21 December 2002

21 December 2002

The Guest House Inn provides a hot breakfast in the morning so we woke up around 7 am so we could shower and then enjoy breakfast before we hit the road again. We get to the breakfast area and the gentleman that we had met on the way in the night before asks me why we haven’t gotten out of there yet. I look out the window and see snow and think oh great. So Jenn and I quickly eat some eggs, French toast and bacon run back to the room get the car loaded up, the cats ready to go, check out and take off.

A short while outside of Miles City the weather cleared up and we had dry roads until we got into Wyoming. While it was still snowing I had decided to put my hat on and go back to sleep. Some time before we made it to Billings Jennifer starts slowing down and I wake up and check the side mirror for the officer’s car that would be pulling her over because she doesn’t just start slowing down for no reason. There was nothing behind us so when I look up I see the Highway Patrol men coming across the median with his lights flashing.

Jennifer gets the car pulled over and stopped, the officer walks up and asks if she knows how fast she was going. “I realize I was going a little fast then all of a sudden I looked down and realized I was going really fast so I started slowing down, sorry sir.” “I clocked you going 94, can I get your license and registration.” Officer walks away from the car.

All the cars Jennifer worked so hard to get passed are now zooming past her and she yells at me “Do you know how long ago I passed them! Now I’m going to have to pass them again. I hope he just gives me a warning, I really can’t afford a ticket, I can’t afford to pay any more insurance either.” She then sees the officer walking back towards the car writing out the ticket. “Shit!”

Officer gets back up to the car, pets Merlin who is trying to climb out the window while Goliath hides on the floor between my legs jumping every time he hears a car go by. “Can’t you just give me a warning?” “You were going just a little fast for that, I had to write a ticket. It is only $40 though, would you like to remit now or you have until the 31st to send a check or appeal before the judge.” “Thanks I’ll just send a check later.” “You ladies have a safe trip and try to slow down a bit.”

That’s two for Jennifer on her way back to Wyoming, at least this time she made it out of the state of North Dakota before being pulled over. It drives me nuts how when she does get caught she beats herself up over it, I’m so dumb why can’t I learn to just go the speed limit, blah blah blah. I wasn’t going to listen to it for the rest of the trip so I started making jokes about it so she wouldn’t have a chance to make herself feel bad. We had a few good laughs. She decided that she needed a bumper sticker that says “Pull me over I’m speeding” and I thought we should have one that says “How’s my driving?” We also joked about how we would always have to go the speed of the highway number, since we were going 94 on I-94. It was nice to get her to laugh about it all, instead of crying about it and yelling at herself for being so stupid.

She never learns her lesson very well though, she did keep her speed between 75 and 80 the rest of the time she drove though. I had to tell her twice to slow down so we didn’t miss a turn because she was in such a hurry to get her speed back up after we got out of Bridger, MT. I asked her once to slow down when I first saw the sign for the turn but I couldn’t read it yet so I wasn’t totally sure it was the turn, she just looked at her speedometer and kept on going. When we got closer and I was sure that we needed to turn there I asked her to slow down again. “I’m still going the speed limit, would you stop worrying about my driving!” Then I got upset, because we had already wasted 30 minutes trying to get off the Interstate at Laurel because she wasn’t paying attention and we had to drive 10 miles down the road to find an exit so we could turn around. “Would you slow down because we need to turn up here at the sign!”

I know my philosophy on road trips isn’t the greatest (just follow the road signs) but almost every time I have tried traveling by the map I have gotten lost. But, following the road signs is a better plan than following the car in front of you and hoping they are heading to the same place.

We did make it to Cody, WY without me losing my sanity, stopped for gas and then I took over driving. I am sure my driving bothers Jennifer as much as hers bothers me. I am too safe and she is too crazy, but being in an accident where your car ends up totaled will kind of do that to a person.

We pulled into Lander right around 3:30 and went straight to my dad’s shop. It was good to be home.