So i'll admit.. i put my foot down, which is rare. i'd been very obedient so far on the trip and stuck to speed limits like it was a religious cult (which is unlike me).
When i'm driving i picture myself looking like this...
Which i once tried to emulate....
Not quite as good looking as Gosling.. but you get the idea... i need some leather gloves..
but for some reason tonight i felt like flooring it... so there i was bombing it down this hill like there was a pack of rabid zombies chasing me.
in the mirror i noticed a cars headlights turn on, on the overpass above the road.. i thought nothing off it..
then out of no where this guy is right up my arse, there were two lanes, he could easily have just passed me.
"what a douche bag, this guy is right on my arse!" i joked with Andreas.
"haha.. imagine if it was a cop" i say in jest..
*PULL OVER* The Blues & Twos were then blinding me from the rear mirror.
"SHIIIIIIIIIIIT" i exclaim, in an alarmed manor.
jest turns to mild panic... but he got me, theres no way i can get out of this one...
a minute or two pass. finally the officer comes strolling over to my window.
"License, registration and insurance documents please" he says after giving his name and police department.
"So, you were going pretty fast down there.... i clocked you at 74 in a 55"
"yeaaaaa, i was going slightly fast then wasnt i" i say as i hand over my UK License.
His facial expresion immediately changes the second he see's what he's holding.
"OK" the officer says.. handing back the license as if it was a scrap of paper with the words "i can drive, honest" written on it.
"Look, theres a lot of White Tail deer round here, and you don't want to hit one of them"
"Just keep it slow ok, the limit is 55 and its theres for safety, ok"
"Why are you guys going this way anyway"
"we're heading to Pittsburg" i say
"well, youre better off taking the 525 then getting on the Turn Pike"
"ahh ok, yeah we'll head back and do that.. our sat nav took us this way!"
"ok, just keep it slow round here guys ok, have a good night"
and with that he was back in his car. I certainly couldn't believe my luck.
20mph over the limit, and no ticket...
GOD BLESS THE QUEEN. i muttered under my breath. (i didn't but i wish i had!)
the adrenaline rush had calmed down and we hit the road..
however that wouldn't be the last we saw of the Pennsylvania Highway Patrol...
around about 45 Mins later.. after a pit stop for fuel and food... we had switched seats.. we're now on the 'Turnpike' which is a Toll Road and the speed limit here was 65mph (as we were reminded by our friend earlier)
Andreas was at the wheel, i had lost interest in what speed he had decided to do, as i was busy eating my fried chicken...
not long after leaving the rest stop... heading past lorries who decided they must overtake on the steepest inclines.. all of a sudden, the back window turns from the dark of night, to the frantic flashing of Blue and Red.
"Ohhhhhh FUCK!"
i gaze up and realise the gravity of the situation... "Not again" i gasp.
we find a spot to pull over at the slide of a slip road.
We take drastic action.
We switch seats. (At this point i could well be shooting my self in the foot by admitting this, but what the hay)
The theory being, the English license clearly put the first cop off issuing a ticket.. so it might work again.
the seconds, turn to minutes, minutes turn to a decade of waiting.
Finally he appears at the window.
"Good evening Sir, License, Registration, and Insurance documents please" after introducing him self...
i present the UK license.. thinking we'll be away quicker than last time.. i offer to show him the international license i got in the UK as well
"yes please, i'll take that too"
I got to find it, and hope that we'll get another good ticking off like last time.. neither of us have a clue where the registration or insurance details are in the tardis like van we're traveling in.
"it's ok i can run it through the computer"
"the reason i stopped you, is because you were doing 84 in a 65" "but i'll go easy, and run it through as 71"
after lots of apologies, and attempts to act innocent, he disappears with my details to 'write up the ticket'
FUUUUUUCK.
so now i've taken a hit for something i wasnt responsible for.. however i saved us a fair amount of ball ache as Andreas's new drivers license is still in CA awaiting postage to him... so he's got a temporary drivers license which also expired... i somewhat doubt that would have gone down so well..
after a new millenium, he hands us the ticket looking pleased with himself... i could see why the other cop didn't want to bother.. it took him a good 20mins to fill it all out...
I'll end this story with this then: The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will see that $130.50 when the US embassy in London pays the £6m in congestion charge fines it owes.
I for one, have rejoined my old speed-limit abiding cult.
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