but stay the basic course … not a big deal, you’d think. Yeah, well … if you know what you’re doing, anyway … WHAT cereal box did some of these people order their freakin’ licenses from, anyway????
But I digress … I had to back down to between 75-80, and a little later just shook my head as a chick in a GMC flew past me with a big carrier dome on her roof. I was thinkin’, ‘man, she’s gonna’ SAIL in a minute — hope she brought her trapeze’. Not three miles later, sure enough, she was in the ditch. A gust caught her profile, split & otherwise screwed up by the carrier, and whipped her right across a long patch of hidden ice … ffffllluuuuuuuugggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhnnnnnnn–PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTT …
sigh
She was fine … just stuck in the median, in another drift, and if there hadn’t been two other bigger trucks stopping to pull her out, I would’ve hauled her dumb ass outa’ there myself, as I always do when idiots DO this …
There’s SPEED, and there’s STUPIDITY.
I was stupid north of Alabaster myself, long as we’re on THAT topic, as I’ve earned at least 10-15 tickets in the same damned 20-mile stretch of road over the years, grin … You get off of a great ride on Compass North, and then have to slow down to 55mph to go another hour or … well … most people have to go about that long, if they don’t wanna’ get nailed like I do, sigh … but I digress again. Today, Officer Friendly gave me a break with the “Energy Speed” ticket vs. the 16-over-with-points ticket he could’ve written, granted … but, I ask you this:
Since Michigan’s Gov. recently set forth a new DIRECTIVE to Officers Friendly everywhere to write a SPEEDING TICKET EVERY FIVE MINUTES (no shit — it was actually in the Lansing State Urinal) — is my ticket a result of “dangerous behavior on the road”, or … a QUOTA?????????????????
Somehow, I thought that quotas were illegal.
Hmmm … guess I got that wrong on all of those Criminal Justice exams I aced back when I thought I’d become a Fed, long before I realized that unless I break at least three basic (and mostly traffic) laws a day, I’m not livin’ right.
Good news is I caught the draft with another Earnhardt Sr. fan for tons of fun miles today!!!!!!!
Bad news … idiots still roam the roads in SUV’s not nearly as cool as my own black beauty, lol … AND … QUOTAS ARE NOW APPARENTLY LEGAL.
WHO KNEW???????
(Never mind my speed … that doesn’t count. First speed limit sign in this country was posted thanks to my ancestors for ridin’ their horses through town too fast in New England. No shit. It’s my right to continue the tradition, then, not that I really have a choice, grin …)
Happy Monday, everyone!
angler
Post a Comment