and my seventeen year streak is broken

friday was a bad driving day for me…

…first off, since the first was saturday i had to drive thirty miles out of my way to pick up paychecks, none of which were for me as mine is direct deposited. then on my way in i got pulled over and got my first speeding ticket in seventeen years for going sixty-seven in a sixty in, of course, mustang fucking ridge.

i had it on good authority that their new police chief, who’s an old workout buddy of mine, had chilled this speed trap out and told his officers to only ticket if you were in excess of ten miles over the speed limit – but state troopers, of course, don’t follow that guideline so i got busted for going only seven miles over. ironic given the fact that it was the frontage road of the fastest road in the nation, where i’ve gone upwards of 140 in an 85 mph zone. the trooper marveled at how clean my record was – only two tickets, one in 1997 and one in 2010, both for no insurance. but no speeding violations – “pretty impressive run”, he said. then he handed me the ticket, stating that they were “really cracking down” due to six deaths on that little stretch of road this year so far…

..i know what he means, but i don’t blame speed.

i’ve lost track of how many times i’ve been rolling into da’ ridge after closing the shop and i’m behind a car that can’t maintain a lane for more than a three count. that’s bad. and i dare say a good bit more dangerous than one going sixty-fuckin’-seven miles an hour.

then came friday night…

as if to back to trooper’s claim (and fitting my knowledge about mustang ridge only having officers “on call” but not patrolling late at night ’cause i’ve called in about the drunks and been told they couldn’t help) i saw not one, not two, but three travis county sheriff’s lurking in the dark set to pounce on speeders or drunks or what have you; and then came the BIG surprise – almost getting hit by a semi!

it was the weirdest thing – plum creek bridge, south bound frontage of the toll, and i’m setting the playlist on my iPod when i look up and a semi is hitting the bridge on the opposite side, heading the opposite direction…and that shouldn’t happen. i blinked my high beams but no response, so i just got in the right lane and treated the bridge like a two-way road. he flew past me and as i looked in my rearview he didn’t take the overpass to get on the proper side, he just kept going…

…good luck to his ass! fuck it, i made it home safe.