Saturday, November 13, 2004

Red White and Blue

I left my Tablet PC at work tonight, and since I'm traveling up to Seattle Sunday night, I needed to retrieve it. I hopped in my car at 10:00 p.m. happy to travel the 20 miles to the office because I never get to travel on 205 with very little traffic. So, there I was with my trusty Valentine One radar detector stuck to my windshield going 80+ miles an hour. The cheesy Red, Red Wine song was blasting and I was feeling fine, baby.

Wait, what's that flashing light? Crap. Red, white and blue lights were tracking me. I pulled over hoping the cop wasn't after me. But, those pretty lights followed me. Darn. It was then I noticed I was in a construction zone, because I had to weave between some orange cones to get to the shoulder. Uh oh.

The state trooper blinded me with his flashlight through the passenger window. My passenger window doesn't go down, so I opened the door.

"Good evening. I'm State Trooper Michael Conway. Is there a reason you were going 80 miles an hour?"

"Oh man. I left my computer at work tonight, and I have a business trip tomorrow. My two kids are in bed and my wife is sick. I was trying to make it a quick trip down to Lake Oswego and back."

"Where are you going on your business trip?"

"Seattle"

"What do you do for work?" (Is he trying to trip me up?)

"Um, PR for Microsfot. Public relations."

"Did you realize you passed me?"

"No. Where were you?"

"In the right lane. You blew passed me." (Uh oh, need to change subject NOW.)

"For a minute I thought you were a K-9 cop." (There were dogs barking like crazy right next to us.)

"Yeah, how'd you like to live next to them?" (Alright, this is going better.)

"I know. And, I want to ask you something. I saw a car pulled over by a policeman earlier today, and I was wondering if you prefer cars to take the next exit or pull onto the shoulder?"

"Don't take the exit. Going 80 miles an hour on 205 in a construction zone is not a great idea."

"Right."

"Your excuse is a bad one, but I'm going to give you a break on the 80 miles an hour."

"What kind of break?"

"Just a warning. Have a good night, sir, and drive safely."

"Thank you!" And, I shook his hand.

How 'bout them apples?!!!

No comments: